Chapter 20 You Said You Only Wanted To Check The Wound
As if she couldn’t understand the meaning of that, Anna continued, trying to sound impatient.
“No, but you’ve been confined to your room.”
Then Delphine, who had been lying in bed ever since they returned to the manor, stammered slightly.
“… Why.”
“Because!”
Anna exclaimed, beating her chest in frustration.
“You must go and see if he alright; You have a husband who gives away precious things for sin, and saves your life twice!”
“…”
Delphine did not answer, her mouth set in a straight line.
It was a look she had worn since childhood when she was stubborn.
Anna looked at her worriedly, then spoke up.
“… Is it because the late earl is on your mind, My Lady?”
This was out of line.
Delphine opened her closed mouth and spoke in a firm tone.
“Anna.”
“I can’t help it if you’re being presumptuous.”
But Anna looked very determined.
“As the one who nursed a baby seed instead of my own, who died at birth, I can do this, can’t I?”
“…Don’t say that.”
Delphine’s fiery temper had a way of dying down when Anna said that.
Sensing that her stubborn momentum had been broken, Anna knelt down beside the bed and pleaded in a pleading tone.
“After all, he saved you from almost losing your life.”
“…”
“It was treason, if nothing else, and the master wouldn’t have had any other choice.”
It’s not just that.
Ioannes, it must be nice to be the one who doesn’t remember everything that happened in the manor that day.
Delphine shot the nanny an indignant look.
But Anna merely patted her on the head, as one would a child’s tantrum.
“I just want you to be loved and live a happy life, you know?”
“… Hah.”
“I think it’s time you put the past behind you and move on.”
Delphine’s eyes widened at the words.
Move on? Forget everything?
“So, go to the master and tell him…!”
Knock.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
“My Lady.”
It was the man.
Anna drew a bright smile on her face and coldly retreated from the room.
‘Well, well, well. Whose side are you on…’
Delphine struggled to her feet, her body beginning to throb.
The bandage on the forehead of the man who’d opened the door pricked her conscience.
“I see you were trying to sleep.”
“It’s… What brings you to my quarters at dinnertime?”
The man replied nonchalantly as he approached the bed.
“Oh, I just want to make sure you’re not hurt, and you can stay in bed if you’re not feeling well.”
He spoke in such a casual tone that for a moment Delphine didn’t understand the meaning of his words.
“It’s …?”
“The maid told me you had bruises on your body when you returned.”
He approached the bed in a few short strides and reached for the straps of her nightgown with a brusque gesture.
Delphine jerked back, grabbing at the straps in anger.
“No, it’s okay…, it’s no big deal.”
“I’ll have to see for myself if it’s no big deal.”
The man who spoke in a gentle tone chuckled.
He looked and sounded as friendly as ever, but his eyes had a twinkle in them.
Just as she had seen him a few hours earlier, in District 2.
Delphine realized then that this man was not in the least bit angry.
Delphine’s grip on the straps of her nightgown tightened.
“You don’t have to be on guard at all, you can lock up.”
“No…”
As he spoke, Delphine’s body slid backwards so lightly.
She was startled, but thankfully her back was against the soft bed.
“Wait…”
“Just a moment. Lady.”
Even when he’s acting like a benevolent thug, he always adds the word lady at the end.
“You’re okay…”
Before she had a chance to protest, he pulled her white nightgown down in one swift, decisive motion.
The silk hem slid straight down her rounded shoulders.
And exposed her left elbow.
“Ah.”
The short sound of a gasp made Delphine look up.
The man’s face had hardened from its gentle pretense.
He gingerly stroked her cypherun elbow with a pained expression.
She prone to bruising, so she shouldn’t mind.
Delphine stared at the man swiping at her arm in disbelief.
The man who had been bleeding profusely from his forehead, the man who had seven stitches in his wound, the man who had bandaged it, was now in pain.
For a single bruise on her arm.
“You bastards…”
A ghastly voice emanated from the man with his face buried in her arm.
A series of harsh curses threatened to tear her limbs off, but strangely enough, she didn’t feel scared at all.
Perhaps it was because she was physically and mentally weaker than ever before.
Dhe didn’t hate the way the man’s anger was directed at her tiny bruise.
She wasn’t even scared anymore.
She knew that anger was never directed at her.
But…
“You can’t know in advance…, so why would you…”
Delphine stared blankly at the distorted face of the man muttering unintelligible words.
This day.
When the mask had been removed she saw a man with the face of a beast in an instant.
Despite her fear, Delphine felt a sense of clarity.
“I’m getting overwhelmed, My Lady. What strength…”
Ioan, the slave boy.
He was always a gentle lamb in her presence, but often Wilson would come to her with grievances.
She shook her head, thinking, “Is he…?” until one day, she ran into him in the garden.
The brutal face of Ioan, a boy, beating a user to a bloody pulp.
That cold, expressionless, animalistic face that had been so intent on violence that he didn’t care that a man was dying before his eyes.
It was the same now.
The way she grimaced, preoccupied with her wounds, reminded me of the boy in a strange way.
“It’s a trauma. Your brain creates an illusion, a way to forget reality for a while.”
“You should put it behind you and move on.”
But is it really all an illusion?
Was the boy, Ioan, so lonely that she created her own illusions?
Staring at the man, Delphine suddenly spoke up.
“… Also, I have an injury.”
“Lady?”
… Finally.
Before admitting that this was all an illusion, there was one last thing she really needed to check.
‘That man’s… etc.’
He always returns alone, without a maid.
It’s been over two months since their wedding, and Delphine has never seen him change his clothes.
When he woke up in the morning, he was always in full regalia.
She remembered, vividly, the vestiges of the harsh abuse her father had inflicted on Ioann as a child.
He was the one who had drugged him himself.
Just that.
That’s the last thing I’m going to check.
Before I’m swayed further by a man I don’t know.
“… Knee.”
Delphine repeated, glaring at the man’s face contorted with rage.
“When I were being dragged out of the carriage. I think I bumped it.”
The man muttered a word Delphine had never heard before. It sounded like a swear word.
Delphine didn’t react to it.
Instead, she slowly reached out and pulled up the hem of her white nightgown herself.
The man drew in a sharp breath.
Watching his reaction closely, Delphine extended her long, white legs towards him.
She could see the man’s jaw tighten, as if he were gritting his teeth.
“You’ve got a few… scratches.”
He barely managed to get the words out, his voice sounding like someone had strangled him.
His eyes darkened and his breathing became ragged.
The man’s fists clenched and unclenched several times, and he bit his lip in an uncomfortable gesture.
“I’m done, then…”
“It’s my turn.”
Delphine hastily called him to his feet.
“What do you mean?”
Delphine said, deliberately extending her white legs out to his side, like bait to lure a beast.
“Confirmation.”
Then she grabbed him by the hem of his robe and looked up at him.
His throat clearing danced wildly.
“… I, for one, am unharmed except for my head.”
“But your white uniform is stained with blood all over.”
Delphine tightened her grip on his sleeve.
Before she could ‘go forward’, before she could give this man any more of her heart, she had to check his back.
A tap.
But before she could rip his shirt off, a large hand grabbed her wrist.
He quickly loosened his grip, as if surprised by his own behavior.
Then he smiled out of the corner of his eye.
“I’m sure you’re tired, but I think you should call it a night.”
A sweet face and graceful words. Before Delphine knew it, the mask was back on.
Before Delphine had a chance to hold on to him any longer, he slid off the bed and headed for the door with quick steps.
“No, wait…! You’re checking out my body on your own accord and…!”
Her exasperated shout stopped him in his tracks for a moment.
He turned around and smiled at her with a masked face.
“That’s my right as your husband, isn’t it?”
“In case you’ve forgotten, I also have rights as a wife… Ouch.”
The man came at her with surprising speed, and in a flash he had her by the waist.
His body pressed against hers with incredible strength.
It was over before Delphine could gather up her disheveled attire.
“Wait, Sir…”
Delphine sucked in a breath of embarrassment, not expecting the tables to turn so quickly.
He was out of uniform, wearing only a thin shirt.
His own white pajamas, not to mention thin.
The sensation of her own flabby flesh pressed against his hard ribcage was all too familiar.
“… What is it, Lady?”
He asked in a calm tone.
In contrast to his rather violent movements, the masked man’s face was calm.
Until their bodies touched, Delphine hadn’t realized he was so aroused.
