Shioana, tormented by Duke Bernhard all night, ended up unable to get a proper sleep.
Even though he was burning up with fever and could barely stand, he relentlessly pressured her. He repeated the same story over and over and over and blamed her.
'I told the truth about everything except Harriet's story.'
His misunderstanding remained completely unresolved, and Shioana felt just as frustrated. It was still difficult for her to accept that the Etienne she thought was dead had appeared here as Duke Bernhard.
'Why won't he believe a single word I say?'
What on earth is that letter?
After the conversation, her head just became more confused.
Shioana opened the documents, clutching her dry eyes and head that felt like it was about to explode.
"...?"
And she found a familiar name written on the newly arrived loan application documents. Startled the moment she saw it, she threw the paper away as if she had seen a bug.
'Pierre Noah.'
Just hearing the name sent a chill down her spine and made her stomach churn.
To think Count Noah was this close. She was fumbling with her throat in nervousness when Raul suddenly poked his head in.
"We have guests coming out today, so stay in the office."
Raul, who had left behind a note he didn't usually make, disappeared quickly.
Shioana was puzzled, but a moment later, someone knocked on the door, and Murphy entered.
"The boss asked me to bring a document."
She grabbed Murphy as he was gathering his documents to leave and asked hurriedly.
"Is that guest the person listed on this document?"
"Yes. He is said to be the Count of the Caspian Empire."
After Murphy disappeared, Shioana pressed her hand tightly against her heart and took a deep breath.
'There might not necessarily be just one Count Noah of the Caspian Empire.'
Shioana pushed the door open and walked slowly out into the hallway. She felt she couldn't just sit there without properly verifying the other person.
The guest reception area was quite a distance from the hallway. After walking for a while, Raul's voice was heard clearly.
"You have come to the right place. This is the only place where you can borrow this amount of money."
Raul put on a brave face as usual, and just as the other person seemed to be laughing quietly, he opened his mouth.
"I have heard a great deal about your reputation. I look forward to your continued support."
"That is exactly what I would like to say to you, Count."
Shioana, with her back against the hallway wall, bit her nails.
The person conversing with Raul was clearly Count Noah. The hope that she might never see him again once she left Regbell was shattered into pieces.
Just as she was trying to put strength into her staggering legs, Count Noah continued speaking.
"I heard that you also do work looking for people."
"We will find and bring to you even a runaway dog, not just a person."
"It seems my wife has come to the Urcheka Empire."
"I wonder if something happened to your wife?"
"I sent her on a trip because she was suffering from marriage depression, but she just vanished."
"What is her name?"
Shioana covered her mouth with her hand at Raul's question.
And she prayed that if there was a God, her name would not come out of Count Noah's mouth.
"This is Shioana Evgenia. This is her portrait, so it will help you find her."
She couldn't remember when she returned to the office.
Her hands were damp as she turned the documents, perhaps due to nervousness.
'That was exactly why I ran away from Legbell in the middle of the night.'
Pierre Noah was a persistent, ruthless, and somehow terrifying presence. The more she got to know the Count, the more...
The feeling of being terrified grew so strong that she absolutely could not get married.
Shioana was trembling when the door opened. Startled for a moment, she covered her face with documents.
Fortunately, the opponent was not Count Noah, but Raul.
He threw the documents onto the desk and sat down in the chair.
"I've been busy since morning."
Shioana, standing before Raul, moved her lips.
'Why did it have to be the boss?'
She felt miserable having the person who would receive a large reward if he handed her over to Count Noah right in front of her.
'The boss must have recognized me as the woman in the portrait the moment he saw me.'
Because Raul already knows that she is a foreigner of noble birth.
"Secretary. Do you know something? Money belongs to the nobility, and it’s all the same here in District 8."
It was something Raul had said time and time again.
Does it mean he intends to bring her before Count Noah no matter what and receive the reward?
"Why are you so fed up?"
Beating around the bush and jumping to conclusions only made her more tired. Shioana looked him straight in the eye and asked.
"Boss, the person who came earlier is looking for you."
He looked at Shioana, who had a solemn expression, and stopped speaking in the middle of his sentence.
"Ah, I didn't decide to take on that?"
"But you also received a portrait."
She thought it was all over when Count Noah showed up at the office.
At the boss's words that he had refused the request, tears streamed down Shioana's face without her realizing it.
"Why are you crying? It looks just like I posted this."
Raul, who had been fidgeting nervously, hurriedly found a handkerchief and handed it over.
"I'm crazy about money, but I have principles."
Raul said that he does not get involved in matters concerning women and children.
"The person looking for you might come up with all sorts of excuses, but if they truly loved you and treated you well, they wouldn't leave like that. Besides, if the other person deliberately deceived me and left, wouldn't meeting again just lead to a knife fight? I really detest that kind of thing."
“Thank you, boss.”
Raul, whose ears had turned red at her thanks, pretended not to notice.
"Ahem. I feel like you're saying that too often these days. I'm not a philanthropist. If you don't finish all that pile of paperwork today, I won't let you go home, so keep that in mind."
Raul's face instantly hardened as he hurriedly walked out of the office.
When Count Noah visited the office earlier, he recognized him immediately. He knew that he was the person his secretary had hidden her face from the moment she saw him.
'I heard rumors that you got married in Highbell.'
There must have been some error in the information gathering.
Shioa did not marry Count Noah, and for some reason, she left him and came here.
The reason he didn't refuse the request from the start was to properly assess the opponent.
"I am the type to risk my life to protect my people."
The scar etched on Raul's face twitched as he walked out of the long corridor.
***
As soon as she returned to the Bernhard mansion, she was struck by Cedric.
"Please help me just this once."
"I wonder what on earth is going on that you are acting like this."
As she approached the Duke's bedroom, cold sweat ran down Shioana's back.
Her feelings were mixed. It was painful to see him, yet at the same time, she wanted to see his face.
"His Excellency has not been able to eat all day and is refusing treatment."
"What does that have to do with me?"
At her question, Viscount Conrad made a troubled face and spoke again.
"It seems he is still looking for the young lady."
As the bedroom door opened, the sound of a soup bowl being thrown by Etienne shattering was heard.
"Get out of here, all of you! I said get out!"
The Viscount whispered as he watched Etienne having a seizure.
"They say those are all side effects from the detoxification process."
They say that because he is using such severe drugs, his nerves have become sensitive, and he is unable to control his anger like that.
Shioana recalled the Duke's appearance yesterday, when he was excessively angry.
"So please calm His Excellency down a little."
"There is no way I could do something like that."
"This is something only the young lady can do."
Shioana moved closer to the bed as Cedric pushed her from behind.
"Get out of here, all of you!"
He was still excessively agitated, looking as if he were about to throw everything within his grasp. His unfocused eyes seemed unable to recognize even her.
The sight of Etienne, whose bandages were soaked in blood from digging into his wounds again, overlapped with him immersed in the lake of Regbell.
It was no different from when he stood precariously in the cold lake until his lips turned blue.
'If left alone, things will undoubtedly go wrong.'
Shioana approached him, bent down, and hugged his shoulders tightly.
"It's okay."
“Fuck it!”
An angry voice knocked on her ears, but Shioana did not release her arms from around him.
Wrapping her arms around Etienne's trembling arms, she whispered softly into his ear.
"Your Excellency, please get treatment."
"What kind of trick is this now?"
Etienne narrowed his eyes and spoke to her as if threatening her.
"You need to regain your strength so you can properly punish me."
It was what he had been muttering all night.
'Only I can punish you.'
She could not understand at all why Etienne was acting this way. Although all of this stemmed from a misunderstanding, she was not entirely free from responsibility.
'Because I loved him.'
As light gradually filled the Duke's eyes, Cedric quickly gestured to the servant.
"What are you doing? Bring the new soup to His Excellency."
It was only when she saw the waiting employee come in with the soup rising from the house that Shioana tried to go outside.
She was so tired that she wanted to go to bed early. Besides, she was afraid that he might call her a cure for insomnia again.
"Where are they going?"
"...That's it."
The Duke glared at Shioana with a face clearly showing signs of illness, then slowly opened his mouth.
"I'll have you take care of me."
"Why would I be nursing..."
The mansion was full of his personal doctor and employees dedicated to his care.
"I don't think I'll be able to attend the banquet for a while because I'm not feeling well, so I'll do this instead."
"...Ah."
If you said that, there was no way to refuse.
Because debt is debt.
Shioana decided to think as simply as possible about his suggestion.
"Okay. Let's take care of him until he gets better."
Shioana, having received the soup from the servant, held out the tray to him. The Duke, leaning against the headboard of the bed, whispered as he swept back his disheveled bangs.
"Nursing should include feeding things like this."
"That is when mobility is impaired, you know. Your Excellency, your hands are perfectly fine."
At Shioana's remark, he, who had been sweeping his hair back, suddenly dropped his head.
"My fingers suddenly feel weak because of the poison."
"...Ha."
For Shioana, it was incredibly difficult to adapt to this side of him.
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment