“Wait…….”
It was the moment Laila was about to resist Marie’s decision.
Knock, knock.
A sound of someone knocking on the bedroom door reached them. Before anyone could respond from inside, the door creaked open.
“Butler?”
Marie stared at the door with a surprised expression.
Ignoring Marie as if she were invisible, the butler immediately turned his gaze to Laila.
“Congratulations on waking up, Miss.”
Upon hearing the butler’s first words, Laila guessed, no, she was certain of one thing.
‘They’ve been keeping me under surveillance.’
To know when she would wake up.
And the reason was…
“Then, please come with me. The Marquis is waiting.”
She knew it.
Laila wasn’t surprised.
Though the butler’s movements were a bit swifter than she anticipated, it was, after all, an expected turn of events.
Marie, alternating between looking at Laila placing the cup on the nightstand and the butler standing by the door, opened her mouth in bewilderment.
“Um, ah, butler. It’s quite late now, and Miss has just…”
“It’s okay, Marie.”
Laila interrupted Marie and got off the bed.
“I happened to want to see my father quickly as well. I’ll be back soon, so see you tomorrow. And…”
Laila, signaling that there was no need for Marie to wait in the bedroom, whispered very seriously while looking into Marie’s eyes.
“Just one cup of tea, please.”
Eventually, Laila followed the butler out of the bedroom.
✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧
It was after nine o’clock at night.
The Marquis of Hildegarde was in the library on the first floor, neither his office nor his bedroom.
When Laila heard where the Marquis was, she cursed inwardly at first.
It was so far away.
However, upon reaching the library, her thoughts changed a bit.
“Come closer.”
By the time she reached the study, Laila was exhausted, having forced herself to travel the long way with her aching muscles.
Perhaps because of that?
In the enclosed space, left alone with the villain, she wasn’t as scared or nervous as she thought she would be.
‘I guess I don’t have any energy left to be scared.’
It was actually a good thing.
She didn’t want to deal with a situation where she would be overly tense and unable to articulate her prepared words properly.
Laila slowly walked towards the Marquis, who was reading documents in the library.
As she walked, she purposely avoided looking at the various taxidermy animals on the wall.
‘…a morbid hobby.’
The numerous taxidermies that adorned the walls of the library were all made of animals that the Marquis had hunted himself.
It seemed to Laila’s speculation, he would occasionally take time to work in the first-floor study just to appreciate them.
‘At least there are no human taxidermies hanging here.’
If there had been a row of human taxidermies instead of animal taxidermies, she would have fainted upon entering the room.
Thinking about this, Laila stopped, leaving a one-step distance between her and the Marquis.
Only then did the Marquis finally set aside his documents and gaze at Laila.
“Why did you do that?”
Laila remained silent, looking down at the floor.
She couldn’t answer hastily; she didn’t yet know precisely what the Marquis was asking.
‘…How much does he know?’
Laila became conscious of her clothing.
She was currently wearing different clothes than what she had on at the hunting grounds.
What happened to the clothes she was originally wearing?
No, what she was truly curious about was the ‘bracelet’ that was on those clothes.
‘Hopefully Vilhel took it..’
She had to consider the worst-case scenario.
For example, the bracelet was returned to its true owner, who was now in front of Laila.
With her head bowed in tension, Laila did not respond to Marquis’s question. Then the Marquis asked again.
“Why did you recklessly get on the carriage and secretly enter the forest?”
For a moment, Laila almost breathed a sigh of relief.
‘He didn’t catch me stealing the bracelet!’
It seemed Vilhel had successfully retrieved the bracelet without any trouble.
‘Yeah, I knew it. Vilhel is competent. I trust him. Really.’
Laila, still keeping her head bowed, answered to avoid showing a relieved expression.
“……I’m sorry.”
“That’s not what I want to hear.”
“Well, actually… It’s all because of that child. I got on the carriage to see that child and ended up going into the forest following him.”
“If it’s that child, are you saying the one you wish to save?”
Laila nodded. Tock, tock. The sound of the Marquis tapping the armrest echoed.
“You got on the carriage to see that scoundrel….”
“…….”
“But Laila, you surely got on the carriage before that scoundrel, right? You lied and said that if you didn’t ride it, you wouldn’t be able to go hunting.”
Laila was momentarily stunned.
‘When did he find that out?’
He had finished questioning the servant by now…
Now that she thought about it, it wasn’t the butler who moved swiftly.
Laila swallowed her dry saliva and spoke.
“It’s just that I knew he was going to ride it.”
“How?”
“I happened to overhear someone gossiping in the hallway.”
“…….”
“The child imprisoned in the underground dungeon was going to be taken on the carriage to the hunting ground today…”
It was a blatant lie.
Laila had not overheard anyone talking in the hallway.
However, she was convinced that this excuse would work. There was a reason.
‘Taking the child to the hunting grounds wasn’t particularly a secret..’
Taking the child to the forest to kill him.
From the perspective of a ‘villain,’ it’s not a big deal.
Why would anyone go to great lengths to secretly and quietly carry out something that was not particularly secretive?
Laila thought it wouldn’t be the case, and when she actually saw the ‘servant,’ she gained confidence in her speculation.
The servant had brazenly put the child on and off the carriage, showing no concern for the surroundings during the journey into the forest.
It clearly wasn’t the behavior of someone making an effort to keep any “secrets.”
‘Surely, news of the event leaked, and some loose-lipped people must have known.’
Laila continued to speak with this thought in mind.
“I was very curious about who the child was that was being held in prison. Since I had never actually seen that person.”
“…….”
“So, I got on the carriage first to see that child… I made a mistake.”
Laila clasped her hands together, holding onto herself like a frightened child.
The Marquis was silent.
As no objections were raised to her explanation, Laila thought to herself, ‘I’ve crossed a small mountain.’
Now is the time to overcome a truly important and significant obstacle.
When should she attempt the ascent? Laila pondered the opportune moment.
The Marquis broke the silence.
“You seemed quite pleased with what you saw in the carriage.”
“…….”
“Not only did you follow him into the forest later, but you even embraced him within it.”
Laila’s hand twitched.
She almost clenched her fist, but managed to restrain herself.
‘It’s okay. Calm down, Laila. It’s not like he didn’t know.’
One cannot shoot an arrow without aiming.
So, it was not particularly shocking or surprising that Marquis Hildegarde had seen Laila embracing the child, having laid down the bow after seeing it.
Laila calmly settled her emotions and then rolled her eyes.
Why would the Marquis say that?
‘It was probably just a casual remark.’
That was the obvious conclusion.
Since she wasn’t caught stealing the bracelet.
If you took the bracelet out of the equation, Laila’s behavior in the woods, hugging the child, could be interpreted quite simply.
She hugged him because she liked him.
End of story.
The fact that she hugged the child right before the arrows flew…… would be seen as a mere coincidence.
Logically, Laila had no way of knowing the exact moment the arrow would be released.
Laila decided to interpret the Marquis’s words at face value and, in the next moment, kneeled.
Thump!
The Marquis raised an eyebrow at Laila’s sudden behavior.
“What is it?”
“I’m genuinely reflecting on my actions. I will accept any punishment for this incident. I truly will.”
“…….”
“However, I have one request.”
