Chapter 88

Chapter 88

The employee said that the owner of the building was looking for Ferdale. Ferdale immediately grabbed a mask and followed the staff.

Like last time, after passing through a maze-like building and reaching the owner’s room, Ferdale found the man and owner he had seen before, as well as the man and woman he had never seen before.

“Welcome, Young Marquis. I was waiting.”

“Ku-hmm, why is everyone gathered like this?”

“I have heard very good news. Of course, I thought I should tell the Young Marquis.”

The owner invited Ferdale to sit down, and opened his mouth with a smile.

“Good news?”

“Yes, very good news.”

The owner gave a chin gesture to the two men and women who were standing there. The two men and women hesitantly came out and greeted Ferdale, who had just sat down.

“This lowly servant would like to greet the Young Marquis.”

“Yes, but…?”

Ferdale looked back at the owner, glancing over with a suspicious glance at the man and woman, who suddenly came out. Who were these people? The owner rubbed his palms together and said.

“Does the Young Marquis know that person’s origins?”

“How do I know that? That mad marquis hides it tightly and wouldn’t say anything.”

“These people say they know about his origins.”

“Yes, Young Marquis. We know all about his origins and weaknesses!”

Among the men and women who were waiting, the man opened his mouth expectantly, and let out a low voice. He bowed down to Ferdale, almost groveling.

“Why, isn’t there a woman he lives with?”

“Woman? Ah, her.”

Ferdale belatedly remembered Tessa and secretly clenched his teeth. As soon as his father died, the woman spread her legs at that man. Yes, he had to get revenge on that b*tch too. It wasn’t enough to embarrass him like this.

“That woman! She is his weakness.”

“…I was wondering what you were talking about, are you kidding me? Even if that woman dies, isn’t it that he won’t even bat an eyelash?”

Recalling the attitude he had shown Ferdale the other day, Ferdale gritted his teeth. This wasn’t really good news. He glanced to give the owner of the building a notice. This time the woman stepped up and opened her mouth. Young Marquis, please listen to us.

“Actually, isn’t the Young Marquis’ goal to recapture the territory? She could be used as a very good bait.”

“No, she couldn’t even be a bait and several times…”

“The two of them are not in an ordinary relationship, Young Marquis. The two of them are from the same orphanage.”

“…What? What do you mean, orphanage?”

As Ferdale looked at the woman with wide-open eyes, the owner clapped his hands. Then, the other door leading to the room opened, and two employees dragged a man with his hands bound. Ferdale was surprised to see him. Because it was a face he knew too.

“You… Aren’t you his aide?”

“He was a spy who was caught sneaking in this time, but you know that.”

“Of course not! That bastard told me…!”

Ferdale, recalling what had happened to Lange earlier, got up with an enraged yell, only to be stopped by a masked man sitting across from him. The owner also said he had plenty of time, and he politely begged Ferdale to listen to him until the end.

Eventually, Ferdale had no choice but to listen to their story to the end while glaring at Lange.

“…Is that really true?”

When the whole story was over, Ferdale looked back and forth between the owner and the others with a dumbfounded face. As they said, the recapture of the Jutert territory was only a matter of time. The owner smiled and replied to Ferdale, who had a face of disbelief.

“Trust me. Above all, there is our trustworthy helper hiding there. They are also the one who helped the Young Marquis escape.”

After that day, Tessa couldn’t leave the room. It was because she was tormented by Hert and after losing her consciousness, crying out, the morning became night and the night became morning. It happened repeatedly. Then, she ate with the food delivered by the servants, and stuck with Hert several times.

Tessa couldn’t even fathom how much time had passed. Yesterday was like today, and today is like tomorrow. Day after day the same thing kept repeating itself. Tessa now lay on the bed with a half-resigned face, staring blankly into space, sniffling.

‘Janet… Mani… will they be okay…’

Even in the midst of this, she was worried about whether the people who helped her were okay. She was worried that they might have been kicked out of the marquisate. Tessa felt depressed because there was no way she could know about them. She was left with nothing but to pray over and over again in her heart that everyone was safe.

In the meantime, the door suddenly opened and servants brought clothes and accessories into the room. The maids cautiously approached Tessa, who was lost, not knowing what was going on, and helped her to her feet.

“Madam, let me help you dress up.”

“Why am I dressing up all of a sudden…”

“It is Milord’s order.”

Hert’s? Why? He was not going to let her out of the room anyway…

Many doubts arose, but Tessa decided to leave her body in the maids’ hands. At other times, she would have rejected them because their touch was burdensome and she was ashamed of the scars on her back, but the last few days of lovemaking had left Tessa almost drained of her energy.

‘I’m already tired…’

She quickly got tired of moving her body, and drowsiness kept pouring out. Her hazy mind made it difficult to hold her body properly, so she virtually had no strength left to push anyone away.

Tessa closed her eyes and just waited for the dressing up to finish quickly. Fortunately, the maids washed Tessa and dressed her up quickly.

“Soon Milord will come. Please wait a minute.”

One of the maids said kindly as she put a necklace around Tessa’s neck one last time. Tessa opened her eyes, which had been closed the whole time. Seeing that she had no memory of what happened in the middle, it seemed that she had fallen asleep again.

Tessa was then able to see the faces of the maids who had dressed her. All of them were unfamiliar faces, not the maids who had helped Mani serve her from time to time.

‘The other maids… where did they go…?’

Tessa looked around for them, but couldn’t find them. Apparently, Hert had cleared Mani and them away from her. Tessa once again felt down. She missed Janet and Mani, the people she knew well.

“Tessa.”

Shortly thereafter, as the maids said, Hert came to the room. He seemed pleased to see Tessa sitting quietly in outdoor clothes. He gestured and the maids bowed their heads and hurriedly disappeared from the room.

Tessa followed the maids’ receding backs, then turned her attention to Hert, who came up to her and gave her a gentle hug.

“Her… What’s with the clothes suddenly…”

“I was thinking of going for a walk. It’s not good if you stay in your room too much.”

Hert said as he removed even the shackles from Tessa’s leg.

“Ah…”

Tessa swallowed it down her throat, holding back what she wanted to say to someone who had bothered her all night.

In fact, since this happened, resentment welled up in Tessa’s heart, and maybe that’s why thoughts that she wouldn’t normally have often pop up. As if she wanted to reprimand Hert.

“Why, you don’t want to? Would you like to stay in your room?”

“N, no… I want to… I want to go out.”

“Right, I thought you’d like it too.”

“By the way…shoes…”

She hasn’t worn any yet. Tessa murmured as she looked down at her still bare feet. Then Hert kissed her on the forehead as if he didn’t care about that.

“It’s fine. Because I’ll hold you and go with you. You wouldn’t be able to walk properly anyway.”

Tessa’s face grew angry and feverish at Hert’s reply. He reminded her of her legs that had been spread all night long. Even now, she couldn’t get enough strength in her legs.

And belatedly, she realized that she had shown the s*men that was pooling inside her intact to the maids who washed her. Tessa couldn’t even raise her head in shame. She wondered why she hadn’t thought of that and had left her body to the maids. The amount stored inside must have been considerable. S*men might have flowed from her opening the whole time she was being washed.

‘Hu-uhk, that’s too much… Knowing everything, on purpose…’

Tessa tried to hate him for his mischievous behavior. Why does he like her to be ashamed? She couldn’t understand at all. Does he just want to bully her? The latter was a bit understandable. It’s because she can think that Hert’s anger hasn’t been resolved yet.

“You’ll feel better after taking a walk.”

“…Yes.”

Feigning not to see her blush, he held Tessa and left the room.

As soon as Tessa left the room, she noticed that the atmosphere in the residence had changed dramatically from what it had been before. She could hardly find servants throughout the long corridor, and the soldiers standing guard looked nervous. The desolate and solemn atmosphere seemed to weigh heavily on her shoulders.

She thought something was going on inside the castle while she was locked in the room, but she couldn’t fathom what was going on.

Tessa observed Hert’s disinterest in the castle’s atmosphere, and soon she gave up on her own thoughts as well. She was too tired to care about that.

The two of them came out to the garden where they had walked before. Tessa let out a languid breath, letting go of the expression that had been hardened the whole time without even realizing it. If she had been able to take a walk once a day, this lethargic feeling might have been less. It was so stuffy inside the room as if she was locked in solitary confinement.

“Her, I want to walk… Can you… put me down?”

She wasn’t wearing shoes, but underneath was a well-kept lawn. It looks a bit rough to walk barefoot, but she thought it would be soft enough to walk on. In fact, there was a rougher place for Tessa who had been running around during her orphanage days. This much can be tolerated.

However, Hert did not seem to like Tessa’s request.

“And what if you run away?”

“…I won’t run away… I never really tried to run… I didn’t…”

“Alright, instead, just over there.”

Hert took a step back and pointed with his fingertips at the pavilion inside the garden. Tessa didn’t intend to be walking for long anyway, so she nodded. Soon, Hert carefully lowered Tessa to the ground. And, he held Tessa’s hand tightly.

—