Chapter 40

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***

“I’m home.”

When Nelia arrived at home, she could see her parents welcoming her more brightly than last time.

“Nelia!”

“You returned earlier than I thought.”

Lily and Sean greeted Nelia back. Lily took Nelia’s luggage.

She expected them to welcome her, but they were actually being too kind.

Nelia looked at her parents with a suspicious gaze.

“What’s with this, all of a sudden?”

“Ohoho, it’s just, I’m just happy to see my daughter after a while.”

Lily said while giving Nelia a tap on the shoulder. Sean, who was beside her, chipped in.

“Yes. it’s because I’m glad to see Nelia, does it have another meaning? I’m proud of you.”

Nelia asked while thinking about her hurting shoulder upon being tapped by Lily’s hand.

“You’re proud of me……..?”

“You’re pretending not to know. You’ve been the talk of the society a lot recently.”

She had never heard of it before. Nelia frowned in confusion.

“Why……. Am I the talk of the society?”

“I recently heard that you’re following the duke to work in the Imperial Palace. And according to the rumor, you’re doing a great job as a handmaiden.”

Nelia pondered upon listening to Sean’s words.

Although people didn’t express it directly, they must have questioned her presence.

Perhaps, the duke must have already taken care of it well, so it only ended up as a rumor.

Nelia had no idea she would be famous in the social circle.

All she did was simple work and got treated to a dessert by the duke.

As Nelia stood there with a dazed face, she heard Lily’s excited voice.

“Anyway, Nelia. We’ve prepared a fancy dinner that is enough to break the table leg, so you won’t be disappointed.”

“Yes………”

She didn’t have much appetite, but…….

Lily, who had no idea about it, smiled lightly and whispered in Nelia’s ear.

“Oh, and Leighton’s not home, so you don’t need to worry.”

That was nice to hear from her.

Perhaps, was it because of Leighton’s absence that her parents particularly seemed to be in a good mood?

After all, Leighton was everyone’s enemy.

“He seems very busy with work that keeps him occupied lately. Today is the day of the total lunar eclipse, so I told him not to go out, but he still crawled out.”

Lily shook her head and said, ‘Gosh………!’

Meanwhile, Nelia was bothered by the fact that Leighton was occupied by something.

‘What are the things that keep Leighton so occupied…….’

Recently, Leighton has been speculating about the duke’s medicine, but maybe……… No.

Being a man with such a tenacity, she desperately begged that Leighton would solve his interest in the duke.

“Nelia, it’s been a while since you returned home, so you should get some rest. No matter how nice the duke’s mansion is, it’s not as good as his house.”

Her mother would be disappointed if she said that she preferred the duke’s residence more than this house. Nelia, masking the truth, modestly answered yes.

* *

When Nelia came back to her room after finishing dinner, she plopped on the bed and lied there. It also felt harder than the one in the duke’s mansion.

Perhaps, that was the reason why she couldn’t sleep well even though she tried to get some sleep.

Nelia got up, who gave up on trying to nap, thinking about picking a book and settled down on her desk.

She was trying to read the letters, but she couldn’t bring herself to get immersed in reading at all.

Nelia had been staring spiritlessly at the curvy writing on the paper for a while.

Because she was in a daze like that for some time, time flew by, which was the opposite of her worries. It was already evening when she managed to collect her senses together.

Nelia suddenly looked out the window.

The rain stopped, but the moon was nowhere to be seen and dark clouds invaded the sky.

Once the light disappeared, the sky was covered in darkness.

***

Leighton was the source of the noise in the peaceful house.

He came in while making so much fuss that she could hear him from the second floor, and the door opened right away along with thumping footsteps.

“Hey, Nelia!”

Leighton’s face was pale when she yelled out her name.

Leighton, who found Nelia lying in bed reading a book, approached her with a mutter, ‘So you were here.’

“What’s with the fuss?”

Nelia glared at Leighton, who suddenly barged in without knocking.

“No, I was passing by Duke Hart’s residence today, so I decided to stop by to see you.”

Nelia sprang up to her feet.

Today was the day of total lunar eclipse, so he must have known that she was returning home, but what was he up to and using her as an excuse to visit Duke Hart’s house?

Leighton attempted to make an embarrassing excuse, perhaps because reading the rage in her eyes.

“Since you’re my younger sister that I need to take care of as well, as an older brother……..”

“Don’t pull a joke on me.”

Nelia cut him off with a sharp tone at his embarrassing excuse. Leighton rolled his eyes and scratched his head.

“Oh……… Actually, I’ve been very interested in the duke lately. So I was planning to stop by his mansion and talk to him.”

Nelia stared at Leighton with narrowed eyes.

“But then?”

“But no matter how much I knocked on the door of the duke’s residence, no one came out. So I climbed up the wall to peek inside.

Oh……. Again, Leighton.

Nellia burst out at Leighton.

“Are you out of your mind? Why are you peeking at others’ residences?”

“No…….. I thought there was someone inside but they ignored me, so I peeked inside because I was upset and curious.”

Leighton replied with an embarrassed expression on his face.

Nelia was thinking about talking with their father and shouldn’t let Leighton out of the monastery at all, but he approached her and spoke covertly.

“Anyway, Nelia. That’s not the important point, you know what I saw?”

Leighton’s slightly narrowed eyes looked as if he was recalling something terrific.

Leighton continued before Nelia had the chance to say anything.

“I don’t know……. But suspicious people in robes tied the atrocious chain to the duke’s hand and took him into the large building.”

“What……..?”

Nelia looked at Leighton with a hardened face.

She thought Leighton was pulling a prank on her, but she couldn’t see the glint of mischief when looking at his round eyes.

“In the past, there was a mysterious man who broke into the duke’s residence and killed the former head of the dukedom. So I was wondering if someone had caught the duke off guard by surprise this time………”

Leighton sighed and looked at Nelia.

“It’s fortunate that you’re here. If you were there, you might be caught up in something odd.”

It was hard to understand him. Leighton seemed to be worried about her, but he had a record of making her embarrassed. She couldn’t take him seriously now.

What’s more important was the situation the duke was in.

‘The place Leighton was looking at seems to be the warehouse……. Why did the duke get tied up and put in there?’

Is it a robbery or something…….?

It was definitely strange for the duke to enter the warehouse with tied hands.

An anxious thought passed through her mind. Her heart was beating loudly, which only added to the anxiousness in her chest.

Swallowing through her dry mouth, Nelia asked Leighton.

“Did you……. tell anyone else about this?”

“No, since I ran away and came to you right away? But I’m your only brother, so I will take care of you…….”

“I’ll be back.”

Nelia got up hastily and looked into her closet, taking out the first coat she could get her hands on.

Leighton followed her with a confused look.

“Where are you going, let alone during this time of the night! It’s so dark right now!”

“I think I should go to the duke’s residence.”

“What will you do there if you go? It’s much better to notify the Capital Guard.”

Nelia halted for a moment.

If he was really involved in a crime, such as robbery, it would be better to notify the guards as Leighton said, but she had a hunch that it’s not the case.

“Leighton, did you see His Grace’s expression when he entered the building after being chained up?”

“I couldn’t see his face because it was too far away. But he doesn’t seem to resist.”

Nelia’s brows narrowed. Nelia’s eyebrows were taut.

She thought that he might be entering the building willingly since he didn’t resist them.

‘Nothing, though it will be occupied soon.’

Perhaps, something that the duke said would occupy the building was himself.

‘I will be sure if I see it with my own eyes.’

Nelia, who made up her mind, said to Leighton.

“I’ll go to the duke’s residence and see if it’s a big deal, and I will ask the Capital Guard for help if there’s something wrong.”

Leighton seemed to say something like, ‘What if you were caught by the robber!’ but she ignored him and ran out of the house.

As Leighton said, it was dark outside.

Looking at the sky, the moon was completely covered in the night sky, and even though the rain had stopped, the hanging dark clouds hadn’t disappeared yet.

In the gloomy atmosphere, anxious thoughts didn’t leave her head.

While heading to the duke’s residence, Nelia closed her eyes for a moment and prayed.

Hoping everything would be fine.

***

But when she arrived at the duke’s residence, the atmosphere seemed unusual, which was clearly against her wish.

It wasn’t because something seemed to have happened, nor was it uproarious. It was because the residence was so quiet as if there were no ants passing by.

The unnatural and seemingly fake sight gave off a parlous atmosphere.

Bang, bang.

Nelia was banging on the gate.

But there was no response from inside.

“Is there anyone inside? This is Nelia!”

Nelia shouted loudly at the front gate.

The guard of the mansion usually would open the gate for her, but there was no response as if there was no one inside.

But Nelia didn’t give up yet and kept banging on the gate.

By the time she felt pain on the hand she used to bang on the gate, the gate opened.

“Lady Nelia?”

It was Ton who appeared from the other side. She catched a glimpse of Ton’s face under the lighting, he didn’t look good.

Moreover, the rain had stopped, but Ton was soaked from head to toe.

His hair, which had always been done neatly, was also sticking out one by one, and fell on his forehead.

“Ton, what’s going on in there? I’ve been banging on the gate for a while.”

“I thought you were staying at your parents’ house today…….. may I ask why are you here?”

Ton didn’t answer her, but he asked as if he was on guard instead.

“…….I’m simply worried about His Grace.”

“May I ask what you are worried about?”

Nelia thought about it for a moment.

If she answered properly, she thought Ton would tell her to return because nothing happened.

Nelia, who rummaged through her brain for an answer, slowly opened her mouth.

“Actually, His Grace told me.”

Ton seemed surprised despite the ambiguous remark with no subject. She could tell by his widened eyes.

“……. Did His Grace tell you about that? Of course, you shouldn’t pretend if you don’t know about it……..”

He must have attempted to hide something from her.

Nelia carried on with her act, hiding the growing anxiousness inside.

“Yes. His Grace told me everything. You know it. He had been working on the curse with me recently.”

As soon as she briefly brought up about the curse, Ton murmured with a serious face as if believing it completely.

“Is that so……… He said he wouldn’t see Lady Nelia in the morning, so I didn’t know that you were already informed about the secret.”

Nelia couldn’t understand what Ton was saying, but she continued to speak, pretending to be worried.

“I came just in case, what’s really going on?” “I came here just in case, seriously, what’s going on?”

At Nelia’s question, Ton sighed and swept his hair back.

“It’s……..”

Ton was still hesitant to say anything, the end of his words were a blur.

Ton, who seemed to be mentally anxious, opened the gate a little more to give Nelia the space to go inside.

“Please come on in. I think…….. You’d better see it by yourself.”

Nelia walked cautiously into the duke’s residence. Clunk- when the door closed completely, Nelia looked around inside.

The first thing she saw was a crowd of people near the warehouse.

Nelia could soon see why. People with suspicious robes as well as the workers, all of them looked worried with their eyes fixated at the warehouse.

Bang, bang!

A loud noise came from the warehouse.