Night of the Abandoned Duchess

Chapter 48

In an instant, her face flamed up. Still, her eyes moved little by little, and she glanced to see if his arm was okay.

“I’m sorry, aren’t you staring at me too much?”

“Because you got burned with the tea a while ago… The more I thought about it, the more worried I became.”

A white cloth was wrapped several layers around his stiff, muscular arms.

“Looks like you’ve already been treated. You have a cloth wrapped around your arm.”

“Yes. It’s over soon. I wasn’t seriously injured.”

The room was neat and tidy as if revealing his neat personality. Rosalind looked around for a moment, then met his eyes, but then avoided him again. He was still not wearing a top, and she was embarrassed to face him.

Albert then put on his top and began to button the buttons.

Their ears were a little red.

* * *

In the corner of the market, there was a small shop that could be reached only after crossing a narrow alley several times.

There was no signboard, and it was dark and gloomy, so it was impossible to tell what was being sold or whether they were selling or not.

Rosalind was sitting in a creaky chair inside the store, listening to the man’s report. The face of the man who was facing Rosalind was grim, but there was also a smirk.

“…I heard it from a servant who worked at the Spencer family’s castle until two years ago, so I can’t be wrong. Kyle Spencer was originally the son of a noble family, and upon the death of his parents, he was said to have been raised by the villagers. That child was brought in by Duke Spencer, who had no heir, and enlisted as his son.”

He spoke to her, who was only listening without any sign of astonishment.

“…It’s said that when he was young, his personality was a little twisted, so he often got angry, saying that he would not let it go or that he would kill it. It was Duke Spencer at the time, his adoptive father, who quenched that hatred.”

“Who did he say he wanted to kill?”

The answer to Rosalind’s question fell quite neatly.

“The man who made him like this… that’s what he said.”

She shut her eyes.

“As the successor raised by a Duke, he’s not only good at various martial arts such as archery and swordsmanship, but he was good with his brains. And, he had been looking for a woman a lot not long ago… He was so desperate that it was rumored all around the place. It’s said that Duke Spencer, who has a lot of money, will give you a lot of money if we find just one woman. With the money, we can do anything we want.”

The man stroked his chin several times with his crude fingertips as though tempting her.

“He says not to do anything, just to find her at any cost… Oh, her name was…”

“That’s enough.”

Rosalind jumped up from her seat without realizing it.

“I think you can stop.”

…At any cost.

However, Rosalind soon lost strength in her legs and sat down again. A creaking sound rang out as she slumped down onto the chair as if toppling herself.

Her hand, which was holding the hem of her dress, was trembling. Her breath was tight because of her stuffy dress, and there was no strength in her limbs, let alone any part of her body. Only a certain possibility kept floating around in her mind.

“There’s another story. You should hear it, too.”

The man giggled as if the behavior of a noblewoman, much smaller than him, was ridiculous.

Every time he opened his mouth, she could see teeth that were sparsely missing. If she had been the usual, she would have been afraid of such a nasty face, but she now had confused feelings first.

“Moving on to the next…”

As Rosalind listened to the explanation that followed, she barely swallowed her breath.

No matter how hard she tried to calm down, she couldn’t easily calm down. It took longer than expected, and when she finished talking, Rosalind returned home. She had no appetite, so she skipped dinner and put Leo to sleep.

As she stared out the window endlessly and wrote down something as if to organize her thoughts, after thinking about it until late at night, she dreamed in her brief nap.

…Her father appeared in her dream, and he had very bitter eyes.

“What use is such a girl!”

In front of her father, Rosalind was a much younger and weaker child than she was now. As a young girl, she was trembling for fear of being beaten by her father. Holding her beloved doll in her arms, she waited in the corner of the darkroom, waiting for her father’s anger to subside.

Then, her father slowly approached.

Rosalind stepped back, though suddenly, she felt a hard wall behind her back. She groped the wall eagerly as though she was looking for a way out, but there was no way for her to run away, and she was just terrified.

“You have to do what I tell you!”

When he raised his hand high, she closed her eyes reflexively.

However, after a long time passed, she quietly opened one of her eyes. This time, unlike the moment before when he had wanted to punish her, her frail father was standing there.

“…Are you going to kill me?”

Her father looked so fragile that it would break if she touched his hand like a dry fallen leaf.

“Are you going to let me die like this?”

“Fa, father…”

“I can’t close my eyes like this because I’m upset.”

He squeezed out the rest of his strength and appealed. As she lowered her gaze, her small body had grown as large as it was now.

She knew then that this was a dream.

“Rosalind…!”

The moment her father’s cry rang out, she opened her eyes.

“Ha… ha…”

Rosalind exhaled her breath heavily and got her body up. She checked the child in her arms, and then she felt relieved and hugged the child tightly.

Leo, who woke up from his sleep, rubbing his sleepy eyes, asked her as he could feel her erratic breathing and sudden tension.

“Mom, why?”

“No. Nothing.”

They used to sleep separately, but these days, she slept with Leo next to her. As if she was worried that she might lose the child, she had to hold Leo by her side so that she could fall asleep.

“…What kind of person is dad to Leo?”

In her dream, her father was screaming authoritatively. What did being a father means to a child?

…What should it mean?

‘It’s something that comes up after the evidence is gone, so I think it’s important to tell who he was first.’

Even if it was only a feeling, even if he was a father who had never been warm, even if he was someone that would just disappear…

“Dad is, um, plays well… just good!”

“What do you mean by good? What is good?”

Even she asked Leo, that was also a question she asked herself. Rosalind’s mind was just complicated. Rosalind covered her face with her palms.

“Are you going to kill me?”

Her father’s voice caught her breath. It was painful because she couldn’t figure out what was the right answer. She had been having the same dream for the past few days.

In her dream, her father kept asking Rosalind over and over.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“…I never killed father.”

Although she talked to him several times in her dream, she couldn’t get it right.

“You’re leaving me dead.”

He was already dead, but he was dying more and more. Now, it seemed like he was begging beyond the grave.

Perhaps, it was hatred…

The expression on her father’s face looked like he was about to cry, though it was Rosalind who actually wanted to cry. She was always the victim in front of her father, so why should she feel as if she was the perpetrator in her dreams?

‘How can a dead man look more dead than he looks?’

Her father grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her wildly.

Unlike his dry, old, and wrinkled face, his strength was as fierce as his big father when she was younger. Rosalind woke up from the dream every time it happened. As she hugged Leo tightly, she asked herself a question that had no answer.

“…What should I do?”

Today, Leo spoke as if he was giving an answer to a question he had always asked her.

“Do what you think is right.”

Rosalind opened her eyes, as if in a little surprise.

“Because I’m always on your side.”

“Are you going to let me die like this?”

Even though she always seemed to be out of breath, Leo’s voice gave her a little air.

Leo was right.

…Do what she thought was right.

* * *

It was the afternoon of the next day that Rosalind visited the Imperial Investigation Unit. The Imperial Investigation Unit was an institution in charge of cases involving high-ranking officials and high-ranking nobles.

From the smallest to the largest, it was the first place to go when it comes to noble-related matters.

Although it was not the same as the castle where the Emperor was staying, the security was rigorous, so soldiers were lined up at the entrance of the investigation unit.

The soldiers, with their well-colored armor and well-rounded faces, glanced at Rosalind, who had been hesitating for a while in front of them.

“Madam, what are you going to do? Are you really going in?”

Despite Anna’s question, she could not make up her mind and she continued to hang around. After a while, as if she had finally made up her mind, she gazed at Anna clearly.

“Yes. I will go in. I have to go in.”

As she walked through the front door and stepped inside, a firm voice was heard from behind her.

“Someone who is not a noble is not allowed to enter.”

Rosalind turned her head and stared at Anna with slightly anxious eyes. Still, she had no choice as it was associated with the imperial family.

“I can go shopping for a while because I had something to buy, anyway. I will buy it soon and come back to this place.”

Anna said don’t worry, and smiled softly. Then, she nodded her head once as though to give Rosalind courage. Making up her mind again, she took one step at a time. Even though she still lacked confidence, she didn’t stop.

It had rained a while ago, so there was a lot of fog around it. Because of that, it was as if her back was being swallowed by a massive mist.

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