Chapter – 22
“Here, dry your hair first.”
“…Okay. Thank you.”
Holding the towel Kirion handed her, she gave a faint smile. The scenery outside the window, viewed from inside such a luxurious and cushioned carriage, felt so dramatic that it seemed unreal. It felt even more so when she thought that somewhere out there, her father was.
Leaning her head against the window, Evangeline blinked her hazy eyes at the rain that was growing heavier by the minute.
“Maybe he granted at least one of my wishes. Seeing how hard it’s raining.”
“What are you talking about? You need to see a physician right now.”
“No. I want to stay here just a little longer.”
She shook her head at Kirion, who was about to order the carriage to depart on his own. Though he usually respected Evangeline’s wishes, this time he did not yield so easily.
“Don’t say nonsense. You’re about to collapse.”
“….”
“You sent the Count off properly, didn’t you? Or is there something else you still have to do?”
“It’s the last time.”
Heat rose in her large eyes. The countless emotions that had stormed through her began, one by one, to clear away.
“Father once told me that if you wait half a day, you can understand the land.”
“Eva.”
“So I was wondering… maybe people are the same.”
Though she spoke only words he couldn’t fully grasp, the loneliness on her face as she gazed out the window kept Kirion from urging her further. As she slowly leaned her head back, the last of the strength drained from Evangeline’s voice.
“…I’ll just rest like this for a bit.”
◇ ◆ ◇
In the end, they arrived a full day later than planned. Entering the city of Roak late at night, Decarno declined the Emperor’s invitation to a banquet at the imperial palace and instead redirected his carriage. The Tese ducal carriage sped through the night streets without slowing, despite the relentless rain.
“….”
Glancing out at the pitch-black streets where nothing could be seen, Decarno rested his arm on the window frame. At this hour he would normally be finishing the remaining paperwork, but tonight he couldn’t focus. Tap, tap—his fingers drummed meaninglessly against the window before drifting toward the box placed across from him.
“A lady can’t help but love it. Especially if it’s from Your Grace.”
He had only half-listened to the shy voice of the marquis’s daughter. It was common knowledge that noblewomen liked jewels; apparently she had even assigned some grand meaning to it. By Decarno’s standards, it was a thoroughly useless and troublesome gesture.
“….”
And yet, strangely, he found it hard to look away from the dark, uncut gemstone. To be precise, he was curious about the expression she would make upon receiving it. As the marquis’s nameless daughter’s chatter replayed in his mind, an inexplicable stiffness crept into the back of his neck.
“Though you cannot know anything about it now, the meaning is that you will spend the rest of your lives together discovering its true value.”
A proposal.
It was a word he had never truly considered. The marriage had long since been decided anyway, and Evangeline had agreed, which was why she was staying in the annex. Had his mother not passed away, the wedding ceremony would already have been held.
It was such a natural course of events, yet he found himself imagining how Evangeline would react. It was difficult to picture her beaming brightly or unable to contain her joy like the marquis’s daughter.
After all, she was to become Evangeline von Tese.
Calm and composed by nature, she might simply lift the corners of her lips slightly in a small smile. Even that ordinary, mundane expression—he found himself wanting to see it.
Whatever it was, it would be better than the pale face she had worn when she chased after him.
“I waited to ask if you would be free next Friday.”
“…I really wanted you to be there with me that day.”
He had indeed been surprised by Evangeline’s desperate expression—one he had never seen before. If there hadn’t been attendants and knights present, he might have asked her why. She, who would usually clamp her mouth shut and claim she had nothing to say whenever she saw him, had clung to him. It was suspicious—and yet not unpleasant.
‘At most, she was probably asking permission to go out.’
For someone as proud as she was, to act that way meant she must have wanted something. Otherwise, she would never have grabbed his arm first to stall him—especially not dressed in such a shabby, careless manner.
Recalling her final figure on the staircase, Decarno pressed his brow as if annoyed.
“…Haa.”
Right. What was there to do about it now?
He was not someone who dwelled on the past. He was far too busy for that. With tasks piling up in real time, he could not afford to waste unnecessary time on bygone matters.
He believed the same applied to Evangeline.
There was no skill that could turn back a delayed schedule. Rather than pressing down on the headache stirred by those memories, it would be better to soothe her when he saw her again.
There was no need for something as grand as a proposal—perhaps a birthday gift would suffice. He hadn’t properly given her one recently, so the excuse was convenient enough. As he idly rubbed the gemstone inside the box, a faintly satisfied smile touched his lips.
“….”
But the sliver of peace he had not felt in a long time ended before he even stepped out of the carriage. From the moment the carriage entered the ducal estate’s tree-lined path, there had been a restless murmur in the air. By the time they reached the main gate, torches flared up here and there. Even when his mother had died, the estate had not been this chaotic.
Bang—Decarno flung open the carriage door. The butler, who had been pacing in the rain, bowed deeply.
“My lord! You’ve arrived!”
“What is it?”
“Th-that is… Please, come inside and rest first. I will inform you once the situation is organized.”
“….”
When he had told Evangeline to simply go inside before, had she felt this foul?
One foot on the carriage step, Decarno’s face gradually grew colder. His gaze instinctively turned toward the western annex. He didn’t know why. But when he saw the completely dark window of her room, the back of his neck tightened again.
“You have spent half a century in this house. You know I do not repeat myself.”
“…My lord.”
“Speak. What happened?”
Though he did not raise his voice, the chilling tone stilled the surroundings. Only the intensifying sound of raindrops striking the ground filled the air. Without waiting further, Decarno stepped down from the carriage and turned.
“Move. I’ll confirm it myself.”
“Th-the Lady has left the house!”
“Ha….”
At the butler’s near-scream, Decarno let out an unexpected laugh. It was exceedingly rare for him to laugh like this, regardless of the reason.
“For someone who merely stepped out for a short while, it seems quite a lot has happened.”
“I am sorry, my lord. It is entirely my fault.”
“A man who knows that would never have allowed this to happen in the first place.”
His eyes were glacial as he looked down at the butler, who had dropped to his knees on the wet ground. Though the elderly man knelt in the rain, Decarno paid him no mind. For servants who failed to serve their master properly, even a shred of sympathy was a luxury.
“The woman who is to become the mistress of this house has left, and only now you flounder about. Who will take responsibility for that?”
“Your Grace, shouldn’t we focus on finding the young lady first? You may punish us later.”
“….”
Mikael, standing behind Decarno holding an umbrella over him, attempted to calm the situation. Though the duke’s icy gaze sent chills down his spine, now was not the time to hesitate. From the look of the sky, a heavy downpour was imminent.
“With the rain continuing, tracking her will become difficult. She left in the afternoon, so she cannot have gone far. We must dispatch the knights immediately. Perhaps the hotel district, or a teahouse in the bustling quarter—”
“Tetron Third Street.”
“…Pardon?”
What nonsense was that? But the duke’s low murmur was deadly serious. As though something had clicked in his mind, his rain-soaked eyes twisted.
“Go to Tetron Third Street.”
“But Your Grace, that’s impossible. The Lady would never go there. There’s no way.”
“And what do you mean by that?”
“Forgive me, but I’m from there. It’s practically a slum back alley. There’s no chance the Lady would be somewhere so dangerous—Your Grace!”
The knight who had been shaking his head was abruptly pushed aside. Decarno did not return to the carriage. Instead, he mounted the knight’s horse, gripping the reins tightly in the rain.
“Lead the way. Now.”
