Chapter 46

Chapter 46

‘Huk, shi, shit……. What is all this?’

Ferdale grabbed his heart, startled by the situation unfolding in front of him. Then he momentarily felt the earth gravitate towards him and shut his mouth.

From a while ago, the dreadful bloody smell was ripping through his stomach. For Ferdale, who had lived his whole life eating and wearing only good things, this situation was terribly shocking.

‘Crazy bitch! Where the hell did you send me!’

It was good until he made a deal with an unknown woman and escaped from the Jutert estates without much trouble. He even wondered if things could be solved this easily. But the problem started after arriving at the Lindehal estate that the woman told him about.

The person who helped Ferdale escape disappeared as soon as he arrived at the Lindehal estate, and after that, Ferdale was forced to go around looking for the red mustache the woman was talking about.

But he couldn’t find any information about the red mustache wherever he went. Rather, everyone treated him like a suspicious person and kept trying to get rid of him. He was at his wits end because of this, but he had to endure it because he had to take care of himself as much as possible.

Then, he saw a man with a red mustache tattoo.

Ferdale hurriedly approached the man and showed him the chip that the woman had handed him. In response, the man just said to follow him and started to go somewhere, and Ferdale followed the man.

And now he was here.

Children and people imprisoned in iron cages. Some of them didn’t even move as if they were either unconscious or long dead, and there were streaks of dried blood all over the space as if they had dragged people along those paths.

He knew where this was, but he realized that it was not an ordinary place. Ferdale was growing increasingly frightened.

“H-Hey… How far do we have to go? Can’t I just deliver the goods and leave?”

“No. Handing it over directly is the rule.”

The man who was going ahead of Ferdale rejected it with a single blow. He then opened a door located inside. Then he beckoned Ferdale to go inside. It was dark inside. There seemed to be stairs leading down. But his feet did not move forward willingly.

“Why, why don’t you come in…!”

“Why would I go in? You’re the one carrying the goods.”

As if to say no more, the man grabbed Ferdale’s arm and pushed him inside. Bang! Suddenly the door closed and complete darkness came. Ferdale started going downstairs, fuck, shit, crazy spitting all sorts of curse words.

He looked like he was going to wet his pants.

* * *

Hert stopped in front of the crumbling spire of the West Wing. And then he was in shock.

He knew early on that Marquis Jutert had thrown his paralyzed wife in a deep corner, but it must have been such a harsh environment. It was amazing how the marchioness had endured for several decades in a place like this.

He opened the door that looked like it was about to fall apart and went inside.

As he entered the inside, which looked as old as the outside, he saw a staircase going up in one place. Hert was taken aback when he climbed the stairs and the stairs suddenly slipped and broke, only at the part he stepped on. After that, he walked as gently as he could to get upstairs.

Then there was a door that seemed to be in good shape. From there came the sound of human speech and a fragrant smell.

Hert raised his hand to knock before opening the door. However, the hand was overshadowed as the door immediately opened and a person appeared. The maid bowed her head to Hert with her hands neatly clasped together.

“Come in, I’ll take you inside.”

Following the maid’s guidance, Hert entered. Unlike the outside, which was severely dilapidated, the room the Marchioness was staying in was neat and tidy.

And from a little further inside, he could hear the conversation between the two of them. One voice was familiar—it clearly belonged to Tessa—and the other voice seemed to belong to a middle-aged woman.

“I will call the Madam. Please wait a moment.”

Shortly after the maid retreated, with the sound of urgent footsteps, Tessa appeared in an apron. She looked quite surprised.

“How did you…”

“I was wondering what you were doing.”

“I’m, I’m sorry. I should have gotten permission… I’m ready to go…”

Hert looked over Tessa’s figure. He thought the apron didn’t seem like a good fit for Tessa, but it did. If she hadn’t come here after selling herself, maybe Tessa would have been living the way she is now. Waiting for someone to return to the little house she wanted so badly…

“It’s okay. What were you doing more than that?”

“Ah, this…”

“She was making cookies, Your Excellency.”

Behind them, a voice from before and a rattling could be heard together. Turning his head, he saw a middle-aged woman with short hair approaching this way, pulling her wheelchair. Hert noticed that the woman was the Marchioness.

“We have never met before, have we? I am Elena Jutert.”

“…I am Hert Shine, Madam.”

Hert greeted Elena with courtesy. Although he was now the new lord of Jutert, Elena has been Marchioness Jutert ever since. So he had to be polite to some extent.

“Nice to meet you. From what I hear, you have a great spirit.”

“…Thank you.”

“You arrived just in time. Tessa and I had just baked the cookies. Would you like to have some tea together?”

“Cookies?”

At Elena’s words, Hert looked at Tessa for a moment. He wondered what she was doing with the apron wrapped around her, she must have been making cookies.

He frowned unknowingly. Inside the castle, Tessa’s room was full of the sweets he had bought yesterday. Yet Tessa didn’t touch the sweets.

“I’m sorry, madam. That will be difficult.”

“Oh, is that so? As the new lord, you must be very busy. Senna, why don’t you go and finish the cookies and pack it for them to bring back? I must see off the guests.”

“Yes, Madam.”

While the maid went to get the cookies, Hert took off Tessa’s apron. Tessa’s appearance wearing an apron was not bad, but Tessa doing this in other people’s space was not very pleasant for some reason.

Rather, she had a kitchen in the castle, so why did she have to come here to bake cookies?

She didn’t even touch the sweets he gave her.

After a while, the maid put the cookies in a little basket and handed it to Tessa. Hert intercepted it himself. Tessa panicked and reached out to give it to her, but Hert didn’t give it up easily.

“Soon, I will call someone and change your place of residence. I’ll see you later then.”

“Thank you for your concern. It was nice to meet you today. The path is rough, so please go back carefully.”

Hert took Tessa and opened the door and came out. At that moment, Elena called them for a moment.

“Oh, the stairs are old, so be careful not to fall out.”

“Yes, thank you.”

He almost missed his footing once already.

Seeed off by the Marchioness and the maid, Hert came out with Tessa through the spire. As they came down the stairs, Hert was holding Tessa in his arms.

He just put Tessa on top of the horse he was riding on. Tessa was flustered and anxious at the sudden increase in her field of vision.

“It’s a mild-natured horse. As long as you don’t make any sudden movements, it won’t drop you.”

“A horse, it’s my first time…”

“Grab the reins. Don’t be afraid, I’ll guide you.”

“If I just go down and walk…”

“Did you even walk when you came here?”

The road leading to the spire of the west building was rough because it was not properly maintained as the Marchioness had said. Because of this, Hert took 20 minutes to reach a distance that would have taken 10 minutes. When he thought that Tessa had walked such a road alone, his eyes widened for a moment. What if she accidentally collapsed… Just thinking about it made him angry.

‘This won’t do. I should also attach an escort.’

Come to think of it, he found it absurd that he had never given Tessa an escort until now. If he had attached a knight to her right away, Tessa would not have been caught by that scumbag Young Marquis. Hert rolled his head in search of a suitable knight to serve as Tessa’s escort.

“Next time, go with both the maid and the knight. Someone will escort you from now on.”

“An escort…”

“Or call the Marchioness to the castle. You come to a place like this just to bake cookies? There are many kitchens in the castle.”

Tessa closed her half-opened mouth. Just a cookie… Hert’s words made her heart pound.

Although she received a lot of help from the Marchioness, these cookies were ones that she worked hard on. She wanted to give it to him and others. But hearing Hert’s cold words, she realized that this time, too, her actions were futile. She just had to stay still. She didn’t know why she made the cookies… In an instant, she felt depressed.

“Why aren’t you talking?”

“…Forgive me.”

“Don’t talk so respectfully again.”

“…….”

As she bowed her head, Tessa unwittingly tightened the reins she had grabbed in an instant. Then the horse was surprised for a moment, and fidgeted. Tessa also panicked as the horse moved, her body swaying and waving her hands to grab anything.

Fortunately, nothing major happened because Hert was holding the horse right next to her, but in the process, the basket of cookies fell to the floor.

“Ah…”

Tessa stared blankly as she saw the first cookies she made get tossed and crumble on the ground. More than half of the cookies in the basket fell to the floor, looking miserable. Belatedly, Hert picked up the basket, but everything inside was also broken.

“Everything left inside is broken.”

Hert muttered in a tone of regret. He was saddened that Tessa didn’t touch the sweets he had bought her, and it was a pity that she had spilled the cookies on the ground before she could even eat the cookies she had baked. But the one that was upset the most right now is probably Tessa.

But, contrary to his hard face, Tessa said the opposite.

“…It’s okay. I’m going to throw it away anyway…”

“If you’re going to throw it away, why did you make it? It’s broken, but it’s still edible.”

Hert picked up a crumbled cookie piece and put it in his mouth. It was a moderately sweet and savory grain cookie. Hert who hated sweets found them to be just his taste.

“It’s good.”