Nightmare Came to The Place I Escaped - Chapter 37

“Were you busy yesterday?”

“Hmm?”

 

Ian blinked as if he was surprised by Rachel asking him a question.

 

He couldn’t believe that she was curious about his schedule.

 

“I was busy.”

 

A smile floated at the tips of Ian’s lips.

 

Rachel soon nodded as if she understood Ian’s answer.

 

Ian looked at Rachel’s expression, and pulled her chair out for her.

 

“…Thank you, Your Majesty.”

 

Rachel awkwardly thanked him for his courtesy.

 

“….”

 

She hadn’t known if he was coming that evening. Would he be here tomorrow morning?

 

She had a few more questions and was waiting to ask them, but for some reason Rachel couldn’t open her mouth any more.

 

***

 

The day of the victory banquet.

 

Even this morning, Ian didn’t come to the Oates residence.

 

She was somehow upset even though she knew he was busy, and that it couldn’t be helped.

 

Rachel wanted him to give her an explanation, but soon realized that there was no reason for him to explain it to her, and she laughed at herself.

 

Somewhere along the way, she started to hope for too much from Ian.

 

“Haa…”

 

Rachel let out a frustrated sigh.

 

“Don’t worry too much, My Lady.”

 

Rachel smiled quietly as the maid told her that it would be okay.

 

“The dress won’t arrive late. It’s still bright out, so please wait a little longer.”

 

Perhaps she thought that Rachel’s sigh was due to the dress arriving later than expected.

 

Rachel nodded as the maid tried to reassure her while looking anxious and nervous.

 

Of course, Rachel’s sigh meant something different from the maid’s anxiety.

 

Knock Knock

 

At that time, someone knocked on Rachel’s door, and the maid hurried to the door, wondering if it was the news that she was waiting for.

 

“The Duke of Oates is here.”
“Oh, yes. I just need to fix my lady’s hair, so please wait.”

 

The maid seemed a little disappointed because it wasn’t the news she wanted, but she soon nodded.

 

“The Duke came before your dress. I’ll fix your hair.”

 

The Duke of Oates.

 

Rachel bit her lip slightly as if nervous about the Duke’s visit, who she would be meeting for the first time.

 

No matter how much he wanted to give her the title of a ducal lady, Rachel couldn’t fully understand Ian’s choice.

 

“You’re done.”

 

Rachel wanted the maid to brush her hair a little bit longer, but her hands fell away.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Rachel got up from her seat, and nodded a number of times.

 

Somehow, she wanted Ian to be with her at this moment, then she would’ve felt less nervous.

 

Rachel walked out of the door, and controlled her expression as she walked down the stairs.

 

She felt nervous as she tried to control her breathing.

 

In front of the reception room, Rachel wanted to postpone this moment a little longer, but the butler knocked on the door without waiting to see if Rachel was ready or not.

 

Knock Knock

 

“Duke Oates, the young lady is here.”

“Come in.”

 

When the permission to enter was granted, the butler opened the door.

 

“….”

 

What words of greeting should she use, and how should she start speaking? None of the answers came to mind with any certainty.

 

Should she say thank you for giving her the status of a ducal family? Rachel quickly shook her head, and tried to think about how to greet the Duke.

 

Rachel put a little bit of pressure on her hands as the Duke approached her.

 

The Duke raised his hand in a small gesture to the butler to close the door.

 

“Good afternoon…”

“So, we’re finally meeting, Rachel.”

 

Rachel hesitated and was finally ready to speak, but was beaten by the Duke of Oates, who smiled brightly and greeted her.

 

“I’ve been waiting to meet you for two years.”

 

The Duke approached with a smile again, as if he was trying to hug Rachel.

 

However, he stopped walking when he noticed Rachel flinch slightly.

 

“Nice to meet you.”

 

Then he reached out to Rachel with a large hand.

 

Bright blond hair, and blue eyes as clear as the autumn sky.

 

The finely folded eyes and lips that were raised to the fullest.

 

Duke Oates had the same atmosphere as Mike. No, it was a little softer than that.

 

Rachel awkwardly reached out her hand to the friendly gesture.

 

The thought that he might not like her disappeared as soon as her hand shook up and down.

 

“Okay, shall we sit down first?”

 

Duke Oates recommended that Rachel should sit down.

 

“The day I received a message from His Majesty, I wanted to come up to the capital right away, but… I’m late because something happened suddenly. I’m sorry.”

“…It’s fine.”

 

Rachel gave a small shake of her head.

 

“I’ve been waiting for this day for so long. I heard you’ve been in Ravenna.”

“Yes.”

 

Once again, Rachel nodded slightly.

 

“It’s a small country village. Is the countryside better than the city?”

“….”

“The Oates territory has many permanent residents, but it’s beautiful because of its wide open plains and lakes.”

 

Duke Oates was looking at Rachel’s face.

 

“Rachel, I’m sure you’ll like it too.”

 

Rachel nodded her head quickly because she felt she had to.

 

Then, the Duke smiled brightly.

 

“Oh, I prepared a gift that I thought you might like, do you want to see it?”

 

The Duke clutched the armrest of the sofa as if he was going to stand up when Rachel didn’t respond right away. Somehow the Duke looked more excited, as he spoke about the gift he’d prepared for Rachel.

 

Knock Knock

 

“Father, you have to go to the Imperial palace now if you don’t want to be late.”

 

The Duke nodded in disappointment as Mike opened the door to the drawing room.

 

“That’s true, but I don’t think it’ll matter if I’m a little late.”

“Rachel is also busy preparing for the banquet today, so I think it would be better to say goodbye like this.”

“…Oh, Rachel hasn’t finished preparing yet. Yeah, we have a lot of time now, so let’s talk slowly.”

 

Duke Oates looked back at Rachel ruefully.

 

“Then I’ll have the present sent to your room, so you can look at your leisure.”

 

The Duke said as he slowly got up from his seat.

 

“I hope you like it.”

“…Thank you.”

 

Rachel stood up from her seat to see him off and gave him a soft farewell.

 

“Well, I’ll see you later at the banquet.”

 

The Duke patted Rachel on the head, and left the drawing room.

 

“….”

 

Rachel blinked for a moment, surprised by the Duke’s touch on her head.

 

“Are you alright, Rachel?”

“…Yes.”
“Father must be in a good mood because he got to meet you. Let me know if you feel uncomfortable. I don’t think he meant it in a bad way, but he’s in a hurry.”

“I’m fine.”

 

Rachel gave a small shake of her head.

 

Mike smiled in relief at Rachel’s reply.

 

“It’s a very important day for you to make your social debut, but your dress is late.”

 

Mike glanced at the clock.

 

He seemed to be completely distracted about Rachel’s dress.

 

“Don’t worry too much, everything will be fine.”

 

His voice was a little strained, like someone who really wanted to believe.

 

“Why don’t you go take a rest? You have to save your energy to attend today’s banquet.”

 

Mike said that, and sent Rachel up to her room.

 

“Have a comfortable rest.”

“Yes, then I’m going to go up and get ready.”

 

From the bottom of the stairs, Mike told Rachel this with a slight smile.

 

However, as Rachel walked up the steps and disappeared from Mike’s sight, a quiet voice was heard.

 

“Butler, send someone to the boutique.”

 

Despite his earlier assurance that everything would be fine, his voice was full of impatience.

 

Click

 

When she entered her room, there were large boxes around the tea table.

 

“Hmm? This…”

 

It seemed to be the present which the Duke of Oates had mentioned earlier.

 

Rachel blinked in confusion at the large boxes that occupied the room. She didn’t know there would be so many gifts.

 

“This is too much. They’re all mine?”

 

Various boxes of color, large and small, and ribbons tied beautifully on top of them.

 

It looked like it would take a whole day to get through all of this.

 

Rachel took a careful step towards them.

 

There was a white envelope on the tea table.

 

[To Rachel]

 

Rachel carefully opened the envelope, which had her name written on it in cursive.

 

[Rachel,

 

I’m excited every day that we can finally meet. Perhaps that’s why I can’t sleep these days.

 

I’ve been looking forward to this day for two long years.

 

The day I would finally meet my daughter.

 

From now on, as a Lady of the Oates and my daughter, I will help you adapt to this place, so let’s not worry about anything and be happy together.

 

I’ve already heard a lot about you from His Majesty, but my small wish is to spend a lot of time together in the future, and know you for myself. 

 

Thank you for being a part of the Oates family,

 

Your Father.]

 

‘Father.’

 

It was a strange thing. Since it was just Ian’s order, she thought he would enlist her in the army.

 

But the Duke of Oates seemed very pleased with her.

 

Father.

 

What a strange thing to do.

 

The noble she’d never met before had welcomed her like this.

 

There was no reason for the Duke to look kindly upon her. This was Ian’s idea, there was no reason to be nice to her now that he wasn’t here.

 

Rachel looked down at the letter again, then folded it and put it back into the envelope.

 

No matter how much she thought about it, it was strange to hear that they welcomed her as a family member of a noble family without a drop of blood.

 

Rachel arranged the boxes on the floor row by row.

 

However, she only arranged them like that, she didn’t open any of the boxes.

 

***

 

“My Lady, here’s your dress!”

 

Her maid rushed through the door.

 

The maid was breathing heavily as a dress came in behind her.