ROSES HAVE THORNS
Chapter 195 - Enough Is Enough
"Wait a minute... Mr. Valentine," Kurt placed a hand over his mouth and gasped, dripping his voice with an irritating layer of sarcasm. "Haven’t you told these poor people about me yet? Wow. I’m genuinely hurt. And here I thought I was the talk of the family dinner table."
"The only poor one here is you, you miserable vagrant!" Everett stepped directly in front of Kurt’s face. "You’re nothing but a parasite clinging to a woman you don’t deserve! So why don’t you do everyone a massive favor? Go crawl back to the adventurers’ guild, pick up a pathetic F-rank quest to clean out some sewers, and maybe – just maybe – you’ll earn enough copper to–"
"I dunno, man... I’m actually feeling pretty damn rich if you ask me. Also, just a minor detail, but apparently, I’m expecting to have an official audience with the King himself soon. I’m sure you’ve read about how I’ve captured a member of the zealots and also successfully retrieved the sacred body of the old Saintess. I can’t wait to see just how hefty my pockets will feel after I receive my reward. But hey, what do I know? I’m just a lowly adventurer~ Hahaha."
Everett’s mother, who had been staring at Kurt with a confused expression, suddenly let out a knowing gasp. Her hand flew to her chest as the puzzle pieces inside her mind snapped into place.
"Honey... my goodness, it’s him!" she whispered to her husband in a voice of trembling recognition. "He’s the one! He’s the person who was seen running through the streets completely covered in blood from head to toe!"
Nearly tripping over himself, Kurt looked at her with amusement. "Argh! Really? That is such old news. Can we please focus on the present? I washed the blood out of my hair weeks ago..."
Beside him, Julianne couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh, though her eyes remained subtly anxious. She reached out and gently took hold of Kurt’s arm.
"Please, be careful, Kurt. You’d make Diana incredibly sad if you came back to her looking hurt again."
"Haha... Yeah. You’re right, Julianne. I’ll be more careful from now on–"
"Get your filthy hands off her!" Everett demanded.
He looked wildly around the marketplace, realising that his own "fiancée’s" mother was openly leaning on the man he despised. Feeling desperate, he snapped his head toward the silent duke.
"Lord Reuben! Are you honestly just going to stand there and watch this happen?! Please do something about this!"
Reuben, who did not look fazed in the slightest, stood like a stone statue as he stared blankly at Kurt. As his cold and merciless gaze shifted onto his wife, Kurt felt Julianne tremble against his arm.
"Julianne," Reuben finally spoke in a tone entirely devoid of any emotion.
"Firstly, get away from that man. You are acting beneath your station as my wife. Secondly," he turned his piercing eyes onto Kurt again, "I believe I have already explained the reality of this situation to you, boy.
"You are not fit for my daughter. You possess no lineage, no status, and no future that aligns with the house of Valentine. Both you and Diana need to wake up from this childish delusion, accept reality, and go your separate ways before–"
"I’VE HAD ENOUGH!"
The sudden, piercing scream shattered the tense atmosphere.
Julianne ripped her hand away from Kurt and stepped directly in front of her husband. Tears were already welling in her eyes, but her face was completely flushed with years of pent-up rage.
"Your daughter finally found someone she actually loves! She found someone who makes her smile like no man ever has! And now... now you want to tear them apart?! And for what?! For your precious pride?! For a political alliance?!"
She took another furious step closer to Reuben. "You didn’t even give Kurt a single chance! You didn’t even try to get to know him! You just looked at his status and decided he was nothing! You are hurting our only baby girl, Reuben! You are destroying her happiness because of your own selfishness!"
Everett immediately stepped forward and raised his hands in a patronizingly soothing gesture.
"Madam Valentine, please, it’s nothing like that at all. You’re just being emotional right now. Diana and I love each other very much. She’s just a little confused at the moment. This F-rank has most definitely manipulated her, but once we are married, she will see reason. I promise."
’This bitch. Sorry Emy, but I swear if he says her name one more time, I’m tearing his throat out.’
"Stop saying that!" Julianne turned on Everett with disgust written all over her face.
"Stop telling that lie! Diana is NOT confused, and she is certainly NOT in love with you! She has made her feelings perfectly clear to you for years! You made her detest the very sight of you with your incessant confessions of love! Yet you dare to ignore her feelings? You dare to barge into her home, make these ridiculous, delusional claims, and then you dare to run straight to my husband like a frightened toddler when nothing goes your way?!"
The volume of her screaming had halted the bustling activity of the festival surrounding them.
Hundreds of students, tourists, and stall owners stopped what they were doing and turned their attention toward the commotion. Whispers began to ripple through the crowd as people recognised the Duke of Valentine and the wealthy Herst family.
When Everett noticed the gathering crowd, his aristocratic pride instantly flared as he realised they were becoming a public spectacle.
"Madam Valentine, look around us," he hissed under his breath and reached his hand out to grab her wrist. "We are making an embarrassing scene. We should leave this place immediately and discuss this in private–"
WHACK!
Before Everett’s fingers could even brush Julianne’s skin, Kurt’s hand snapped forward like a striking viper and smacked his hand away with brutal force, making the noble flinch in pain.
"Do not touch her, muchacho. If you reach toward her again, I won’t just slap your hand – I’ll take the whole damn arm off."
Everett stumbled back a step. Automatically, his eyes darted right back to Reuben, silently begging the duke to put this one-eyed ruffian in his place.
"Look at him!" Julianne let out a bitter, mocking laugh. "There he goes again! Look at your chosen successor, Reuben! The moment a real man stands up to him, he runs straight to you like a spineless coward!"
Tears fell down her face as she heartbreakingly gripped her husband’s wrists. "Is this really the man you want to force our daughter to marry?! Look at him, Reuben! He has no courage, no strength of his own! He hides behind your shadow because he cannot stand on his own two feet!"
Reuben let out a long breath through his nose. "Julianne. Stop making a scene. You are embarrassing yourself in front of everyone. Compose yourself and get ready. We are leaving."
Without waiting for her response, Reuben turned and offered a stiff nod toward the Herst family. "I apologise deeply for my wife’s unseemly outburst. We will discuss this topic another time–"
"Why?!" Julianne finally broke down completely.
The cold rejection from her husband shattered her spirit causing her to fall to her knees hard on the ground. Her hands covered her face as heart-wrenching sobs racked her body.
"Why do you never listen to me?! Why do you never listen to Diana?! Every single day, you are pushing us further and further away! Please, Reuben... I am begging you! Don’t push us away!
"Ever since that Emelie girl had been deemed a prodigy, you’ve completely changed! We are your family! Diana is your flesh and blood! We need you... not the Herst family! Why do they matter more than your own daughter’s tears?!"
"What is going on here?"
A cool, commanding voice suddenly drifted over the crowd.
Walking through the parting sea of people was Diana herself. She saw Kurt standing with his fists clenched, and right next to him, collapsed on the dirt and crying her eyes out, was her mother.
"Mom? Rosie?"
Julianne snapped her head up. The moment she saw her daughter standing there, the last of her emotional walls completely disintegrated.
"D-Diana! My baby girl!" She scrambled up from the floor and ran straight into her daughter’s arms.
Diana immediately wrapped her arms tightly around her mother and gently stroked her hair while looking over her shoulder.
"Ana." Kurt gestured with his head. "Take her out of here. Take her straight to our place. She shouldn’t have to be around these scum for another second."
Diana looked from Kurt, toward her father, then to Everett, and finally to the uncomfortable members of the Herst family. She didn’t need any further explanation. The scene spoke for itself.
"... I see. I understand."
SHWOOSH
Everett took a frantic step forward, his hand reaching out into the empty air where Diana and Julianne had just been standing "Wait! Diana! Come back! We need to properly talk–"
THWACK!!!!
CRASH!
Out of absolutely nowhere, Kurt’s fist connected with a sickening, bone-crushing crunch directly on Everett’s nose.
The force of the punch was so brutal that Everett flew off the ground – bloodied nose – and crashed into the jewelry stall behind him.
The surrounding crowd gasped in horror with several noble ladies screaming as they covered their eyes. But Kurt didn’t care.
He walked over and stood over the unconscious noble, slowly lowering his fist as he shook the tension out of his knuckles. A dark, deeply satisfied, and feral grin split his face.
"Hehehe~ Man... I have been waiting to do that for a long, long time."