Nightmare Came to The Place I Escaped - Chapter 43

Knock Knock

 

“Lady Avery.”

 

Anna knocked carefully on the door.

 

“I’ll help you change.”

 

She didn’t know why, but Diana wasn’t looking very good, so she carefully opened the door and entered. When she’d opened the door, she saw that the room was a mess, as if Diana already had vented her anger.

 

Anna didn’t speak anymore, but stood still and waited for Diana’s permission to act.

 

“Sigh, it pisses me off. Take it off.”

 

Anna moved her hands in a hurry so as not to offend Diana.

 

“Ha, beggars. How dare they ignore me without knowing their place?”

 

Diana swept her hair roughly back.

 

“They’ve always been desperate to get something from me.”

 

Now they were quietly trying to avoid her. As if they were afraid that the firestorm might spread to them.

 

At the same time, they didn’t reject her completely. One day the Avery’s might rebuild, so they didn’t seem to be able to completely chuck her out.

 

Mike Oates, except for him. Frankly, she never expected him to come out so aggressive.

 

Normally the maid, who couldn’t do her job properly, made mistakes and floundered like a fool, but today was different.

 

“Lady Oates.”

 

Mike Oates, that only made her position difficult. She couldn’t believe he brought up the story where everyone was watching.

 

She was sure that he was talking about her by now.

 

“That woman.”

 

Diana tried to blame Lady Oates for the condemnation that had fallen on her.

 

No matter which Ducal family she was enrolled with, there was no way that the aristocratic families would accept her as she was. They were people that valued bloodline above all else.

 

Everything was out of alignment because of the unusual dynamics.

 

“Lady Oates?”

“Yes, that woman. She was at the banquet today, but why? No matter how much I think about it, something feels off, and it keeps rolling around in my head.”

“Why?”

“Look, she hasn’t shown her face in two years and she’s drawn people’s curiosity. Why did she attend the banquet today?”

 

The reason Lady Oates participated in this banquet must be because Diana was being criticized.

 

This banquet was the best time to avoid negative public opinion.

 

“It’s so annoying that she’s trying to get in my way in society because she doesn’t have a foundation.”

 

Diana narrowed her eyes slightly as she thought of Rachel, who was hiding behind Mike Oates while she watched.

 

“I should go to my father. How could they ridicule my family, and treat me like this. He must be resolved to deal with his commitments. What in the world was he doing by cooping himself up in the territory?”

 

His daughter was trying so hard to become the Empress of the Empire, so what was he thinking?

 

Whether it was about placing the right bribes, or taking advantage of weaknesses , shouldn’t he be keeping those people from thinking nonsense?

 

“What do you mean ‘waiting for the situation to calm down’, you’re just hiding away.”

 

Rather, if they hid in the territory like that, it would provide more fodder. At such a time, they should be more enthusiastic about attending social events.

 

Don’t let them talk behind our backs. Don’t let them think nonsense.

 

The Avery’s had to show that they were still solid. However, as her father admitted his faults and hid in his territory, people looked down on them even more.

 

That’s why Ian pretended not to know her, even though she was a Ducal Lady. Because she was a lady from a family that was on the path of decline.

 

“Phew, at least no permanent harm was done.”

 

She was angry at Ian, who never even gave her a single look, with his silvery hair and iridescent purple eyes.

 

The rumor was true, Ian was more beautiful than anyone she’d ever seen. The noble ladies at the banquet hall were making a fuss.

 

Even if Ian pretended to be indifferent towards her, Diana was even more greedy for him.

 

She had to make him hers, then show off to the other nobles. Then everyone would know that the Avery’s were still alive and well, and no one would dare ignore her or covet what was hers.

 

***

 

“Harmond, I think you’ve finished your work, so you can stop.”

 

At Ian’s words, Harmond checked the wall clock with a sullen look on his face.

 

It was 6am.

 

Harmond blinked blankly, and turned his head towards the darkened window.

 

After the splendid victory banquet, the Imperial palace outside was now colored in darkness and nothing was visible.

 

It had been eight hours since he’d entered the office under Ian’s guidance.

 

His feelings were truly bleak after he was unable to dance with any young ladies, and instead he was buried in these beggarly documents.

 

He wanted to find a girlfriend at the banquet.

 

However, his perfect plan collapsed all at once when the Emperor had a change of heart.

 

What the heck was the Emperor thinking about doing tomorrow’s work in advance?

 

“I’ll be on my way.”

 

Harmod stood up with his things, as he swallowed his sigh.

 

In fact, he could understand to some extent why the Emperor suddenly felt like concentrating on his work.

 

Was Lady Oates that great?

 

Who would be Ian’s woman, and who would be the owner of that strawberry cake. He’d wondered where the Emperor went every morning, but his curiosity was finally resolved last night.

 

The Emperor seemed to be trying to hide it, but Harmond knew that Ian’s eyes were only on Rachel. Moreover, it was strange for him to head to the balcony with Mike.

 

Although Mike and Ian had a connection, they weren’t close enough to have a private conversation, they weren’t even close enough to move to a private place to have a conversation.

 

Of course, the fact that he knew that Ian’s woman was nice, it was still inevitable that he would sigh from the unexpected overnight work.

 

“Haa…”

 

It wasn’t until Harmond had closed the office door that he sighed.

 

“The banquet ended in vain.”

 

For the next few months, he would be alone and lonely while working underneath his boss, who had a girlfriend.

 

He thought the sun would come up after about 30 minutes. Harmond didn’t want anything big, he just desperately wanted to be able to close his eyes before the sun rose.

 

***

 

The pitch-black darkness lifted, and the sky gradually brightened.

 

“Ugh!”

 

Ian groaned, and pressed hard near his chest.

 

“Ugh, huff.”

 

He tried not to leak out any sound as much as possible, but his irregular and rough breathing flowed out.

 

“Huff, huff.”

 

He threw away his pen, and leaned his upper body on the desk. He couldn’t even sit still from the unbearable pain.

 

A heart-rending pain that formed shallow tears in his eyes.

 

It wasn’t originally this bad, but the pain seemed to get worse as time went on.

 

Click

 

The door to the office opened.

 

“….”

“…Get out.”

 

Ian growled out a warning.

 

Was it Harmond?

 

An attendant?

 

Whoever it was, the unnecessary rumors would be troublesome and irritating.

 

Ian tried to hold back his groan.

 

“Ugh.”

 

Tak

 

However, the person who opened the door slowly stepped into the office.

 

Step Step

 

“…I’ve already told you to leave.”

 

Ian ordered the person to leave again, but was unable to raise his head in the face from the pain.

 

He didn’t have the strength to control his body because of the pain that weighed down on his chest, and he didn’t want to show his face ruined by sweat and tears to anyone else.

 

“Amazing.”

 

The person who’d walked into Ian’s office, walked up to the front of his desk and slowly opened their mouths.

 

“It wouldn’t be strange if you’d fainted.”

“….”

“But you’re enduring with just your mental strength.”

 

Ian finally lifted his body, which had been leaning against the desk, as the stranger began to slowly speak.

 

Black hair that slightly touched the man’s shoulders. He couldn’t see his face properly because their black hair partially covered it.

 

His eyes were bright red.

 

Red eyes, which resembled the color of dark red blood, were looking down at him.

 

There was a deep silence between the two.

 

“…What’s this?”

 

Even when he checked again, he wondered if he was seeing it wrong, but the man’s eyes were still red. Somehow, he remembered what Rachel said that day.

 

“Calm down, I’m not going to do anything, so stop wasting your energy.”

 

The man raised his palms to Ian as if to calm him down. But in the midst of all this, Ian seemed completely unwilling to listen to him, so the man gave a small, unabashed shrug.

 

A person, who had coloring that wasn’t seen in any normal human. He could only think of one person.

 

Who prophesied that he would be Emperor, who led him to the life of a fugitive a few years ago.

 

“Are you the prophet?”

 

The black-haired man nodded his head.

 

“As expected, you’re smart.”

 

As he slightly raised the corners of his mouth, his red eyes were also half-covered.

 

“Why did you approach Rachel?”

 

The red sun rose above the sky, and the darkness completely disappeared. The pain, which seemed to take his breath away, gradually subsided.

 

“Tell me why you approached Rachel.”

“Is that really what you want to ask me?”

 

As Ian rose threateningly from his seat and approached, the prophet took a few steps back as if he wanted to keep his distance from Ian.

 

“Aren’t there far more important things than that? Like who I am, why your pain doesn’t go away, or why it gets worse by the day. You should ask that.”

 

The prophet was still relaxed. Ian frowned as the prophet slowly spoke.

 

“There was no record of you living in hiding in the Imperial palace, or meeting anyone other than the previous Emperor. Tell me why you approached Rachel.”

 

Rachel apparently met someone with red eyes. She helped him, and he gave her a present.

 

Anxiety washed over him at the thought that Rachel had met with the man in front of him. Ian bit the inside of his cheek because of the unpredictable man in front of him.

 

“I wonder if you were waiting for that woman.”

 

The prophet rolled his eyes, as if he was hesitating to answer Ian’s question, before he slowly opened his mouth. At the moment, Ian raised his eyebrows.