3-
The man’s appearance could not be described other than the word ‘crazy’. God’s mistake? blessing? Whatever it was, God must have been very careful when he created that man.
‘What is this face? It looked like a statue of some Greek god has come to life.’
This is my first time seeing a man who is more handsome than my brother. While Evangeline was scanning the man’s features with her face filled with astonishment, he pulled her towards him with a light gesture. As if he noticed her limping leg, he even supported her waist with his arm.
The distance from the man became closer. Evangeline blurted out a sentence, her eyes fixed on his incredulous face.
“How did it come to be like that?”
He calmly accepted her questions.
“You don’t like it?”
Evangeline spoke firmly. No way.
“No. I absolutely love it.”
Even though he was speaking informally in front of the Grand Princess earlier, but now after seeing his face it didn’t bother her at all. That damn face!
Adding to Evangeline’s answer, his almond-shaped eyes folded into an arc in a sad way. Evangeline, who was mesmerized by the fluttering eyelashes following the movement of his eyelids, barely came to her senses. No, this is not the time!
Was there anyone like this among Damian’s retainers? I don’t know who it was, but looking at the situation, it seemed like an ally who had come to save me. Putting aside my appreciation of his appearance, I had to first explain the current situation.
“Where is Damian?”
“Huh?”
“Go to Archduke Damain Knecht and inform him that the Princess and the daughter of the Count Saxony have been kidnapped. And..”
And. and… Strangely, the more Evangeline looked into the man’s eyes, the more her eyes closed. Maybe it’s because his visual stimulation was so great, but she felt dizzy.
“And?”
He covered Evangeline’s eyes with his hands. His dark leather gloves touched her eyelids.
“… We must find the Lady of the Count Saxony and bring her home safely.”
The movement of the lips gradually became slower. Evangeline lost her consciousness after those words.
***
The old warehouse that was searched by the imperial palace guards was empty.
A strange man broke the rope surrounding the area to prevent anyone’s entry and entered.
The man was so tall that his head touched the door frame. He was dressed loosely in a black suit and had a cigarette in his mouth.
Looking around indifferently, he lit a cigar with a match.
A man with a grim look came in behind him and bent down so much that his head touched the ground.
“Disburse… … .”
Looking down at his kneeling subordinate, he exhaled a puff of smoke. Acrid smoke filled the enclosed space.
“John. What were my orders? Recite it clearly to me.”
“You told me to handle it quietly and not to make any noise.”
In the evening, a burning cigarette flickered red and glowed in a dark room.
“I guess you misunderstood the meaning of the word ‘quietly.’”
Isn’t it? He extinguished the cigarette, which had shrunk by more than half, by rubbing it on the silver cigarette case.
The man named John crouched down and lowered his head as if he knew what was going to happen in a moment.
“Ugh… … !”
Soon a stomachache that wrenched his organs struck him. The man gritted his teeth and endured the pain.
Words like a scream of death came out of his mouth.
“But Your Excellency! We destroyed all the evidence before the garrison arrived!”
“Talking back… I hate back answers.”
It was one of the things that he hated the most. The man picked up his already bloody shoe and kicked John in the abdomen.
Ugh, wow.
John was lying on the dirt floor, struggling to breathe properly.
The man in the black suit rubbed the toes of his shoes on the ground as if they were dirty.
After walking around the empty warehouse, he headed to a home not far from the warehouse.
In the living room of the building disguised as an ordinary home, various evidence that had been stolen by the Sioux before the imperial palace guards arrived was piled up.
The man sat leisurely on the sofa. As he was looking at the burning items in the fireplace, he picked up the women’s shoes that had not been burned yet.
The tightly embroidered silk shoes were hanging on his index finger and swaying. The shoe, which was barely hanging on his hand, was soon thrown into the flames.
“Archduchess Knecht.”
The man mumbled Evangeline’s name with an expression that showed no emotion.
***
Ugh. It’s painful.
Even with my eyes closed, I could feel the gaze glaring at me. It was obvious even without looking at the owner of the gaze that he was ready to pierce the wall with his eyes. Evangeline soothed her dry mouth.
“Brother… … .”
“Stay still.”
“My face stings, so just look away… … .”
My skin will pierce if you keep staring at me like that. Evangeline forced her heavy eyelids up. It was her own room. And the unlucky human sitting by her bedside.
Relief came over me along with the familiar irritation. Okay. I knew he would come to my rescue.
“I came late because I was doing something. I thought you were
going crazy waiting for me.”
“… … .”
Damian’s already fierce eyes became sharper. He ignored his brother’s words as if they were not worth answering.
Evangeline opened her mouth for the first time in a while and poured out what she was curious about.
“What happened to the Lady of Saxony? Did you catch the kidnapper?”
“Marguerite Saxony was safely delivered to the Count, and the gang that kidnapped you are all dead.”
“Brother, you killed them?”
“No.”
He answered as if he felt very sorry.
Right. Evangeline, who had become reasonably insensitive to the life and death of extras while staying by the Northern Grand Duke’s side, lightly ignored the news of the annihilation of her kidnappers group.
“I guess my brother took care of it. Oh, there’s a handsome guy
with brown hair among the knights, right? Please give him something as a reward.”
“Brunette? I don’t know what you’re talking about. There is no such person among Knecht’s knights.”
Hey, what are you talking about? He was so handsome that you couldn’t forget him once you saw him. Evangeline grumbled.
“Don’t lie. He was the one who first discovered me.”
Damian’s reaction was still somber. He responded with an expression that asked me what kind of nonsense I was talking about.
“There was definitely a knight with that hair color, but he died in an accident a month ago.”
“… … ?”
So who was that handsome brown-haired guy I met?
Goosebumps ran down my spine.
Damian crossed his arms and looked at Evangeline, who was dumbfounded. When he saw her leg wrapped in bandages and thickened, he raised one corner of his mouth and sneered.
“That sucks. With those legs, you won’t be able to go outside the bedroom door, let alone go outside.”
What? is that the thing you would say to your younger sister? Even in a half-asleep state of mind, my mouth filled with words that I wanted to say to him moved properly. Evangeline muttered loudly.
“So that’s why she ran away… … .”
When Damian’s weak point was openly touched, Damian’s brow furrowed mercilessly. Evangeline closed her eyes and pretended not to notice Damian’s intense gaze.
“I’ll have to bandage your mouth too.”
“Don’t crumble your eyebrows. The only thing she cares about is your title and face. Do you think Beatrice will accept you if your face becomes ugly?”
Damian, in tears, stood up from his seat. Evangeline covered her ears with her pillow, anticipating what would happen next.
Fortunately, the door opened before I heard Damien’s unlucky voice.
“Evangeline!”
“Dad?”
“Our princess! You finally woke up! Every time I see you unconscious, your father’s heart breaks!”
A large middle-aged man came running to the bed in a huff. Evangeline looked at her father in confusion.
“Dad, you said you were going to subdue monsters in the Northern Mountains?”
Evangeline’s father, former Archduke Josef Knecht, held his daughter’s hand with his freshly washed hand.
“Of course we postponed it by a week! My daughter is on the brink of death, so how can I just go around subjugating those monsters as a father?”
An important event that must be performed every year as a northern noble suddenly turned into a trivial matter.
Damian stepped back, looking at his biological father who was silently making all kinds of plans. Josef naturally took the chair his son was sitting on and sat down.
Evangeline naturally received her father’s hospitality.
“I am okay. It’s not like I fainted once or twice.”
Faint! Upon hearing those words, Josef’s expression changed from joy to anger in an instant. It was because he remembered why Evangeline fainted.
“How dare they try to kill my daughter…do not worry. I will make them pay what they deserve.”
“I said it’s okay.”
Despite Evangeline’s words, he showed no signs of calming down. The next emotion that came to his mind was gloom. The face of the cold handsome man, who could not even make eye contact if he stayed still, collapsed in sadness.
“My daughter. my princess I am so sorry that you were born with so many minor illnesses. I don’t have the courage to see you… Just because it was good for me to have a daughter, I shouldn’t have picked up any food and allowed you to eat it. If only she hadn’t swallowed the gremlin alive back then… … .”
“I’m grateful to her just for giving birth to me and raising me.”
After that, the repertoire continued whenever Evangeline was even slightly ill. What can I do? It is said that the first daughter who was born after 100 years is very precious to her precious
family.
It was only for a moment that the Iron-Blooded Archduke, who was said to make even flying birds fall, became a humbled.
Love is a scary thing. Evangeline mechanically nodded her head at her father’s words, while she thought.
“With the thought that my little princess would never be able to open her eyes again made me feel like I had lost the sun… … I couldn’t live a single day without my daughter… … are my light, water, world… … blah blah.”
Josef’s endless confession came to an end with the appearance of my mother, Count Linzheim.
“I’m sorry you must be tired already. Isn’t he originally mentally ill? I hope you understand.”
“No. mother.”
Evangeline answered somewhat modestly.
My father, who was constantly blinking with emotion, was dragged by my mother’s hands. Damien, who had been staring with his young eyes in contempt at his father’s indecency, sat back down on his seat.
“Pathetic… … .”
Are you calling him pathetic? This is also your future self.
Tsk tsk. You don’t even know what’s ahead. Evangeline laughed at her brother.
“That’s why… … .”
“I told you to stop.”
***
The leg I broke when I jumped did not heal easily. Evangeline spent weeks lying on bed with Damian’s pitiful gaze on her.
As I was doing nothing, a month passed in an instant. Evangeline, who had wasted the little time she had left in her life, secretly prepared for her outing.
Then I had a good excuse to go out.
Early morning in early spring. Someone desperately called out to Evangeline, who was rolling around on the bed in her street clothes.
“Miss! Marriage requests are pouring in from northern nobles!”
Evangeline’s maid, Eve, stamped her feet with both hands full of letters.
What happened again? Evangeline dropped Marguerite’s wedding invitation, which she was holding in her hand, onto her blanket.
“Calm down. Usually around this time of the year, a lot of people get married or propose marriage. Maybe it’s not because of that.”
“These are all letters from the northern families!”
“hmm.”
Evangeline mumbled, crushing her face against the pillow. Northerners and marriage proposal. An ominous feeling passed through my mind.
