Chapter 74
‘I’m anxious….’
I was sure she had witnessed me coughing up blood in Delani’s room.
It seemed like she had put the matter on hold for now, being preoccupied with solving the Somerset issue.
‘She’s not the type to let this slide.’
She would find a way to dig into it.
For a moment, the thought that this incident could drag Didi down with me made me curl up in fear, hugging my knees tightly.
‘I can’t let that happen.’
An unexplainable sense of unease crept in, and in the end, I took advantage of the moment when the Grand Duchess left her room and searched through it.
And when I opened the last drawer, my body stiffened.
“Why is there a Herba Academy guidebook here…?”
So she hasn’t given up.
That wretched Herba Academy…!
Grinding my teeth, I recalled the setting of Herba Academy from the novel.
Herba was an academy built in a gloomy forest at the very edge of the Beatum Empire.
No one knew who had founded it or why they had chosen that particular land, but one thing was certain—
It pretended to be a normal academy but was actually a place where children were sent under the guise of education, only to be abandoned.
The abandoned land was infested with all sorts of monsters—failures of past biological experiments.
The students of Herba Academy were expected to hunt those creatures.
If they managed to survive and graduate, they were rewarded with exceptional privileges. But even those who survived were left with severe trauma, making it impossible for them to lead normal lives.
Many students ended up killing themselves or leaving the country because they were afraid of their own families.
And the ones who were sent to Herba Academy were usually children in situations similar to Dedrick’s.
‘Sending you to Herba Academy is the same as sentencing you to death.’
In the novel, Delani had sent assassins after Dedrick multiple times on his way to Herba Academy. He barely survived the journey, nearly dying several times before even setting foot in the academy.
Even after graduating, Dedrick suffered from PTSD, plagued by insomnia for a long time.
“I should have done anything to stop myself from coughing up blood….”
Regret washed over me. But sitting here regretting wouldn’t change anything, so I had to act.
First, I decided to check on Somerset and Axel, so I headed to their rooms.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Somerset had been keeping quiet ever since that incident, watching his surroundings nervously, while Axel was silently reading a book.
After observing them for a while, I returned to Dedrick’s room, where he was surely waiting anxiously for me.
“Didi, I’m back.”
As I opened the wardrobe door, I saw Dedrick standing at his desk with his head hung low.
His back looked unusually lonely. I carefully placed a hand on it and called out to him.
“Didi?”
He slowly turned his head. His face was deathly pale.
“Why… What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”
“…Mary.”
He collapsed into my arms weakly.
I pulled away slightly, cupping his cold cheeks in my hands and lifting his face.
“What happened?”
Dedrick’s gaze flickered toward his desk before dropping back down.
There was a letter lying on the desk.
I stepped out of his embrace and picked up the letter.
Dedrick wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his face against my shoulder as he took slow, measured breaths.
“It’s from Eugene, isn’t it?”
“……”
Ever since Dedrick and Eugene had become close, they had frequently exchanged letters and even met up several times.
Along with Perez, the three of them had become even closer than they were in the novel, and Eugene’s personality had become much livelier.
And every time Dedrick wrote to Eugene, I had always asked him to include a specific request: ‘Always be especially careful with your mother’s safety, and watch out for the Marchioness.’
Eugene never took Dedrick’s words lightly. He always reassured us in his replies that he was keeping a close eye on both his mother and the Marchioness.
But now…
My hands trembled as I read through the letter.
[…Mother passed away. She went on an outing with Father for the first time in a long while, but they were attacked by bandits…]
So the Marchioness finally resorted to such a drastic measure.
[…I know who’s behind it, but there’s no proof. Father witnessed Mother’s death and lost consciousness. He hasn’t woken up since. So, Dedrick…]
Dedrick’s arms tightened around my waist.
*[…I think I’ll be sent to Herba Academy. With Father incapacitated, the Marchioness now holds absolute power.
(…)
My friend, please live well. I’d love to see you again, but that seems unlikely.]
And finally, at the end of the letter—
*[…P.S. This letter will be sent out only after I’ve entered Herba Academy. By the time you receive this, I’ll already be inside.
If you don’t hear news of my death, it means I made it in alive. Wish me luck.]
So, in the end, Eugene was sent to Herba Academy.
Just like in the novel.
The letter slipped from my fingers as strength drained from my hands.
A terrible sense of dread settled over me. Eugene’s situation felt too similar to ours.
I quickly shook my head.
‘No, don’t panic. Just keep doing what I’ve been doing.’
I turned to Dedrick, who was watching me with worried eyes. When I reached out my arms, he leaned into me without hesitation.
‘I just need to protect Didi.’
Holding him tightly, I silently vowed never to let anyone take him away from me.
Dedrick woke up late in the morning and reached out his hand as Marilyn stepped out of the wardrobe.
“Come here, Mary.”
Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Marilyn took his hand. Dedrick liked how warm her body was after waking up.
He pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her hand. Then, instead of letting her sit beside him, he pulled her onto his lap.
He laughed softly, amused, as her legs hung a little in the air.
“Didi, what are you doing? Writing a letter?”
Dedrick rested his head on her shoulder and nodded.
“I’m sending one to Eugene.”
“…A letter? But Herba Academy doesn’t allow any contact with the outside world.”
“……”
Dedrick silently played with her fingers.
‘Again. She’s wrong about something.’
Marilyn always acted as if she could see the future. She knew things she shouldn’t, and she was desperate to protect me from unseen dangers.
At first, he had thought she simply gathered information from around the Grand Duchy to help him.
But he had been wrong.
The details in the information she provided were always slightly off in ways that couldn’t have come from the servants.
After seeing this happen multiple times, Dedrick finally began to suspect—
The information she shared didn’t come from this place.
She seemed to have access to something he didn’t.
“Herba Academy doesn’t allow letters or items to be sent out, but receiving them from the outside is fine. Weapons and dangerous items are prohibited, though.”
Even now, Marilyn knew that Herba Academy cut off external contact, yet she wasn’t aware that letters and small items could be sent in.
“…Really?”
Dedrick laced his fingers through hers and pondered.
‘Is this one of Mary’s abilities?’
Just like the vivid roses adorning her hair.
The truth was a little off, but—
‘It doesn’t matter.’
As long as Marilyn stayed by his side, that was enough. He didn’t care what she knew, why her information was inconsistent, or why she acted as if she could see the future. If she didn’t want to tell him, he would pretend not to know—until his dying breath.
Because all he needed was Marilyn herself.
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• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •By Freya• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •
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Advance chapters of this novel are available of my kofi channel
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They’re sweet