It was a shocking truth for Quentin.

Charlotte was his fiancée and childhood friend. He held confidence in this view due to how long they had known one another. However, when she pointed out that he was mistaken, and those were all Juliet’s preferences, he could only stare wide-eyed.

“I hate nuts. Was it when I was seven years old? I asked the head chef not to add them in my meals, and that same day, he consulted with that man. He called me in and slapped me across the face, telling me not to be picky. Even though I was just a child, he didn’t even hesitate.”

“Huh…?”

“Nuts are Juliet’s favorite food, so they have to be served once every two to three days. He told me to eat them whenever they are served because Juliet would feel lonely if her sister didn’t eat her favorite food.”

Quentin recalled the scene of Frederick slapping Charlotte in anger on the day they returned from the Elms’ territory.

Then, he recalled when she said it wasn’t the first time she’d been hit.

When she said it hadn’t happened recently, she apparently meant that it happened a lot in the past. Upon hearing that, Quentin didn’t pursue the matter and instead turned a blind eye to it. In truth, was it really okay for a child to be punished for something as trivial as liking or disliking something?

“Thanks to that, I despise it even more. I have to hold back the urge to throw up every time I eat them. Since Juliet has been making me eat nuts with you up until now, you assumed that I like them too, didn’t you? Without even asking me, just like that man!”

Her voice was full of anger at the end—it spoke volumes.

Frederick probably thought that Charlotte’s favorite food was nuts. He surely hadn’t forgotten that exchange in the past. However, he would have conveniently twisted the facts to believe that Charlotte’s tastes had changed. He was convinced that this was correct.

Tastes were personal, and even sisters were different people, so it wasn’t uncommon for them to differ in them. If anything, it was only natural. Regardless, Frederick believed it was natural for Juliet’s sister to like what she did and that she would eventually come around.

How infuriating. She knew that even if she complained, he wouldn’t listen, so she let it go.

“About a week later, the head chef introduced a cheesy mashed potato appetizer. I really liked it, but not Juliet. She didn’t finish the meal because it wasn’t delicious. Of course, His Majesty forgave her. When I mentioned it, he said it was fine since Juliet often had to take medicine she disliked, so I let it go. ‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘Juliet should just eat what she likes.’ After that, we never had that mashed potato dish again. I was looking forward to it, but it disappeared because of that girl.”

Juliet had a lot of likes and dislikes, so there were many more similar incidents.

“If I said I didn’t want to eat something I dislike, I got hit, but she was forgiven. She doesn’t like vegetables either, does she? But she needs to eat a some; otherwise, it wouldn’t be healthy for her. Whenever she eats a bite or two, she gets praised and even rewarded. The difference is night and day,” Charlotte spoke with a smile.

Her usual calm, crown princess-like demeanor only made Quentin more anxious.

“Also, my favorite color has always been blue. But that man made it clear that I have to reflect Juliet’s preferences as much as possible, so I received things that she likes. They’re all pastel. Strange, isn’t it? They’re supposed to be for me, but I have no say. She wants to have matching things, so most of my accessories are her favorites. Well, she did ask for my opinion, but she hardly took it into consideration. In the end, she just bought things according to her own desires. And that’s how you all ended up deciding that my favorite color has changed to match hers.”

Even though she seemed normal, at her core was an unmistakable darkness. So massive, so deep, and so vast that he couldn’t see the bottom.

“What else? Ah, right. Flowers… I don’t like fresh flowers. They don’t last long, wither, and attract bugs. But she likes them, so she often gives them to me as presents.”

Although Charlotte generally thought flowers were beautiful, she didn’t want to have them around. However, because of Juliet, there were always flowers around her, which was extremely annoying.

Even in winter, Juliet had the gardener order a large amount of winter flowers, so her regular gifts never stopped. Frederick also encouraged it, saying that it’d maintain the garden’s scenery year round.

The servants tended to the flowers anyway, so Charlotte accepted it. She’d always thought refusing would be a hassle—until Frederick turned down Ethelbert’s courtship to her, at least.

“When I was eight years old, she made a flower crown and sneakily put it on my head from behind. A bug fell onto my face from it, startling me. I swept the crown off and she started crying… At that time, didn’t you rush over and scold me for being so heartless as to throw away something she worked hard on to make?”

Charlotte grinned, and Quentin lowered his gaze, his face pale.

When he calmly looked back on it, he felt that what he did was a mistake.

“Even when I explained that I was terrified by a bug, it was dismissed as a pathetic excuse, leading to a longer lecture. The harmful bug caused my skin to sting for a while, but Juliet wasn’t told off at all. A doctor was called immediately. They were worried she’d touched the bug while making the flower crown. My examination was an afterthought.”

In the end, Juliet only felt a slight itch on her hands, which healed quickly after applying some ointment. Charlotte’s skin had swelled for about a week, but Frederick didn’t show the slightest concern for her. Since it only affected her skin and didn’t interfere with her educational progress, it was probably just a minor issue for him.

She remembered it well, as if it were yesterday. Frederick probably thought that since he’d be fine with something like that, then Charlotte would be the same.

Surely, if the roles between Charlotte and Juliet had been reversed, the outcome would have been different. If Charlotte had caused Juliet harm, no matter how small, she’d have been severely scolded and ordered to stay in her room.

“You always add a flower to my birthday present, don’t you? I bet that was her advice—her meaningless advice, thinking she knows me. She doesn’t even know I hate flowers—that it’s all because of her.”

At that time, Juliet didn’t feel that she’d done anything wrong. She’d given a flower crown as a kind gesture, and it just so happened to have harmful insects. Her flower crown had been thrown to the ground, so she must’ve been the victim.

As such, there was no apology. On the contrary, Charlotte was made to apologize to Juliet by everyone. Despite her resentment, she apologized to Juliet for ruining the flower crown, and Juliet said, “You didn’t do it on purpose, so I forgive you.”

Charlotte had never forgotten the rage she felt then.

“All the presents you gave me are things she would like, so it’s easy to guess who you were thinking of when you chose them. It’s not like you were trying to hide it, either.”

“!”

“So far, I got it correct, right? Even though we’ve been engaged for over a decade, you never even looked at me, right?”

There was no way he could deny it.

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