Chapter 75

Chapter 75

“Why is there still no news?”

The man stomped his feet back and forth in the room. It was because he hadn’t heard back even after several days had passed. Did they get caught? Eventually, the man’s face turned blue and he began to breathe heavily. The woman who was looking at him with a pathetic gaze, saying that he had done everything he could, tapped her crossed leg.

“It’s annoying. Stay still. It might be a little late.”

“If not? What if they know everything and are coming to catch us now? Ha, we can’t do this here, we should flee to a foreign country right now…”

“If we go? They won’t follow us there? This is enough for now.”

Taking in a deep breath, the woman lifted her teacup.

“Wait a little longer. It usually took them this long. They should be on their way back with the news by now.”

It had already been several days since he sent someone to find out the whereabouts of the girl he had sold over seven years ago. In fact, it was the same as the other side was worried too. The man was shaking so much with fuss that it was barely noticeable.

“No, something went wrong in the middle. Otherwise, it wouldn’t take so long to know the whereabouts of just one girl.”

The man ruffled his hair and twisted his face. He kept reminiscing in his mind of himself being caught alive, dragged away, and his head cut off. Had he known it would be like this, he would have led a good normal life. The man stomped his feet again and shouted at the woman.

“Don’t tell me, the Marquis’s dog found the girl before us? What do we do?”

“If that were the case, they would have already known down to the most minute detail. We must have already been dead.”

“It could be something that is going on right now. That’s why they’re coming to catch us now!”

The man said with a yelp. It seems that his career choice was wrong. Who would have known that the gladiator slave would live as the dog of Borwen, the true power of the kingdom. He impulsively walked over to his desk and opened the drawer. It’s not too late now. He had to go abroad for a while, far from here.

“You can stay here, or…”

At that moment. There was a knock outside the door. The two looked at each other at the same time and exchanged glances. Before long, the woman got up from her seat and opened the door. An employee working under them stood holding two letters.

“Madam, there are letters for you. They are urgent news.”

“I see. You can go.”

The woman closed the door and immediately opened the letters. After checking the two letters in succession, she sighed deeply.

One of the letters was written about the recent status of the girl whom they had sold to Marquis Jutert, who had taken her as his second wife. The Marquis had died in defeat in the battle for the estate.

The one who attacked the estate was a knight acting as the right arm of Marquis Borwen, and it was revealed that he is in full control of the castle. However, it was added that the relationship between the knight and the woman was unusual.

Thus, he succeeded in infiltrating the castle through the chaos, but he still needed more time to figure out the rest of the situation.

And the other was the news that someone had been caught in a trap they had been preparing for just in case.

‘I was prepared to some extent, but…….’

Seeing the woman’s subdued expression, the man hurriedly followed her and asked in haste.

“What? What does it say?”

“I think we should move too.”

“What? Why?”

The woman handed the letters to the man, then walked over to the desk and quickly grabbed something from the drawer the man had just opened. The man who had read all the letters hiccuped with a pale complexion.

“Have, have they met? Now they… they have met, right? We now… Wait, where are you going?”

“Are there many places to go in this situation? Of course I’m going to Lindehal. I’m going to go see the director. So, don’t talk too much and follow me.”

The woman hurriedly left the room and responded.

From now on, it was a race against time.

Tessa sat down on the bed with her knees pulled together and her head bowed down.

She received only unknown questions from Hert after returning to the castle, and from then on, Tessa got escorted to a room other than her usual room, where she’s now locked up. No matter how much she knocked on the door and asked to meet Hert, no one answered her.

It was as if she had returned to the old days. Tessa’s heart was pounding. Of course, the circumstances and treatment were very different from back then, but the fact that she was locked up in her room and that people prioritized someone else’s name before her was enough to remind her of the past.

Suddenly, she burst into tears.

‘Why?’

It didn’t make sense, and she was even confused. Tessa knew nothing about what happened today. What Mani did, the people who were trying to kidnap her, why Janet and Jean were there, and why Hert was so upset.

Tessa didn’t know.

She didn’t even know why she had to go through this.

‘Don’t act like you don’t know. You took your jewelry and sold it to run away with that woman.’

Act like she doesn’t know, he said. Did she take and sell the jewelry? Did she try to run away? What does that mean? Tessa couldn’t understand Hert’s words that rained wildly on her. It was really the first she had ever heard of all of them. Of course, she didn’t know.

But Hert seemed to think she was deliberately feigning innocence.

‘That’s too much…’

Tessa sniffed. She suddenly hated Hert for driving her one-sidedly without giving her time to explain. The shock was even greater because she had decided to trust him and confide in him until noon today. She knows that she, of course, does not deserve to criticize him and hate him, but she can’t help but feel upset.

‘I thought it was good that Hert was here, and now it’s safe… It’ll be fine… But what is this…’

Tears ran down her eyes. Hert’s hand that had thrown her away was still vivid. He had a touch that seemed even more terrifying than when she was reunited with him. Maybe it was because she was secretly expecting Hert to hug her tenderly. Or is it because she thinks he can’t do this to her? Maybe both.

But it was his words that hurt the most.

‘I shouldn’t have trusted you.’

As soon as she heard those words, Tessa couldn’t breathe. Her eyes temporarily turned hazy, and her hands and feet trembled.

On the one hand, she even denied the situation. She must have heard it wrong. Hert couldn’t have said that. He said he’d trust her, he’ll wait for her, but there’s no way he’d suddenly change his mind.

But after a series of situations, Tessa realized that Hert really meant it.

He really regretted trusting Tessa.

‘You were always thinking of leaving my side while playing with me.’

No, she hadn’t.

She had never thought of it like that. That was real, she wanted him to believe her.

Tessa desperately told Hert no, but he didn’t listen. Rather, he was angry that she was making fun of him. After that, he sent her first to the castle and locked her up in the room. Like he doesn’t want to see her anymore.

And until now he hadn’t come to visit Tessa.

‘You said you would believe me…’

Tessa swallowed her cries that were about to burst and closed her eyes tightly. She was sad by Hert’s attitude for not trusting her.

He shouldn’t have told her he trusted her in the first place if he was going to change his words so soon. Then she wouldn’t have expected in vain. She wouldn’t have been disappointed and hurt this way.

“Huh…”

He even interrupted her words. When he threatened her to speak, when she was about to speak, he first stepped forward and shut Tessa’s mouth.

How can he do that? He said he would wait for her to speak… Liar… Little by little, Tessa began to be filled with anger. No matter how much she thought about it, it was so unfair.

“Really… I never… ran away… really didn’t…”

He didn’t even ask properly…

Too much… He’s really too much…

Tessa wept for a moment and buried her head in her palm. Fortunately, after that, she started to calm down, perhaps because she cried so hard. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and lifted her head. Her eyes were so swollen that it was difficult to even lift her eyelids.

Then the door that seemed unlikely to open, opened with a knock. Before long, someone cautiously approached Tessa’s bed. Tessa was surprised to see her.

“…Madam.”

“…Mani?”

Mani’s relatively normal appearance made Tessa think that she might be seeing things. How is Mani here? Did she run away from them like Tessa?

Even though she was holding back her resentment, she was worried about Mani. She has to save Mani, but she’s been locked up in this place herself.

Tessa half raised her body and moved towards Mani.

“Ma, Mani. Are you… okay? Those people…”

“Yes, I’m okay. After Madam ran away, I took advantage of the confusion and got out too.”

“What a relief… I thought something might have happened to you…”

Tears that had stopped for a moment were squeezing the corners of her eyes and trying to come out. Tessa was just about to breathe a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Mani fell to her knees and bowed her head and began to pray and beg with both hands.

“…Madam, there’s actually one more thing I didn’t tell you…”

“…Mani, what is that…”

“I sold your jewelry…”

Mani burst into tears. Her voice was trembling. Tessa looked at Mani in a daze. ‘What do you mean?’ she wanted to ask that, but her lips couldn’t open. Probably because she didn’t expect Mani to have more things she was hiding from Tessa.

“I’m really, really sorry. But the situation was too urgent and I needed money…! I didn’t want to either… For a moment, I lost my senses…”

“…….”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t expect things to get this big… I should have told you earlier, but I was so scared…”

It was only then that Tessa understood why Hert kept referring to the jewelry.

Her eyes went dizzy. Why do these things keep happening to her…?

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