Did the Coachman Die?
The man, shriveled like an old snake’s shed skin, no longer made even the faintest groan.
Despite being an employee from the main household who rudely acted out with Yasmin on his back, he had, until recently, been alive, driving me here in the carriage.
‘How could someone end up like this…?’
Hiccup.
In the tense atmosphere, where everyone was holding their breath in fear, my oblivious hiccup echoed louder and clearer than ever.
‘Oh no, this can’t be happening!’
I tried to hold my breath, but the hiccups wouldn’t stop.
Perhaps due to extreme fear, my adult-like reasoning began to blur.
This was precisely the moment when I needed to stay sharp.
My Dad’s gaze slowly fell on me.
“Ah, uh…”
Instinctively, I wanted to turn and run away, but my body froze completely, making it impossible to move.
Death was my trauma—
Something I gained from my own near-death experience and the butler’s accident.
When my Dad’s eyes locked onto mine, his usual monotone expression crumpled, as though suppressing something.
It was terrifying.
No, not again. I don’t want to face death again…!
“You are…”
A brief silence ensued.
My Dad’s gaze persistently scanned my entire face.
Looking at my pink hair as though gazing at something far away, he slowly began walking toward me.
As the frozen ground around him cracked like glass under his military boots, it sounded like shards of ice breaking.
“Hello, Lucy’s daughter.”
The moment he extended his hand to greet me, I couldn’t suppress my fear and burst into tears.
When I desperately stepped back, his hand paused mid-air.
“Uwaaah! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!”
Crying wasn’t an option.
No one likes the sound of a child crying.
Especially someone capable of killing a person with just a flick of their finger.
I knew that in my head, but my sobbing just wouldn’t stop.
So instead of forcibly holding back my tears, I decided to plead as desperately as I could.
“Hic! P-please spare me! Please, hic, don’t kill me!”
I mean, I’m your daughter after all.
You wouldn’t kill me too, right? Right?
Did my pitiful display, squeezing out every tear and snot while clutching my head, have an effect?
My Dad’s hand, which had frozen in mid-air, slowly retreated.
I seized the opportunity and backed away until my back hit the wall, creating as much distance as I could.
Moments later, people dressed in military uniforms similar to my Dad’s barged into the jewelry store.
Leaping nimbly over the frozen blades at the entrance, which still hadn’t melted, they rushed inside, only to stop dead in their tracks when they saw me crying hysterically.
One of them alternated between looking at me and my Dad before tightly shutting his eyes and reopening them.
“Captain, is that little Dame Lucy…?”
“Yes. She’s probably my daughter.”
“Oh my, Captain! How could you make your own daughter cry?!”
The man hurriedly approached me and knelt down.
“Everything is fine, young miss. I am Walter, your Father’s adjutant. You must have been very startled.”
The man who introduced himself as Walter was extremely tall, with a rugged appearance, his head almost touching the doorframe.
However, to me, who was already terrified by my Dad, his rough features didn’t matter at all.
Crying uncontrollably, I flung myself into the arms of the man who had extended them toward me, and Walter gently patted my back.
As I clung tightly to his collar, as if it were my lifeline, the trembling of my body gradually subsided.
Even though I was in his arms, my legs were still shaking uncontrollably as the tension began to ease.
“Mariela.”
But only for a moment. When my Dad called my name in his usual flat tone, my body stiffened again.
Feeling my entire body tense, I glanced at my Dad, and the moment our eyes met, I reflexively held my breath and buried my face into Walter’s chest.
‘…It’s so scary.’
While I buried my head in Walter like a frightened bird, I could faintly hear my Dad let out a small chuckle.
“It’s time to go back.”
“That person over there…?”
“Take everything. It might be useful.”
He’s still terrifying!
The whole ride back in the carriage, I stayed nestled in Walter’s arms.
As we neared home, I cautiously lifted my head, only to meet my Dad’s gaze as he looked at me.
Instinctively, I flinched in surprise, but my Dad didn’t reprimand me. He simply stared quietly.
‘Does he… look a bit sad?’
After meeting my eyes for a while, my Dad shifted his gaze out the window.
As the fear subsided and my adult-like reasoning returned, curiosity about him started to surface.
***
By the time the carriage arrived home, the sun was starting to set.
Unlike when I left the house, I had returned in a jet-black military carriage, which drew wide-eyed stares from the staff at the mansion.
But more than that, what shocked them the most was my Dad’s sudden return, leading the soldiers.
“W-Welcome back, Master. We didn’t expect you to return three days earlier than planned…”
My Dad ignored the butler who had rushed out first, bowing deeply, without even a glance.
At his gesture, soldiers dismounted from the carriage behind and dragged Yasmin—whose face had turned pale—and threw her before the butler as if tossing aside a rag.
Along with the shriveled corpse of the coachman.
A thick silence fell over the mansion.
“There were unfamiliar rats in my house.”
When my Dad spoke, tilting his head slightly as if tired, the silence deepened.
The butler forced a smile onto his face, his facial muscles stiff and unnatural.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Master. I am a servant sent by the Duke on his orders from the main household…”
“Those old man’s dogs dare to…”
Crack. With a sound like snapping, the ground instantly froze over.
Blue-tinted ice shards began crawling up the well-polished shoes of the butler.
As the ice climbed rapidly, the butler twisted his body with astonishing reflexes to avoid it.
Just as he was about to stomp down on the ice and leap away to evade it—
“You’re quick to react. You must have received knight training at some point.”
The butler’s head snapped toward my Dad after hearing his question.
For a brief moment, confusion crossed his face.
But in that fleeting second, a bluish light encased his ankles and froze them.
‘Knight training?’
I had thought he looked fit, but to the level of a knight?
I wanted to ask why someone like him would settle for being a butler, but the butler was quicker to change the subject.
Wiping away his flustered expression, he forced himself to look composed despite his face turning pale from the cold.
“I’m hardly someone who could boast in front of Sir Leopord. As expected, you possess incredible protective blessing, just as they say.”
Protective blessing?
It was the first time I’d heard the term, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it.
The butler’s twisted expression barely managed to turn into a strained smile.
“But if you were to kill me with that power, it would cause great trouble. Are you saying you’re willing to defy the head of the main household right now?”
“It’s nothing new for me to be called unfilial.”
Dozens of ice blades floated in the air, pointing at the butler’s neck.
My Dad smiled faintly as if this were some kind of joke.
It seemed my Dad thought rebelling against my grandfather was no big deal. Meanwhile, the butler—on the verge of having ice pierce his skin—looked desperate.
Rolling his eyes wildly, he discarded his forced smile and shouted in panic.
“Think of Dame Lucy!”
Dame Lucy? That’s my mom’s name!
From my Dad to Walter, and now even the butler—they’ve all been mentioning my mom’s name a lot today.
“Dame Lucy’s body is in the family mausoleum of the main household! You know what would happen to her remains if you go against the Duke’s will… don’t you?”
This bastard!
When I saw my Dad’s face go completely expressionless, I struggled out of Walter’s arms.
Mentioning my mother was a surefire way to provoke my Dad’s wrath.
‘But you can’t kill the butler. Not yet!’
With a sound like shattering glass, the ice encasing the butler began to change.
“Arghhh!”
If something that sharp pierced a person’s arm like that… ugh…
As a long, harrowing scream escaped the butler, my Dad’s expression remained completely blank.
Honestly, I wanted to yell at him to just kill the butler right then and there.
‘But a full-on confrontation with Grandfather is not an option.’
If my Dad clashed with my grandfather, both my brother Dietrich and I, as my Dad’s children, would be treated as mere collateral, making things much more difficult for us.
I gently grabbed my Dad’s pinky finger.
His hand was as cold as ice.
I could vaguely sense the intensity of the rage my Dad was feeling.
Part of me wanted to hug him tightly and try to charm him with affection, but that was far beyond my ability.
Just standing before him made my legs tremble, and simply holding myself upright was the most I could manage.
“Ah…”
Swallowing down the words, I barely managed to speak.
“Please don’t hurt the butler.”
When I met his golden eyes, still glinting with lingering murderous intent, it felt as though my knees were frozen solid.
