Night of the Abandoned Duchess

Chapter 51

“Go up!”

Rosalind glanced at her side at the blunt voice.

She wanted to run away like this, though she couldn’t because of the dagger that was showing off its presence from her side. They were the ones who had decided to kill her, so they would definitely stab her for real.

As she thought of that, she seemed to be struck by fear again. She struggled to keep her calm and climbed into the carriage. There was no escape from the current situation. It was just reckless.

As she sat inside the carriage, Albert, who followed her, took a seat next to her.

“Even if it’s uncomfortable, be patient for a moment.”

‘For a moment’ meant that the destination was not far away.

Rosalind glanced around and bit her lip.

The carriage began to run at a terrifying speed as soon as they were seated. The scenery of the forest-lined with only similar trees, quickly passed through the window without knowing where it was.

The inside of the carriage was filled with only the sound of papers Albert occasionally flipping. After the carriage departed, he continued to review certain documents. Even though she wondered if it had anything to do with her, her gaze did not leave the window.

Because she now had her own thing to do.

Rosalind carefully opened her fist, which had been clenched in a round shape. A small piece of glass was in her hand.

When she fell earlier, she stole it. In fact, she fell on purpose.

It was because there were shards of glass on the floor, so she thought it was worth doing even if it hurt a little. After her father passed away, she had to escape for her mother and Leo, who were left alone.

Pretending to look out the window, she glanced at Albert and took the piece of glass to the rope. Since she had fallen and grabbed it quickly, she couldn’t pick the right one. Anything that was too big would be obvious, and something too small would be difficult to cut the rope.

So, what she held in her hand was a piece of glass that was smaller than planned.

Rosalind barely squeezed her trembling hands and began to gnaw at the rope. It was unknown when Albert would put down the papers. The unfamiliar hands continued to turn around, perhaps because of the pressure to hurry.

The moment she pierced the piece of glass a little deeper because of frustration, the piece of glass cut her wrist.

“Ah…”

A groan came out that she didn’t know. Albert, who was staring at the papers, turned his head to Rosalind.

“What happened? Are you hurt?”

“…No.”

Rosalind spoke her words in haste as she hid her surprise.

“It hurts where I fell. How long will it take to arrive? Where the hell are we going?”

“You have too many questions.”

In response to his reply, as if somewhat annoying, she turned her gaze back to the window.

Outside the window was still the same scenery as before. She kept watching, wondering if there was anything she could recognize, but to no avail. She didn’t know where she was going, so she was getting more and more nervous.

However, Albert’s voice rang in her ears.

“I don’t want to do it like this, but I have no choice but to do it.”

I’ll release you when you arrive.

Saying something, he pulled out a cloth and began to cover her eyes.

“I’m, I’m scared.”

“I know.”

All of a sudden, her vision darkened and she heard a rustling sound from behind.

It was probably from tying the cloth that covered her eyes tightly. Even though her body was tied up, it was even more daunting and frightening to cover her eyes. It became impossible for her to scratch the rope as she could no longer see it.

Now, Rosalind could only sit still, and she could do nothing but catch her breath. The carriage was rattling all the time, and she didn’t know what he was going to do or where they were going, so she felt stuffed.

No matter how much she thought about whether there was any other way, she felt only helpless and hopeless.

It wasn’t long after that the familiar voice in her ears, which had become more sensitive as her vision was blocked, penetrated.

“Do you want me to tell you why I took revenge? Since you’ll die, you should know why you are dying.”

“…Are you going to kill me?”

In an instant, her heart sank. Rosalind tried to answer calmly, although fear was evident in her trembling voice.

“I was trying to kill you. Though it’s true that I really like you a little bit.”

‘…You kidnapped someone and got to like them?’

Normally, she would have burst out laughing out of absurdity, but in front of fear, even that feeling was a luxury.

“Originally, I wanted to kill you, but now I don’t want to. I’m thinking about taking revenge by taking that bastard’s daughter. Well, it could be a shallow rationalization. But, I don’t think it’s wrong. Every time you see me, you’ll think of the lost Leo and your father that I killed.”

Just thinking about Leo made her go crazy. Her mother, and Kyle… Suddenly, his face flashed through my mind.

“Your father, Baron, was a snake. His fluttering tongue was long and wicked. That man pushed my father out of the power struggle. He was just saying the right thing and foolishly came out of the emperor’s eyes. It was your father who cut in on the gap. My mother got sick and died while watching the family collapse.”

“My father…”

“Yes. All your misfortunes stem from your father. If you don’t want to, you never know who else’ll get hurt. I don’t know what will happen if my anger doesn’t work out.”

…Father’s sin.

Rosalind pondered those words quietly.

A number of people appeared in front of her. The gentle and friendly maid, Anna, who was like family, her mother, who was now left alone, and even Leo.

She quickly took a deep breath.

“M-my father must have sinned, but isn’t it common to fight for power between nobles? It’s not that my father wasn’t at fault. My father’s an unscrupulous man, and I, who grew up under him, benefited anyway. Nonetheless, I don’t think it makes sense to kill and injure someone innocent. It was my father’s fault… I will pay for the sins. A lot of people were hurt by this. Soldiers were killed or wounded, and the servants involved in the incident were also injured. No more, no more. please…”

“Now, are you trying to lecture me?”

“No, not that… Please, save the others.”

Rosalind spoke in an earnest voice.

When she thought of Leo, Rosalind wanted to get away from Albert so much, but if Leo and other people got hurt because of her, she thought it would be better for her to die right here.

“Do you want to die here?”

“No…”

Huugh!

She let out a moan without uttering the words. His hand pressed against her was rough and heavy as if squeezing her shoulder.

“If you’re not lecturing, then what…”

But, at that moment, the carriage came to a sudden stop. Immediately, Albert and Rosalind’s bodies swung forward at the sudden recoil.

Hiiii—The horse’s howl was heard.

“What’s going on?”

He looked out the window and opened the door, and got out of the carriage. Rosalind was guessing the situation from the sound she heard. When the carriage door opened and Albert seemed to move away, she started to rub the rope again with the piece of glass.

“…What!”

A loud male voice came out of the window. Rosalind was blindfolded, so she had no idea what was going on. Because she was preoccupied with just cutting the rope, she fell as the floor leaned sideways.

Thump-thud!

Her body collided with the wall, and she slumped forward in an instant.

It wasn’t even clear where the ceiling was and where the floor was. She struggled, but to no avail. Rosalind gnawed at the rope frantically, determined to get out of here. She could feel the taut rope gradually loosening and getting thinner.

‘A little bit more… a little, a little more…’

Finally, with a slight sound, the cord broke, and her hands were free.

She then pulled down the cloth that had covered her eyes right away and untied the ropes from her body.

Hurriedly looking outside, she saw that she had been attacked by bandits. The carriage had collapsed entirely sideways. Albert was the only one in the carriage, but quite a few men were entangled and fighting as if there were some who had followed her on the horse.

She didn’t know who she was or where Albert and the man who had brought her were, but it didn’t matter…

Getting out of here quickly was the most important thing.

Rosalind crawled through the broken crevices of the carriage, bending as far as she could. And, as she ran to hide in the grass behind the carriage, someone grabbed her wrist roughly.

Holding her breath as she was still frozen, Rosalind didn’t even look back.

‘…Who is it? The bandit? Albert?’

The temperature of the stranger holding her wrist was high, and the grip was strong and firm. Shivering from the extreme tension, she slowly turned her head.

A man’s face came into her white vision.

“…Kyle? How!”

Rosalind looked at Kyle with a puzzled face. Seeing Rosalind, who suddenly had no idea from where he appeared or how this happened, Kyle said in a low voice as if pleading. The urgency of the situation was felt in his voice, which continued quickly without any fuss.

“Listen well. Go up this way and you’ll see a road. Just follow that road and keep going straight. It’s a bit far, but Dustin, my old friend, will accompany you.”

He blinked and pointed to the tall man standing a distance away.

“How did you know?”

“We’ll talk about that later after you get out of here.”

He stared intently into Rosalind’s eyes, which were full of fear. He gave her a confident smile that gave her the courage to do it.

“You must remember what I said. It’s not difficult at all. Go to Leo.”

She peered around helplessly. It seemed that only two or three people that Kyle had brought. If she went with one of them, Dustin, he would be outnumbered. It didn’t make sense to leave him alone like that.

“What about you—”

“Go! hurry!”

“But…”

That moment…

Someone ran from behind him.