Chapter 79

The Duchess was on the lakeside with her two hands gathered together, ashen and head bowed. Rashid was staring frightfully at her. The thick bones in the back of his hand were popping out, as if he would grab her black hair at any moment.

“Haa. He did say he would be watching her, but who would’ve thought he’d go that far.”

A note of contrition entered Tenon’s voice. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know what his eldest brother’s personality was like. In fact, he even felt sorry for her, even though he hadn’t let go of his suspicions about her yet.

“Look at that. The atmosphere there is so forbidding, the only difference is that they’re not in the torture room. He might even end up pushing her into the lake like that.”

“He wouldn’t possibly do that.”

“….”

Peyton’s voice, even as he scolded him for being wrong, wasn’t filled with confidence either. Not that he was wrong, but the expression on the Duchess’s face was so desperate, she looked like she was barely holding back tears.

Please, I beg you.

Along with her mouth forming these words that were still definite from afar, she shook her head, and strands of hair blew out into the breeze.

“Br-brother, now that I see her, the Duchess seems to look very pure, no, very innocent.”

“Hmm…..”

A beauty was a beauty for sure. And this never-to-be-seen-again beauty was seemingly at her wit’s end, covering her eyes. It was natural that they who had been trained in chivalry would feel unsettled in their hearts.

About to pull on his reins and approach them himself, Peyton then let loose a long sigh and stopped Tenon.

“Don’t. Do you consider His Majesty to be one who would be convinced or waver because of anything like that.”

“That is impossible.”

Tenon finally acknowledged the situation and rubbed his face.

Even now, he was putting so much pressure on the other person that it was too scary to go near him. He radiated an energy like he was about to burn others to death, all through the glint of his eyes and without a single word.

“As expected of Eldest Brother. I can’t believe how relentless he is, when he could let her slide at least once.”

“He did vow to keep a stern eye on the Duchess, so… Ah…”

As Peyton repeated His Majesty’s words bitterly, he ended up exclaiming as he watched Catherine run towards the villa at last, her hands covering her mouth.

They didn’t have any evidence yet, so why go that far?

Unable to hold back his pity, he gripped his reins, but Rashid turned back first.

“…..haa.”

He remained calm even as he saw his two younger brothers’ complicated yet reproachful gazes toward him. Though he had dealt with a beautiful woman the way he would catch a rat, he rested his hand on the back of his neck indifferently, without a trace of guilt.

“This much should be enough to make the witch come to her senses.”

***

[Mom, Mommyy!]

[Madaam!]

“My dears!”

Once I discovered these two waiting for me in front of the villa, I lifted up my dress skirts swiftly and directly approached them. As soon as I swept them up into a hug, Haniel rubbed her beak into my cheek as if she had been waiting for it all along.

[Mommy. Heugh. Why did you come only now?]

“Aww, my poor little puppy, our swan princess!”

Knowing that someone was waiting for my return was exuberating, even as I experienced this every day. And at times like this, when I had come back from a narrow escape from death, it was inevitable that I’d feel even more welcome.

Hup! When I forgot all about keeping my honor and just went and lay down on the reed grass, Selene was appalled.

[You need to keep your dignity. If the ladies even see you like this….]

“They’re not coming. No, they can’t come. They apparently dug open all the roads going out to the main estate.”

Perhaps in revenge to that time when she’d been humiliated in front of the Emperor, Lania had begun a bloody punishment since that very day.

All the food and clothing materials—which had barely been enough to wet the lips in the first place—were completely cut off. Not only that, but instead of using a wooden or iron fence, they had completely dug out all the roads themselves that led to the lakeside, isolating us like a remote island.