CH 32

‘She’s dead. She’s dead with a child who looks like her. I’m sure Herace is already a corpse, whether she fell into a lake or rolled off a mountain. So I don’t have to worry.’

Charlotte, who put her finger on her forehead and tried to smoothen her wrinkled brows, thought hopefully.

Yeah. It was obvious she was already dead. Otherwise, how can two women, even a child who is just born, beat the pursuit of skilled knights? Charlotte nodded, thinking about the huge war horse of Ezekiel and the other knights.

‘And if she didn’t die, I have Miguel. If my son becomes the heir…….’

As soon as the thought of her son came to her mind, her worries disappeared. The precious child brought Charlotte confidence just by thinking. With Miguel, she thought everything would go well with her.

“……go get Miguel.”

Charlotte, who closed her eyes, ordered the maid. But instead of saying okay, the maid called someone in a stuttering voice.

“Lord, My Lord.”

Charlotte’s eyes opened wide at the words ‘My Lord’. She was waiting for him to come, but she didn’t expect the timing to be so sudden. But, is she back too?

Charlotte turned her head, trying to hide her anxiety. Then she saw the man’s firm chin and a solid body under it.

Strangely, she was afraid to see the man’s face. Charlotte lowered her eyes and swallowed her dry saliva like a sinner who had done something wrong.

‘What did I do?’

Whether she(Herace) came back or not, she had to be confident. Yeah, she has Miguel.

Charlotte, who clenched her fist, tried to look the man in the eye. However, when she faced the man’s face, her body hardened.

“Ah…”

The sound came out by itself. In his eyes, there was a sharp murderous gaze that seemed to cut her down immediately. Charlotte trembled with a pale face and dropped her head unconsciously. At the same time, a faint voice reached her neck as a formless sword.

“Who gave you the permission to enter this place and make it this way?”

***

Herace’s room returned to its original state within half a day. Charlotte forgot that she was the one who ordered to change the room again and ran wild. Saying she would not leave this room. She screamed in madness as if something that had been hers was taken away.

‘I’m the mother of Miguel. Of course, this room is mine! It’s mine!

But Ezekiel was relentless. He told Charlotte that if she stepped into this room ever again, he would cut off her legs. And if she dared to touch the things in this room, he would slit her throat. After that, he ordered the servants to drag her to her original room.

Charlotte kicked at the servants who pulled her out and shouted, ‘Let my Miguel grow up, I’ll kill you first!’ But the servants, ordered by Ezekiel, did not budge.

Ezekiel sat still for a long time on the bed in his wife’s room, which regained its original appearance after kicking Charlotte out. Hours passed away, and in an instant, dawn came, pushing the night away. The man did not move until the bluish dawn light permeated the window.

“Herace…”

The voice reciting his wife’s name was gloomy, but the tone was as soft as it could be. The man swept the sheets slowly as if touching something precious. Expectations were naturally raised as if it was the soft texture of his wife’s skin on his hands.

Ezekiel continued to call Herace’s name and brought a sheet close to his face. However, the sheet only smelled of clean laundry, and there was no smell of the expected wife. Ezekiel crumpled his brows as if it were annoying.

Every time Herace was erased from such a trivial routine, he was reminded of her running away from him, so he felt very angry. Ezekiel, who threw the sheet away, turned his head and looked at the dressing table. The dressing table, which was one of his wife’s cherished things, was clean, but there was grime everywhere.

He casted his eyes through the dressing table mirror to the jewel box beneath. Looking at the small but colourful box, he got out of bed with a stiff face and approached it. Soon, a brilliant light poured out of the small box with a click.

‘Why…’

Ezekiel did not fully know all of his wife’s accessories, but he vividly remembered everything he had given her. Herace didn’t take any jewellery or gems with her. As well as the things in this jewellery box.

On a spring day, the emerald necklace that he gave her, saying how she looked vibrant as the green leaves of spring. The coral bracelet that he gave her that resembled her blue eyes like the summer sea, and the pearl earrings that were as white as his wife’s white skin.

He was angry that none of his gifts disappeared when she ran away and examined his wife’s things. Ezekiel couldn’t believe that Herace left him without even packing anything that could help her.

Tak.

Ezekiel looked at the jewels shining in various colours and closed the box with a sound. As he kept looking, his vision twisted and his head hurt as if it was splitting. Back in bed, he laid himself down and squeezed the sheet he had thrown earlier.

How did he feel about not seeing Herace for two months?

He tracked down his wife that night, but somehow, she disappeared without leaving a trace, which was impossible in common sense, Ezekiel doubted he was late and time and time again forced the horse to run. Maybe there’s someone who helped her. For example…

‘I’ll leave quietly. I don’t want anything.’

As soon as the face of his wife, who was crying to leave the castle with her child, came to mind, a person who had been erased from his mind long ago was drawn. His half-brother who was affectionately attached to his wife. When Charles’ red hair was drawn, it reminded him of that night by itself.

“……Damn it.”

Charles was also missing from some point on. Two people who couldn’t see even a hair of each other, he searched for them like a mouse.

Ezekiel grabbed the sheet tightly while imagining Herace with Charles. Are they really together like a couple? Are they smiling happily, looking at each other, avoiding his eyes?

“No, Herace. You’re my wife. My wife.”

The night of betrayal came like a nightmare. How many nights has she spent in the past two months like this? Emotions rising from the heart paralyzed his reasoning.

Ezekiel called his wife’s name again and again. Barely holding back his soaring anger. Just like a sedative.

Once the mixed emotions passed, all that remained was cold anger, hatred, and a little bit of self-blame. I should have held her tighter, but when didn’t I? Where did she see a gap in my love? When he thought of his wife’s face, who had thought of running away while deceiving him with tears, the cold reason returned.

Yeah, he can’t let her go like this. Ezekiel looked at the ceiling and twisted lips and said. I will find where she escaped. Then, I will drag her back here where she belongs.

Chirp, chirping.

Suddenly he heard the sound of birds chirping. As he turned his head, he saw a blue bird trapped in a cage on the table. The little bird was pecking at the cage with its beak, perhaps it didn’t like the cage.

On the way back to the castle, a blue colour resembling his wife’s eyes stood out and caught his eyes at once. Perhaps the bird had an egg, so the bird didn’t try to leave when he reached out and was easily caught in his hand.

He stood up slowly, looking at the delicate creature.

Males have beautiful red feathers on the tip of their wings. However, females are also popular because their unique blue colour was beautiful. Unfortunately, they were so wild that they couldn’t be tamed as pets, but they could be stuffed and decorate your room.

Ezekiel looked at the singing bird and reached his hand to the cage. When a big hand popped in, the bird flapped its wings and tried to run away. But the cage was so narrow that a couple of flaps blocked the bird, and Ezekiel’s hands were bigger and faster.

The bird caught by Ezekiel chirped in resistance. A sharp sound split the room as if asking for help, not a chirp. The gesture of pecking his fingers quite quickly with a small beak was fierce, but Ezekiel did not care. He glared at the bird’s wings and said.

“I won’t hurt you. I just want you to be around.”

***

“Erzen, you have to sleep now.”

Erzen shook his head at Herace’s words. The child’s face, lying on the bed and staring at his mother, was full of regret.

“It’s late. You have to go to bed early so that you can get up early and play tomorrow.”

“No, I want to pway with Mom mole(No, I want to play with Mom more).”

The child whined as usual. At the slow stuttering words expressing his intentions, Herace endured the tears and kissed her son’s forehead.

“Three nights later. After three nights’ sleep, I’ll play with Erzen all day. My son is so obedient, so can you do me a favour this time?”

Erzen then nodded quietly. But his disappointed eyes remained, forcing Herace to keep pressing her sore eyeballs.

“Mom, stway nest to Erzen (Mom, stay next to Erzen).”

Erzen closed and opened his eyes several times to check that Herace was next to him and fell asleep after a long time. Herace stood up from her seat, opening the blanket with a sad face while watching Erzen breathing out evenly.

“Sigh…”

Herace, who stepped out of the room with a heavy step, closed the door and leaned her back against it. She sighed on her own, and tears that she had endured poured out. Herace quickly wiped away her leaked tears with her sleeve and moved to the kitchen where Anna would be.

“I can do it by myself……. Just stay with the young master.”

“No, we should do it together. If you do it alone, you have to stay up all night.”

Anna, who guessed the situation, looked at Herace in worry. She wiped the years with her sleeve, but her red eyes were clear. Herace laughed hard, pulled out her chair, and sat down. The old wooden chair creaked a little at the weight.

“If we finish this work quickly, we will be free for the time being.”

Various kinds of threads and cloth hung on the table. Herace took out the embroidering floss in the basket, nodded to Anna’s words, and picked up the needle. The embroidery frame was elaborately embroidered with beautiful lilies along with the patterns of the temple.

“Yes, because the priest Yulina said she would pay a generous price. Let’s take a break when this is over. The weather is getting cold and winter is coming soon, so you should stay healthy.”

“Come to think of it, it’s already winter. It’ll be a short break, too. But there’s nothing prepared for the winter. Ugh….” 

***

T/N: Don’t you think Ezekiel is being too lenient on Charlotte? His contract was with the devil not Charlotte, and the devil also said that he won’t bother Ezekiel after getting a vessel. He can just kill her since she has already served her purpose. But he didn’t, doesn’t. I wish he regrets more.