Chapter 2.3

C H A P T E R _ 2

Episode 5

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‘After the expedition. The two promised to leave the world to live far away. Letting go of all the heavy duties and statuses…… However, the count’s love was broken helplessly as the saint sacrificed herself. I can’t imagine how painful it must have been.’

Elsia smiled painfully as she glanced towards Ian’s bedroom door, which showed no sign of opening. She had already missed the opportunity to talk in-depth with Ian due to her minor mistake. She wanted to keep the consideration for him this time.

She didn’t plan to ask for too much.

If Ian Cypris could return as a normal person, she wanted to watch silently from behind until he took that difficult and great step.

“Count, the five minutes promise I made has passed, so I’ll get going. I’m going to talk about myself tomorrow around this time. Would you please listen to it? Haden, what time is it now?”

“Yes? What? Ah……. It’s 3pm.”

Haden took out a rusty pocket watch from his sleeve in surprise. Elsia nodded and spoke affectionately against the door.

“At 3 p.m., I feel drowsy, but it’s good to take a walk because it’s a time when the sunlight shines just enough on the ground. Count-nim, I will come here at 3 p.m. every day to say hello, and I will not come back to my bedroom until 6 p.m. So, you may not see my face when you come out because you know my schedule. This time, I’ll keep this promise no matter what.”

It was nothing for Elsia to keep herself here for only three hours. Rather, she just wanted Ian to firmly believe in her promise and leave the bedroom on his own feet.

She trudged back to the bedroom and saw Seiran with his arms folded near the drawing room.

“Sir Seiran?”

“…Are you done, Ms. Bennett? You look pale, so don’t overdo it and go back to your bedroom soon.”

As soon as he saw Elsia, Seiran eased his arrogant arms and said something that concerned her. However, Elsia sensed a slightly different atmosphere from the first day she talked to him.

Seiran seemed to have something to say, a negative statement, she assumes.

“It’s okay for me to step out now.”

“Then, shall we talk a little? It won’t take long.”

“Yes…”

Seiran opened the door to the drawing room as if he had been waiting and entered first.

She had roughly guessed what this loyal knight would say. It was because there was no leather frame on the inside pocket of the robe she wore when she lost consciousness.  Of course, it was not strange that it disappeared if Ian himself looked for the frame.

However, if Seiran was a member of the expedition team……. He might have known the secret relationship between Ian and St. Kayla. Their other colleagues from expedition scattered here and there, but isn’t he still sticking with Ian? It was rather difficult to assess how much he knew because he was always tight-lipped.

‘As expected, Sir Seiran must have taken it.’

According to Elsia’s hypothesis, it seemed that the person who took out the frame with a huge secret was Seiran, not the owner himself.

Kayla was selected as a saint and entered the temple at a very young age. Elsia also heard that she mostly omitted external service because he was young and her first external service was when she joined the expedition.

Therefore, Elsia, who originally lived in a local territory, did not know her face and didn’t know much about her apart from the general point of view. However, if she was a resident of the island as the saint, she could have seen Kyla at least once.

Secrets have value only when there are few acquaintances who share them. With that, her guess about Serian taking the frame might be correct, especially since he was Ian’s most loyal knight and had a close view of them, he was one of the few who could share the secret.

“Ms. Bennett?”

“Yes.”

Seiran, who walked ahead, looked back towards her. Even though he didn’t have a weapon at hand, he was so aggressive and fast that she was very nervous.

Her body automatically flinched at the movement.

She was originally a coward.

Lively, easily scared, weak, and shy.

These four incompatible funny combinations were Elsia’s essence.

“…Oh dear. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pose a threat.”

He smiled, but his eyes weren’t.

“No, I’m just a little sensitive.”

“Is that so?”

She mustered up the courage to ask first.

“Is there anything you want to say about the frame I brought along with me?”

When Elsia spoke her direct objective, Seiran’s eyebrows, which she didn’t know would be like this, wriggled a little.

“What are you talking about?”

“……I’ll be honest with you. When I finished cleaning, the leather frame fell on the floor, so I pulled it out, wiped the dust, and put it on top of the drawer. I saw the private message underneath, and…..the face of the woman it was honored for. I had no idea who it was at first, so I thought it was okay. Unfortunately, because of my hasty behavior, the count ran out of anger when he saw the frame on the drawer. I’m sincerely self-reflecting on that.”

Seiran was only frowning at Elsia’s long confession. Then when the story was over, he took a step closer to her side and asked.

“Ms. Bennett, do you now know who the woman in the frame is?”

Elsia could not lie to the character that Conrad praised.

“Yes.”

“Haaa…”.

He sighed lightly.

“I thought something was wrong when Haden explained the story. What made me certain about her identity was…….  because the drunk count revealed the saint’s name with his own mouth. ….”

Seiran looked at Elsia with disturbed eyes.

“I beg you not to say a word about this. There are only a few people who know the secret, and it would be difficult if it were publicized.”

“Sir Seiran took the frame, right?”

“That’s right. Ms. Bennett can’t even lie but she’s very quick-witted.”

Elsia responded with her head down.

“I don’t want to talk about secrets to exploit people’s weaknesses.…. And I’m here to help the count. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I want to stay here a little longer. I will do anything if I can persuade Count somehow.”

Seiran answered with a hardened expression.

“I understand. You must have been surprised by this, but I look forward to your kind cooperation from here onwards.”

“I’m really thankful.”

The next day, as promised, Elsia stood in front of Ian’s bedroom door again at 3 p.m.

“How are you, Count?”

It was still quiet beyond the door. Still, she wasn’t disappointed.

“It’s only been a day, and the morning air is already cold, and there’s going to be frost soon. In this season, it’s better to wear a scarf or tie around your neck even if you’re indoors. What do you think, Count?

‘Ian, are you listening to this trivial chatter?’

She couldn’t be sure of anything, but Elsia continued her conversation with a smile as bright as yesterday.

“The doctor I met before said this. Drink cold drinks when your throat stings and hurts, and warm drinks whenever you feel weak. It’s a simple self-treatment. Do you know it, Count? You know better than I do, right?

“…….”

No matter how long she waited, there was no answer. Elsia said goodbye in a bright voice after waiting for hours without being disappointed.

“Then, I’ll get going. Goodbye Count. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Two days later, even after three, four, or five days, Ian remained cold and non-responsive with the bedroom door firmly closed. However, she always comes to the same place at the same time without getting tired.

“Count, did you sleep well? Haden baked cookies and they were really good. Did you also eat the cookies delivered to you?”

“If you walk a little from here, you will find a village where the harvest festival will be held next week. When Sir Seiran goes out, he’s going to buy Potpourri. I want to have lavender in it. What kind of scent do you like?”

( TL/N: Potpouri is a mixture of leaves packed inside a sack. It is used for fragrance therapy may be out in water or under the pillow. )

“Hello Count. The butler said that hummingbirds fly in this area! If I have time next spring, I wanted to hang a bottle of juice that hummingbirds like. Count, let’s take a look together, shall we?”

“Elsia…”

“Hmm? If Haden has something to say, can you wait a little bit? It’ll be over soon.”

Friday, the second week since Ian closed the door tightly and did not open it. As soon as Elsia was just opening her mouth, Haden spoke carefully.

“Elsia…Please….”

“Count, today…….”

As always, Elsia smiled brightly and started her speech.

“He’s not here!”

Haden shouted loudly, almost crying.

“What?”

“……The master’s not here. I always bring his lunch inside and he gets out of the room at 2 p.m. to go somewhere else.…. It’s no use talking about anything here.”

The little boy declared Ian’s absence, completely with tears. In a way, it was a painful confession that Elsia’s efforts had been cruelly mistreated. Her expression hardened slightly, but it also returned to normal.

Elsia nodded with a subtle smile as before.

“I see.”

“You don’t need to suffer any more so please stop this. No one is listening, there’s no need for you to work so hard.”

Haden, who had difficulty confessing this secret because he had grown attached, sniffled. Elsia just turned her gaze towards the bedroom door. Haden and Elsia just did their best with the work assigned to them. It was just that.

Elsa started today’s story again with a bright smile on her face.

“…..Hello Count. The last grape of the year came into the castle. They said they got it late, so they eat a little bit of raw fruit and make the rest of it as wine, so I’m going to go and help them. Actually, I really like grapes, too.”

Elsia, who lined up her favorite grape story for five minutes without resting, calmly returned to her bedroom that day after staying until 6 p.m. Despite knowing how futile her efforts are, Elsia has consistently kept her promise.

* * *

Another two weeks have passed since then. She acted the same as the first time she did it, even though efforts to make up for her first day’s mistakes took almost a month to be repaid. All that changed in her routine was when she sent Haden away, who was disheartened. She had comforted this way so he wouldn’t see her pitifully in front of the bedroom.

At 3 p.m., she came to Ian’s bedroom door and opened her mouth. Today, there was also a particular dimple on her cheeks.

“Hello, Count? Actually, I was trying to save this story a bit. There was someone who sent me walnuts……”

“It’s ridiculous”

“Ah…… !”

Ian’s sarcastic voice came from beyond the hallway, not from beyond the door. Surprised, Elsia glanced toward him looking like a startled rabbit.

Ian, with his blue eyes that makes people dazed, leaned in the hallway and rattled the walnuts in his hand.

“You are too stubborn, Ms. Puppeteer. Do you pretend you hear what they said about the room being empty? You keep telling useless stories every day even though no one is inside? I’ve never seen a stubborn woman like you.”

‘I-Is he saying…. I am hated?’

She had no idea how much Ian remembers the events that day, but there’s no way he couldn’t have known that Elsia had touched the precious picture frame. How angry was he?

Elsia apologized with a somewhat gloomy tone.

“I’m really sorry for tampering with the Count’s things…..”

“Okay, stop talking about it.”

It hurts her heart to think of Ian attempting to hold onto the frame even in the rain. It was something that shouldn’t be done, such a bad thing to dig up the wounds that others had buried.

More than that, Elsia didn’t want to get kicked out of the castle like this, so she brought up the excuse that had been on her mind before.

“Don’t blame Haden. Even after he told me that the count was not in the bedroom, I came here at will and said hello on my own free will.”

“You…”

Ian didn’t seem to be impressed by Elsia’s belated excuse. Instead, he was staring at Elsia’s innocent face with a disgruntled expression.

END OF EPISODE 5