CH 25

“N- Not only did you save me, but you also invited me to come all the way here. Even if I say thank you a hundred times, it still wouldn’t be enough.”

Hearing him talk so well, Ophelia smiled and sat on the sofa. “I just did what I had to do.”

Theo gaped at her. Theo knew who she was, she was only the evilest of all evil—the wicked witch! She was such a well-known figure that even he, who lived in the slums, knew of her name. Due to this, he didn’t believe that it was Ophelia who saved him. Unless it was really her? When he came into the mansion guided by her very own personal maid, his questions were finally answered. The most famous evil girl in the empire really saved his life!

Gulp.  

“Still, you got hurt because of me—” Theo carefully took something out of his arms. “Wouldn’t it be okay if you put this on—?” He handed over what was an expensive herb, however it seemed that he dug it out himself because there was dirt everywhere.

Ophelia’s eyes opened wide. “Did you pluck the herb yourself?”

“Yes, I couldn’t buy it, so I looked for it myself— Ah, Madam, I’m so sorry. You must have a lot of medicine already. I’ll—.” Theo was ashamed, remembering that this place was the Duke of Ryzen’s estate, which had an abundance of wealth, and so hurriedly took the herb back.

However, Ophelia grabbed Theo’s hand and took away the herb. “I prefer this.” She smiled and applied herbs to the wound. This whole experience was so unbelievable that Theo had no choice but to open his mouth in awe. The Ophelia Ryzen readily accepted and applied the herb he gave to her—. He thought she couldn’t have saved him for nothing, there must have been a reason, but at the moment when he was ashamed of himself for thinking that she might want his organs or something, Theo looked at Ophelia discreetly; the pure white skin that compliments her silver hair, light emerald eyes, and fierce eyebrows—all of these features seemed to emphasise her cold demeanor, but, ‘She looks like an Angel.’

So he made up his mind. He decided not to think of Ophelia badly anymore than he already did and that he’ll help her no matter what.

Meanwhile, Ophelia, who didn’t notice Theo’s budding loyalty to her at all, glanced down at the wound. ‘Ah, it hurts like hell.’ She’ll wash it off quickly.

Perhaps, she wasn’t just an angel like Theo thought.

******

During the prohibition, I rested with great excitement. A lot of people felt sorry for me for being locked up, but I was actually fine. The mansion was so huge that no matter how many times I wandered around, there was no end to it! Apparently, the original did not cover the story of Sylvester in depth. His background and other characters’ backgrounds were not well described, as he only played as a villain against the male lead, Callian, so I was eager to explore the mansion. Every corner of it, which I couldn’t see through the writings on the novel, was fun.

‘Where should we go today?’ I hummed and lifted my finger. Yesterday, I went to the Eastern Annex and the Northern Annex the day before yesterday.

“I’ll go to the Western Annex today.”

“Yes?” Irene, who was touching my hair, exclaimed in surprise. “You are going to the West Annex?” She asked carefully. 

“Why, was there a reason why I shouldn’t go there?” I lifted my eyes in wonder.

“Huh? Oh, no! You can go! Of course, you can go anywhere!” Irene screamed in shock.

Did I say something wrong? I scratched my cheek in confusion. “What’s wrong with you? Tell me.”

“Ah—” Irene rolled her eyes and said cautiously and reluctantly. “That’s Master’s house. He doesn’t let anyone else in.”

“Really?”

“Yes, the aide went in by mistake last time, and he was livid.”

“I see.” Hmm. That’s an interesting story. As I nodded, Irene smiled and continued, apparently thinking I wouldn’t go.

“Yes, then you should go to the Southern Annex today. There are a lot of paintings there, so it’s very interesting to see.”

“No, we should go to the Western Annex,” I said slowly, lifting myself, “I like it when my husband gets angry.”

Lalala~

I left the room leaving behind Irene who had an absurd look on her face.

******

The Western Annex was not far away. Despite wearing high heels, my legs didn’t hurt, but it did feel different from the main building. That was the case with the unmanaged garden—the unsightly trees, along with the dried flowers, and even a spider web! Sylvester is a very neat man, so I couldn’t believe that there was a place left unattended like this. “Why did he do this?” I tilted my head in wonder. Whatever it is, we would find out right when we get inside. 

I carefully opened the gate and entered. The inside of the Annex was a lot more messed up than the outside. I almost sneezed because of the piles of dust. “Oh, I’m dying.” I slowly looked around, rubbing the tip of my itchy nose with the back of my hand. It was no different from the other Annexes. There was a spacious staircase in the middle of the hall, and cute decorations next to it. Why didn’t Sylvester let anyone come in when it was such a nice place?

I slowly climbed up the stairs and it wasn’t long before I found out why Sylvester blocked access to this place. “Uhm—” On the stairs, there was a big picture hanging on the wall, a picture of a woman with black hair that resembled Sylvester’s own. Not only the hair color, however, but also the impression she gave off. Anyone could tell—”His mother?” It looked like she was Sylvester’s mother. So this was where his mother used to stay. That’s why you blocked other people from entering? But why? The curiosity in me rose.

Until, “Ophelia!” The door burst open and Sylvester strode his way in. The well-organized hair seemed to have been disheveled as he ran all the way to the Western Annex. “It’s okay for you to do things you don’t usually do, but why are you here?” He asked, running up the stairs.

I observed the displeasure on his face. “Are you angry?”

“No!” He shouted. 

‘Ugh’, I closed my eyes. “I think you’re angry.”

“I said I’m not!” He was definitely angry. Well. I shrugged my shoulders at him, anyone with working eyes would be able to tell that he was angry. Sylvester pushed my back towards the front door. “Get out now, get out!”

Now that he insisted so adamantly, I felt like not getting out, so I turned my head and said, “She’s your mother right?”

“—What?”

“This picture, she’s your mother, right?” Sylvester’s eyes shook. As expected, I was right. I took a step closer and questioned him further, “Is this your mother? Why, what happened to her? To the point where you’re hiding her like this.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Why, I’m your wife.”

“When you insisted that we should get a divorced?”

“That’s that, but as of now, I’m still married.”

“I won’t hate you if you stop speaking.” He clicked his tongue while smirking. “Yes, she’s my mother.”

“I thought so. You look just like her.”

Standing next to the painting, their resemblance was much more prominent. Even from a hundred meters back, it was like, “Oh, it’s a mother and her son!” Although why did he go out of his way to block people from entering the place where his mother lived?

“What happened to her?” I couldn’t resist my curiosity and asked. Sylvester’s brow narrowed.

“Ophelia,” He grabbed me by the shoulder a little harder and said, “there are many things in the world that you don’t need to know.”

“…”

“And there are many things that you shouldn’t know.” He turned around and patted me on the back. “So go—don’t ever think about coming here again.” 

Cold words. I groaned, rubbing my lips, “You’re so rude.”

“The more you get, the more you talk.”

“I learned that from someone.”

“I hope that ‘someone’ is not me.”

“Well.” Sylvester’s face wrinkled even more as I stuck my tongue out. If I had done more, he would have been really angry. “Okay, I’ll go,” I clicked my tongue and stepped out, but I forgot that I was on top of the stairs, so my foot missed the steps and my body leaned forward. “Ack!”

“Be careful!”

I started rolling down the stairs with Sylvester. ‘Ouch, that really hurt.’ My foot started throbbing, but fortunately I didn’t appear to be seriously injured mostly because Sylvester landed underneath me and served as a cushion. “Phew, you saved my life. Thank you. Are you hurt?” I spoke to Sylvester underneath me.

“Uh– It’s all right.” Sylvester’s eyes wandered all over the place. “By the way, isn’t this position a little…”

Position? I stared blankly at Sylvester, then I realized that he and I were much too close to each other. Moreover, I was on top of him. “Oh my!” I jumped to my feet in surprise.

“Ugh…” Sylvester coughed and raised his body. His ears were red when I glanced over at him. It was as if he contracted a fever. ‘Ah, what is this…’ Feeling awkward, I bit my lips and stared down at the ground. “L- Let’s stop now, we should go back.”

“S- Shall we?” Sylvester and I left the annex with a strangely awkward atmosphere surrounding the both of us. I walked without even bumping my shoulders with his, because I was worried about what happened a while ago, and strangely, my face felt hot.

I really didn’t know.