Nightmare Came to The Place I Escaped - Chapter 84

“…No.”

 

Rachel shook her head.

 

Then she burrowed deeper into Ian’s arms. Ian patted the small of Rachel’s back.

 

After a long time, Rachel opened her mouth again.

 

“But he was fired.”

“…How did you know?”

“We met by chance.”

“Where? Where did you meet him?”

 

Ian asked Rachel, who suddenly brought up the story of the knight, persistently as if it were strange.

 

“Your Majesty, do you know why he got fired?”

 

However, Ian kept his mouth shut when Rachel changed the subject, as if he didn’t want to answer.

 

“Your Majesty, do you know?”

“I fired him.”

“…What?”

 

Rachel frowned slightly at Ian’s words.

 

Didn’t he say they didn’t know each other?

 

“Why?”

 

Did he make a mistake? Enough for Ian to kick him out?

 

“Did he make a mistake?”

“Just.”

“Your Majesty?”

 

“That day, your expression didn’t look good. You backed away as if you were frightened, then you ran away. I thought it was because of him.”

 

Ian looked suspiciously down at Rachel.

 

“Rachel, you really don’t know him, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Then why did you ask all of a sudden?”

“Lady Avery came to see me, and he came with her. He was originally a knight of the Imperial palace, but I heard that he was kicked out and was being used as her escort. So, that’s why I asked.”

 

For some reason, Rachel spewed a lie. If she told Ian that he killed her, how would Ian react?

 

The knight couldn’t remember it anyway.

 

In addition, it was now impossible to even know who was behind it.

 

Was it Diana? Maybe it was the Duke of Avery?

 

If it wasn’t them…

 

Then why did he lie to her the moment she was dying? Why did he lie to make her think Ian had ordered her death?

 

Did someone hate her that much? To the point where they would want to make her extremely miserable until the very moment of her death?

 

Diana Avery.

 

She wasn’t sure who it was, but Rachel kept thinking about her.

 

“….”

 

It was all useless.

 

And now, who could they ask about the crime? No one could reveal the truth anymore.

 

Yeah, she never really wanted revenge.

 

It was possible that she might never see him again, that was it.

 

After all, she was alive again and Ian was by her side.

 

She was still in a daze rather than happy, but Rachel thought she could reach happiness soon.

 

Rachel shook her head a little bit, as if to shake off her complicated thoughts.

 

“…Your Majesty.”

“What?”

“I’m tired.”

 

Today was a very exhausting day. She cried too much, and now she was tired because she’d stayed awake until it was late.

 

It hadn’t been more than a few hours since the magician had visited, but it felt like a long time ago.

 

Suddenly, it felt like too much had happened and now she was feeling relieved. She wanted to rest in Ian’s arms for a moment. She wanted to feel this peace for a little while.

 

Yeah, that was all she wanted for now.

 

That Ian didn’t kill her, that was enough.

 

She didn’t really wonder who’s orders the knight was following to kill her.

 

If Ian and her were happy, that was all she needed.

 

When Rachel closed her eyes, Ian smiled a little.

 

“Rachel.”

 

Rachel nodded her head quietly at Ian’s gentle voice.

 

“Did he bring you here without letting the Duke know?”

“Oh, yeah. I didn’t tell the Duke.”

 

Rachel sighed as she finally realized that she’d snuck out of the Oates’ castle.

 

“Yeah.”

 

Ian let out a small laugh and lightly swept Rachel’s hair off her face as she closed her eyes.

 

“I will contact Roosevelt. I think it would be better to get you back to the Duchy first. If the Duke or Mike finds out that you’re gone, they’ll be very worried.”

“…Yeah. Okay.”

 

Rachel hated having to be separated from Ian, but she also didn’t want to worry the Duke and Mike.

 

“…Your Majesty, will you be coming to see me soon?”

“Of course.”

 

Ian closed his eyes and quietly listened to Rachel’s slow breathing in his ear.

 

“I’ll be waiting.”

 

Ian listened quietly to Rachel’s diminished voice.

 

“…I love you.”

 

Ian, who had been staring at Rachel for a while, slowly moved.

 

Before morning came, he hoped Rachel would be back.

 

He walked to where Roosevelt lived.

 

***

 

Knock Knock

 

Ian knocked on Roosevelt’s door with considerable force.

 

“Roosevelt.”

 

When Ian called his name, Roosevelt opened the door with a small frown.

 

“Please send Rachel back.”

“Hmm, did you two make up?”

 

When Ian stared at Roosevelt instead of answering, Roosevelt shrugged his shoulders as if he already knew, as if he wouldn’t care.

 

“Yeah, well. I wasn’t particularly curious or interested.”

“….”

“Still, it seems to have worked out pretty well, seeing as your expression isn’t quite the worst? Then doesn’t that show a little bit of my virtue? So, a thank you or a thank you very much…”

“Roosevelt.”

 

Ian interrupted Roosevelt’s protracted speech.

 

“Is someone involved in Rachel’s death?”

“…What?”

“So, it wasn’t an accident that caused Rachel’s death?”

 

Only then did Roosevelt notice Ian’s mouth trembling slightly.

 

Ian noticed that Roosevelt’s gaze had fallen on his lips, so he closed his mouth tightly and clenched his fists.

 

The Emperor’s hunting grounds, that’s where Rachel died.

 

Was it because of that? Of course he thought it was an accident. He’d left Rachel there alone and thought she was dead.

 

He thought it was all his fault.

 

No one could enter the place without the Emperor’s permission.

 

But maybe that wasn’t it?

 

Ian recalled Rachel, who was crying sadly and burrowing into his arms a while ago.

 

‘If you came, that’s enough. I’m fine now.’

 

Why did Rachel think he didn’t go there?

 

Why did she suddenly bring up that knight?

 

Because he’d left Rachel alone there, because he shook off her hand. He thought she hated him because she’d gotten into an accident and died because of him. That’s why he thought she hated him.

 

But that didn’t seem to be the case.

 

She said it was okay because he came. It seemed like everything else didn’t matter.

 

“….”

 

Although the quickest way would be to ask Rachel directly what happened that day, but it wasn’t something she wanted to talk about.

 

Ian didn’t want to force Rachel to open up.

 

He didn’t want to force her to say something she didn’t want. Just thinking about it would be a terrible memory for her.

 

Okay, so something weird happened to Rachel that day. After seeing the knight, Rachel was strangely frightened.

 

Was he related?

 

‘He’s Lady Avery’s escort knight.‘

 

Diana.

 

Diana Avery.

 

“Ha!”

 

Ian gave a small laugh.

 

He wasn’t sure yet, but Ian had a rough idea of how things went.

 

Was it Diana Avery’s work? Was Diana involved in Rachel’s death?

 

Ian felt his blood run cold.

 

“Diana Avery killed Rachel?”

 

Come to think of it, it was strange that Diana suddenly returned to her estate around the time that Rachel died. Now that he thought about it, it was strange that she, who was so obsessed with him, suddenly left.

 

Ian originally thought it was just because her pride was hurt.

 

Was Diana hiding because she was afraid he’d find out what she’d done?

 

Yes, it didn’t make sense that the greedy Duke of Avery would abandon the opportunity to produce an Empress just because his daughter’s pride was hurt.

 

“No, the Duke of Avery must have had a hand in it.”

 

Diana couldn’t have done it all alone.

 

Since she wasn’t such a nice woman, he was sure he could feel the Duke’s breath.

 

“Why, why did you…”

 

Ian bit his lip, his white teeth bit mercilessly and his lip bled.

 

Ian couldn’t understand why they killed Rachel, no matter how hard he thought about it.

 

He was already engaged to Diana, and by then he had no contact with Rachel. So why did they touch Rachel?

 

Ian took full responsibility when their engagement was broken off, and even compensated her.

 

He felt a little sorry for Diana because he broke off their impending marriage for no reason. He felt sorry that Diana couldn’t get married until quite late.

 

He did not completely destroy the Avery family because he felt sorry for Diana.

 

“Hey, Ian.”

“Never mind, you don’t have to answer.”

 

Ian didn’t have to hear Roosevelt’s answer now.

 

Ian held his forehead as if he was catching his breath for a moment.

 

“Please send only Rachel back to the duchy.”

 

Ian said, as he glanced at the dark sky without any light.

 

The sun would rise soon.

 

He didn’t want to show Rachel his pain, and he wanted to send her back to where she was before sunrise.

 

“I’ll be waiting.”

 

Ian remembered Rachel’s words that she would be waiting and hurried.

 

***

 

Knock Knock

 

“Rachel.”

 

Ian quietly called out to Rachel from outside the door, but no answer was heard from inside the room.

 

Ian waited for a while, then carefully opened the door.

 

Ian smiled a little at Rachel, who was lying motionless in bed as she slept soundly.

 

“Wait a minute, please.”

 

Ian, who’d lowered his voice to its quietest in case he woke Rachel up, hurriedly picked up a pen instead of waking her up.

 

Scratch Scratch

 

The sound of the pen stopped after a pause.

 

Ian folded the paper in half, then folded it in half again, and handed it to Roosevelt.

 

“Rachel’s room, put it on her desk.”

“Hey, Ian. Are you okay?”

 

When questioned by Roosevelt, Ian looked at him for a moment, then asked.

 

“What?”

“I mean, you. What are you going to do about Diana Avery?”

“….”

“Tsk, if you can, just forget about it.”

 

Roosevelt frowned slightly as if he was troubled.

 

***