Chapter 39 The Only Consolation
Delphine spoke up quickly as he approached, his face expressionless.
“This, I mean…”
But he didn’t answer, just lifted her to her feet with his large hands.
His eyes searched every inch of Delphine’s body with an intense intensity.
If this weren’t an alleyway, he would have stripped her naked and checked her nakedness.
“So, I’m…”
“For now.”
He cut her off, his tone eerily calm.
“To the manor.”
His face was now devoid of anger or even fury.
The absence of emotion was all the more frightening.
He removed his uniform jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
The difference in size made Delphine feel like she was being buried by the large garment.
He studied her with a frown, then pulled the jacket up and over her head.
“You don’t have to do this, I can’t see, I can’t walk…”
Before Delphine could say anything, he swept her up in his arms, looking quite ridiculous.
She struggled for a moment, but soon realized there was no point in resisting and meekly gave in to his embrace.
His strong arms and body wrapped around her, and no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t even move.
She had some intuition that this was the last place she wanted to anger him.
“…”
Being held so tightly, her vision was blocked by his large jacket, and she couldn’t see what was going on around her.
But she could hear him muttering something to someone.
And she could feel him lightly mounting his horse.
“I’m going to the manor, My Lady…”
He whispered through his jacket, and soon he was galloping as fast as he could.
His arm around her waist was tighter than usual.
She wasn’t scared at all, being held in his strong arms as they ran at such a frantic pace.
But what is this uneasy feeling that keeps making her shiver?
He can’t hurt her.
She could be sure of that now.
But strangely, she felt as if a punishment of a kind she had never imagined awaited her when they reached the manor.
***
As soon as he arrived at the manor, he leapt from his horse and headed for his quarters.
All the while, Delphine remained in his arms, trying to keep her temper as low as possible.
The door to the chamber slammed shut.
Expecting to be thrown roughly, he was surprisingly gentle as he placed her on the bed.
Delphine sat up on the fluffy bed, buried in his jacket, and looked up at him.
The look on his face as he looked down at her was one of anguish and distress.
“What the hell…”
He spat out the words in a hissy fit.
“Explain to me why you look like that…”
Ioannes paused and gritted his teeth, as if trying to control his anger.
Only after he regained some composure did he speak.
“I wonder if you’ve been in such a place…, dressed like that.”
She didn’t know what to say.
She had never seen Ioannes so angry except when his origins were questioned.
When Delphine hesitated, unable to answer, he added in a chilling tone.
“I shall have the maid who provided those damned maid’s clothes thrown out of this manor.”
She couldn’t allow Betty to be drawn into this quarrel.
Besides, by the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice, he really wasn’t in the mood for mercy.
Biting her lower lip, Delphine finally spoke up.
“There’s an… in District 3.”
“What…?”
Ioannes’s expression, which had been filled with anger as soon as the word was spoken, shook violently.
Staring at that beautiful white face, Delphine spoke in a low whisper.
“I saw…, and I wanted to.”
She didn’t dare say that she had been inside.
But that seemed to be enough to enrage the man.
“Ha! You went there looking like that… District 3?”
He pressed a hand to his brow, as if dizzy with the rage that was coursing through him.
A suppressed voice cracked in his throat.
“What kind of place do you think that is…”
Delphine stared up at the man with clear eyes, her anger making her unable to speak.
‘But you’re from there.’
Ioannes, since he refused to tell her, went in search of the truth herself.
To the place he was born and raised, the place he now ‘manages’ as a marquis.
But she couldn’t bring herself to say it in front of his fury.
Instead, Delphine asked.
“And what is that place?”
“Don’t get me wrong, why do you want to know that?”
“Because you work there.”
“I work there,” the man said coldly.
“…”
A look of surprise crossed Ioannes’s face, as if he hadn’t expected that at all.
Locking eyes with him, Delphine spoke once more.
“… I want to know more about you.”
It took a lot of courage for her to say that.
It was also a conciliatory gesture, a way of saying, “Let’s stop being angry and start talking.”
No matter how many people she had met today had called him the devil, the greatest obstacle to the revolution, deep down inside she still had faith in Ioannes.
He, that beautiful boy, couldn’t be that bad.
The man who was trying so hard to protect her couldn’t be the devil.
‘So tell me.’
‘You’re not such a bad person.’
‘The truth is, you had your reasons.’
It explains the strange powers, the eyes, the murders in the manor, everything.
But she was surprised for a moment.
Ioannes’s face went cold and impassive, almost goosebump-inducing.
“… Why?”
“What?”
Pride gritted his teeth as he looked down at her bewildered face.
How many times is this saint going to try to manipulate him?
She has grown somewhat accustomed to his behavioral patterns by now.
One minute he’s giving her a heart-wrenching punishment, the next he’s giving her a sweet reward.
She’s still trying to control and bend him like a master.
To tame him like a dog.
But she has no intention, no inclination, of letting him take his leash again.
“Why did you suddenly get the idea that you want to know more about me?”
Pride asked with a chill in his voice.
“It’s just…”
Delphine, who had mustered up the courage to speak her mind, was taken aback by the unexpected response.
Why did she think she wanted to get to know him better?
It’s…
‘Why?’
She couldn’t think of an answer to his question.
To find out he was Ioannes?
That’s true, of course.
But she didn’t mean it in the way she had just said she wanted to know.
As she hesitated, Ioannes’s expression grew even more grim.
Then, she felt as if her courageous words had been ignored.
The embarrassment she’d felt when he’d caught her in a maid’s outfit faded, and she began to grow increasingly angry at the man’s overbearing demeanor.
“Of course, I’m grateful that you saved me…”
But her trembling voice was quickly interrupted by an angry voice.
“‘Save you? Do you even understand what would have happened to you if I hadn’t shown up?”
“Of course I understand, I’m not stupid.”
The air of stoicism lifted, and sparks flew between their gazes.
“But don’t give me that attitude, like it’s my fault!”
Delphine shouted, finally exploding.
“When it comes down to it, I’m just a victim who happened to be walking down an alleyway!”
“You don’t know!”
Ioannes exclaimed, his voice breaking as he tore off the mask he was barely holding on to.
“You don’t know what those idiots are thinking when they look at you!”
“They’ve been treating me like an idiot since earlier…!”
“If you knew, you wouldn’t come out alone, dressed like that!”
“So you expect me to just sit around in this manor?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying!”
He shouted in exasperation.
His thick chest pecs, which were at the level of Delphine’s forehead because he was so much taller, heaved.
“What the hell is that…”
Delphine’s lips parted soundlessly, speechless.
She’d never seen him look so lost for words.
Not even as frantic as when she’d forced him to strip and run her hands down his back.
‘Why?’
Delphine couldn’t understand.
He hid who he was, hid what he did, hid the truth about his father’s treason.
He had turned the whole world against him, forcing him to stay in the manor like a doll.
His chest tightened and heaved, and anger mixed with sadness filled him.
Seeing her expression, Ioannes softened slightly and asked.
“What brings you to a place as lowly as District 3?”
Delphine glared at him with a questioning gaze and replied.
“Because I know… You from there.”
“Oh…?”
He replied, intrigued.
“If you’re from District 3, you were probably a slave or servant.”
Delphine glared at him, knowing he was flirting with abomination.
“… No.”
“Then?”
Delphine was silent for a moment, staring into his brown eyes as if trying to catch some trace.
“Then who was it?”
Ioannes didn’t avert his gaze, but locked eyes with her, urging her to answer.
Delphine’s anger at the question slowly gave way to longing in her face.
Ioannes. In this lonely manor, you are my…
“My only comfort.”
The man’s brown eyes fluttered slightly as he answered in a choked voice.
