Episode 24. Unfamiliar Ceiling
The door was barely open, but it would have been enough for Ellodie who was nearby, to see what was going on.
Odette, with a panicked look on her face, and a man holding her back.
And Ellodie was set up to prepare for such an emergency situation.
“……!”
Ellodie turned her head immediately.
As if she had never made eye contact with Odette.
A slam.
The door closed by Regis hand, and Odette’s body spun around and hit the door.
“Where do you think you’re going when we haven’t even finished talking? Hasn’t the Princess learned any manners?”
“……. I didn’t think a coward who gets high would know the word of manners.”
“You damned bitch!”
Odette’s cheeks swirled with a thud.
At other times, Regis wouldn’t have been this aggressive, but he had already lost half of his temper.
A feeling of humiliation at being cruelly abandoned even after making a pathetic apology to an illegitimate Princess.
And the inferiority complex about the men around Odette.
Finally, the idea that the plan might fail was rumbling through his mind.
“Duke Ertmann or whatever, you think you’ve done something by talking to them, huh? Do you think that no matter how much strength you put on your head, there will be someone who will treat you like a true Princess?”
An illegitimate Princess who was lucky enough to be born like the emperor to be named in the Imperial family, no different than a weed.
That was Odette’s position.
But how dare he treat her like this, Count Xavier?
“I’m being patient here, I don’t even know what are you talking about……!”
Just as Regis was about to vent his anger again, he heard a faint voice from beyond the door.
“Your Highness the Fourth Princess said she’s going to see someone for a moment.”
“……!”
Regis didn’t recognize the voice, but Odette did.
It was Ellodie’s voice.
“So I was waiting here…… Shall I tell you where she go? She went to the garden over there. I can lead you.”
“…… Really? She went to the garden.”
And the person she was talking to.
‘Duke Ertmann……!’
For some reason, he seemed to be looking for Odette.
The problem was, Ellodie was getting in the way.
Regis must have realized this, because he lowered his voice to a mocking tone.
“Did you really expect them to help you, Princess?”
There is no one to help you.
A mocking voice rang in her ears, and Odette dropped her gaze.
There’s no way she doesn’t know that there’s no one who can help her in this situation.
She just had hopes.
‘I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this.’
She have to get out of here before the potion wears off, but she can’t help it.
Odette clenches her fists.
“I think it’s in there, not in the garden.”
A broken voice came from outside the door.
“…… Eh? wha- wait a minute! D- Duke!”
“Step aside.”
There was a frosty voice that sent chills down her spine, and then footsteps began to approach the door.
There was no way Odette could not recognize the voice as Regis, and his face turned thoughtful.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake……!”
Regis, who was cursing, hurriedly tried to cover Odette’s mouth and lock the door.
Umph!
“Ughh!”
Odette did not miss the opportunity and struck Regis in the solar plexus with her elbow.
Taking advantage of Regis staggered reaction, she hurriedly opened the door.
Clack.
When the door opens with the sound of a latch being released, a familiar face appears.
A face that always comes to her when she least wants to be seen.
A sudden surge of relief and delight.
“Duke…….Ertmann”
Odette tried to keep her back straight as a habit, but as soon as she took a step, her body swayed.
Her head felt dull, a belated effect of the medication.
Maybe she thought she saw her vision blurry, but she didn’t even hit her head on the ground.
Because as soon as Odette staggered, there were hands to catch her.
‘……It’s warm.’
If it had been any other situation, she might have pushed it away quickly, but Odette was already sunk on unconscious.
She just force herself to hold on to her consciousness because she think it would be dangerous to let go of her consciousness here.
Did he even notice Odette? A small whisper was heard following the soft hand that hugged her body.
“You can rest assured. No harm will come to you.”
Walter’s low voice sounded soothing.
What was so reassuring about that voice?
‘You’re just like everyone else anyway…….’
Regis clings to her begging, his attitude changes and he gets angry.
Even though Louis is willing to show favor, he lets go, saying that he can’t help it when it comes to his own troubles.
Ellodie doesn’t even hide her malice with a smiling face.
Either way, Odette was used to it. Apart from that Lady, she had no intention of resenting her.
As Regis said, she knew very well that there was no one to help him.
But why does he always…….
‘……Does it make me feel relieved?’
With that thought, Odette closed her eyes.
Subsequently, her consciousness quickly subsided.
* * *
She dreamed.
Without any cognitive steps, Odette could recognize that this was a dream.
The real her wouldn’t be able to wear a dress with so much jewelry.
And, if it’s her in real life.
“……Are you really satisfied with that life?”
“Duke Ertmann.”
He wouldn’t have made such a gloomy voice.
Odette’s hands were covered in long gloves made of glossy velvet.
On top of them was a bracelet of pearls and diamonds, and the fan in her hand dazzled her eyes with the gems embedded in the handle every time she turned her head.
And that’s not all. Her earrings, necklace, headdress, and even shoes all showed that money was spent lavishly.
She could easily be described as a noblewoman.
“Why do you look like that? Like something’s happened to you.”
“…….”
Odette didn’t look happy at all.
His gaunt face was deeply sorrowful, and his empty eyes were clearly filled with sadness.
She was visibly weakened.
Not in health, but in spirit.
And there was no way that Walter who stood before her, could’ve not noticed it.
“Tell me if you have a hard time. I’ll help what I can.”
“Thank you, but I’m fine. It’s not like I’m living in the palace like I used to. At least I don’t have to deal with the Empress.”
“…… But other than that, doesn’t that mean it’s inconvenient?”
Walter said, and after a moment’s hesitation, he spoke again.
“I heard that you have a bad relationship with Madam Clovis. That she blatantly ignoring you-.”
“Duke.”
Odette’s voice cut off Walter’s words.
Odette’s smile, which was still vivid, goes faded.
“Can’t you…… just pretend you didn’t see it?”
“…….”
“This has nothing to do with you. If it’s because of my dead brother’s maintenance, you’ve done enough, and no one’s going to blame you.”
“This isn’t about Cedric…….”
“If it wasn’t about your brother, did I look so pitiful?”
Odette’s voice quivered a little at the end.
In response, Walter said nothing.
Whatever he wanted to say, Odette seemed to take his silence as an affirmation of her question.
“Don’t pity me, Duke. This marriage was my choice, and I’m responsible for it. You have no reason to pity me.”
“So, you mean you’re going to stay like this? In the house that gnaws at you?”
“……We have to figure it out.”
“What if it doesn’t work?”
Odette frowned at the string of negative questions.
“Are you asking me to divorce you then, because you don’t realize that I need the imperial authorization to do so?”
With Cedric gone and the Empress in power, would the Imperial court really approve her divorce?
Of course not.
Instead, a worse marriage will come in.
And they’ll try to sell her off for their own gain.
“Just leave me alone, please…….”
“……Odette.”
Finally, Walter’s face contorted.
Then, after a long silence hesitation, he spoke.
“Rather, use me. I may be able to help you.”
He didn’t have to say what ‘help’ he was referring to.
Because the meaning of ‘help’ that he even insisted on using was clear.
Walter himself becomes Odette’s lover.
It was common for noble ladies to have lovers, and social conventions did not particularly criticize it.
So the proposal was realistic enough.
“…… I appreciate it, but there’s no need for you to do that, especially if it’s because of my brother.”
With that, Odette turned away. As if trying to get back on track.
“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that today, and the Duke can stop-“
“If it’s not because of Cedric.”
She stopped in her tracks at the words behind her.
“If you want it not for pity, not because of Cedric’s will, but because I want you.”
Walter’s footsteps grew closer.
The voice also became clear.
“Would you…… accept me then?”
I clung to the night shadow as if the question were mired.
And Odette, she couldn’t answer the question.
* * *
Odette awoke in a daze.
Her eyelids felt heavy from the sleep she hadn’t quite gotten out of.
‘What kind of dream is that…….?’
Maybe it was because she’d had so many run-ins with Walter.
Or maybe it was because he had helped her so many times.
‘I can’t believe I’m having such a strange dream…….’
Odette closed her eyes and tossed and turned, wondering if she was imagining things.
The bed was very good, even if the dreams were disturbing.
The bed was just right, not too fluffy, not too hard.
The blanket warmed the body heat and made my body feel drowsy, and the soft silk blanket that tickled my cheek felt like it was made of duck down and wrapped around my body.
‘Here, this is better than my bed…….’
It wasn’t the best quality, but there was no way Odette could afford the luxury of a silk quilt.
……I mean, there wasn’t.
Not once.
‘…… Ah?’
Only when her thoughts reached that point did Odette sense something strange and her eyes widened.
And what was seen.
“……Where am I?”
It was an unfamiliar ceiling.
