Chapter 28 Jealousy
“It’s very strange, isn’t it?”
Delphine hesitated for a moment at the out-of-the-blue remark before answering.
“… What do you mean?”
“Well, I work very, very hard for my money. I get beaten up and… and things you can’t imagine.”
Even as she spoke, Callie’s gaze remained fixed on the ruby necklace.
“You know what they say, redheads have it rough in life, so I thought, well, maybe it’s because I’m redheaded, and that’s what I’ve always thought.”
Callie’s greedy eyes finally broke free of the necklace and landed on Delphine.
“You’ve never had that happen to you, have you?”
“…”
Delphine was momentarily stunned by the bluntness of the question.
How could she answer such a question?
She hesitated for a moment, confronted with something so far outside the realm of her common sense.
“Ah, there you are, My Lady!”
It was then that she heard a cheerful shout.
Glasscok, springing from the bottom of the first-floor staircase, came towards them, smiling brightly.
His color had been restored by a warm bath, unlike the corpse-blue of the morning.
His long legs trotted up the stairs, and he kissed the back of Delphine’s hand first.
“Thank you again for your hospitality, my lady. If it weren’t for you, I would have frozen to death on the road.”
“No, Lord Glasscok.”
Delphine hesitated slightly as she returned his greeting with the accustomed courtesy.
“Ah, this is…”
How should she introduce her?
Luckily, Callie spoke first, extending her hand towards Glasscok.
“I’m Callie.”
“I see, Miss Callie, a pleasure to meet you!”
Glasscok greeted her cheerfully, with a bit of exaggeration, but did not kiss the back of her hand.
Perhaps he’d noticed her coloring and realized she wasn’t a noble.
Delphine guessed so.
There was a moment of awkward silence between the three of them.
Glasscok, who had approached as if he had something to say, seemed to be watching Delphine’s every move.
Then Callie inclined her head slightly towards Delphine and whispered quickly.
“So, Lady Ioannes. Don’t hate me too much?”
She grabbed the hem of her dress and ran upstairs without giving her a chance to finish.
Delphine stood on the stairs, staring after her in disbelief.
Was she really heading for the quarters?
To the couple’s private quarters?
‘… Well, what she does with Ioannes is none of my business.’
Whatever he does with a woman who looks so much like her.
… But why does it feel, why does it feel so strange?
Only Glasscok was more restless than she was.
“My Lady? Shouldn’t we stop her? How dare she go into a private room…”
“Rather, don’t you have something to tell me?”
Delphine tore her gaze away from Callie’s back as she raced upstairs to stare straight at the man.
“Yes?”
“You were just passing through, not expecting the snow storm, and your excuse was pretty lame.”
“Ah.”
Glasscok’s face stiffened awkwardly at Delphine’s words.
“Yes. I’m afraid My Lady will find… me quite ungracious.”
“This is not the place for conversation. Let me show you to the drawing room.”
Delphine made her way to the parlour on the first floor, fighting the urge to head for the second floor.
As she sat down on the couch, it suddenly occurred to her that this was the same couch where he had left his mark on her neck this morning.
‘So, Ioannes, did you do the same thing with that woman…?’
No, what a frivolous thought to hold against her.
Forcing herself to compose her thoughts, Delphine pursed her lips at the man sitting across from her.
“Now tell me why you have come to the manor.”
“It was…”
Glasscok hesitated, unable to answer quickly enough.
Delphine made no move to interrupt him, just stared at him wordlessly.
As he studied her beautiful face with wavering eyes, Glasscok finally spoke.
“Well, I really shouldn’t do this, but… like I said, you’re just a victim.”
A victim?
Was that the same as saying to beware of that man, Ioannes Pride?
As Delphine continued to stare at him wordlessly, the man finally spoke the truth.
“My Lady. We are investigating the Marquis de Pride.”
“And ‘we’?”
“I can’t say that right now, but.”
He swallowed hard and lowered his voice to a whisper.
“Believe it or not… that man is by no means from the central nobility.”
A thrill ran down Delphine’s spine as she heard the words.
She had been right to bring in these strange guests after all.
They knew who Ioannes was, and how he had come to be a marquis.
“I believe them.”
“What?”
Delphine exclaimed in a small voice, her face flushed with heat.
“I believe you.”
“Really?… So, lady, you’re on to something, too!”
Glasscok exclaimed happily, and began to tell the story in more detail.
“They say that the Marquis suddenly appeared in the capital a year ago and became a hero, but there is evidence that he was active in the Third 3 three years ago.”
Three years ago… is when he escaped from Pembroke Manor.
For at least two years after his escape, he wandered around District 3 as a slave, not a marquis.
“Callie is one of those proofs… But before I share any more with you, My Lady, there is something I would like to ask you.”
“What is that?”
“I’ve been told that you were present on that day, the day of the Earl of Pembroke’s treasonous suppression.”
Glasscok hesitated for a moment, then said with determination.
“My lady. Was that severed head really the Earl of Pembroke’s?”
“Was it…?”
Delphine’s breath caught in her throat at the unexpected question.
She’d expected him to ask about Ioannes, but why was he suddenly asking about her father?
The man continued, oblivious to her embarrassment.
“Did you notice anything suspicious about the Earl in general?”
“What do you mean…”
“Was there anything unusual about his eyes, for example, his decapitated…
Pupils. The pupils. Pupils.
“They said the pupils of the corpses were all gouged out.”
Suddenly, she remembered what she heard at the club.
Why did it come to mind now?
Why?
“Why.”
At the sound of the voice, both Delphine and Glasscok jumped.
Ioannes stood in the open parlor door, his face as grim as a ghost.
“No, when did…! I didn’t even hear the door?”
Glasscok exclaimed in disbelief.
But Ioannes didn’t seem to have the slightest inclination to answer the question kindly.
“Why. My wife. would. be. alone. with. you. in. a. place. like. this.”
The big man, a head taller than Glasscok, took a menacingly silent step toward him.
He’s going to hit him.
Delphine’s surprise was short-lived, and she quickly stepped in front of the man.
“… I have a story to tell you.”
Ioannes’s eyes grew even more feral as she wrapped her arms around the man.
“Oh, no. I suppose it’s a private conversation you’re supposed to keep to yourself, with no one else present?”
Delphine raised an eyebrow at the sarcasm.
All the while, Ioannes’s feral gaze remained fixed on Glasscok.
He could almost feel the man behind him stirring with the ferocity of his gaze.
“Hiding behind a woman, is that what you were taught to do as a nobleman? So elegant.”
“Stop it, he’s my guest.”
“You’re quite patronizing for a guest who just happened to be passing through, aren’t you, My Lady?”
“…You act as if you’ve caught me in the act of immorality, when I was merely having a chat with a guest.”
“It would be a different story, lady, if that guest had traveled through this snowstorm.”
Ioannes continued in a sarcastic tone.
Slowly, Delphine began to heat up.
“Do you suspect infidelity? I thought with common sense. How can you think of such a shallow idea?”
At the word ‘shallow’ his face instantly turned fierce.
“Ah, such shallow thoughts that noble people don’t even dare to think in private, have I?”
He added, in a tone that seemed to growl.
“On my subject, how dare you?”
Delphine glared at the man unflinchingly.
How long had they been staring at each other like they were going to eat each other alive, with their backs to the trembling man?
“Ioan!”
The stifling confrontation was forcibly broken by a thin cry.
Through the open door of the parlour came Callie, her colourful ribbons flying.
“Ioan, how on earth did you get to the first floor, I was just out the door?”
Delphine saw Ioannes mutter a harsh expletive for a moment.
Judging by the shape of his mouth, it was something like ‘kill’ or ‘I’ll kill you’…?
“What, you’re in the parlor because I just told you that the lady and her guest went downstairs together?”
Delphine’s frown deepened as the woman stood near Ioannes.
A different kind of unpleasantness rose in his chest than the one he’d argued with just moments ago.
“You… seem to be a well-matched pair.”
Delphine said sarcastically, this time looking at the two of them.
What Delphine didn’t realize was that her tone was similar to Ioannes’s earlier.
“You’re not in your room ‘alone’ the whole time, you’ve come down to do something.”
Then Ioannes scanned her and the man behind her with a displeased look.
“The Lady must be sorely disappointed, then. That you missed the opportunity to be alone with Lord Glasscock?”
