Chapter 31

Chapter 31

When Sally returned to the annex with a cart full of clean laundry, the sky was tinged with sunset. The reason why it looked particularly bloody today may be because another ‘guest’ came to the torture chamber.

“Phew…”

Even so, it was the last day, and the maids in the laundry didn’t let her go.

They started chatting with each other, saying goodbye, and towards the end, they tried to investigate the rumors about Winston. She was exhausted from playing the innocent and pitiful maid who had been played by a nobleman for an hour.

Sally pushed the cart up the ramp at the entrance to the annex, figuring out what to do.

She would just organize the laundry and go downstairs. All she had to do was figure out who the ’guest’ was and tell Jimmy directly. Then, she would have to call Fred and give him a warning secretly as well.

After dinner, she went up to the maid’s room, checked her belongings one last time, and went to sleep.

Then, she would get up tomorrow morning before sunrise and go through the back door of the mansion. She decided to get a wagon to deliver milk to the mansion and ride it out to Halewood. Taking the tram to Winsford, she would catch the train.

She had planned to stop by Sally Bristol’s hometown for a day or so without going home right away.

‘Can I think of it as a short vacation?’

It was probably a rural village with fewer sights than here, but at least it would be easier to breathe than here.

‘…Then, I will finally be able to see Jimmy in two or three days.’

She could finally abandon the name she was reluctant with, Sally Bristol. Forever.

“Oh!”

Suddenly, the cart swung forward.

As she fell, someone jumped out from behind the cart and propped his arm in front of Sally. In an instant, her waist was caught, and she was trapped in the man’s arms. Without even looking up, she could tell who the owner of this pungent cigar scent was.

“Captain, please stop.”

The more she struggled, the tighter he hugged Sally’s waist tightly.

She thought he was going to let her go easily somehow. She bent her right leg behind and was about to kick his left shin when Winston let her go.

“Wherever you got your training, you’re fighting really well.”

She glanced at him with a smirk and reached for her cart. However, her hand couldn’t reach the cart. It was because Winston grabbed Sally’s hand, pretending to be her lover, and gave a chin gesture to the soldiers standing behind the cart.

“Let me go.”

Sally twisted her hand as the soldiers dragged the cart. Instead, Winston forced her fingers apart, interlocked them with his, and smirked.

“We kissed each other, but the hands are not okay?”

Sally paused when Winston recalled the moment she was trying to erase from her mind.

“…I have a lot of work to do.”

“Don’t mind it. You have somewhere to go with me.”

She questioned as she was dragged into the annex.

“Where? It’s probably not the Captain’s bed, is it?”

Hearing her question, Winston rolled his eyes down to her before snorting, “My bed is not good enough for you.”

She was truly offended by his blatant demeanor.

When he stopped, Winston tenderly corrected his sly smirk and gazed down at Sally.

“I’m going to the office. I prepared a farewell gift for Miss Sally Bristol, who has done hard work on her duties.”

‘…What kind of trick is this again?’

It had been a long tradition for the Winston family to give a small farewell gift to a departing employee. However, it was also a tradition not to give gifts to employees who had created a scandal and had been fired.

‘So, is Winston providing it himself? Could it be that this person really likes me? No way… Who would be so rude to a woman he likes?’

Sally’s head was clamorous as she climbed the stairs led by him.

‘I hope it was money. It will be used for military funds.’

However, when she thought of said person’s eccentricity, Sally also thought that there would be no such thing as a normal object.

When she went to the office, soldiers were standing in front of the door.

Even though it happened all the time, it was uncomfortable today. It seemed like everyone was staring at her intently. Sally thought they were having a strange imagination again because of what happened in the study, so she cast a pointed gaze.

“Go in.”

One of the soldiers immediately opened the door to the office, and Winston stepped aside like a gentleman and beckoned in. Sally stood on the spot. If she went like this, she would be left alone with Winston.

“The gift, I’ll pick it up in the hallway.”

She stood with her hands clasped and looked up at Winston. He scoffed when she asked if they were going to bed, and then he stared briefly at soldiers in the hallway.

“You’re difficult because you are a precious person.”

Winston let out a light laugh, and the soldiers raised and lowered the corners of their mouths erratically. He placed his hand on Sally’s shoulder, who puffed up her cheeks sullenly and stared at him.

“I will leave the door open. Is that okay?”

After the stinging words, he went inside alone. It wasn’t until Winston stood by the desk far away from the door that Sally lifted her foot from the hallway.

She went inside and was astonished.

‘…What party has he been having since broad daylight?’

The inside was a mess. A bottle of whiskey and several crystal glasses were scattered on the coffee table. The ashtray that was emptied in the morning was already full of ashes.

Hopefully, this mess wasn’t the gift.

“Where is the gift?”

She was just going to accept it, say thank you, and leave.

Standing in the middle of the office, Winston glanced at the wide, flat box on the desk. The box was tied with a black ribbon.

“I don’t need any more stockings.”

“What do you mean, stockings?”

Winston snorted, leaning against the fireplace with his arms crossed.

“It will be an incomparable, unforgettable gift for the rest of your life.”

Sally frowned as she approached and picked up the box. What bad taste…? What she thought was a black ribbon was actually a very thin black rope. It seemed that he tied the farewell gift with a rope from the torture chamber cabinet.

Displeased, Sally picked up the box and turned right away.

“Thank you for the meaningful gift.”

Winston’s arm stopped in front of her as she was about to bow with a slight bend on her knees like a lady to the maniac in a gentleman’s mask.

“Not like that.”

Sally gazed up at him and stopped her steps just before his arms touched her chest. Meanwhile, Winston was smiling broadly that it made her wonder what made him so happy.

“Shouldn’t you be thinking about the joy of the gift giver? I can’t wait to see your expression, who finally figured out what the gift I prepared for you is.”

The smile looked insidious.

Was there a day when he didn’t smile like this these days? It looked like he had something pretty naughty in the box.

‘I’ll let him one last time, okay.’

In the end, Sally sighed and untied the black rope on the spot.

He said he wanted to see her expression, so she stayed facing Winston. Her hand, as she opened the box, stopped. What was inside was something she could never have imagined.

…A yellow file folder.

There was no name written on the outside, so she couldn’t tell what was in it.

Sally looked up at Winston with puzzled eyes.

“Come on, open it.”

He gently wrinkled the corners of his eyebrows and urged her. Somehow, her stomach churned.

“Is this a letter of recommendation…?”

It suddenly dawned on her that he had promised a letter of recommendation that would give her a job anywhere.

“Well, that’s not wrong.”

The corners of Winston’s lips twisted for an instant.

“Because I wrote it by hand to send you to a place that suits you.”

‘I don’t need a new job.’

Sally placed the lid of the box underneath it and lifted the edge of the file with her fingernails. Three short words caught her gaze the moment she pulled back the thick paper.

[ Alias: Little Riddle ]

She stopped breathing.

‘Why is he doing this to me?’

The reason and intuition in Sally’s head immediately sounded a red alarm and shouted.

‘Dangerous… Run away—No, it’s already too late.’

The moment she took her feet off here, it would be over. Running away would be admitting it.

‘Maybe, there is still room to get out. It must be Winston’s own guided scenarios.’

Perhaps, he was passing it on without certainty yet… To survive here, she had to find a gap in information and fill that loophole.

“What is this?”

She pretended not to know anything. She pretended to be offended because he gave her something weird as a gift. Although she asked sharply, the man facing him was surrounded by black, like an abyss from his neck to his toes, exuding only an insidious atmosphere.

She barely lifted her gaze and couldn’t make eye contact with him. Sally calmly read the papers.

[ Note: The last rebel of the Riddle family ]

[ Crime: Infiltrating major military facilities, leaking secret military information, leading a surprise attack on Govurn… ]

‘Govurn. Please…’

[ Skin color: Unknown Bright ]

[ Hair Color: Unknown Dark brown ]

[ Eye color: Unknown Turquoise ]

[ Age: Unknown 26 ]

[ Last name: Riddle ]

The color of the fingertips holding the paper faded as she went back to the white paper on which the black letters were sparsely written.

‘No…’

All information listed as unknown has been corrected.

…Besides, everything was correct.

[ Known pseudonym: Sally Bristol ]

[ Name: Unknown Grace ]

She checked the last information that was written down with anger about Sally—No, Grace’s heart sank.

‘Why is my name…’

There was no gap. There were no loopholes to get out of.

…This person knew everything.

How. Where. Who the hell…!

The moment Grace’s thought stopped, Winston’s body moved swiftly. She tried to move her body back. Her heart pounded so hard that it seemed to crush her body. The moment the large hand reached in front of her and gripped her neck, Grace closed her eyes tightly.

With the sound of the holster being released, a hard muzzle pressed against her back. His lips, dry with anger, licked Grace’s ears.

“Goodbye, Sally Bristol.”

A cold kiss fell down, and a sweet whisper pierced her ear.

“…Nice to meet you, Grace Riddle.”