Episode 3
Two days had passed since then.
Even today, Ashlyn was standing in the middle of the duke’s bedroom.
It was currently the ambiguous time between afternoon tea and dinner.
Ashlyn gave in and chose this hour to tidy up the duke’s bedroom. It was only once a day, anyway.
‘It’s a relief.’
Because it was more than enough to run into him once a day.
“There you are.”
She heard the door opening behind her back, and a sweet voice soon followed.
Ashlyn’s eyes shook. The hands that were putting away the blankets stopped at once.
“That’s enough.”
The duke held up Ashlyn’s hand, which were smoothening out the wrinkles of the blankets. The contact made her whole body stiffen up.
He swept the back of Ashlyn’s hand with his thumb. As the hands of a swordsman were, the duke’s hands were rough, and somewhat hot.
“You look pale, are you sick?”
His eyes, examining her face, looked full of anxiety.
Ashlyn opened her stiff mouth and pulled away the hand that was caught by him. The clinging hands fell off.
“I’m done cleaning, so I’ll get going.”
“…….”
Ashlyn moved to stand a few steps away and bowed. The duke silently watched the bending figure without replying.
Ha. A short sigh came out of his mouth.
“Wait a minute. I’ll tell them to bring the refreshments cart.”
He reached for the rope by the bed. Ashlyn quickly leaned to his side to stop him.
“I apologise.”
Ashlyn opened her mouth dryly.
“…I have a lot of other work to do. If you wish to drink tea, I’ll tell someone prepare it and bring it over.”
No words came from the duke.
“If not, then please excuse me.”
Ashlyn added quickly and turned away.
It was unheard of for a maid to recklessly retreat without permission from her master, but the duke did not blame her.
“Did I do something wrong?”
Ashlyn stopped walking. Her eyebrows naturally wrinkled.
“What?”
“Whenever you were angry with me before, you used to avoid me like that.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Tell me if you have any complaints for me. I don’t think it’s just because of your lost memories…”
A large shadow hung over her head. She felt suffocated by the heavy atmosphere.
“I think you’re being overly wary of me.”
His voice was somewhat cool.
“My lord, why would you say that?”
Ashlyn replied monotonously and bowed deeply. She purposely didn’t raise her head because she didn’t want to make eye contact with him.
“To a maid like me…”
“A maid.”
The duke sneered as he retorted Ashlyn’s words.
“Do you really think you’re just a maid?”
His cold voice was subdued.
The duke narrowed the distance between them once more. She could see his indoor shoes.
“As I said before, I can always have you quit your job as a maid. Oh, that’s right. Did you say you lost your memories?”
“My lord.”
“Then I’ll tell you again. I can make you quit the job at any time.”
“……”
“I’ve been holding it in because you didn’t want to do that. But I…”
He took a breath as if to hold down something.
“I’m always holding it in.”
The duke’s fist gently trembled. Ashlyn pondered on what to say and eventually kept her mouth closed.
A moment of silence passed.
He let out a long sigh.
“…You look really pale. I won’t bother you, so go take a rest for now.”
His voice seemed tired.
Ashlyn, however, shook her head still.
“Thank you for saying that, but I have a lot of other things to do, so I’ll get going right away.”
She didn’t mean to back off either.
“I can’t help it then.”
Suddenly a low, sinking voice came out.
Only then did Ashlyne slightly raise her head and look at the duke’s face. He looked down at Ashlyn with a strangely twisted look.
“From now, you’d better work only in my bedroom.”
“What?”
“I didn’t know you were so busy that you didn’t even have time to rest for a bit.”
“My lord.”
“I’ll tell the head maid.”
“No, my lord.”
Ashlyn raised her bent waist.
The tip of his lips curled up. The dark red eyes held a dangerous look.
“Why? Are you worried our relationship will be found out one of these days?”
“It’s not like that……”
“Do I look like some fool who can’t protect you?”
An obvious sneer. Cold sarcasm. It was the first time he’d shot back at her like this.
But at the same time, this was most similar to Ashlyn’s memory of Duke Laperion.
Ashlyn closed her mouth and stared into the duke’s eyes.
An awkward, heavy silence fell.
But in the end, the duke turned his eyes away first. He let out a short murmur.
“…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to act so mean.”
Ashlyn narrowed her brows. It wasn’t like him to back down first.
“This is a meaningless waste of energy.”
She wanted to get out of here. From this suffocating air and from this man who was so unfamiliar to her.
“I’m sorry, my lord. Please, please, allow me to withdraw for today.”
“…..”
Ashlyn bowed again.
The duke stared at her, and finally gave her permission in a small, resigned manner.
Afraid she would be stopped again; Ashlyn quickly made her way out.
The bedroom door closed.
Ashlyn leaned her back at the huge door.
“Phew…”
The breath she’d been holding back all this time was finally able to be let out.
* * *
‘Ashlyn, the master asked me to assign a maid to the bedroom who will only work there, perhaps because he’s unsatisfied with the bedroom’s current condition. You will take on the task.’
The duke eventually succeeded in keeping her tied to his bedroom, as he’d mentioned.
This took off the workload from Ashlyn’s body, but it wasn’t what she wanted.
“Sigh.”
Ashlyn was crossing the corridor leading to the annex.
The cold northern wind seeped in. But she was so tired that she didn’t even have time to feel the cold.
Whenever she came out of the duke’s bedroom, she would always be exhausted like this.
‘It was a relief that nothing happened today.’
After that day, the duke neither cornered Ashlyn nor came closer to her than necessary.
He always asked her to have some tea and go after eating something, but if Ashlyn politely refused, he didn’t make her stay. It was a big relief.
“But what should I do now?”
Her lamenting murmur sprang out with a faint breath.
How long could she stay like this?
Could she last a year like this?
Her mind was full of complicated thoughts.
Ashlyn’s steps suddenly stopped.
This was because she could see the inscriptions of the Duke and Duchess of Laperion engraved on one side of the wall. Was it because the master these belonged to had been tormenting her for so long? The sentence that could be anywhere in the house seemed to look anew to her.
A balance that symbolizes neutrality must not lean to any side.
Ashlyn scoured the sentence bitterly.
‘That’s an old saying.’
The man she’d just met had a face that looked the farthest from neutral.
Tevet Laperion.
The Devilish Duke rumoured to be the most cold-blooded out of all of the lords there have been of Laperion.
Who would expect him to lean to a side like he was?
A deep shadow set over Ashlyn’s face. She looked at the balance engraved on the wall.
Ashlyn slowly moved closer towards the corridor wall.
Above the Laperion’s own texts, was the coat of arms of the empire.
‘Once, I could only wear clothes with this symbol on them.’
A double-edged sword crossing a small goblet engraved in the middle, as if protecting it.
‘The holy chalice of Brittania.’
Ashlyn traced the goblet with her fingers.
‘It’s already been a century since the holy chalice disappeared…’
The holy chalice was a sacred object that revealed the next emperor of Brittania.
But it disappeared 100 years ago.
Some said that the God of Masis had taken it back, and some said that the demons had stolen it, but no one knew what the truth was.
As the holy chalice had disappeared, there was no means to distinguish who the next emperor would be. So a bloody fight for succession began between the Imperial successors from then on.
The last to survive would become the emperor.
It was deemed as simple as the method of the holy chalice, so blood spilled constantly over the throne. Her father, Rothen Brittania, was also someone who’d killed his brother and taken the position.
“I ended up losing.”
At one time, Ashlyn was also in the middle of that war.
She had to defeat her old enemy, the first prince, to become the emperor.
“…….”
Ashlyn’s eyes sank coldly.
As the face of the first prince came to mind, the face of duke Laperion came with him.
Not the friendly face he had in the bedroom, but the cold and cruel face she was used to.
‘The Laperions’ balance tilted over to the first prince.’
It was the duke himself who brought her a cup of poison that day, under the orders of the first prince. Most of her memories of the day she died were blurry, but how could she forget that face?
It was the historic day that Laperion, who’d remained neutral for generations, had chosen to take a side – the side of the first prince.
Suddenly she saw a metal ornament hanging on the right side of the wall. It was so smooth and shiny that she could see her face in it.
“…how disgusting.”
Ashlyn sneered at the face that was reflected in the decoration.
The light purple hair and deep blue eyes were the same color as they had been in her previous life. However, she was clearly a different person from back then.
It was not important that the shape or physique of the eyes, nose, and mouth were a little different. It was largely because of the lifeless look that changed her impression.
A thin, unseemly face, unarmed eyes, and a pale complexion.
‘The face of a loser who just wants to get on with life after all the spite she has in her has disappeared.’
The face she remembered would’ve never looked like this.
Rahf-
Her fingertips, scratching the Laperions’ inscriptions, turned red.
‘To be in a secret love affair with the duke who killed me.’
There could be no bigger tragedy.
Emotions that she’d tried to forget flocked to her again like a wave.
Her situation, which could easily be swayed anytime by the duke, and her own patheticness for trying to survive this way even after she was defeated.
The whole thing was shameful.
“…….”
Ashlyn turned around impulsively.
There was no hesitation in her steps as she strode through the corridor.
It was obvious where the head maid was. For these three months, in order to grab her attention, she’d figured out her daily movements.
She entered the servants’ lounge in the innermost corner of the main building. A waft of warm air hit her face. The maid was sitting alone by a window, drinking tea. She raised her head at Ashlyn’s sudden appearance.
“Ashlyn? What brings you here at this time?”
Ashlyn opened her mouth, there was no need to hesitate anymore.
“Ma’am. I’d like for you to write me a letter of recommendation.”
Yes, she would bear no more of this humiliation.
“I don’t care where. If I can just leave here.”
This might just be the last tantrum of a sore loser.
But for the man who killed her to be her lover?
How could she do that?
Girl, I know how you feel but ahem I really don’t think that man is going to let you go so easily. Or at all.
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