Chapter 32

Some days, it felt like his blood was going to rush upside down just thinking about it. It wasn’t that he didn’t feel sorry for Vivianne, but that didn’t mean he wanted to cause trouble with Herietta either.

He didn’t know what would happen if he stayed here longer. Edwin decided it would be better for him to leave this place before things got any worse.

“If that’s all you have to say, then I’m fine.”

“Edwin, she said your family might be framed.”

As Edwin pretended to leave the place at any moment, Herietta, who was impatient, shouted at his back. Edwin paused and stood there.

‘Framed? Who?’

“That is… What are you talking about?”

Could it be that he heard it wrong? But as he looked back at her, Herietta’s expression was too serious.

“Lady Vivianne wrote that in the letter. What happened to the former Duchy of Redford was too sudden and one-sided. It is said that the execution was carried out immediately without even conducting a proper investigation. Still, it’s a family that has long been considered the best in Brimdel… It’s weird. As if someone was trying to hide something.”

Herietta bit her nails. She had previously thought that something had happened to the Redfords, but reading Vivianne’s letter doubled her suspicions.

It was said that the head of a family known to be the most loyal and capable in the kingdom was preparing to assassinate the king, and evidence and witnesses to back it up were said to have appeared one after another as if it had been prepared beforehand.

Everyone with the surname Redford was sentenced to death in one day and was executed the very next day, including Iorn, the former Duke of Redford and Edwin’s father.

It had only been three days since they were accused of conspiring to commit treason.

Herietta continued her speech.

“It was said that Count Jinrei, who had staged a coup d’état in the past, was sentenced to death only after being imprisoned for a month. But your father, who was framed rather than being involved in a coup, was sentenced to death much sooner than that. Edwin, even though I am ignorant of politics, this is suspicious. It’s clear that something or someone is behind this.”

Edwin quietly listened to Herietta. Contrary to her, who suggested this and that with a fervent face, she could not easily read the emotion he had on his face.

Herietta thought that Edwin’s reaction was unexpected. Hearing the story, she thought he would react emotionally and be angry just like her. But, far from being emotional, he became rather calm and apathetic than usual.

It was like he was listening to someone else’s story, not his own.

“Edwin, don’t you think so? Am I the only one who thinks all of this is suspicious?”

As Edwin continued to remain silent, Herietta, who became frustrated, asked him again. Then after he thought for a moment, he answered quietly.

“To be honest, I don’t know now.”

“You don’t know?”

Herietta, who was startled by the unexpected answer, stared at him with a wide-eyed look. Edwin nodded his head.

“It’s not that I haven’t noticed anything odd about it either. As Miss Herietta said, all cases were resolved in just three days, and during that time, I heard that the Redfords were never given a chance to defend their position. In addition, everything they owned during their lifetime, including the mansion, was also burned. It was as if they were trying to erase the fact that they existed from history.”

“Then it’s even more suspicious! This is something we have to get to the bottom of no matter what!”

Herietta ran wild and became angry. But the party involved, Edwin, only looked at her with a smirk.

“Edwin?”

Herietta called Edwin. He seemed to be in deep thought.

“It is just a thing of the past. Besides…”

“Besides…?”

Edwin blurred his words, and the impatient Herietta urged him.

After a while, he put his hand on his forehead as if he had a headache. Then he inhaled and exhaled slowly, and answered softly.

“It was the king’s decision.”

Edwin kept his mouth shut as he uttered only those brief words. It was as if there was nothing more to explain.

Herietta looked at him with a blank expression on her face. It felt as if the thinking circuit in her brain had been blocked. She narrowed her eyes at him.

‘What is this man talking about now? It’s the king’s decision. That’s impossible…’

Although the king was the ruler of his country and the lord they once served, he was nonetheless the one who brought death to everyone in Edwin’s family, including Edwin’s parents. He was also the one who ordered Edwin to be branded as a slave for his allegiance.

If Edwin was a normal person, he should have had some ill-will towards such a person. But she couldn’t find that side of Edwin at all. As if he had been thoroughly brainwashed to think and act that way.

Suddenly, she remembered that she had heard that the people of Redford had been the most loyal of the Brimdel noble families and their greatest supporters from generation to generation.

Herietta’s eyes darkened. If they were all like Edwin, they would never have rebelled against the royal family.

“Still, I don’t understand.”

Herietta frowned and said.

“Edwin, meet Lady Vivianne at least once. She is asking you to listen to her. There’s nothing wrong with deciding what to do afterward.”

Herietta made a proposal to lure Edwin in. No matter how much she doubted it, if he didn’t agree, then it was useless.

Edwin seemed to think about her words and asked,

“Is that an order?”

‘It’s an order…’

Herietta, who had been silently repeating her words, shook her head.

“No. It’s a request.”

* * *

In a place near the Richconnell villa.

A carriage was parked in a dark alleyway where people rarely passed. The figure of the coachman who had to drive the carriage was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was only a single, well-dressed, noblewoman standing in front of him. She looked around, checking several times that no one was around her.

“Edwin. Are you still far away?”

Herietta whispered secretly to the back of the carriage.

“The coachman will be back in a little while. Contrary to how he looks, he acts very quickly.”

“Almost done.”

Unlike Herietta, who was very impatient, a calm reply came from behind the carriage. She unconsciously bit her well-kept nails. She was worried that the coachman who she had sent on an errand forcibly was about to pop out of nowhere at any moment.

In fact, it had only been a little over five minutes since Edwin had gone behind the carriage to change his clothes. Besides, when she left the mansion, she was in a rush to bring no plausible tools, let alone a common table mirror. In the end, all he was given was a change of clothes, a small hand mirror the size of a palm, and an old comb.

Herietta somehow felt sorry for Edwin. Although she was pushed around by Lilian, who spent all day decorating herself with the help of various employees, Edwin, unlike her, had no choice but to prepare in secret.

‘I should have prepared more properly.’

Vivianne was Edwin’s former fiancée, no matter how deeply he didn’t feel for her. She went to meet him, but he wouldn’t want to appear in shabby clothes. Herietta regretted it later, but what’s done was already done.

“Edwin. Let me know when you’ve changed your clothes. I’ll go over there and take a look. If possible, I’ll even help you with your hair.”

“Yes. I’m almost done.”

Edwin was ready and walked out from behind the carriage. When she heard the sound of his footsteps, Herietta unconsciously looked behind. When she saw him, her eyes widened.

“Wow…”

Her mouth opened on its own. An exclamation flowed through her gaping lips. Edwin, who had been buttoning his sleeve in front of her, lifted his head and looked at Herietta.

“Do you think it’s okay?”

He asked. But Herietta couldn’t answer right away.

Do you think it’s okay? No. That wasn’t the level to just say it’s okay. Herietta gulped.

‘This man must have forgotten how attractive he is.’

Edwin, with his long, golden hair tied back loosely, wore a clean ironed dress instead of his usual old clothes. It belonged to the former Count Jenner, but it wasn’t a fancy outfit.

A plain white shirt and black trousers that were tightly ironed. And on top of that, he was casually wearing a long jacket of a single color. It was the most basic garment commonly worn by aristocrats or upper-middle-class men.

Even so, why does Edwin look dazzling when he’s dressed like that? He didn’t look dull at all, even though he didn’t wear a single accessory other than the really basic ones. No matter how clothes define a person’s status, he still looked like the nobleman that he once was even though his clothes were not that fancy.

“Miss Herietta?”

Edwin called out to Herietta as he took out the white gloves from his pocket and put them on. It seemed strange to see her just standing there blankly without saying anything.

“Miss Herietta. Are you okay?”

“Edwin, I am really surprised.”

Herietta did not listen to Edwin until the end and said abruptly. Edwin frowned slightly.