Chapter 34

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***

Upon her arrival at home, Nelia could see her family welcoming her with a stunned expression as soon as she opened the door. This was because she paid them a visit without a word in advance.

Actually, she only thought about going home this morning, so she didn’t have time to convey the words to them.

“Nelia?”

The first person who was able to return to their senses was her mother, Lily. Lily scanned Nelia from head to toe.

‘Uhm…….?’

Regardless of the fact that she was the daughter who returned home without a prior notice, her parents’ attitude was completely different from what she expected. She thought they would be happy even though they must be confused at the same time.

His father, Sean, looked at Nelia with a worried expression etched on his face.

It was Lily who spoke up first after scanning every part of Nelia’s body thoroughly.

“Nelia…… you didn’t get kicked out of the duke’s residence, did you?”

Is that what they’re worried about?

Nelia lost her strength for a moment. And he answered in a pompous voice. Nelia lost her grip for a moment the moment she came to know that. And answered sulkily.

“Of course not.”

“Oh, good then. I was surprised that you suddenly came back without informing us first.”

Only then did Lily’s expression become relaxed, covering her mouth and laughing. The same with Sean, as he seemingly felt nervous for the same reason.

“No, would you be surprised if I were kicked out?”

Lily must have felt sorry at that fact as well, therefore she hurriedly led Nelia to the room.

“You must be hungry, right? We’re just about to have dinner.”

As they walked to the dining room, Leighton greeted Nelia with his arms askew on the chair he sat on.

“Yow, Nelia.”

There was an innocuous curiosity in his expression.

“Did you really get kicked out from there?”

It seemed that he heard the conversation she had with their parents outside. Nelia sat down in her chair with a frown.

“I said no.”

Leighton muttered something along the line as, ‘You’ve managed to stay there longer than I thought’. Nelia regretted her decision to come home for the first time in a while. She wouldn’t have come back had she known she would receive these kinds of treatments.

Luckily, Lily stepped forward and nagged Leighton.

“Leighton, what do you mean by saying that to the sister who you hadn’t seen in a while, she’d managed to stay there longer than you thought?”

“You thought the same thing, wasn’t it you who asked if she was kicked?”

“T-That can’t be!”

Lily denied it exaggeratedly. She thought Leighton made a good point.

“Ehem, let’s hurry up and eat.”

Sean intervened with a piercing look. He must have thought the same thing as well.

Although she felt kind of disappointed, Nelia understood the attitude of her family. Since Nelia in the original story has been acting like Leighton all this time. Even if she had acted differently recently, they would still be worried because there was Duke Hart around her. Wouldn’t she be a nuisance for him?

“Here it is, My Lady.”

When the maid, Dinah, brought the additional tableware for Nelia, the regular meal finally began.

Seeing the steaming roasted turkey made her feel a lot better.

And then, Lily tore the big turkey leg and brought it to Nelia’s plate because it’s been a long time since she saw her child.

“You’ve gone through a lot, haven’t you, Nelia? If you had delivered the words that you were going to come back today, I would have prepared the food more attentively…….”

“It’s fine.”

Nelia’s eyes were already swayed by the succulent turkey legs.

Compared to the duke’s dishes, which consist of the highest quality, the food here was considered small, but it had a friendly atmosphere and a different feeling.

Long table was unnecessary.

Nelia suddenly felt a lump forming in her throat upon her thought landing on the duke who ate alone on the long table.

But she shook her head quickly.

She couldn’t believe she was thinking about the duke even when she was back home. It was obvious that she had been infected since she was having unnecessary worries about the duke.

Like what she told him earlier, they’re only apart from each other for about twelve hours. Even the separated families wouldn’t miss each other to this extent.

“Why don’t you dig in, Nelia? Do you not like turkey?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

Nelia smiled forcefully and began to eat the turkey. Other thoughts were gradually flying away from her head.

As she was enjoying herself eating it, she suddenly heard Sean’s words that were laced with worry.

“It reminds me, there will be a total lunar eclipse in a few days.”

Nelia looked up the moment they mentioned the total lunar eclipse.

“You’re right. We have to be really careful on that day.”

Lily’s remark reminded her of what the duke had said.

“As Nelia knows, the total lunar eclipse is said to have been hidden by Sigrid’s power.”

People around the world probably thought the total lunar eclipse was an unlucky day.

As Nelia was motionless with the fork in her mouth, Sean’s cautious voice was heard again.

“And……. As far as I know, that day is the death anniversary of the former head of Hart Duchy.”

If it were the previous Duke of Hart…… Duke Hart’s father? The one who died in the hands of the emperor? It seemed that she remembered he said his father died on the day of the total lunar eclipse as he ran away.

She heard Lily’s wistful voice.

“The whole nation was grieving on that day. That day was really unfortunate for him. Was he killed because he was attacked by an unidentified assailant?”

“That’s what I know. It must have been someone who had a grudge against him.”

“Anyway, I’m sorry to hear that……”

People knew that Duke Hart’s father was killed by an unidentified assailant. Actually, it was the emperor who killed the previous Duke of Hart, who turned into a snake.

His death was very tragic.

They couldn’t hold the criminal accountable even though he’s clearly in their sight. Thinking that way, the fact that the duke defied him was not incomprehensible.

‘On the anniversary of his father’s death, the duke must be alone in the mansion…….’

Or did he go back to the duchy and spend the day with his mother?

However, considering the recent relationship between dry hats, I didn’t think I would spend that time. There was no word from the Duke. However, considering the relationship between the mother and her son, it was unlikely that he would spend that day with her. The duke didn’t say anything either.

Nelia lost interest in the delicious-looking turkey dish. Her mind was all over the place.

Then Leighton spoke up, his chin resting on his hands.

“But isn’t it a little strange? The previous Duke Hart was not worthy of a grudge, and it was said that they couldn’t catch the culprit.”

Leighton had a quite good point.

“It’s not proper to tell them what to do about the death of the deceased person, Leighton. And it was the Hart Family’s request to wrap up the case.”

Sean scolded Leighton in a stern voice.

Leighton, however, didn’t seem to care, he just bowed his head and winnowed the beans from his plate.

Before she knew it, they already had a brief tea time after the meal.

Sean and Lily asked everything related to Duke Hart. About the injury on his foot, when he would start working in the Imperial Palace again, and whether there were any problems in his work.

As Nelia answered one by one, her parents reacted too excessively, admiring and nodding at even the smallest thing.

Like how she felt last time, people tended to deify Duke Hart.

It was most likely because he had a mysterious aura since he didn’t attend parties often and didn’t socialize deeply with others. Like idolizing a celebrity.

Trivial questions continued for a while.

By the time they thought Nelia was getting tired, both of them stopped asking questions regarding the duke.

“Nelia, when are you going to go again?”

At Lily’s question, Nelia thought she would quickly ask about it.

Why is she more interested in Duke Hart than her daughter who comes home once in a while?

“Tomorrow morning.”

“What? That early?”

“Yes, I have a lot of work that needs to be done.”

Actually, she didn’t have a lot of things to do.

She recently came to a realization that Duke Hart could do things well enough without her help.

Even so, she was in the middle of having a reasonable suspicion that he was trying to keep her beside him by giving her a regular job.

“Nelia must be good at her job.”

“We shouldn’t have been worried about you.”

Lily and Sean looked pleased. Seeing them like that, Nelia didn’t feel too bad at herself either.

After promising to have breakfast together tomorrow morning, Sean and Lily got up first.

Nelia was about to get up when Leighton’s voice stopped her from walking.

“Nelia.”

“What?”

Nelia turned around, thinking he was going to bother her.

Leighton was sitting motionlessly at the table while staring blankly at her.

“I told you last time that the duke is taking an energizer.”

Nelia’s eyebrows wriggled at the mention of energizer.

She thought Leighton was just spitting out b*lls*it, but at least half of his words were right.

And……. She had experienced the effects.

Nelia tried to clear out her intensifying thoughts, but she heard Leighton’s voice again.

“I don’t think that’s an energizer.”

“What?”

She found it funny how Leighton’s eyes were so serious when discussing the energizer.

“I think he’s taking something in order to control something.”

“…… what does he control?”

Nelia asked in wonder, it was a pretty close guess.

“I don’t know. But I just recently found out that the pharmacist of the duke family has been buying Seitia leaves constantly while helping father with the upper work.”

“What is Seitia leaf…….?”

“The drug that is often used as a magic suppressant.”

Leighton constantly moved his fork.

“I found out that they use a lot of stimulating ingredients to amplify the effect. That’s too much for the body.”

“……So, you’re saying the duke’s medicine is a medication that amplifies the suppression effect?”

Nelia’s voice dropped slightly when asking that.

“To put it more simply, it’s a combination of stimulating ingredients that amplifies the suppression effect.”

Nelia swallowed through her dried mouth secretly. Because Leighton’s accurate explanation was surprising to her.

She didn’t know much details about the medicine, but from what Leighton said, he seemed to understand the premise.

‘This is really dangerous. I feel like Leighton is going to find out the duke’s secret.’

She never thought she would be worrying about Leighton of all people. She wondered if he was thinking rationally.

Leighton looked up and stared at Nelia again.

“Why does the duke consume such medicine?”

Nelia unconsciously clenched her fist. Leighton continued in a composed manner.

“Didn’t you notice anything strange about the duke?”

“……Not at all.”

There was silence between the question and the answer for a moment because she was caught off guard.

Nelia would rather be the one who asks the question first so she doesn’t appear suspicious.

“Why are you suddenly interested in Duke Hart?”

“I’m just curious. If the duke, whom everyone looked up to, is actually hiding a secret, I don’t think it’s going to be a shock for us.”

Yes. Leighton was just that kind of j*rk. Her brother, who she had known for a short period of time, was very spontaneous and acted according to his interest.

Such an exceptional explanation was also the result of his curiosity.

Therefore, she felt like he was dangerous. If this guy became obsessed with the duke, he would get through it to the end.

So Nelia prayed desperately.

Leighton, I beg you, please turn your attention away from Duke Hart.

***

Nelia woke up with a grim face the next day.

What was so deceitful about her was that when she slept on this bed for the first time, it felt so fluffy and pleasant that she felt like she was lying on the cloud.

In her previous life, all she could get was sleeping with a blanket on the hard and cold floor.

However, she felt like her judgment of the bed here was falling because she got used to sleeping in the high-quality bed in Duke Hart’s residence for a while.

Due to that, she was unable to sleep well.

Nelia managed to regain her consciousness and went downstairs.

She’d rather not bump into him. Whenever she met Leighton, he always bothered her by saying sh*tty things.

In particular, when she thought about Leighton’s explanation yesterday, it felt like one of the hairs on her head was standing protrudingly.

Luckily, when she answered by saying she didn’t know much about the medicine he was taking, his curiosity quickly decreased.

“When will you return again?”

Lily asked, seeing Nelia off at the front door.

“I don’t know yet.”

She originally intended to return home on the day of the total lunar eclipse, but she was very reluctant considering it was the death anniversary of Duke Hart’s father.

It seemed that she’d have to talk to Duke Hart first.