On the day when the accident happened, Siella was on her way to the County in a carriage sent by Count Shedland.
“Do you think I would let you leave my side like this and live a good life?”
The culprit who appeared with mercenaries and attacked her carriage was Siella’s registered brother – Kyle Yeness Leroy. He was the second among the children brought into Count Leroy’s family by a woman who remarried Siella’s father.
And Siella’s stepmother became aware of the wrong feelings her second child had towards his younger sister. It was the reason why Siella’s stepmother persuaded her husband using clever tricks to let Siella marry an old nobleman. It was the price of the bride promised by Count Shedland to pay off her enormous debt that her family owed, and to get rid of Siella forever, who was a thorn in her eyes in so many ways.
That was why Siella entered the County as Count Shedland’s third wife, where the two previous Countesses died.
“Mother did some annoying things and almost messed things up a bit, but oh well, it doesn’t matter. I can just put it back together again.”
But her stepmother’s ambitious plan, which would have been quite good, was foiled. It can be said that she was like a master who underestimated her beloved son’s obsession he harbors inside.
“First, I will catch you and lock you up prettily, then…. What? Why are you shaking like this? Cold?”
“Get lost.”
“What?”
“I said get lost.”
Please. Please disappear from my life. Siella repeated the words again and again, as if she was cursing the man. The man eventually lost all his reasons.
“Tsk, won’t you shut your mouth?”
At that moment, Siella felt the burning pain all over her scalp. It took her a moment to realize that it was because the man’s large hand had grabbed her hair.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
“Why is she still unconscious?”
“She must have been greatly shocked. Didn’t you hear what the physician said earlier?”
The unfamiliar voices chatting with each other intrude in her hazy consciousness. How long had she been listening to the voices? At some point, Siella’s mind gradually became clearer.
“Fortunately, she has no serious injuries so she will wake up soon.”
“Then that’s a relief….”
Siella, who was closing her eyes even after regaining consciousness, only lifted her heavy eyelids after she heard the door open and closed.
“…”
“…”
I thought everyone left. Unexpectedly, the face of the person who was still by Siella’s side filled her vision.
“Are you awake now?”
A deep sounding and nice voice. Along with that voice were the pair of serious blue eyes that were carefully examining the other person.
The spectacle she had seen before she lost consciousness passed through Siella’s head like a flashlight. Kyle’s sudden intrusion and the carriage he forcibly moved with his hand. While she was riding the carriage toward an unknown place, the carriage was attacked again….
‘Then it wasn’t all a dream….’
In her dimming field of view, she saw a man who looked at her with an urgent expression. Eschert Nocturm. He was unbelievably in front of her. Even when the accident happened and at this moment. This situation felt very unrealistic.
Staring blankly at Eschert for quite some time, Siella only came back to her senses and opened her dry lips.
“… Where am I?”
Then her coarse and cracked voice came out. It sounded like someone else’s. Siella cleared her throat and involuntarily raised a hand to touch her neck. But her fingertips didn’t feel her bare skin. Only then did she notice that there was a soft cloth wrapped around her neck.
‘Looking back, I was strangled.’
It was her who was strangled, but she remembered that Kyle’s face was flushed red as his hand tightened as if he was also being strangled. How crazy did he look at that time?
As if she could still see his flushed face clearly in her mind, Siella closed her eyes before opening them again.
“Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”
“… No.”
Siella tried to keep her head clear, which kept going down on a different path. Then she asked Eschert, who was still carefully examining her condition.
“How come that I am here with you now?”
Eschert slightly raised one of his eyebrows as he closely looked at Siella’s pale face. But before the other person noticed it, his cloudy expression soon disappeared and was replaced with his usual flat expression.
“This is one of the residences owned by our family.” Eschert answered in a voice as dry as his expressionless face. “I happened to witness the scene where you were attacked by an unidentified assailant, so I saved you and brought you here.”
“Unidentified… assailant?”
Siella burst into a self-deprecating laugh without even realizing it. It was because of the doubt that passed through her mind the moment she heard Eschert’s words that made her laugh although it wasn’t a laughing matter at all. Does Eschert really take Kyle simply as an ‘unidentified assailant’?
‘You’re lying. In fact, you knew who he was.’
Siella was sure that it would be impossible for Eschert to fail to recognize Kyle. Not too long ago, sometime in the past, Eschert and Kyle had met. And Siella knew it very well.
[“How dare that bastard act like that, ignoring me!”]
That was what Kyle said after meeting Eschert at a social event hosted by a family-sponsored business. That day, Kyle was swearing at Eschert and made a mess of the young Siella’s bedroom with rage.
‘Yes, that’s what happened.’
Sneering at her newly recalled memory, Siella looked up at Eschert who was standing beside her.
Then Eschert spoke, “My offer is still valid.”
Siella just blinked her eyes at his sudden words. Eschert quickly looked down at Siella for a moment, as if observing her reaction, before speaking in a low voice.
“Lady Siella, I know you’ve always been looking for ways to get away from your family.”
Only then did Siella realize that Eschert did not give up and return on that day.
“And I think I can be that way.”
Eschert spoke confidently, as if he was talking about the world’s obvious reason and truth.
“No, I’m sure we will be the only way to each other.”
Siella silently looked up at him, her eyes staring at Eschert was unwavering. His blue eyes, at least to himself, showed that he had no doubts about what he was saying. He really thinks that he and she can be the only thing for the two of them. It was such a one-sided conviction that Siella couldn’t understand it at all, and it was bizarre in some ways.
Siella stared at the man in front of her for quite some time as if she was looking at a strange creature, before asking him, “Was it purely coincidence that you saw the scene where I was attacked by an unidentified assailant?”
“No.”
“No?”
“Yes, it wasn’t a coincidence.” Eschert readily admitted it without the slightest hesitation. “I put people to watch you ever since the day you and I first talked.”
He knew that he had put someone to watch her without asking for the other person’s permission. With his calm admitting, Siella let out a self-mocking laugh at her dejected heart. Thanks to him, she was able to keep her life safe like this without dying at Kyle’s hands. Should I say this is fortunate…? Or should I be appalled by his behavior, as if he had already expected this to happen?
Siella, speechless at Eschert’s confident demeanor, stopped laughing after a while and asked him, “Are you saying the offer that time is still valid?”
“That’s right.”
“Then do you still have the contact you showed me that day?”
At Siella’s question, Eschert nodded his head as if it was natural again, without any hesitation.
“Of course.”
Then he took out the contract from his arms and showed it to her, as if it was waiting for the other person, as if he had nothing to worry about.
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