Night of the Abandoned Duchess - Chapter 31

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Chapter 31

“Are you okay? How can you get such a scar on a handsome face…?”

“I’m fine.”

Rosalind took him to the parlor and examined his face more delicately. When the doctor said it was all right, he took some urgent measures, though her heart did not feel better. The sight of Albert trying to reassure her by saying that it was okay only made her heart feel heavy again.

“I’m sorry. I did not know that the Duke would do this.”

“Why are you apologizing to me. It wasn’t you who did this. I am fine.”

“Still, the Duke…”

She was unable to speak anymore and bit her lip.

Albert spoke boldly to Rosalind, whose expression had darkened with complexity.

“You still think of him as someone close. If it had been done by someone who had nothing to do with you, you wouldn’t have apologized on behalf of them.”

Even though she felt stabbed by the fairly sharp remark, she jumped in denial. Rosalind felt a bit pricked, though not all of them were right.

“No! I thought it was because of me, so I just apologized…”

Her words ended blurry, and she lowered her gaze. As if contemplating something, she was silent for a long time and suddenly brought up a slightly different story.

“…When I lived by my real name, Rosalind, and not Cleta. He was a cold-hearted spouse to me.”

For a voice bringing out her painful past, it was quite calm.

“I liked the Duke a lot. That person was kind. But, ironically, it seems that my heart is often at odds. The Duke did not love me.”

“That’s what happened.”

“Yes… I was nothing to him for over a year of marriage, and I ended up giving up on him. And, only later did I find out that I was having his child.”

Now, as if reminiscing about that time, Cleta fiddled with her flattened stomach.

At the time, it felt like her own fear grew as her stomach swelled. She wondered several times whether she should go back because she was worried that she would have to raise her child alone, and she was still frustrated because she did not know where to go.

To her father’s house? A house with a husband who doesn’t love her…?

Every time she thought of wanting to depend on someone, she vowed, paradoxically, that she had to stand up for herself. To be strong, even for her child.

“What is certain is that I no longer have the same feelings as before. Kyle Spencer is no longer a part of me. Now the first for me is Leo.”

Albert smiled softly at the clear voice and spoke.

“I only looked at you as soft, but you are a strong person.”

Rosalind blushed with embarrassment at the sudden praise.

“It’s not.”

Then, they looked into each other’s eyes and smiled. Although Albert suddenly groaned, “Aaah” and she had to examine his wounds again.

Rosalind opened her mouth again in a sorry voice.

“Sorry. Whatever happened, I’m sorry.”

“If you are so sorry… Can I invite you to dinner this time?”

“Yes?”

Though her eyes widened for a moment at the unexpected remark, she nodded her head again. This time, she too readily agreed.

“Of course.”

“Thank you.”

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it lightly. It was a common kiss, but her ears were strangely red because of the soft voice.

“…It’s raining a little bit outside.”

Following his voice, she, too, moved her gaze out of the window. There was the sound of raindrops falling through the window.

Then, in the sudden rain, she thought about whether Kyle had gone back. He also had a wound on his face…

Hitting someone was really bad. It was because he was never used his hand before, even on a subordinate. Maybe that was why, even when she tried to shake it off, Rosalind kept thinking of him wiping away his blood like a shadow that kept chasing her.

The sad expression on his face…

She couldn’t even look at his wounds properly. Was he hurt a lot?

Why was she…

Shaking her head not to worry about it, Albert’s voice was heard again.

“I heard it rained these days.”

“Really? I hate rainy days.”

“I don’t like it either.”

“Does the baron also hate rain?”

As she asked, a soft answer came back.

“Yes. Because you don’t like it.”

In an instant, her ears lit up, and Rosalind an embarrassed smile.

After a few days, the rain continued to fall and stopped. Kyle glanced out the window for a moment and took a breath, then looked at the papers again. No matter how much he looked at the documents, the contents did not catch his eye, and he was just immersed in thoughts.

Rosalind’s face, which suddenly came to mind, felt much more painful than the wounds he had suffered from Albert…

When she said that it was a man she loved, he doubted those words, and it didn’t touch him. However, as he watched her take care of Albert, he realized the meaning of those words.

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Would she smile as sweetly to Albert as she did to him? The voice that used to call out to him, Duke, was still so clear.

Kyle pressed his insides that seemed to be twisted and looked out the window again. The day was still cloudy and gloomy. On days like this, Rosalind said she had to prepare for the rain, and she used to take care of things she didn’t even have to do.

Crazed by the thought, he pulled the tip of his lips pitifully. In the end, he tried to shake off thoughts about Rosalind, but in the end, he was back to the beginning. She clung to him like an inseparable shadow. She was terribly…

“…Excuse me, the marchioness sent a person.”

The butler, who knocked on the door from the outside, said something unexpected to him.

Kyle wondered what was going on and brought the maid sent in by Helen inside. Normally, if she had something to say, she would write a letter and send it, though was it urgent because she couldn’t even afford to write a letter…?

“She couldn’t find the Young Madam.”

“What do you mean?”

Unknowingly, he crumpled up the documents he was holding and looked at the butler. A puzzlement crept across his face as if he couldn’t believe it.

“She heard she went to the market, but she says she can’t find her no matter how much she looks for her. The Marchioness asked if you could dispatch the soldiers and find her, if possible. Those who were in charge were disposed of because of circumstances, and she said that we did not have enough troops…”

“I, I must have heard something wrong…?”

He denied it and questioned the maid.

“Did she see Rosalind disappear…? What the hell are you doing, no one is chasing her?”

Kyle’s rebuking voice was low and bitter. The maid trembled at the intimidation and said her words carefully.

“The Young Madam seems to have gone with the Young Master. I also heard they are in a hurry on the way to an errand, so I don’t know the details. She told me to just tell her…”

“Isn’t there something going on?”

Suddenly, his voice was filled with anxiety and nervousness.

For some reason, in an instant, his past and present strangely overlapped. It was not the same, although there was a time when he was young… The villagers disappeared in an instant, and as a child, he could not protect them at all.

The memory of that time grew so much that even after becoming an adult, it often strangled him.

The day he woke up from that dream, Rosalind was by his side. Alert in her sleep, she said, “Did you have a bad dream?” He used to feel that kindness and innocence were even more terrifying. Nonetheless, after she left, he dreamed of her.

When Rosalind was added to the horrific nightmare of his childhood, he felt really crazy. Kyle wondered if he would lose Rosalind helplessly like those people.

“I’m not sure, too…”

“What the hell do you know?”

He gave the order without hesitation.

“Send someone to the Marquisate to find out more about what’s going on, then release all the troops right away and have them run a thorough search.”

He added hurriedly.

“Find her no matter what. Even by requesting troops from the Imperial Palace…”

“Master.”

The butler urged him to calm down.

There was no shortage of the countless troops he had, and even if it were not enough, it would be impossible to ask the Imperial Palace for soldiers just because his wife had disappeared. Although his authority was so high that the emperor would have to surrender his soldiers, nonetheless, it shouldn’t have happened.

“No, I… I have to go.”

“Why don’t we wait for a little while. If that happens, it’s easy to go wrong.”

Kyle hurriedly got up from his seat.

As if to discourage him, the butler opened his mouth again.

“There must be someone waiting for the Madam to come back in good health.”

At his words, he glanced at the butler and took a short breath.

“…All right, I understand.”

He felt out of breath. It was a different feeling of helplessness than when Rosalind disappeared. There was a different gap between the fact that she had left her and that her life or death was unknown. Like the villagers who raised him in the past, he feared losing Rosalind.

“Rosalind…”

Kyle whispered her name quietly in the empty room.

Sending away the butler, he waited for time to pass. It seemed that the darkness outside the window was gradually falling steadily. Sooner or later, the days would get darker, and it would be even more difficult to find her.

Finally, he got up from his seat as if he couldn’t bear it any longer. It was not long after he had sent the butler away.

“…I must see His Majesty in person.”

Suddenly, the voice of the maid echoed through the door.

“Excuse me, Master.”

The maid, who asked his permission, entered his room, and a small boy stood beside her.

It was Leo.

“…Leo? How did this happen?”

“…In the middle, the information could be incorrect. The maid must have misunderstood what was supposed to be delivered.”

“What?”

“It wasn’t the Young madam who disappeared, it was her son…”

While the soldiers were scouring, Leo was found in a corner of the alley.

Seeing Leo, who was not seriously injured, he breathed a sigh of relief. It didn’t take a long time for the false report to be corrected, though it felt like all the energy in his body was drained out.