Chapter 9
Étienne was being drenched by the pouring rain.
Crouched behind the annex, he struggled desperately to pry off the board covering the entrance. Working bare-handed, barely able to see through the rain, the task was far from easy.
‘Don’t just stand there! Go to our young lady at once! Our young lady is terribly afraid of the basement. My Lady Diana, have mercy.’
Had he heard correctly—that once he tore down this tightly locked door, he would find a passage leading to the cellar where Sioana was imprisoned?
“Damn it!”
He had broken the lock with a kick, but the old, moss-covered door would not budge. Only after ripping away the wooden boards with his battered hands was he able to open the outer shutter. Climbing down the ladder, a dark basement greeted him.
‘……’
As he crawled inside, he soon caught sight of a slender ankle. Sioana scrambled out from under the bed, screamed, and pressed herself against the opposite wall. Watching her tremble with her eyes tightly shut, he felt a strange familiarity.
‘Étienne, I was so scared.’
Whenever he had found his younger brother Edwin, locked in a closet as a joke by their older brothers, the boy would sob and cling to him. He didn’t know why Sioana reminded him of his dead brother.
‘She’s not my brother.’
He wiped his bleeding hand on his trousers and approached her.
At that moment, a pair of blue eyes opened in the darkness and fixed on him. When their eyes finally met, Étienne felt flustered.
He couldn’t understand why he had come here.
It wasn’t as if Martha had sent him.
At a loss for words, he tugged at the wet front of his shirt. Then Sioana spoke.
“……Get out.”
“……?”
At her words, Étienne’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t expected a thank you, but he certainly hadn’t expected to be told to leave.
Sioana extended a weak arm and pushed him away. A bundle of food fell from Étienne’s chest.
“Eli oppa won’t let this go.”
She muttered, looking down at the apples and bread rolling on the damp floor. Only then did Étienne realize what she was worried about.
He knelt down without a word, quietly wrapped the apples and bread back in the cloth, and held them out to her.
She looked so pale and exhausted it wouldn’t have been surprising if she had fainted.
“You’ll get in trouble! Go back, now.”
Sioana’s eyes searched not him, but the space beyond him.
Étienne realized she was a little out of her wits.
“I told you to leave!”
He stood there and took a few of her weak, painless punches. Sioana was panting, but life slowly returned to her eyes.
“……Étienne.”
As she called his name, her pale face showed a tangle of emotions. Étienne kept his distance and simply watched her in silence. Then Sioana reached out her hand.
“I, I am……”
Her exhausted body swayed forward. Étienne quickly stepped in to catch her.
“……Ah.”
The moment her forehead touched his chest, his body went rigid.
“……!”
As if that wasn’t enough, Sioana’s unconscious body went limp. If he left her like this, she would hit her head on the floor.
Left with no choice, Étienne scooped her up in his arms.
“……Mmm.”
An indistinct moan escaped Sioana’s lips as he held her.
She was much lighter than he had expected. But trying his best to keep her body from touching his as much as possible soon made a cold sweat trickle down his spine.
He did not know how long it took to walk just a few paces. He laid Sioana on the shabby bed and pulled a blanket over her.
“……Ha.”
Once it was all over, he slumped onto the floor. He had felt chilled to the bone from the rain, but now it felt as if he had swallowed a ball of fire—oppressive and stifling.
“……What the hell am I even doing.”
His flushed cheeks glistened as he wiped the continuous droplets away with his large hands.
Outside the window, the rain hammered the ground with a loud clatter, swallowing even the sound of Sioana’s labored breathing.
The next day, the Count, who had returned to Regbel without any notice, was having breakfast. He had arrived late the night before and still looked weary from the journey.
“Father, how is the capital these days?”
“All in an uproar over foreign affairs. I hear the Emperor of Urzheka is gravely ill. The Crown Prince is still young, so we’ll have to wait and see how things turn out. And those barbarians from the west keep raiding and plundering—it seems the army has a headache on its hands.”
“I hope the one who benefits Father’s business becomes Emperor.”
Eli’s reply brought a satisfied smile to the Count’s face.
“By the way, where is your younger sister? Her father comes home, and she doesn’t show her face.”
Just as the Count was frowning in displeasure, Sioana appeared.
“Father, you’ve arrived.”
Her pale face looked somewhat ill, but he paid it little mind.
“Tsk, tsk. How will she ever amount to anything? Don’t bring me tea—bring me a glass of wine instead.”
As the Count made an annoyed sound, Eli added smoothly, “Sioana, you should break that habit of sleeping in.”
“I’m, I’m sorry.”
Sioana answered awkwardly, then bowed her head deeply.
She had just come from the annex, helped by Martha. If her father had not come, she probably would not have emerged until late afternoon. She had slept in an unheated place, so her whole body ached and she felt feverish.
‘I have to bear it.’
She knew that if she showed any sign of illness here, her father would only find her more pathetic.
Sioana tried to ladle out the porridge as naturally as possible, but the hand holding the spoon trembled. Fearing the spoon clattering noisily against the plate, she quickly grabbed her own wrist with her other hand.
“Indeed. I trust nothing much has happened in Regbel.”
“Of course not. Thanks to you, my lord, everyone is at peace.”
“It seems we’ll have to collect a bit more tax this year. The business in the capital requires no small amount of money.”
“I will handle it properly.”
Listening to the conversation between her father and Eli, Sioana felt a sharp headache.
‘What does he mean, collect more tax?’
The lands of Regbel were unsuitable for farming, and this year there had been nothing but sudden, torrential downpours. The grain harvest was bound to be poor.
Eli probably knew nothing about the Regbel estate. She couldn’t understand how he could sound so confident.
“Oh, and we’ve started Sioana’s etiquette lessons. The Baroness Hooper is a dignified, cultured woman—I believe she will provide excellent instruction.”
The Count, who spent long periods in the capital, stroked his mustache as he watched Eli, who always handled matters without a hitch.
“Once Sioana is married, it might be good for you to come up to the capital soon as well. In business, there is much you need to learn from the ground up.”
“You can count on me.”
They were discussing Sioana’s marriage, leaving out the very person who was to be married.
Feverish and exhausted, Sioana gave a bitter smile. She deliberately straightened her back and sat up tall, so as not to show her upset face.
After all, they were her only family. She did not want to earn their hatred.
After finishing his work in the stables, Étienne scooped up some well water and poured it over his head.
Whoosh!
The well water of Regbel was so cold it jolted his mind awake.
His homeland had warm breezes all year round, so he kept comparing the two. Looking at the water streaming from his head, a trace of longing passed through his red eyes.
‘I suppose I haven’t suffered enough.’
The proof was that he still could not shake off the past.
Now, his name and lineage meant nothing. He was nothing but a lowly, wandering drifter. Étienne glanced at the slave mark carved on his wrist and smiled bitterly.
“……!”
Hearing a sound, his sharp senses made him quickly scan the surroundings. He was ready to grab anything that could serve as a weapon.
But when he saw who it was, he relaxed.
“…….”
Sioana came straight to his side and stood with her chin raised.
Seeing her, the night he thought he had forgotten naturally came back to mind. Sioana in his arms had not just been light—her body had been very soft and warm.
Étienne never wanted to feel that way again. So he instinctively turned away from her.
Watching the slave pretend not to know her, Sioana frowned.
‘What now? Why is he acting like that again…?’
Whenever she felt they were becoming close, Étienne would pull away.
She recalled that nightmare-like night trapped in the annex. The moment she thought she could not overcome her fear, he had appeared.
She didn’t know why, but seeing Étienne had put her at ease. Yet now he wouldn’t even look at her. A complicated anger rose inside her.
“Why are you putting on airs again?!”
As she snapped at him, he slowly turned around—and her cheeks instantly flamed.
Under his wet white shirt, his solid body was plainly visible. Broad shoulders and fine muscles stood out with every slight movement.
Startled, Sioana quickly spun back around.
