Chapter 31 A Blizzard Night
“Ioann.”
She called his name, and for a moment, the corner of his lips lifted slightly.
Even though she had merely called him by name.
“Yes, My Lady?”
But the smile vanished without a trace as Delphine continued.
“Yesterday, did Miss Callie come to your quarters?”
Delphine’s expression was as serious as ever.
Ioannes pursed his lips for a moment before answering.
“… Yes.”
He added hastily.
“But I sent her back soon after. There was never anything unclean about it.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
Delphine shook her head straight.
She doesn’t care who he spends the night with.
Ioannes mouth twisted at the obvious intent of those words.
“Did she even make it inside the quarters? I swear, last night, I put my necklace in the locker in front of the mirror.”
Delphine hesitated for a moment, not sure whether to speak or not, and then added.
“… And you saw it, too.”
As she spoke the words, an intense emotion flashed across his face.
But it was only for a moment.
The man’s face grew frighteningly still, and asked.
“Do you suspect that it was me who killed the woman? My Lady?”
Delphine answered by not answering.
He looked at her for a moment, unmoved, and then his lips parted.
“I would not say no.”
“What does that mean…”
“Because I’m willing to kill anyone to protect you.”
He spoke, his face as cruel as a demon’s and as beautiful as a man’s.
“Whoever it is, however many there are…”
Delphine stared into his cold eyes, unable to form an answer.
A man who would kill anyone to protect himself.
A man who had risen from slavery to become a Marquis.
Something stirred in her chest.
Whatever it was, Delphine didn’t dare to look into it.
***
He was resolute as never before.
He declared that she must not leave her quarters until the blizzard had ceased, and that he would not hesitate to imprison her for a short time.
If Delphine, frustrated and curious, made any attempt to sneak out of the room-.
“My Lady.”
He said no more.
He simply stood in her way and shook his head.
His face soft but firm.
The three meals were brought to him by the users themselves.
It was a good thing he didn’t try to feed them himself.
A day passed, then two, and Delphine began to grow impatient.
‘There’s still something I need to hear from Glasscok.’
Surely Ioannes would throw the man out as soon as the blizzard stopped, or before.
Or arrest him as a suspect in Callie’s murder.
So she needs to make contact with him before the blizzard stops.
The only question is, how does she get out of this cage?
Delphine hadn’t been able to watch him sleep through the night.
He would stay awake until Delphine fell asleep, and when she opened her eyes, he was already up and out of bed.
She doubted he even slept.
The only break, if there was one, was when he went into the bathroom.
He was still reluctant to show her his back, even after he’d been seen.
So, when she heard the water running, she surreptitiously opened the door to the stall, only to find two of the men he’d left in front of the door.
‘… Thorough.’
Delphine decided to pretend to be used to the situation in order to reassure him.
So he spent the day throwing firewood into the fireplace, reading, or writing, like a man who had given up trying to get out the door.
Occasionally, she would make eye contact with him and he would smile out of the corner of his eye.
At first glance, everything was peaceful.
Except for the frozen corpse outside the mansion.
In this empire, the freezing death of a commoner thief was no big deal.
Betty slipped through the door and told her that the users were huddled in twos and threes, and that Glasscok was tucked away in the guest room.
***
So it was on the fourth day.
At last, the maniacal blizzard began to abate.
“… It’ll stop soon.”
Delphine, who had been biding her time in her quarters like a fairy lady for some time, spoke in a calm tone.
“I see. This mania is unusually short.”
Ioannes replied, looking as beautiful as ever, with no sign of having slept or guarded his wife.
He seems to be in a reasonably good mood.
Delphine, having made that judgement, suddenly opened her mouth.
“… I would like a cup of hot tea.”
“I will ask the maid to bring it.”
“I’d rather go downstairs and make it myself, I’ve been in my room all day.”
“No…”
“If you worried about my safety, I could just move with you.”
“…”
There was no answer from him.
Glaring at him with her almond-shaped eyes, Delphine picked at her broken hair and turned her head away.
The silence that followed.
Couldn’t this be good enough?
Nervously, Delphine turned her head away, but this time, her lower lip peeked out, and she muttered.
“… I’m with you, what’s the danger?”
Still silence.
Delphine turned her head away and waited patiently for the man’s response.
And finally, with a small sigh, the man’s answer fell.
“… Very well. We’ll go down together, My Lady.”
Delphine turned quickly and smiled brightly.
Seeing her do so, Ioannes couldn’t help but smile back, like an affectionate husband.
It was a peace she hadn’t found in a long time, like a mania that waxes and wanes.
***
The kitchen was quiet after mealtime.
“I’ll just make tea and be right up.”
Delphine said gracefully as she reached for the tea leaves.
“You gentlemen don’t know this, but sometimes the act of making tea is very peaceful.”
“Yes. It’s certainly a world I don’t know.”
He replied mildly, then turned his back and surveyed the rows of black tea cases.
Taking advantage of the moment, Delphine pulled out a teacup emblazoned with purple flowers.
Beneath it lay a small, folded white note.
‘It’s true.’
All food entering the quarters was monitored by Ioannes.
So this is what he came up with.
Betty, spying on Glasscok, would secretly hide the note from him under a teacup in the kitchen, and Delphine would find it.
Ioannes was in the bathroom, and Betty had whispered the information to him while he was standing by the door.
Delphine quickly snatched up the note and tucked it under her hand.
“You seem to like the colour purple.”
Delphine’s head snapped up in surprise at the sound of a voice.
“What?”
Fortunately, Ioannes didn’t seem to notice her suspicious behavior.
He chuckled and replied.
“Because you seem to reach for that teacup often.”
Clearly, this was one of Delphine’s favourite teacups.
She wondered how long he had been observing her.
Delphine smiled brightly and poured two cups of fragrant, aromatic tea and placed them on a tray.
The man took the tray as if it were a matter of course and led the way.
And so they returned.
Delphine handed him a cup of tea without a word, and Ioannes looked a little surprised.
“… Thank you. My Lady.”
If two cups of tea were served, one should be his.
Delphine felt her conscience prickle at the overly polite way Ioannes thanked her.
‘I did it to trick him.’
“… It’s cold.”
Muttering to himself, Delphine crept closer to the fireplace.
Glancing back, the man in the chair drinking tea was far enough away.
There was no way the human eye could make out the small print, unless you were a flying hawk.
Delphine turned her back to the man and quickly unfolded the white note.
[Tomorrow, as soon as the snowstorm is over, please come out to the garden gazebo, and I will tell you what I failed to tell you last time].
Delphine slipped the note into the fireplace.
The thin paper was instantly reduced to ash as soon as it touched the roaring flames.
When she turned round again, the man was still sitting in his chair, absorbed in his tea.
Suddenly, he looked up and his eyes met hers.
They both smiled at each other at the same time.
Delphine pretended nothing had happened and took a seat in front of the fireplace with a book.
Ioannes quickly noticed that her bookshelf wasn’t moving at all.
Of course, he was distracted in front of him.
‘A note, that rat.’
He wondered what she was doing, being so uncharacteristically cute.
She must have hidden the paper under the teacup beforehand.
No doubt the fearless maid had helped her.
‘Fool.’
Ioannes mocked coldly, turning to the man pacing nervously in the guest room.
He already knew it was the rat that had killed the woman.
Maybe it was the silence, because he was so desperate to tell her where the rat hole was.
He just held off on the punishment to save her the surprise of the cheeky murder.
His behavior reduced his grace period, which was until the blizzard stopped.
That is, his reprieve from execution.
“Ioann.”
Then, as she pretended to read with an unnatural motion, she suddenly spoke up.
“Yes, My Lady?”
Ioannes replied, quickly wiping the arsenic from the corner of her mouth, and she hesitated before speaking.
“Miss Callie… now that I think about it, I’m sorry I was so suspicious.”
