Chapter 182. No Regrets
Penelope led Rupert to the reception room.
Serena and Brigitte crouched in the corner, whispering to each other.
"Um…… Penelope's older brother is really, really handsome."
"I know……."
Serena breathed out a dazed murmur of admiration.
Even back in their university days, rumours about 'Clarisse's older brother' or 'the Rosemore Heir' had been far from scarce.
Compared to Clarisse, whose overwhelming talent had rather overshadowed him in terms of ability, his reputation in Social Circles was the polar opposite.
Among the young ladies of the same generation, there was one thing that never failed to come up.
'He's genuinely terrifyingly handsome and so gentlemanly.'
Word had it that from the daughters of ducal families to royal princesses, and even visiting foreign princesses studying abroad — whenever Ballroom season came around, the behind-the-scenes war to become Rupert Rosemore's partner was a well-known tale.
At the time, Serena had been deep in the grip of her Noble Young Lady disease and sniffed disdainfully.
'Hmph, the beauty of outward appearance is truly such a fleeting thing.'
She had put on airs like that, and yet……
As someone who had devoured romance novels such as 'The Secret Affairs of the Northern Grand Duke' in the dormitory, she couldn't deny that she had privately been curious.
And today. Finally beholding him in person, she understood.
Why those rumours had circulated without cease.
Sunlight filtering through the window caught his golden hair and fashioned a sacred halo around him. A nose and jawline carved as if by sculptor's chisel. Eyes that looked as if steeped in a gentle melancholy, yet warm.
He was simply sitting there breathing, and it was a photoshoot in its own right.
On top of that, his personality seemed pleasant.
"Have you been well?"
"Yes…… Elder Brother."
"When I heard you'd come to the capital, you have no idea how much I missed you."
"Ah…… yes."
The gaze he turned on his younger sister dripped with honey.
Penelope, for her part, seemed awkward and unsettled at how long it had been, but Rupert paid no mind and addressed her warmly.
A heartwarming reunion of siblings. Clearly a beautiful scene, and yet……
Serena quietly rubbed her arm. For no other reason than this.
Serena's 'Timid Radar' was tick-tick-ticking in Rupert's direction, sounding alarm bells.
"……He's oddly unsettling. Doesn't he seem a touch sinister?"
"What? Sister Serena! He's still Penelope's family, though……."
"No, I know that, but……."
Brigitte had a point. But honestly speaking — had the Rosemore Count Family ever done anything for Penelope?
Penelope hadn't particularly spoken ill of Rupert, but to Serena's eyes, Rupert may not have been a perpetrator, but he had been a magnificent bystander. And now, the moment she secured the Royal Trading Company, he shows up this warmly?
She didn't see it in a very favourable light.
Meanwhile.
Penelope herself was rather taken aback.
'Why has Elder Brother come?'
In truth, Rupert was quite a complicated presence to Penelope.
He was not a bad older brother. On the contrary, in her distant memories, Rupert had been quite a warm person.
Before their father had taken to his sickbed, it was always her eldest brother Rupert who would brush little Penelope's hair and sneak sweets into her hands.
The relationship had soured when the family's power was reorganised.
To be precise — from the moment Penelope was branded a useless Hothouse Flower, and Clarisse's condescension and scheming began, Rupert had gradually grown distant.
Right. Which is to say it was quite a long time ago.
It wasn't incomprehensible. Rupert, acting as the family head, would have been rushed off his feet running the family and expanding their business.
Or perhaps, having become the acting family head, he'd had no choice but to apply an equally strict standard to Penelope.
Five whole years of growing estrangement. To the point where she couldn't even remember when they'd last had a proper conversation……
And now the Rupert before her was behaving as if they had met only yesterday. As if those five years of absence had never existed.
That was why this situation felt wholly unreal to her.
"Why are you being so distant?"
Feelings of gladness, hurt, resentment, and bitterness all mingled together. Penelope's lips parted, then at last she summoned the courage to draw out the knot lodged in her heart.
"Because it's so sudden."
"Sudden?"
"You didn't reach out once in the past five years."
Penelope's voice trembled faintly.
"And now that I've secured the Royal Trading Company and there's something to make use of — is that why you've come to find me…… or not?"
It was Penelope's own sharp rejoinder. Rupert held his silence for a moment, then slowly bowed his head with a bitter expression.
"……I'm sorry."
"Pardon?"
"You're right. I have no excuse."
Rupert bowed his head, deeply — very deeply. The unexpected apology left Penelope flustered instead.
"No, I wasn't trying to receive an apology……."
"But please don't misunderstand. The reason I didn't come to find you wasn't because I was ashamed of you."
Rupert raised his head, hesitated, and then slowly brought out that name.
"It was because of Clarisse."
"Sister?"
"Yes. You know, don't you. How much Clarisse hated and kept you in check."
"Isn't it rather cowardly to lay the blame on Sister Clarisse here?"
Penelope smiled a sour, distasteful smile.
"No, Penelope…… hear me out. Even if I am the eldest son and the heir……. As you know, the domestic affairs of the family were already firmly in Clarisse's grip."
Rupert continued, remorseful as a man atoning for his sins.
"The more I tried to shield you, the worse Clarisse's hysteria became. So I kept my distance. I thought that if I appeared indifferent to you, you would be safer."
Penelope said nothing. There were parts she could accept, and parts she could not.
"But now the situation has changed."
Rupert reached out and covered the back of Penelope's hand with his own.
"The company you founded has been officially appointed as a Royal Trading Company."
"……."
"From now on, neither Clarisse nor anyone within the family can openly look down on you or treat you poorly."
Rupert smiled warmly.
"Ah……."
A corner of Penelope's chest stung with an aching twinge.
Her mind understood. The logic was flawless.
But the bitterness that remained in one corner of her heart — that, she could do nothing about.
"So come back, Penelope. I will make good use of you. Your trading company's main business is food and beverage, is it not. I'll give you the support of Rosemore's capital and the North's distribution network. Fly higher under the shelter of your family."
As Rupert spoke with passionate conviction, Penelope instinctively looked to the side. Jurgen was there.
Jurgen had set down his teacup and was simply watching Penelope with quiet, composed eyes.
He said nothing. He neither urged her to return nor pressed her to stay.
But by now she could read his intentions from his gaze alone.
'Do as you wish' — eyes that gave her a gentle push on the back.
Because this was entirely Penelope's burden to carry. If she wished to return to the embrace of her family out of longing, Jurgen would respect that choice without a word of objection.
What would happen if she became fully absorbed into the family's Internal Business?
She would gain support as steadfast as a hundred thousand strong. And above all, that dream she had yearned for so desperately, yet had already concluded could never come true.
She could return to the embrace of her family. She and Clarisse would still be at each other's throats, but she would be safe beneath the great umbrella that was Rupert.
Penelope shifted her gaze again.
Serena, eyes sparkling from the corner of the sofa, watching her. Brigitte, hands clenched into fists with a worried expression.
Right.
Y&P Trading Company was not Penelope's alone. It was a trading company that everyone here had built, headfirst into bare ground — it belonged to them all.
Those nights she'd stayed up with Jurgen in that tiny little shop making Cola. The moments she'd gone all the way to distant Soltera to procure ingredients, and stayed up through the night practising cooking she'd never had any business doing.
A family operates on cold, rigorous calculation of profit and efficiency.
Before that cold arithmetic, what would become of the Culinary Revolution?
Penelope wanted to see her own dream fulfilled. But at the same time, she found herself hoping to see Jurgen's absurd dream fulfilled too.
The answer had already been decided.
"I'm grateful for the offer. But I'll decline."
Rupert's smile came to an abrupt stop. Even he, who had been so composed, showed a momentary flash of genuine surprise at the unexpected refusal.
"Penelope, it seems your feelings haven't settled yet. I truly am sorry."
"No. I can tell that the remorse you feel towards me isn't a lie. And I'll accept the apology. I'm not harbouring any resentment towards the family anymore, either."
Penelope shook her head with calm composure.
"One of the reasons I was able to come here is that I was the second daughter of the Rosemore family."
Rupert looked even more at a loss than before.
"Then why on earth? Wouldn't greater support be a good thing for you too?"
"I happen to like the Y&P we have right now. I want to try doing it with our own strength, in our own way."
Penelope added no further reasons. Smiling with quiet resolve, she simply drew the line — briefly and firmly, as the representative of Y&P Trading Company.
"……."
A brief silence settled over the reception room.
Rupert stared at his younger sister as if lost for words.
But Penelope's gaze did not waver.
At length.
"……Ha."
A hollow laugh escaped Rupert's lips. As if struck speechless, or dumbfounded.
"I understand. If that is truly your wish."
Rupert made no further attempt to persuade her and rose from his seat.
"What a shame. I was planning to return to the North on the morning train tomorrow. It would have been nice to go together."
"Please travel safely, Elder Brother. We'll make our way back slowly once things are sorted here."
"Very well. I'll see you in the North."
Rupert gave Penelope's shoulder a light pat and headed for the entrance.
"Haa……."
After Rupert had gone. Penelope sank deep into the sofa.
She had kicked away with her own feet the most reliable shield and the surest road to success. Now she truly had to throw herself at it bare-handed.
Well, when has it ever been any different?
Jurgen cleared away the empty teacups and asked gently.
"No regrets?"
"Regrets, what regrets."
Penelope answered in a drained voice — yet clearly.
"I told you before. I want your dream to come true too."
"But you have your own dream, don't you?"
"Holding onto a childhood dream forever is a bit childish, isn't it. I'm an adult now."
Saying that, Penelope shot Jurgen a playfully mischievous sidelong glance. Jurgen stared blankly at her for a moment, then caught himself.
"Oh my……."
Hearing Serena's exclamation, Penelope caught herself a beat later as well.
It was because Serena was looking back and forth between Jurgen and Penelope with a mischievous, slightly flushed expression.
"Serena, close your mouth."
"I didn't say a single word though?"
"Keep it closed."
"Yes-sir~"
Serena giggling away. Brigitte utterly bewildered.
Jurgen and Penelope each swallowed a flustered cough of embarrassment.