Chapter 79
The doorknob turned, and just as I hurriedly stepped away, Dedrick added in a cold voice.
“Let me make this clear. Stop sending me letters. It’s uncomfortable and burdensome.”
“B-but, Dedrick! I’m Ebony Silius!”
“I know.”
“W-wait… weren’t my letters being blocked by the Grand Duchess? She was the one who opposed our engagement…”
Ah, the engagement.
There’s a bit of a story behind that.
When Delani tried to send Dedrick to the Silius family as a son-in-law, the Grand Duke pretended not to care and said,
‘Well, at least Dedrick will have a strong support group.’
That made Delani panic and cancel the engagement herself.
She basically shot herself in the foot.
Anyway, it seemed like that incident made Ebony completely misunderstand the situation.
“I never wanted that engagement in the first place. I’ve consistently rejected it, but you refuse to listen.”
“T-that’s because…”
Before Ebony could finish speaking, Dedrick swung the door open.
Now, I could finally see her. She had grown even more beautiful, but Dedrick didn’t seem to care. He stepped inside and said coldly,
“You’ve been quiet all this time, but now you suddenly show up because you heard I’m going on an expedition with the Black Hawk Knights?”
“That’s a misunderstanding!”
“If you want to clear up this misunderstanding, the best way is to never come here again. Now, leave.”
Dedrick firmly shut the door.
I blinked awkwardly, unsure of what to say, while he smoothly smiled as if nothing had happened.
“I’m back.”
“Oh, uh, welcome back! You must be tired. Go take a bath.”
“Just wait a little.”
He gently tapped my horns and walked straight into the bathroom.
I hesitated before creeping up to the door and pressing my ear against it.
I could hear the voices outside, even though the inside sounds wouldn’t leak out.
“Sohe… what was that?”
Ebony sounded shocked, and Sohe let out a long sigh.
“I told you. It was all in your head. Let’s just go home, my lady.”
“He’s not interested in me?”
“My lady…”
“But I’m so charming?!”
“Wow.”
I couldn’t help but admire her confidence.
“Well… I guess she does have the looks to back it up.”
“…Do you really want to embarrass yourself further? Let’s leave.”
“If he doesn’t like me, I’ll just make him like me!”
“What?! That’s not how it works! My lady, please… you’re an adult now…”
“I have to ask him what he doesn’t like about me!”
Before I could move away, the door suddenly swung open.
Thud!
“Ow!”
My forehead!
“Huh? Why did the door stop?”
“Ahh! Wait!”
As I turned around to back away, the door suddenly opened again, smacking right into me and making me stumble and fall flat.
“Ow, my knees!”
My yell was so loud that Dedrick ran out of the bathroom mid-shower, wearing only a long towel around his waist.
His face twisted into pure irritation when he saw me on the floor and Ebony standing there uninvited.
“This is unbelievably rude.”
But Ebony wasn’t even hearing him.
“Ebony Silius.”
His cold voice snapped her back to reality.
“Uh… uh… um…”
She stuttered so badly that her face turned bright red, as if she was about to explode.
“Get out.”
His sharp words made me awkwardly crawl away from Ebony and stand up hesitantly.
Meanwhile, Ebony and Sohe stood frozen like statues.
“I said, get out. Do you not understand?”
His chilling tone finally scared Sohe into grabbing Ebony’s arm.
“My lady, let’s go! We were out of line!”
“I-I… Ah… S-sorry! I didn’t mean to see your body!”
“….”
That was kind of funny. Actually, it was cute.
Sohe, looking completely exhausted, dragged her out, and they slammed the door behind them as they hurried away.
As if waiting, Dedrick approached and examined my forehead. He frowned and then suddenly grabbed my ankle.
“Whoa! What are you doing?”
“You fell.”
“I’m fine.”
“I need to see for myself.”
Without warning, he scooped me up in a princess carry and placed me on the sofa.
Kneeling on one knee in front of me, he carefully lifted the hem of my dress, revealing my reddened knee. Seeing it, he bit his lip in frustration.
“Hey, don’t bite your lip. That must hurt.”
“Let me touch it.”
“Don’t hurt. Don’t hurt.”
I smiled and brushed my finger over his lips, making him chuckle. He then kissed my fingertip before lowering his lips to my swollen knee.
His warm, soft lips pressed gently against my skin.
Feeling the strange atmosphere, I quickly looked away and suggested,
“Maybe you should head back to the bathroom now…”
“Oh.”
He flinched as if realizing something and quickly backed away.
“…I’ll be back soon.”
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
Dedrick turned towards the bathroom but suddenly changed direction, locking the door tightly before entering.
After the fitting session, only Delani, Somerset, and Gemma remained in the VIP lounge.
A long silence followed before Somerset lost patience and jumped up.
“At this rate, that guy will go on the expedition as planned!”
“That will never happen.”
“How can you be so sure?”
Delani gently traced the edge of her teacup and smiled deeply.
“Because I think I’ve found his weakness.”
“…What?”
“So calm down and sit.”
Still confused, Somerset slowly sat back down on the sofa.
“Killing that maid was to confirm something.”
“Confirm what?”
“On the day you were framed, someone coughed up blood in my room.”
“Who was it?”
“I needed to find out.”
Delani had realized something clearly after seeing Dedrick’s reaction on the picnic day.
That day, he had left of his own accord.
He must have overheard her conversation with Gemma and knew staying would entangle him in a scandal with the maid.
“It was possible only because he didn’t know he was being framed for murder.”
If he had known, he wouldn’t have gone to her room alone.
“Besides, Luan, who was guarding his door, said no one went in or out of that room.”
That meant only one thing.
“Something invisible is by Dedrick’s side.”
Somerset, realizing the strangeness, spoke up.
“His room was also clean. There’s no way he could’ve cleaned it up so fast.”
“Exactly. Someone else cleaned it beforehand. If it was a person, Luan would have seen them.”
“Now that I think about it…”
Somerset recalled the day Dedrick had walked around covered in blood.
He usually stayed calm no matter what Somerset did, but that day, he had been furious.
And he had called out desperately to someone, as if pleading.
Excited, Somerset spoke again.
“He definitely called someone that day! Like I had hurt someone important to him!”
“But no one was in the room?”
“No one! But I’m sure he called a name…”
Delani fell into thought.
On the same day Somerset trashed Dedrick’s room, someone coughed up blood in hers.
That meant whatever was in Dedrick’s room had been seriously injured because of Somerset.
“Oh, and one more strange thing! Even though no one was there, every time I tormented Dedrick, things would fall, closet doors would slam shut, or I’d trip over something. You can ask Axel—he saw it too!”
Delani let out a hollow laugh. He had been so oblivious she hadn’t even noticed.
But now that one thing had clicked, the hidden pieces were becoming visible.
“Investigate everything. Gemma, you understand?”
“Yes, madam.”
“Finish it by tonight.”
If something invisible was watching them, they had no idea when or where it might appear.
The longer they delayed, the worse it was for them.
“By dawn at the latest.”
“Yes, madam. I’ll send people right away.”
They couldn’t give Dedrick time to prepare. They had to strike suddenly.
“Before Dedrick leaves for the expedition, we must find and seize his weakness. It must be done before the Grand Duke arrives. We only have one chance.”
Delani took a sip of tea, her eyes darkening.
This was their last opportunity.
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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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