Nightmare Came to The Place I Escaped - Chapter 77

“You bastard. Don’t let your dirty breath mix with mine.”

Diana opened the window with a small curse.

“Tsk, useless thing.”

Diana nevertheless looked up and down at the knight’s face, as if her anger still hadn’t dissipated.

He was like a pig lying in the mud. A useless thing, abandoned even by his own parents.

It was all thanks to the support of the Dukes of Avery that he’d become a knight. Not only that, they’d also preserved his life by saving him from freezing to death over the winter. It was thanks to the Avery family that he was even alive today.

Perhaps because of his lack of talent, he was knighted a little later than others, and it was difficult for him to earn a name for himself among the knights of the Imperial palace.

Although he was provided with food, clothing, and a place to stay, the results he brought back weren’t so great. He was just one of many knights.

Even though he was a member of the Imperial knights, how much help could a single incompetent knight bring the Duke’s family? He didn’t have much contact with the Knight Commander, let alone the Emperor.

Even so, the Duke left him alone, which meant that he wanted to know the rumors circulating among the knights. It was something that anyone with ears could do.

Now that brute couldn’t even do that.

Diana looked at the man whose ears had been cut off in a hideous way, and turned her head as if she was nauseated by the disgusting sight.

It was because he was cut from the knights of the Imperial palace a few days after the Hunting competition.

The knight was cut off in vain. How incompetent was he to be fired from there?

Of course, the knight was wronged. He hadn’t done anything incorrectly. He said he got up as usual, finished eating, trained, and then stood guard.

If anything special happened in the past month, it would be that he met His Majesty and spoke a few words to him. That was it.

He was simply telling him about the progress of the Hunting competition and the estimated time of the closing ceremony at the command of the General Manager. Normally, he would’ve told one of his servants instead of talking to His Majesty directly.

He met the Emperor in the hallway, and that’s why he’d told him directly.

So, which of these was the reason why he was expelled from the Imperial knights?

It was obviously unfair and absurd, but the Duke of Avery was not very merciful to people who were no longer useful. So, he cut off his ears since he could no longer fulfill his purpose.

The knight glanced at the side of Lady Avery’s face, and clenched his teeth.

They made him like this, but they couldn’t look at him, as if he was disgusting. He was filled with anger at the unusually noisy lady, but all he could do was put up with it.

Finding relief in the current situation and comforting himself, that was all he could do.

The Duke of Avery’s knighthood was disbanded, but he was allowed to maintain a knight escort for the young lady. If the lady’s knights had still been strong, he would’ve had nowhere to go and wouldn’t have been able to live until now.

The present wasn’t so bad, so the only thing he could do was to console himself.

It wasn’t only his life, but the lives of his wife and children, were in the hands of the Duke of Avery and his daughter. There was no way he would ever dare to bare my teeth.

***

Despite Diana’s sudden visit, the Duchy of Oates opened their gates to her.

The Duke opened the door to Diana, who had come a long way because Rachel had suddenly disappeared.

Diana Avery.

Although the rumors about her in the social world weren’t very good, she was good at dealing with people and was already a well-established young lady in the noble society.

Of course, the position of the Duke of Avery was shaky compared to before, but everyone in the aristocratic world knew that His Majesty the Emperor was not completely at odds with the Duke.

That meant he could get back up at any time.

Diana Avery.

The Duke of Oates thought that if she took good care of Rachel, she would be able to fit into noble society more easily.

Regardless of all that, Diana was a guest who’d come a long way because she was worried about his daughter. He couldn’t help but be proud of Rachel, who was already her own person in society, and he also felt thankful towards Diana.

There was nothing more difficult for a parent than the idea that their child wasn’t able to adapt to the world. To the Duke, Diana demonstrated Rachel’s ability to socialize, which made him feel a little better. Despite Diana’s rude visit, he opened the gates without any hesitation.

Rachel agonized for a moment when she heard the news that Diana Avery was visiting the Oates estate.

Whether she should meet with her or not. However, it didn’t seem like it would be a good idea to send Diana back after such a long journey. She also wondered why Diana had come to see her, so Rachel got ready and walked towards the drawing room.

Knock Knock

“Lady Oates is entering.”

The maid opened the drawing room door, and announced Rachel.

“Lady Oates, long time no see.”
“Lady Avery, It’s been a long time since I saw you.”

Diana directed a small smile towards Rachel as she entered. At the same time, her eyes quickly ran up and down Rachel.

“I guess you’re comfortable living here”

“What?”

“You look better than when I saw you in the capital.”

Diana smiled once again, as if she were being generous.

“The young noblewomen were very curious about you. Everyone was very surprised by the situation that seemed different from what you’d told us.”

Diana thought it was better.

She didn’t know what happened between Ian and Rachel, but it seemed that she’d run away from Ian.

Diana looked at Rachel, who was sitting in front of her, for a moment.

Unassuming brown hair and slightly conspicuous, but not very colorful, green eyes. All she had were worthless things.

Looking at her without spite or poison, Diana felt like laughing for some reason.

She was running away from the Emperor when she wouldn’t even make enough of an effort to become the Empress? It was impossible for Diana to understand why she’d given away the necklace that the Emperor had gifted her, or that she’d abandoned the Emperor so easily.

“I thought it would get better over time, but there are rumors that the lady deceived us on purpose.”

What a dull girl.

It wouldn’t be bad for that stupid woman to hide here forever.

“It’s not that I don’t understand the young ladies’ feelings. I don’t feel good when I think of Lady Oates. Of course, I know it’s wrong, but can you blame them for hating you?”

How could she run away like that when she didn’t even have a place in society.

She was going to break the road so that Rachel could never return to society ever again. Honestly, wasn’t this a good thing for Rachel too? Wasn’t it a mercy that she stepped on the bud before her vain hope sprouted.

“Lady Avery, so the reason you came to see me was to tell me the rumors of the social world? Did you travel for two days just to tell me that story?”

“No, I need to thank you more than anything else.”

Diana picked up the teacup at Rachel’s slightly cold tone, so as to make her wait a little bit.

Diana took a sip of tea, and slowly opened her mouth again.

“The necklace that the lady gave me.”

Rachel furrowed her eyebrows a bit at Diana’s words.

“Did you know that His Majesty was praising me, and he said that it goes well with my splendor?”

Diana smiled brightly as if she were happy just thinking about what happened that day.

“That day, I became his dance partner. It was his first time dancing with a young noblewoman. I can’t believe I was with him for the first time.”

Diana slowly extended her words as if she were happy. It was lovely to see her blink as if she remembered the day like a person who still couldn’t get out of the afterglow of the event.

“And do you know what His Majesty promised me?”

Diana leaned her upper body a little forward, as if she was whispering a secret between the two of them only.

“You know he’s going to give me a much more beautiful and colorful necklace just for me, right?”

“….”

“It’s all thanks to Lady Oates!”

Diana moved closer to Rachel, like she was going to happily hold Rachel’s hands as if they were friends. Diana seemed excited enough not to care about aristocratic manners.

Rachel was confident she knew Diana pretty well, having lived by her side for a long time.

Diana never violated aristocratic manners. As long as she wasn’t angry, all her actions were the standard of manners and appearance.

The problem was that she was easily angered.

However, the current Diana didn’t look angry at all. And yet the reason why Diana was so excited, was what she said really true?

Did Ian really forget about Rachel that quickly?

Was it such an basic and shallow feeling that he could easily forget?

Rachel bit the flesh in her mouth gently.

Actually, she realized that she’d wanted Ian to have a hard time. Originally, she thought it didn’t matter what happened to him, but when she thought he didn’t have any feelings for her anymore.

She didn’t feel comfortable if he’d forgotten her already.

She wasn’t going to go back to him anyway, so what did it matter what she meant to him?

“Thanks to me.”

Rachel gave a small nod.

“Then Lady Avery owes me a debt.”

Diana’s eyebrows wiggled slightly at her words, but Diana quickly nodded.

“If there is something I can do for Lady Oates, I will help you once.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Rachel changed the subject after she gave her word. For now, she didn’t want to hear any more about Ian.

“Lady Avery, since you came all the way here, why don’t we take a walk in the garden together? Our castle’s garden is famous for its beauty.”

Rachel wanted to stop being alone with Diana in this small space.

She would rather have a conversation about today’s weather while they walked around the garden.

“Let’s go.”

At Diana’s nod, Rachel slowly stood up from her seat.

***