Chapter 184

Meanwhile, Rosemond was so thrilled to hear that she was allowed to attend the funeral that she could have jumped up and down. It was like the death of her younger brother had become a kind of salvation. She knew better than anyone that she had no time, so she was ready to leave immediately.

Under the Empress’ strict orders, four guards were assigned to follow her, but Rosemond did not care. There would definitely be many people at the Duchy of Efreni, so using that opportunity to meet up with January would be easy.

Rosemond got on a carriage designated for prisoners only, and headed to the Efreni estate. Her appearance was beyond unkempt, and it was difficult to say she was clean after she lived in a prison cell for a few days, but all that was meaningless because her beauty was so profound.

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The Efreni home was crowded with mourning visitors, and it seemed to get noisier for a moment with the appearance of Rosemond, but soon quieted down. Everyone avoided her, but their eyes did not, so most of the people glanced at her as she passed by. The brief glimpses were amplified by the four guards surrounding her.

Rosemond was displeased by all the pointed looks she received, but it was unavoidable. As she walked nonchalantly, she hurriedly searched for January. For some reason, Rosemond could not find January anywhere. She wondered if January was in her room due to her status as a mistress.

Rosemond grew restless just thinking about that as a possibility. The guards were keeping their eyes sharp as they watched her, not one but all four of them. It was impossible to break through and escape from all of them, especially when the place was in the middle of holding a funeral. Rosemond began racking her brain for ideas again. Then she caught sight of a face she welcomed. “Jacob?”

She had never seen his face, but the fact that there was a child in this home during the funeral meant that he was Jacob, the Duke’s illegitimate child. She rapidly approached the young Jacob and pretended to be on friendly terms. “Hello? Where is your mother? This is not a place for a child to be alone.”

“Who are you?”

The child was wary. The boy was on his guard towards the strange woman he had seen for the first time. Rosemond faked a nice smile and tried to loosen Jacob’s suspicion. “I am not a bad person.”

“KEH!” One of the guards standing next to Rosemond could not stand it, and snickered loudly.

However, Rosemond continued to speak to Jacob without being perturbed. “Go ahead and run along to your mother. Where is your mother?”

“Mom is in her room.”

“I see, I will take you to her.” After saying that, Rosemond muttered to the guards, “He is just a child.” They seemed to think it was alright because they did not try to stop her from doing so.

Rosemond took hold of Jacob’s hand and knocked on the door of January’s room. At the sound of the knock, an aggressive voice rang out from inside of the room, “Who is it?”

“Are you the mother of this child?”

“Ro… ” January recognized that the voice belonged to Rosemond. The door was flung open from inside the room. January looked at Rosemond as if she were a dead person, then quickly pried Jacob’s hand away from Rosemond’s grasp, pulling him to her side. Rosemond felt she had been treated like a child kidnapper, and put an unpleasant expression on her face. “The child was wandering around alone, so I brought him over here.”

“Thank… you.” January grabbed Jacob’s hand and dragged him in with a shocked look, as if she had seen a ghost, then immediately closed the door. She knelt down in front of the child, to meet his eyes, and asked him. “Did that woman do something to you, Jay?”

“No, Mom.” The boy thought for a while before he stretched out something to her. A crumpled piece of cloth was in his hand. “She did not say anything, and suddenly put this in my hand.”

January quickly picked up the piece of crumpled cloth from Jacob’s hand. The condition of the fabric was very bad, and as soon as she realized that this piece of fabric was part of the dress that Rosemond had been wearing, January burst into laughter. Because there was no paper available, she had clearly used the fabric from her dress. The letter was written in bright red. She did not have access to a pen or ink, so she had used blood!

My dear Jany,

I am in great trouble right now. The Empress is trying to put me to death with a fabricated confession. The trial will be held in a few days. Alert Duke Efreni of this and save me. If you do not save me, surely know that you, Duke Efreni, and I will meet our demise.

Your Rose

“She wrote ridiculous words like ‘Your Rose’!” January laughed out loud. This woman was terribly mistaken about something right now. Did she think that Duke Efreni was not helping her because he was not aware that she was in trouble?

She had already been abandoned! The dead remained silent, so Duke Efreni might even be hoping that Rosemond would die a day sooner. If she finally died, no one would be able to hold and shake him down with threats anymore. To send a letter like this…!

This time, Rosemond had not instructed January to burn the letter. If anyone found out about her association with Rosemond, it would be all over. She would be beheaded as an accomplice, her pitiful son would be alone, and better off dead. January could never allow something like that to happen to her beloved son! Without hesitation, she held the piece of fabric over a candlestick to burn it. January could not let anyone discover that she had anything to do with Rosemond!

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Translated by Haeli

Edited by RED