Nightmare Came to The Place I Escaped - Chapter 78

As Rachel and Diana left the mansion to head to the garden.

 

Rachel fixed her eyes on the familiar person.

 

Although she couldn’t see his face because he was lowering his head. Rachel felt faint just from seeing the side of his face.

 

Hilariously, she once again felt a surge of fear.

 

‘Why is he here, how is he here?’

 

She didn’t understand how the knight was here at all. Her mind froze, without being able to understand the situation.

 

Only her heart was beating fast. Rachel’s heart pounded as if her feet were running away in fear.

 

“….”

“Lady Oates?”

 

Diana looked back at Rachel, who’d fallen behind, and called out to her quietly. Then, Diana turned her head toward where Rachel’s eyes were facing.

 

“This is my escort.”

 

Then she said this as if it wasn’t a big deal.

 

“Your escort…”

 

Rachel frowned, and looked at Diana.

 

“How can I, a ducal lady, come without an escort when I traveled such a long way?”

 

Diana shrugged her shoulders as if she was wondering why Rachel was so surprised by such a trivial matter.

 

“It’s not that…”

Obviously, the knight was a member of the Imperial knights. So, why was he an escort for Diana?

 

Were the Imperial knights able to act as personal escorts?

 

That couldn’t be true.

 

Or did Ian assign him for Diana?

 

“Lady Oates, didn’t you say you’d show me the garden?”

 

Diana urged Rachel once again, as she looked a little annoyed at Rachel just standing there blankly.

 

Rachel forced herself to take a step at Diana’s urging. If she stayed here any longer, she felt like the knight would raise his head to see what the situation was.

 

If they made eye contact, Rachel felt she wouldn’t be able to control her expression and would run away.

 

In order to not to attract the knight’s attention, Rachel moved her feet as she pressed her lips tightly together during the current situation that she couldn’t understand.

 

This was the Duke of Oates territory, the family knights stood right next to her.

 

If he tried to do something, someone would help her. So there was nothing to fear.

 

Even though there wasn’t any reason, Rachel couldn’t control her reaction. All she could do was hold onto her trembling hands.

 

Thud Thud Thud

 

He followed after Rachel and Diana.

 

Rachel’s attention was focused on the sound of his steps, so she couldn’t hear Diana’s voice.

 

Obviously, her family’s knights followed as well.

 

Rachel couldn’t come to her senses from the feeling of helplessness and fear that rose from her toes.

 

“Lady Oates, what’s wrong with you?”

 

Diana raised her voice a little, and looked at Rachel. Diana looked back at her knight when she noticed that Rachel’s face was pale as if she were scared.

 

“Oh, are you scared by the knight’s appearance?”

 

Well, it looked pretty ugly to her, too.

 

“Are you all right, My Lady?”

 

The knight approached Rachel and checked on her since her condition was unusual.

 

“Hey, monster. Tsk, you seem to have scared the lady, who is very weak and is feeling faint because of you. So go away.”

 

Diana snapped at the knight, even though she thought Rachel was just causing a fuss.

 

“…I’m sorry. Lady Oates, I’m sorry.”

 

The knight flushed in shame at the fact that his appearance had changed so terribly that it caused her to tremble. Still, he apologized to Rachel, who was offended by the sight of him, and walked away.

 

Thud Thud

 

The knight’s footsteps were getting farther away, and Rachel was finally able to breathe calmly.

 

“Are you all right, My Lady?”

“Phew, I’m fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”

 

Rachel shook her head, and said it was okay when one of the family knights looked at her anxiously.

 

“…Lady Avery, but wasn’t that knight originally a knight at the Imperial palace.”

“Do you know that knight?”

“I think I saw him at the Imperial palace.”

 

At Rachel’s words, Diana squinted.

 

The knight wasn’t a person with a very noteworthy appearance. There were so many knights in the palace, so unless she remembered them all, it was nonsense for Rachel to know this one knight just because she saw him one time.

 

“You saw the knight at the Imperial palace?”

“Yes, but why was the knight able to come here as an escort for the lady?”

 

Diana opened her mouth at the question filled with suspicion towards her.

 

Diana was in a bad mood when she noticed that Rachel was trying to ask her such a question.

 

“He’s from the Avery estate.”

“He’s one of Avery’s people?”

“Yes, he was living on the street like a dog when he was younger. Then my father picked him up and raised him.”

 

Diana shrugged her shoulders slightly.

 

“He became a knight of the Imperial palace because he has a talent for swordsmanship, but he was ejected not too long ago.”

“Ejected?”

“So, I took him in as my escort knight when he had nowhere else to go.”

 

Diana shrugged her shoulders a little bit, then stared at Rachel as if there wasn’t an issue with what happened.

 

“Oh, I see.”

 

Rachel nodded her head only then.

 

She didn’t expect him to be from the Avery family.

 

Why was he kicked out? Until the day of the Hunting competition, he was dressed in the uniform of the Imperial knights, so when was he ejected?

 

Was it Ian? Why was he here now?

 

Was he more of an Avery guy then? If he’d been raised by them since he was a kid…

 

“Lady Oates?”

“Oh, the smell of flowers is good, isn’t it? Flowers bloom throughout the four seasons, making it a favorite place for my family.”

 

Rachel quickly changed the subject, but her mind was feeling conflicted by the new facts.

 

***

 

After breakfast the next day, Diana was ready to leave.

 

Mike didn’t enjoy Lady Avery’s attendance at the Oates’ table.

 

WIth how Diana treated Rachel at the Victory Banquet. Knowing that Rachel was uncomfortable around her, the situation wasn’t particularly pleasing to him.

 

But both his father and Rachel stayed still. For now, Mike endured it because Diana didn’t cross any lines this time.

 

“Duke Oates, I was very comfortable because of how generous you were about my sudden visit and you treated me so well. Thank you.”

“Of course, Lady Avery. I hope your trip home goes smoothly.”

 

Diana smiled at the Duke of Oates’ well wishes.

 

After her farewell to the Duke, Diana walked out the front door toward the carriage. Diana turned her head toward Mike and Rachel, who’d come to the front door to see her off before she got into the carriage.

 

Diana’s gaze shifted to Mike, so Mike forced up the corners of his mouth.

 

“Master Oates, I’ll be going.”

“Have a safe journey home.”

“Lady Oates, please contact me when you need my help.”

 

Rachel, who was holding Mike’s hand, nodded at Diana’s farewell.

 

Her escort knight opened the carriage door, and Diana stepped inside.

 

The escort knight nodded before boarding the carriage, and soon the door was firmly closed.

 

Rachel looked up to watch as he got into the carriage.

 

“….”

 

Soon Rachel’s eyes widened.

 

“Why are his ears…”

 

She was sure he had ears the whole time. What was wrong with him? The place where his ears had been were red, as if it was a recent wound.

 

Were his ears like that on the day of the Hunting competition when she encountered him at the Imperial palace?

 

Rachel frowned as she tried to recall the moment she didn’t remember very well.

 

Then, with the cry of a horse, the carriage left the garden and Mike opened his mouth.

 

“The knight of that family told me that he had an incident a while ago.”

“An incident?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look too good.”

 

Mike smiled quietly as if to reassure Rachel.

 

“Was it that scary?”

 

After hearing what happened in the garden with the knight yesterday, Mike seemed to think Rachel was frightened by the knight’s wounds.

 

“When did he have the incident?”

“I think it was recently.”

 

Mike smiled a little bitterly. In his sympathetic smile, Rachel had a rough idea of what the incident meant.

 

“Rachel, I hope you don’t get too close to Diana. There is nothing good about being close to a person with a cruel nature.”

“Are you saying that Lady Avery did that?”

“Well, it was most likely the Duke of Avery’s work.”

 

Mike lightly stroked Rachel’s hair. He didn’t want to talk about anything too cruel with Rachel.

 

“What, what did he do so wrong that he would cut off his ears?”

“I guess they just didn’t like him. It couldn’t have been a legitimate punishment.”

 

Rachel asked again, even though she knew Mike was reluctant to speak about it.

 

It was already a famous story in society that Diana held no mercy in her hands. But not all took issue with it, since he belonged to her anyway.

 

Rachel swept down her ear as goose bumps rose on her back.

 

The punishment of cutting off the ears, it could’ve been directed at her.

 

“Rachel, shall we stop?”

 

Mike wrapped his arm around Rachel’s shoulder when he noticed her touching her ear. He hoped she wasn’t too scared, not too shocked.

 

Mike clicked his tongue quietly. As expected, he regretted that he hadn’t stood up and blocked Diana from meeting Rachel.

 

***

 

Rustle Rustle

 

In the dark room, Rachel had been lying still in her bed when she raised herself up with a frown.

 

The man whose ears were horribly cut off kept messing with her mind.

 

‘What the heck did you do wrong…’

 

If she wasn’t Lady Oates, if her father and Mike weren’t by her side. No, if she was at the Avery Estate that winter, then she might’ve had the same thing happen to her.

 

Rachel hugged her shoulders when she thought about it.

 

The knight, who she was so afraid of, couldn’t resist Diana’s words. Yes, even his eyes were cautious.

 

“Sigh…”

 

He was a man of the Avery estate.

 

So, was Diana involved in her death?

 

Maybe Diana asked Ian to do it? She didn’t like Rachel, so let’s just kill her.

 

Maybe that’s why Ian left her.

 

“….”

 

Rachel got out of bed, as she tried to cut off the unwanted stream of thought.

 

Yeah, what was the use of thinking about it now?

 

Whatever the facts were, nothing changed. She couldn’t even dream of revenge on Lady Avery, even though it was for Ian.

 

She’d rather forget everything than grieve alone.

 

***