Siella indifferently looked behind her as she slowly lowered the raised corners of her mouth.
“What on earth are you doing here?”
Then Eschert’s cold gaze fell upon her, who was approaching her as if waiting for the right moment. It was an all-too familiar gaze. Siella quietly raised her head and faced Eschert. She could in his blue eyes her flat expression.
“I just came here for some business and was just about to go back.”
“Haa….” A heavy sigh escaped from Eschert at Siella’s insipid reply. “Did you know how surprised I was when you suddenly contacted me?”
She didn’t know what he meant. Siella kept her silence and listened to Eschert as he continued talking.
“You have never contacted me first for the past five years. But….” Eschert said as he ran his hand through his disheveled hair, frustrated. “You weren’t at the mansion, and no one really knows where you’ve been.”
“…”
“There wasn’t even one who knows.”
Only then did she realize what Eschert was asking about. However, it still won’t change anything. Though she still had no idea what to say to Eschert.
Should I consider it fortunate that he misunderstood what was going on with me and Camellia and wasn’t trying to question it? Siella suddenly thought of that as she stared thoughtlessly at Eschert who ran his hand through his hair and placed his hand on his waist.
‘Did he look for me as soon as he arrived at the mansion?’
She told him in the letter that there was a woman who apparently brought a child with the locket necklace. Contrary to her expectations, Eschert seemed to want to look for her first than Camellia.
In this unexpected situation, Siella looked at the uncharacteristic Eschert and blinked her bewildered eyes. To tell the truth, Eschert hadn’t spared Camellia a glance. He just continued to stare right at Siella, as if she was the only person he could see.
“It’s really strange. The people who serve you really don’t have any interest in your actions.”
“…”
“Siella.”
Siella came back to her senses when Eschert called her. As she lifted her gaze from his big hands, she saw the slight irritation on Eschert’s stiff face.
“… I was thinking about something else for a moment.”
“You are thinking about something else in front of someone talking to you?”
Haa, she could feel Eschert’s frustration from the sound of his low sigh. However, Siella only thought that the Eschert who had many things to say today was unfamiliar.
Eschert stared at Siella, who showed no reaction at all, and was about to open his mouth again.
“Ex, excuse me…. Are you… are you His Grace… the Duke?”
But it was Camellia’s delicate voice that resonated in the quiet hallway. When Camellia, who had been silently standing in her place until now, intervened between Eschert and Siella, they turned to look at her at the same time. Camellia’s skinny body shrank even more as if two pairs of gazes directed on her body felt burdensome.
“Who are you?”
“… Yes?”
Eschert raised one eyebrow and stared at Camellia before asking again, “I asked who you are.”
“Ah….”
“You must not be a maid here judging by your clothes.”
“…”
She must have not known that Eschert would be like this. Speechless, Camellia shut her mouth and bit her lower lip.
“In the first place, there’s no way an employee would talk to the Family Head first.”
“…”
“So, who are you?”
Siella was somewhat surprised by Eschert’s more aggressive front than she expected.
Of course, there were also people who approached Eschert for the wealth of the Nocturm Ducal Family. There were countless swindlers who claimed to have brought back the child he was looking for. But Camellia’s case was quite different from theirs.
First of all, she presented solid evidence. It was the locket necklace the former Duke and Duchess left for the child. And even if that wasn’t the case, Siella predicted that Eschert would feel something special towards Camellia the moment he first sees her.
‘She’s the female lead after all.’
Because Camellia was the female lead of this world, bound by fate with Eschert. So I obviously thought there would be something different….
The situation now was very different from what she expected. Eschert was very hostile and wary towards Camellia, as if he was looking at those swindlers who came to the Duchy all this time.
“She’s the one I spoke of in the letter. She said she found Prince Edwin and brought him back here.”
Siella turned her gaze to Eschert with a calm voice.
She naturally knew that Eschert wasn’t really doing this because he didn’t know who Camellia was. He just didn’t want to expect any more. This was the first time the real child had been found – which he had sighed in disappointment after so much expectation. He just didn’t want to repeat the terrible experiences he had on hanging onto a hope and then despairing at the end again.
“I checked the identity [white] stone inside the locket.”
But that was all over now. Eschert no longer had to search for the child.
“Identity stone…?”
Pausing, Eschert looked back at Siella and asked her in disbelief, “Did you just say identity stone?”
“Yes. It was definitely the identity stone. So I think it’s for real this time.”
A mysterious power passed down from generation to generation in the Nocturm family. The pure white jewel that only reacts to those with that power was the identity stone.
And the fact that the missing child of the Nocturm family had a locket necklace containing the identity stone at the time of the accident was something only a handful people knew.
“This person really brought back Prince Edwin.”
Eschert’s blue eyes shook greatly at Siella’s words. Moments later, Eschert’s gaze shifted to Camellia. And unlike earlier, it had noticeably softened to a certain degree. And at that moment, Siella had a hunch that everything would be different from now on.
(T/N: I can only guess that 유백석 can be translated in ‘identity white stone’, or maybe I could also use the romanized version [yoo-baekseok] if you don’t mind. Actually, it doesn’t sound too good [identity white stone or identity stone]. But if you don’t mind the translated version, that’s also fine with me. And if anyone knows what 유백석 means then that would be highly appreciated~!)
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Siella was awakened by the sound of the raindrops hitting her window. It was early morning. The dark sky in the break of the day hadn’t completely cleared out and dyed in a gloomy color. On days like this, bad things happen.
Lightly thinking of it, Siella got out of the bed and put on her thick gown. She then heard someone knocking on the door.
“Miss Siella, it’s Patrick. May I come in for a moment?”
Siella didn’t answer and instead headed to the door. As she grabbed the doorknob, she felt the coldness of the metal piercing onto her skin.
Regardless, she opened the door and Patrick, the head butler, bowed his head in a rather polite manner towards Siella. She didn’t bother to invite him inside and just stared at him there. He opened his mouth first.
“Good morning, Miss Siella.”
It was rare for Patrick to personally visit Siella. Was that why? Siella was more curious to his reason why than the fact that she felt uncomfortable for Patrick’s early morning visit.
“What’s the matter?”
As Siella asked, Patrick answered with his head still bowing and his gaze fixed on the floor. “It’s nothing. I just received a message that the Duke will be returning to the mansion with the guests in the annex this afternoon.”
Eschert left for the temple that Louie was Edwin, the blood relative of the former Duke and Duchess a week ago. And in the temple, Eschert was with Edwin and Camellia. It was because Edwin burst into tears and insisted that if Camellia isn’t going then he also isn’t going.
Recalling that day, Siella nodded her head, thinking that it must be the time for Eschert to return.
Soon after, Patrick brought out the real business with Siella, who he looked for so early in the morning.
“Because of that, Miss Siella will need to vacate this bedroom you had been using right away.”
(T/N: Don’t mind me, I’m just sharpening my knife real quick sshkk, sshkk.)
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