Chapter 9
“What’s going on!”
Something big happened. I couldn’t handle the duke and Ethan anymore. I felt a sense of crisis and turned to run away. That’s when it happened.
“Trying to escape? Fake.”
“…Gasp!”
Just when I thought the muscular figure was blocking me like a wall, then my side felt a burning sensation.
Oh no…
I stumbled and collapsed. I heard the voice of the enemy who stabbed me.
“Goodbye.”
K-Kylid…
You… you think you’re going to be okay? You beast…
I gritted my teeth. I can’t go like this. If I have to go, then…
“This… damn Croft. You… bald for a thousand years…”
-And bear a curse.
I barely completed the curse and closed my eyes.
Tweet.
…It’s truly a fantastic morning.
I sat up in bed and stared blankly at the bedroom door.
How long was I like that?
I heard a knock, then the door opened slowly.
“Miss, are you coughing?”
“Yeah…”
I vaguely replied to Enphi, who seemed to have come to wake me up. My head still felt hazy from the remnants of the dream.
Ha.
I’m really losing it.
Suddenly, the despair and pain I felt in the dream resurfaced, and I must have shown it on my face because Enphi spoke to me before going to the window.
“Are you having a headache?”
“Huh?”
“You drank alcohol yesterday. I thought you might have a hangover…”
“I drank yesterday? …Oh.”
Come to think of it, I did call the servants to move the passed-out Duke Croft to the study.
“It seems like rumors spread that the duke drank with me.”
Actually, I didn’t even touch alcohol yesterday…
Anyway, it’s true that I intended to drink with him. Without bothering to correct Enphi’s statement, I replied.
“I’m fine. I’m more worried about… my father.”
Recalling the duke’s condition from yesterday, as his daughter, I naturally should worry about him. Thinking that, I replied, and Enphi answered.
“The duke seems fine too. He’s up in the study doing his work as usual.”
What did you say? That’s amazing.
“More importantly…”
Enphi walked towards the window while speaking. When Enphi’s hand pulled back the curtain covering the window, the morning sunlight poured into the bedroom.
“It’s been a long time since I saw His Lordship take a sip of alcohol.”
“……”
“….I guess you’re still having a hard time. Spending that day at the mansion.”
“That day?”
“Madam’s anniversary.”
After spitting out those words, Enphi smiled, as if realizing they had said something unnecessary.
“I’m sorry. I suddenly…”
“No, it’s okay.”
I hesitated for a moment, then spoke again.
“But wasn’t it that His Lordship… didn’t usually stay at the mansion on Madam’s anniversary?”
Enphi widened their eyes. Of course. As someone who had been in this mansion for nine years as Elysia, this was a fact I shouldn’t have overlooked.
Seeing Enphi’s surprised or puzzled expression, I quickly added an explanation.
“I’ve been having some memory lapses lately.”
“Memory lapses?”
“There are times when I forget things I knew. …It’s probably post-concussion syndrome from hitting my head on the wall.”
“Oh my.”
“You don’t have to call a doctor. I’ll visit Sarah separately.”
“Okay…”
“Well, will you answer now?”
“Ah…”
After shaking their head, Enphi explained.
“His Lordship and Young Master Ethan used to leave the mansion every year on Madam’s anniversary until last year.”
“Even Ethan?”
I realized something frightening as I asked.
‘Oh, so the reason both of them were absent from the mansion from morning two days ago was…’
Yesterday was the Duchess’s anniversary, so two days ago was the day before her anniversary.
Now I understood. Why the maid found it strange that they weren’t at the mansion on that day.
‘They must have left the mansion on the same day every year. Both of them…’
Wait, but why?
“Kylid… did His Lordship leave Kylid… intentionally behind on Madam’s anniversary every year?”
I didn’t want to repeat “Young Master” after Kylid’s name, so I left it incomplete the second time. Enphi answered.
“No. His Lordship said Young Master Ethan didn’t want to leave the mansion.”
“…Really? So Ethan voluntarily followed His Lordship?”
“Yes.”
I pondered Enphi’s answer with my gaze lowered.
Why did Ethan and Kylid make different choices?
Just because their personalities were different?
…Is that really all there is to it? I feel like there’s something I’ve missed.
As I was about to mull over what that might be, Enphi’s words brushed my ears.
“I guess there’s less sadness or longing. Because there are fewer memories.”
“…Huh?”
“Lord Kylid, as you know, your mother passed away when you were very young.”
“….”
“So, unlike Duke or Lord Ethan, it seems acceptable for you to stay at the mansion on your mother’s anniversary.”
“….”
“It’s time for Duke and Lord Ethan to become okay like Lord Kylid….”
How long would it take? Enphi sighed like a sigh.
I remained stiff.
Good heavens. Ah, that’s it. Right, that was it.
‘Age.’
What I missed.
In an instant, everything, truly everything, was explained. I jumped out of bed.
“Miss?”
All the mysteries were solved!
I chose the garden as a place to organize my thoughts.
I stood in the morning, feeling the cool breeze and gazing at the flowers blooming along the garden path.
“Something was odd….”
Ethan, who seemed like a different person as soon as I mentioned missing Mom in the corridor.
The Marquis, insisting that Ellie must be safe, despite being lost to drink.
I’m sure. Both of them know, or at least suspect, that Bella isn’t really Elisa. Yet, unlike Kylid, they continue to treat Bella as Elisa.
‘But unlike Kylid, they pretend not to know.’
I couldn’t figure out how to understand this since last night. But thanks to Enphi just now, I finally found the answer.
I whispered softly the words to explain the Marquis and Ethan’s behavior.
“Guilt.”
So, here’s the explanation.
First, let me tell you the ages of the Croft Trio. The Croft Marquis is currently in his forties, Ethan is twenty-five, and Kylid is twenty-one.
Now, let’s go back to the time when Elisa was kidnapped by Nym Bilan.
At that time, the Marquis was in his twenties, Ethan was six, and Kylid was two.
‘Kylid was too young alone.’
In other words, only Kylid may not have felt any responsibility for Elisa’s disappearance at that time.
‘The Marquis and Ethan probably blamed themselves for failing to protect their daughter and sister….’
The Marquis might not know, but Ethan, like Kylid, was not too young.
Nonsense.
Treating the protagonist of a fantasy novel like an ordinary person would be awkward. Moreover, Ethan was officially mentioned by the author as a genius.
I dare say that six-year-old Ethan was already mentally mature enough.
Anyway, after Elisa was kidnapped, the Marquis and Ethan would have endured great agony, and then, ten years later.
Bella, who bears Elisa’s characteristics – appearance – and her token – necklace – appears.
“What if they looked at Bella, still struggling in the depths of guilt, in the eyes of the Duke and Ethan at that time?”
“Perhaps they saw her as a lifeline to pull them out of the quagmire.”
If they accepted Bella as Elisa, anyway, outwardly, the Duke and Ethan would have found their lost Elisa.
It means they can finally escape from the torment of ten years.
Even though it required deceiving not only the surroundings but even oneself…
“They chose to deceive. The Duke and Ethan. And now, we’re in this situation.”
…Huh.
A perfect deduction.
In the end, I was reborn.
As the master of Croft Triad! Haha. Hahaha…
“-It was almost over.”
I muttered sincerely as I sat down.
“I was about to confess without knowing anything.”
Bella’s confession is never something the Duke and Ethan would welcome.
Of course. Bella confessing her sins only forces the two of them to face the truth they have been deliberately ignoring.
What if I had confessed as planned?
If a useful tool suddenly says, ‘I’m not a tool! Don’t use me to escape, face reality!’…
“Maybe I wouldn’t have died because I still had usefulness, but I might have been imprisoned until the real one appeared…”
“The real one?”
