Chapter 6
“Grace wasn’t feeling good. She thought her life had fallen into ruin, but people were struggling with their own big and small pains.’’
Just then, the door opened and Pauline came in, bustling.
Thud!
Pauline set down the past newspapers on the table and grumbled.
“Miss, you’re not fully recovered yet. Suddenly diving into newspapers like this.”
“Did you bring the watercress?”
“I did. Are you going to paste the newspapers again?”
Pauline found it quite amusing to see Grace like this lately. With the flu, she had become a completely different person.
The old Grace used to wake up and say either “Mirror.” or “Where’s Taran?” Now, she didn’t even ask about the duke.
Last time, she asked for a week’s worth of newspapers, and ever since, whenever the duke read a newspaper, she would cut out and paste the articles.
“It’s a new hobby.”
Grace would cut out and paste only the articles about Allen and the Hamiltons onto a blank notebook. It was already the second notebook.
“It’s not an interesting hobby.”
Pauline grumbled beside her but still neatly filled in the empty spaces on the newspapers.
“But this man in the newspaper, he was incredibly handsome in person, wasn’t he?”
“You saw this man, Pauline?”
“Yes, I saw him when he entered the church on the day of the funeral.”
Pauline giggled as she stared at Allen in the newspaper.
“I see.”
‘He’s handsome. It’s me who fell for that ugly human behind the picturesque mask.’
I didn’t even know that behind the beautiful mask lay ugly greed, and I foolishly fell for it.
As I collected newspaper articles, people related to Alan began to appear one by one.
‘I won’t rush.’
Revenge requires thorough preparation and information. I’ll wait as much as possible, being cautious like Allen, who plotted against the Hamiltons.
‘But I need to become closer to the duke…’
The most urgent task was to receive the necklace from Terrance. It would be advantageous to maintain a good relationship with him.
‘Why didn’t they rush to get married even though they were engaged? Could it be because of what I heard then?’
Taran had expressed annoyance to Grace, asking her to stop pestering him about marriage.
It seemed to me that he either wasn’t interested in marriage at all or wasn’t emotionally ready.
If that’s the case, I shouldn’t pressure Taran into marriage like Grace did. In reality, I had no intention of marrying him.
‘Faith, hope, love… marriage. They’re all overrated.’
That’s when it happened. There was a knock on the door, and Duke peeked his head in.
“The duke has arrived.”
Why did he come all of a sudden? There shouldn’t be any urgent matters. For a moment, Leah’s mind was in turmoil.
“It’s quite something. The duke coming all the way to Miss’s room!”
Pauline was so surprised that she bustled around.
Leah and Pauline hurriedly began to tidy up the messy room with scraps of newspapers.
Leah covered the notebook and pushed it to one side of the dressing table.
There was no time to tidy up perfectly, so she roughly cleared things around and greeted Taran.
“Grace, how are you feeling?”
As Taran entered Grace’s room, he immediately grasped the situation at a glance, rendering her efforts futile.
Traces of unfolded newspapers, the scent of freshly cut grass, and even the thick notebook lying on the vanity caught his eye.
“I see you’ve fully recovered.”
Yet as Taren bent down to pick up a fallen scrap of newspaper, he quickly gleaned the situation from the article snippet he saw.
“Allen Maxwell? Are you collecting articles about that man?”
Of course, it was merely a simple deduction. It was unthinkable to make hasty judgments before laying eyes on the notebook placed on the vanity.
“Is it a new hobby?”
“Yes…? I’m trying to learn a bit about how the world works.”
“Is that so? Quite a constructive hobby.”
He offered his usual restrained smile, not elaborating much further.
His gleaming black eyes turned towards Grace.
A face without makeup, neat attire, and ink stains on his hands. Most likely from handling the newspaper.
Above all, despite his presence, he maintained a suitable distance, speaking cautiously and refraining from demanding things recklessly as he used to.
[Taran, let’s go on a date with Grace. I want to go to an amusement park, enjoy a boat ride, and see pretty flowers. Okay?]
“Do you know what tomorrow is?”
Taran asked Grace.
‘What day is it? Is it Grace’s birthday? What’s going on?’
As Leah’s eyes flickered subtly, Taren’s brow slightly furrowed, his gaze narrowing.
It was as if he was saying, ‘You seem to have forgotten something important, don’t you know about that crucial appointment?’
“Tomorrow is the day we’re going to Bern to meet your brother!”
Quick-witted Pauline interjected instead.
“Oh! Right, Pauline. I must be losing my mind.”
Taran responded, tilting his head slightly with a puzzled expression at Leah’s answer.
After all, Grace never forgot about going to meet Aiden.
“As always, Grace and I will go alone. Make sure to prepare well.”
Taren gave instructions to Pauline before turning away.
‘Why isn’t he stopping her?’
As he turned to leave, Grace would usually rush over and embrace his waist tightly.
Taran paused, only turning his head to look at Grace.
“Do you have anything else to say?”
She retorted. Taran, looking at Grace, who was excessively polite, fixed his gaze on the note she was trying to hide.
“What’s this, trying to make people curious?”
Taran shook his head as if it was nothing and left the room.
Every time he faced the changed her, he felt like a small sandstorm was happening in his endlessly dry life like a desert.
Early in the morning, Leah headed to Bern with Terran. It was a three-hour journey by carriage.
Polin handed them a few bottles of whiskey, saying it was the favorite drink of Viscount Aiden.
The carriage was silent. Occasionally, they talked about the scenery outside the window. About an hour passed like that.
“It’s raining.”
Leah wiped the raindrops off her outstretched hand and said.
“It could be troublesome if it gets worse.”
Taran also seemed preoccupied with the rainy weather, constantly looking out the window.
Just then, the carriage stopped, and the coachman approached.
“Your Grace, it seems there’s heavy rain in Basel. It seems impractical to go this way. With your permission, I’ll take another route.”
The coachman reported as the carriage stopped.
He explained that if they went that way, they would encounter muddy roads due to pouring rain in Basel, and there could be the worst-case scenario where the carriage wheel gets stuck in the mud and can’t move.
“Very well.”
“I understand, sir.”
The coachman turned the carriage around and drove it down a secluded path into the woods.
Of course, although it was raining there too, it wasn’t pouring, so there was no problem with the carriage moving.
“The meadow is beautiful. I can see the shepherd’s hut over there.”
Leah inadvertently made a comment as if she were immersed in admiration. But Taran didn’t respond at all.
Instead, he just observed Grace intently.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Leah felt tense every time she met Taran’s piercing gaze.
Whenever she looked into his eyes, she felt that any pretense or hypocrisy was futile.
“Because Grace seems to have changed a lot.”
“There’s a saying that humans are social animals. They can change a lot due to circumstances and events.”
‘Ha! I never thought I’d hear such words from Grace. Did she catch the flu and switch souls?’
Taran found himself making a ridiculous imagination involuntarily.
Yet her words were correct. He wasn’t always such a decrepit and pessimistic human from the beginning.
From a young age, he endured the trials that befell his family and fought in brutal wars, changing from a beggar.
At that moment, the carriage, which had been running smoothly, began to sway, and tumultuous noises could be heard from outside.
“Milord! A band of thieves has appeared!”
The coachman shouted urgently. Heading down a deserted forest path, they had caught the attention of the thieves.
Bang! Bullets started hitting the carriage from outside.
“Coachman!”
Leah witnessed a coachman being shot and falling from the carriage.
Quickly, Taran pulled the handle of a chair, revealing a large space beneath it.
“It was a box, not a chair?”
Taran said to Leah with a stern face.
“Get in, Grace.”
“What? But…”
Before she could respond, Taran pushed Grace into the long box.
“Don’t come out until I open the door.”
Before she could say anything else, Taran firmly closed the lid of the box.
He immediately opened the opposite chair and took out a rifle.
Bang! As the thieves attacked while riding horses, the horses and carriage were separated.
Taran swiftly loaded bullets and fired at the thieves, skillfully shooting to protect the front and back.
Luckily, it wasn’t a cliff path, and the carriage’s speed was gradually decreasing.
In the midst of the chaos, he had to quickly deal with the thieves to prevent being surrounded and outnumbered.
He sensed the vibrations of bullets whizzing by and aimed through the window at the thieves’ positions.
With his exceptional reflexes, he aimed the gun upwards and accurately shot at them.
As the forest echoed with gunfire and the situation grew tense, his body moved on its own.
“Ahh!”
Finally, the thieves fell one by one to the gunfire. However, the problem was that there were still a significant number of thieves.
But there were plenty of bullets. Due to his military habits, he always kept rifles and bullets ready in the carriage.
Once again, the thieves fired at the carriage, causing the wheels to falter. The remaining coachmen fled into the forest.
With continuous gunfire, the carriage was pierced, and the roof was torn off.
“I’ll stretch my legs for a while.”
Taran breathed out heavily, punching through the ceiling and spinning around 360 degrees, shooting rapidly.
His marksmanship, honed by war, was so remarkable that he could instantly sense the enemy’s presence without even looking. Thanks to that, the thieves were wiped out within minutes.
Suddenly, Taran felt a presence behind him and immediately turned around and fired.
Bang! Two gunshots and a scream. While Taran’s bullet pierced the thief’s head, the thief’s bullet also pierced Taran’s shoulder.
“Ugh…!”
Taran slumped to the floor of the carriage.
“Kurtua’s mercy!”
Hiding inside the chair, Leah had been listening to the situation outside. She immediately ran out upon hearing Terren’s groans. Soon, she saw him, suffering from a shoulder wound.
“I’ll support you.”
Gathering only the necessary items, Leah supported Taran and pulled him out of the carriage.
“The thieves will come back. Let’s run before that.”
This forest was likely a hideout for thieves. Leah headed towards the meadow they had passed a while ago.
“Oops…!”
Taran’s leg wobbled, perhaps due to severe shoulder bleeding.
