IELNDMH - Chapter 48 < Grand Duchess Has Disappeared >
I Ended Up Living Up Next Door With My Ex-Husband
It's still close to dawn.
The inside of the dark mansion was still quiet.
I quietly walked out the front door of the mansion.
How many steps did I walk towards the garden? Mina, who was walking together, carefully whispered to me.
"Your Highness, there is a carriage waiting for you over there."
As ordered, the carriage did not have the Twins family emblem engraved on it.
Moreover, I had deliberately asked for a carriage suitable for the middle class, so no one would know that the Grand Duchess of Twins was riding in that carriage.
"Did you pack all your luggage?"
"Of course, Your Highness."
Mina smiled leisurely as she shook the large bundle of luggage in both hands.
The other maids each had bundles of luggage as well.
Mina carefully checked that the other maids were loading their luggage into the carriage, and then came back to my side.
"I think it's time to leave."
At those words, I turned my head towards the mansion of light in the distance.
"Yeah, I guess so..."
Then the voice that had been rewound hundreds of times in my head rang in my ears once again.
'Rebecca, I want your heart back.'
A few days after that day, Cedric's face as he said those words suddenly came to mind.
When I first heard that, I just thought it was amazing.
I can't believe Cedric's heart is swayed by a woman other than the heroine Lobelia. That too... To Rebecca, who was everything I was proud of?
Maybe the original content was starting to change.
If so, it was definitely a welcome event. That would mean that my fate, possessed by Rebecca, could also change.
But I was no longer the same Rebecca I used to be who showered love on Cedric.
In the first place, I didn't have the heart that he could get back.
So naturally, I have no choice but to reject his confession that he wants to win Rebecca's heart back.
'Of course, if I had fallen in love with Cedric, I might not have cared about such things!'
But that wasn't possible.
I can't trust him and give him my heart completely because he still won't tell me the truth...
In the past, the wounds caused by my husband's lies were still deep.
'I don't want to give my heart to that kind of light love anymore. So don't shake me, Cedric.'
As I looked at the Mansion of Light, I thought of Cedric for a moment.
Then, as if to erase my regrets, I hurriedly shook my head and got into the carriage.
All that was important to Rebecca in the past was the Cedric Twins, that man.
But to me now, as Rebecca, the only thing that matters is...
All I had to do was save my life.
***
A moment later, the Grand Duke's bedroom.
Bang!
Suddenly, the door opened wide, and noise and light suddenly poured into the bedroom.
That was when Cedric stood up, furrowing his brows.
"Your Highness the Grand Duke! Come on, wake up!"
That urgent voice was Bianca's.
Sure enough, the child's face was flushed with anxiety.
"Bianca, what on earth...."
Cedric quickly turned his head and checked his watch.
The time is 4:30 in the morning.
With what Bianca did, there was no way she would disturb her own sweet sleep at this hour.
Cedric quickly pulled up the blanket, stood up, and picked up his sister.
A new, pleasant-to-hear, cracked bass sound flowed from his lips.
"Bianca, what's going on at this hour? Did you have a scary dream?"
Cedric asked, smiling softly.
However, Bianca was held in his arms with a face that looked like she was about to burst into tears.
"Your Highness the Grand Duke!"
Bianca had never been like this before.
Embarrassed, Cedric could only gently pat the child's small back.
"Bianca, what on earth......."
At that time, Bianca escaped from Cedric's arms and pulled his arm.
"Your Highness, this is not the time! You should look out the window! Right now!"
Bianca held Cedric's arm and led him to the window.
"What on earth is going on...? Has an intruder appeared?"
Cedric asked in a grumpy voice.
It was a natural reaction for him since there was no way he would have entered his castle where the half-blood demons were located unless he was quite an idiot.
However, Bianca's voice became more urgent as she pointed out the window.
"Look at that carriage in front of the Dark Mansion!"
The moment he inadvertently glanced out the window at the child's words. Cedric's frown slowly narrowed as he noticed something.
'That... She's Rebecca, right? Where on earth are she going at this hour?'
Not only did time pass by, but Rebecca's behavior was also somehow strange.
A simple gray dress and a black hat that covers her red hair.
It's a far cry from the Grand Duchess attire....
No, it was more like she was dressed to hide the fact that she was a Grand Duchess.
That wasn't the only thing that was suspicious.
The Grand Duke's maids were loading numerous bundles of luggage into the carriage.
'Furthermore, that... It's not even our family's carriage!
The moment when a deep crack was engraved between Cedric's eyebrows.
Bianca cried, holding on to Cedric's arm again.
"Where is Her Highness going at this hour? And with all that baggage...."
"..."
"It is impossible for Her Highness to leave us..... Oh, I guess not?"
In a brief moment, the blood on Cedric's face disappeared in an instant.
'Rebecca? There's still time left on the contract, so why?'
The face of Rebecca, who coldly rejected him a few days ago, appeared in his mind.
'Did you reject me because you were planning to leave this castle in advance? Otherwise... Did you feel uncomfortable because of my suggestion that day?'
His mind was tangled with countless guesses.
Cedric, who was brushing his hair nervously, hurriedly ran out of the bedroom. He ran all the way to the dark garden without stopping, but the carriage carrying Rebecca had left the castle unexpectedly.
Cedric continued to breathe heavily, but could not take his eyes off the road the carriage had left.
'Whatever the reason, I can't let you leave like this.'
Cedric's muscles bulged fiercely over his square jaw.
His fierce gaze soon turned towards the dark mansion.
Cedric ran straight into the dark mansion and started ringing the guest bell in the lobby.
Not long after that, the chamberlain slowly walked out with a sleepy face.
"Ha-am, who on earth is this time... Oh, Your Highness!"
The chamberlain came running down the stairs in a huff and bowed in front of Cedric.
"What is going on here, Your Highness? Whatever you ask me to do...."
It was Cedric who rarely visited the dark mansion.
The chamberlain can't believe he's been coming here since dawn.
It was obvious that it was that urgent.
'Today, while the deacon is away, I have this opportunity!'
It was a time when the chief chamberlain's countenance gradually became red.
"Where is Adrian now?"
"Ah. Your Highness, if you could tell me....."
However, the chamberlain's words, which were full of anticipation, were cut off by his single sword.
".... Adrian."
Cedric's unique low tone became even cooler.
"I asked where he was."
The cold voice filled with anger sent a chill down the chamberlain's spine. When he glanced up, the Grand Duke's expression was unusually angry.
The Chamberlain, who was just rolling his eyes, barely managed to show his embarrassment and spoke again.
"Ah, since Deacon Adrian is out that day, I don't know the details. I recently heard that his father's condition has worsened, so maybe that's why......"
"Does that mean Adrian is not in this castle right now?"
Cedric didn't even seem to have time to wait until the Chamberlain finished speaking.
The chamberlain simply looked at him and nodded his head.
"......Yes, Your Highness."
Cedric's face gradually hardened as if it wasn't the answer he wanted.
He stood there like a pumice stone for a long time.
A little bit of murder began to appear in Cedric's eyes.
'No way...... Did Deacon Adrian have an accident? Isn't that the kind of person who would do that?'
The moment when the chamberlain blinked in confusion. Cedric's lips slowly opened again.
"The Grand Duchess has disappeared."
A look of nervousness flashed across Cedric's face as he said that.
But he gritted his teeth again and continued speaking.
"Immediately wake up all the knights and have them stand by. In particular, tell everyone with tracking magic to prepare."
"Now......?"
"I will chase after the Grand Duchess first, and have the rest search the entire area of the Grand Duchess."
"..."
"And if by some chance you miss the Grand Duchess......."
The sharp gaze turned to the chamberlain once again.
"Tell them that no one in this castle will be safe."
Only then did the chamberlain realize the seriousness of the situation and his cheeks trembled.
"Her Majesty...! Ah, I understand, I will go see the knight commander right away!"
With those words, the chamberlain hurriedly left the main gate of the mansion.
Cedric, who was glaring at the back, soon rubbed his face nervously.
'Rebecca left. And with another man.'
When that thought occurred to him, his heart boiled with something he didn't know whether it was anger or anxiety.
Adrian is not at the mansion.
Rebecca secretly left the castle after seeing his suspicious behavior.
The scene of those two people meeting somewhere and holding each other in their arms kept messing with his mind.
Soon, a thick tendon bulged on the back of the hand that was clenched into a fist as if it were about to explode.
'Rebecca, you can't leave me yet!'
Even if she were to leave, it wouldn't be like this now.
At least for the time, she promised to remain in this castle...
He had to give her even the slightest chance of holding him
Meanwhile, Bianca, who belatedly entered the dark mansion with her nanny, could not help but be surprised to see her brother's pale complexion.
'I knew His Highness would be surprised, but I didn't expect it to be to this extent...'
Her small hand, holding the nanny's hand, gradually gained strength.
Bianca slowly raised her head and looked at the nanny, feeling guilty for some reason.
'Nanny, we really... Is this okay?:
She gave her nanny an anxious look with her round eyes, but her accomplice, the nanny, only gave her a wink as if telling Bianca to trust her.
In response, Bianca closed her eyes and screamed in an attempt to erase even the slightest feeling of guilt.
It was a pity for her brother who was surprised, but it was an inevitable choice for the happy future of the Twins Grand Duke and his wife.
Moreover, it is true that the Grand Duchess left 'somewhere' for a while, so what she said is not a complete lie.
Just as Bianca was rationalizing this, Cedric began to hastily walk out the front door.
It looked like he was going to go find Rebecca himself.
"Your Highness the Grand Duke! I want to go with you!"
Despite Bianca's urgent cries, Cedric hurriedly left the dark mansion as if he had lost his mind.
For a moment, Bianca stood there quietly watching Cedric leave first.
Bianca's small hand, which was holding the nanny's hand, gradually gained strength.
".....Nanny, I'm really going to brace myself."
The nanny inadvertently turned her head at the sound of the childish voice that conveyed her resolve.
"Yes...?"
That's when the nanny tilted her head with a puzzled expression on her face.
Bianca shouted, raising her dainty fist with force.
"Just wait and see, this time I will definitely make their relationship better!"
Comments
Post a Comment