Chapter 43

Fortunately, the maid responded calmly.

The maid who put me on the sofa sat next to me and held my hand.

“Lady, are you sure?”

“Yes, it’s been months.”

The maid bit her lips. There were signs of anxiety around her wrinkled eyes.

“How did it happen?”

“Well…”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Is it a side effect of poison or a severe head injury I don’t know about? I don’t know because I don’t remember at all.”

It was a reasonable excuse.

The duke has a lot of enemies, and the maid knows that.

“Is there anything uncomfortable other than memory?”

“None at all.”

I licked my lips.

“Well, I can’t remember anything but basic information. My parents, my childhood memories, how I became a duke.”

The maid’s expression slowly collapsed. His face was so miserable that I couldn’t describe it.

“Miss…”

I wasn’t the girl she was looking for, but somehow my heart was pounding.

“Can you help me? Help me regain my memory.”

The girl she knows is already gone.

It was only a torture of hope to say that I could regain my memory.

I made up a voice more desperate than ever and held the maid’s hand together.

“Of course, miss. I’ll tell you everything.”

Fortunately, the maid swept my face with a warm smile.

At the touch I leaned my head on the maid’s shoulder. I didn’t know what the urge was, but I wanted to.

“Please listen to me from the beginning.”

The maid burst out laughing.

“I feel like we went back to when I told you old stories before you went to bed as a child. You always asked me to tell you what I know from the beginning.”

I nodded quietly, enchanted by the maid’s laughter.

“The lady  was born from the previous duke and a maid.”

“… an  illegitimate child?”

I didn’t even imagine.

It’s not enough that the head of the duke’s family is a woman, but she’s also an illegitimate child.

The maid hesitated.

“If it’s an illegitimate child, it’s an illegitimate child. I don’t like that word.”

The maid began to pat me on the shoulder.

“The child did nothing wrong. If there’s anything that is wrong, it’s with the adults.”

It was a little sentimental, but I nodded quietly again.

“I was a close friend of your mother’s. Your mother was weak, and when she suffered from a major illness, I came to nurse her and took care of her.”

The calm voice of the maid continued like a song.

“Maybe you, your mother, and I, could have spent peaceful days in the annex. The year you turned five, if only the duke’s wife hadn’t been diagnosed with infertility.”

The maid’s face for the first time showed a feeble loathing.

“The duke was a man who could not be satisfied only with his work. He wanted his daughter to be crowned the crown princess and to be at his disposal until the next emperor.”

Her tone was still calm, but I could read her remorse, hidden by serenity.

“When he couldn’t get what he wanted through his infertile wife after giving birth to two sons, the duke formally made you enter the mansion. At first….”

Suddenly the maid’s tone became slow.

“At first, I was happy. I thought that my lady could finally be recognized as a princess and enjoy the luxury she had never enjoyed before. But that hope didn’t last long.”

The eyes of the maid were moistened.

“The previous duke treated her coldly because he thought she was the only disgrace in the life of a perfect aristocrat, and the duchess’s family despised you. If you showed any weakness, she wouldn’t hesitate to punish you severely. Every day was more dangerous for you than walking in thin ice.”

The gaze of the maid, lost in old thoughts, clouded.

“In the meantime, the duke took her to the palace every time he entered the palace for his own ambitions. Fortunately, Lady Eleanor thought of you as a daughter, and Prince Cardan treated you well, so I thought it would be better for you to enter the palace altogether as the previous Duke wished.”

Me?

Cardan was nice to me?

It was hard to believe when looking at their current relationship, which was close to losing my neck at any moment.

“But, for some reason, since His Highness Cardan left for the battlefield, you no longer go to the Imperial Palace, and as you became more and more absorbed in your family’s work, you rarely met me.”

The maid hesitated for a moment, looking at the bed where Eleanor was lying.

“And one day, you brought in Lady Eleanor.”

I could tell by intuition.

So this is what Cardan was referring to as a contract.

I headed for the bed where Eleanor was lying.

She was asleep like a picture. She looked as calm as if she would wake up at any moment.

“When you brought in Lady Eleanor, she was barely holding her breath. You’ve  only come back to say that there’s no hope of showing her to anyone.”

The maid pointed to a small table next to the bed.

There were two candles on the table.

A small flame was dancing in one candle, but only a thin smoke was rising from the end of the wick.

“And around the same time, you asked me to prepare a candle.”

I recognized the identity of the candle at once.

“Candle of the Temple….”

The maid nodded.

“Your candle in the temple was actually exchanged for mine.”

The maid pointed to the candle on fire.

“This is your candle.”

“And it’s…….”

When I pointed to the candle, which was almost dead, the maid recited the expected answer.

“It’s Lady Eleanor’s candle.”

I felt like the last piece of the puzzle was in place.

Still, I had no choice but to ask again. Like a confirmation.

“What did I say when I brought Eleanor?”

The maid spoke very slowly.

“When your candle goes out, you said to kill Lady Eleanor.”

Everything matched in a moment.

Why Cardan offered to kill Lord Ethan, the captain of the guard, at the request of the Duke of Baloa.

Why Cardan hated me but tried to save me in every crisis.

Why Cardan couldn’t touch me hastily after hearing my drivel that she was his  lover.

If he wants to kill me, he’ll have to be ready to kill his mother.

“Once a month, the duke ordered Lady Eleanor’s candles to be sent to the palace in secret.”

“Huh…”

I burst into a low laugh because I was dumbfounded.

“I guess so. I’ll have to give him proof that his mother is still alive so he won’t even dare to get out of the contract.”

It just happened to be my body, but no matter how much I think about it…….

“Duke Baloa, what a creepy person you are.”

One by one, the strange things that I had thought had occurred to me.

All the national policies set in favor of the Duke of Baloa, the undisputed power among the nobles.

Now everything fits.

There was nothing to stop the Duke of Baloa sitting on the top of the tyrant’s head.

“Maid.”

There was no more time to lose.

Having spoken nonsense as his lover or whatever, Cardan must have noticed that my condition was not normal.

I’m sure he’s still looking for a way to take advantage of my abnormal condition and break the contract.

Perhaps the reason why the original Duke of Baloa died was not because of the empty treasury, but because Eleanor finally died.

If I don’t move now, I’ll be beaten by Cardan.

“There is a place to go right away.”

“Where are you going this late at night

The maid looked at me with anxious eyes, but I headed for the door without hesitation.

“It’ll only take a moment. I just have to go to the backyard of the mansion.”

After a moment of contemplation, I strode to the table and picked up Eleanor’s candle.

“I’ll borrow this for a while, too.”

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

The night air outside was cold.

Just in case, I covered the candle that was all gone with my jacket and slowly stepped into the forest behind the mansion.

After arriving at the end of the forest, I raised my voice.

“Your Majesty the Emperor.”

A thin voice rang hollow in the garden.

I coughed and put more strength into my voice.

“Your Majesty, I know you’re there.”

Only the sound of grass bugs answered.

I began to lose confidence quickly.

I thought there would be no better chance of finding Eleanor’s position than when the duke who lost her memory begins to move.

Would Cardan’s judgment be different?

“I brought the candle…….”

I took a candle out of my jacket in my last attempt.

“Why do you keep calling me?”

Then, a low voice from behind tickled the back of my neck.

“Heok!”

I stepped back in surprise.

As it was, my steps twisted and my body tilted backward.

From the corner of my view, I could see Cardan stretching his arms toward me.

“Thank–!”

Thud

I fell down on the grass.

“You have to be careful.”

Cardan grumbled slightly, holding Eleanor’s candle.

“Ah….”

I stood up as firm as I could and brushed the grass off my pants.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d show up from behind.”

Cardan raised his eyebrows.

“Why don’t you tell me why you called me out so loudly? I even gave you a vacation.”

“Haha. That’s the same reason why Your Majesty is hanging around the duchy’s backyard at night.”

Cardan’s straight brow was slightly wrinkled, but I ignored it and brought it to the point.

“As you know, I haven’t had a good memory for months.”

I smiled broadly as if delivering good news.

“I only remembered the contract today.”

Life seeped into Cardan’s eyes that’s staring at me.