Chapter 29

“The young lady’s legs have terrible wounds…”

That was enough for him to hear.

Leonhardt grabbed the doctor’s other arm, and together with the maid, they drag him into the room together.

“Oh my god…”

“What on earth has she done to the little girl…!”

“Really? Did the Duchess really do that? Oh My Goodness…How could a parent do this!”

Elizabeth, lying on the bed, was surrounded by the maids.

Leonhardt, who had been forced to dig through their gaps, felt a throbbing pain in his chest as he saw the scars on her thin, slender legs and the wounds that seemed to have just appeared.

“Your Highness! Please come this way!”

“But Lizzie…”

The maid shook her head resolutely and forced him away from the bed.

Leonhardt was unwillingly led away by the maid’s hand, his worried gaze still lingered on her bed until completely out of sight.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know what the maid meant. She only meant well. Even the adults were appalled by this, they wouldn’t want a child to watch such a brutal scene.

Though in his case, there had been times when he faced a cold corpse or a criminal with a distorted body due to torture.

But now he was only a ten-year-old child.

As the doctor’s lamentation was followed by the maids murmuring, Elizabeth hugged her pillow tightly and began to shiver.

The dress that the maids brought a while ago was a dress that did not require a corset at all.

It was a long dress with puffy sleeves slightly wrapped around the shoulders, pearl ornament decorated at the bottom. Though the dress has five layers, it was made of chiffon so thin that it was quite light. It would flutter like waves with every move she made.

Elizabeth, admiring the dress she had never seen before, with her mouth slightly agape, started to change her clothes with the help of the maids.

And as the wounds on both legs, which she had forgotten for a moment, were revealed. The movements of the maids, who were excited at the thought of dressing up a lovely young lady, stopped at once. A shiver was sent down their spine the moment they met with that horror scene.

The Empress also felt once she faced the wounds, her eyes darkened almost in seconds.

What on earth happened to this eight-year-old child?! Eight years old…!

The maids supported the empress, who staggered precariously.

“ Bring the best medicine for her wounds! Hurry!”

Settling down in a chair, the Empress ordered.

And while she laid Elizabeth face-down on the bed, the fastest maid slipped out of the room.

“… my dear.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Until the moment you take the place of Empress, no, until I close my eyes for good, they will never touch you again.”

“Umm…Are you talking about my mother and father?”

The Empress nodded with exhaustion.

Her young daughter-in-law looked like she had no idea why she was reacting this way.

“You are still young, so you will get better soon. I can assure you, even if it gets ugly, it will all be gone before spring next year.”

“Is that true?”

Elizabeth flinched as she sense the cold cream on her legs.

The old doctor carefully applied the medicine to the child’s wound.

The cold ointment soon melted soft and warm under the doctor’s touch.

Elizabeth let out a shaky breath involuntarily at the sensation of her legs, which had been throbbing and aching even when she was wearing thin silk stockings. At the sharp stings, her legs reflexively became tensed then slowly relaxed again.

The doctor stood up only after meticulously wrapping the bandages in case her wounds might get worse.

He finally left the room after putting soft cotton balls into Leonhardt’s nose.

“Why are you still here, Your Highness?”

“Is there any reason not to?”

“The Lady is changing her clothes, so you don’t want to watch it, do you?”

Leonhardt hurriedly followed the doctor out of the room again.

***

Those were not the only wounds on Elizabeth.

It was fortunate enough that her delicate skin was not too severely damaged.

Her maids were at a loss for words in front of the vivid corset marks left like a spider’s web on Elizabeth’s body.

The Empress closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh as could no longer bear seeing this.

She would never forgive those imbeciles.

Even if she immediately stripped him of the title of duke, her resentment would not go away.

“It’s over, Your Majesty.”

“Huh? Uh right… Oh my goodness! You are so pretty, dear.”

Elizabeth, who wore her white chiffon skirt with the shoes Leonhardt had given her, and hair braided with blue ribbons into pigtails, looked like a water fairy born in the blue sea.

“It suits you well.”

Elizabeth smiled shyly at the empress’s praise.

Good thing the hem of her voluminous dress partially covered the bandages around her legs.

“Um…Your Majesty…”

“What is the matter, child?”

“My heart aches. This is definitely a pleasure…I don’t have to get whipped anymore, I can be with Leon, and… do not have to meet my scary mother and father…It feels like a dream. But it hurts here and I feel like I’m about to cry…so…”

The Empress was rendered silent again at Elizabeth’s words.

Could the girl understand if she were to say that sometimes tears come out when people are too happy?

Elizabeth showed up after a long time had passed, so long that Leonhardt, who had been sitting by the door, fell asleep during the wait.

The moment he saw her, he sighed in relief.

Instead of her stifling corset and starkly stuffy dress, Elizabeth smiled bashfully in her mist-like, yet heavenly beautiful dress and the shoes he had given her.

“Lizzie.”

“Yes, Leon.”

“You look… really pretty, like a water spirit. No, you are a goddess yourself. Lovely, cute, and pretty… Oh God. What on earth am I even, I… I mean…”

The moment Leonhardt saw Elizabeth, he had the urge to hug her, but he did everything he could to keep himself from kissing her.

Cute, lovely, pretty.

There were no words to describe her other than those three words.

Within ten years, she would become the most beautiful woman in the Empire or even the most beautiful woman in the world.

‘How have I been ignoring someone like that my entire life…?’

Leonhardt took a deep breath as he tried to bang his head against the solid marble wall.

A corner of his heart tickled, and he couldn’t stand it.

Elizabeth’s head drooped at Leonhardt’s words, ears reddened.

She was praised for her beauty by not only the Empress but also the maids. But to hear it from Leon himself felt different.

How should she describe the feeling? It was like a seed that had secretly been instilled in her chest and began to take its first roots, and then those roots gradually stretched out through her heart. It felt tickling the whole time.

“It takes a lot of time to make other dresses, so today I’m just going to wear this simple piece. I think this outfit is enough for me…”

“Lizzy is the most beautiful in the world no matter what she wears. The prettiest, loveliest, cutest, most beautiful person I’ve ever seen…”

Each time Leonhardt continued with his boast, Elizabeth’s face rose to another level of steaming.

“Lizzie, can I make you happy?”

“Leon?”

Leonhardt looked at Elizabeth, anxious.

“No, never mind. You must be tired of coming to the Imperial Palace, aren’t you? Get a good rest today and go to bed early.”

“…all right.”

Leonhardt put his hand over Elizabeth’s head with a gentle smile.