Nail Bitter
Shepherd’s Point of View
I felt a piercing gaze since a while ago.
“Look. He’s made it here.”
“Indeed.”
“Lord Benoah is too kind.”
Why do I have to endure such stares?
“Benoah, may I excuse myself for a moment?”
“Yeah…”
I didn’t want to stay in this atmosphere any longer.
But leaving did not change the uncomfortable atmosphere.
“So you showed up.”
“How shameless can you be, Shepherd?”
Classmates from my school days appeared.
“What? What do you want to say?”
“I was just thinking what kind of nerve a criminal like you had to participate.”
“Or do you have no awareness? Truly unaware idiots are frightening.”
What have they been saying since earlier?
I am a criminal?
“I heard you tried to take over a Count’s household by engaging in a marriage fraud with his daughter.”
“It feels unpleasant to have fraudsters in front of us, who are engaged in charity work.”
“A man like you should not be here… No, you shouldn’t be in high society.”
They have been saying whatever they wanted for a while now.
Calling me a fraudster? A criminal!
“It’s already become a rumor.”
“Expelling your wise father, mistreating your sister like a stepping stone, and even abandoning your brother-in-law… You’re not human.”
“It’s pointless to talk to you. You’re a demon without a human heart.”
“Why are you even Count Diaz’s son? A good-for-nothing like you!”
Why does everyone praise such an incompetent man?
I could do much better.
I’m excellent.
“Don’t speak nonsense!”
“Huh?”
“I’m different from that idiot! I wouldn’t be such a pathetic failure… if that man weren’t so incompetent!”
That’s right.
I’m suffering like this because that man is a failure.
I should be living in the Capital, surrounded by many servants.
I shouldn’t have to spend time in such a poor territory.
And I should have married sooner than that woman.
And then…
“What’s wrong, everyone?”
“Benoah!”
I felt like something inside me had broken.
“What’s all this commotion about?”
“Benoah, why did you invite this person?”
I see, it was all orchestrated by this man who called me tonight.
He pretended to introduce Miss Yuna and made a fool out of me, aiming to embarrass me and isolate me.
“Shepherd, what’s the…”
“You bastaaard!”
“Whoa!”
I couldn’t allow myself to be mocked by a man like this.
Being ridiculed even by a worthless rural noble was unacceptable.
“I won’t forgive you… Never.”
“Stop! Let go of Benoah!”
I grabbed Benoah, and in my frenzy, I had forgotten where we were.
It was a balcony.
And because I lost control, I accidentally pushed Benoah off the balcony.