They Called Me Trash? Now I'll Hack Their World-Chapter 120: Agnes [4]

"I’m grateful, Master Jin. Truly. That you came looking for me, that you want to..."

She took a shaky breath.

"But I can’t leave the manor. Not yet."

I frowned. "Why not?"

Her jaw tightened, her gaze still fixed on her hands like they held answers she couldn’t speak aloud.

"I have responsibilities," she said quietly. "Things I need to take care of first. I can’t just leave."

I opened my mouth to press further, to ask what could possibly be more important than getting out of here, but she spoke again before I could.

"I’m grateful that you cared enough to visit me, Master Jin. Really. And I’m so happy for you." Her voice brightened artificially, like she was forcing warmth into it. "That you recovered. That you’re healthy now. That things are better."

I sighed internally.

So it was a wasted trip.

The thought sat bitter in my chest.

"Are you actually okay here?" I asked, keeping my voice careful, neutral. "Working for Duke Glimor?"

She smiled, the expression not quite reaching her eyes.

"I am. I’m okay. Fine, even. The work is good, the pay is fair, and the Duke runs a proper household." The words came out practiced, rehearsed. "I’m happy here."

But her hands clenched tighter in her lap.

White-knuckled. Trembling slightly.

I saw it. The disconnect between what she was saying and what her body was screaming.

She’s lying.

I looked back at her face, really looked, and saw the too-bright smile, the tension in her shoulders, the way her eyes didn’t quite meet mine anymore.

Should I just let it go?

Leave her here? Walk away and pretend I tried?

The thought formed and immediately felt wrong. Cowardly.

But what else could I do? Force her? Drag her out against her will?

Then suddenly, Scarlet’s face flashed through my mind. The way she’d looked when she burst into my room. Terrified.

No.

I can’t leave Agnes like that.

Not when something’s clearly wrong.

"Agnes," I said gently, leaning forward slightly. "I can tell something’s wrong. You can tell me. Whatever it is."

She flinched, the movement small but visible.

"No. Nothing’s wrong, Master Jin. Everything is good here. I promise." The words came out too fast, too defensive.

I sighed internally.

I have no choice then.

She stood up, smoothing down her dress with trembling hands, forcing that professional mask back into place.

"I should get back to work. The other maids will wonder where I’ve gone, and I don’t want to cause trouble for—"

"So you hate me too?"

The words stopped her mid-step.

"Just like all the others?"

She froze completely, her back still to me.

Then slowly, so slowly, she turned around. Her face had gone pale again, eyes wide with confusion and hurt.

"Y-Young Master? Wha—"

I raised my hand, cutting her off.

"No need to act anymore, Agnes." I kept my voice quiet, measured. "You can be honest with me. I can handle it."

"Master Jin, I don’t understand what you’re—"

"I know everyone hated me. Ever since I was a kid. Father made it clear I was a disappointment. Vivienne saw me as an obstacle to remove. My siblings to..." I laughed, the sound bitter.

"That’s not—"

"Even the servants whispered when they thought I couldn’t hear." I looked down at my hands, studying them like they held answers. "The useless son. The sickly embarrassment. The one who’d probably die young anyway, so why bother pretending to care?"

"Master Jin, please—"

"And you know what? I’m not shocked that you feel the same way." I looked up at her, forcing my voice to crack slightly. "I mean, I’m a little shocked. You were always so kind. Treated me like I actually mattered, like I was worth caring about. Made me feel like maybe I wasn’t completely worthless."

Agnes took a step forward, her hand reaching out instinctively.

I continued before she could speak.

"It was all an act, wasn’t it?" I let out a shaky breath, looking away from her. "Should have known. Why would you actually care? I was just another noble brat you had to serve. Another mouth to feed, another bed to make, another responsibility you couldn’t wait to be rid of—"

"Stop it." Her voice came out strained, desperate.

"It’s fine. Really." I stood up, turning slightly away from her like I couldn’t bear to look at her anymore. "I understand. You did your job. You were professional. That’s all it was. That’s all I should have expected."

"That’s not true—"

"And now I show up here, disrupting your life, trying to drag you back to a household where you were probably miserable the entire time." I ran my hand through my hair, the gesture agitated, frustrated.

"Of course you don’t want to come back. Why would you? To serve someone everyone else has already written off as worthless?"

"Master Jin, please stop—"

"I just thought..." I let my voice waver, crack at the edges.

"I thought maybe you actually cared. That when Vivienne was poisoning me, when everyone else was either participating or looking the other way, you were different. You actually saw me as a person. But I was wrong, wasn’t I?"

"You weren’t wrong!"

The words burst out of her, loud and desperate enough to echo in the quiet room.

I stopped. Waiting.

"You weren’t wrong," she repeated, her voice breaking completely. "It wasn’t an act. I never—"

She closed the distance between us in three quick steps, her hands reaching out to grab my shoulders, then sliding down to grip my arms like she needed to hold onto something solid.

"I never hated you. Never. Not once."

"Then why—"

"Because I’m scared!" The admission tore out of her like a confession she’d been holding back for months. "Because things are complicated here, and I can’t just," Her breath hitched. "And leaving means risking things I can’t afford to risk."

Her eyes were wet again, tears threatening to spill over.

Before I could say anything else, she pulled me into an embrace.

Arms wrapped around me tight, one hand coming up to the back of my head, the other gripping my shoulder like I might disappear if she let go.

"Please don’t think I didn’t care about you," she whispered against my shoulder, her voice thick with emotion. "Don’t think serving you was just a job or an act or something I did because I had to."

Her voice cracked.

"You were like my own family, Master Jin. And when your father kicked me out, when I couldn’t protect you anymore from whatever Vivienne was doing..." A sob escaped her. "It broke my heart."

Bingo.

The word flashed through my mind with cold satisfaction even as I let myself lean into her embrace, let her hold me like she used to when I was younger.

Got you.

Just a little more...

I pulled back slightly after a moment, just enough to look at her face.

"Then why won’t you leave with me?" I asked quietly, keeping my expression open, vulnerable.

"He threatened me that if I—"

Then she slammed her mouth shut so fast I heard her teeth click together.

Her eyes went wide with horror at what she’d just said.

And she had covered her mouth with her hand, biting down on her lower lip hard enough that I thought she might draw blood.

I stared at her, my expression shifting from hurt to something harder.

"Who threatened you?"