CH 154

Although the head maid of the Viscounty was not timid nor had a cowardly appearance, she was basically a good person.

Watching Annie quickly leave the garden, she hardened her expression and set out into the hallway.

‘I can no longer stand by and watch the young master torment innocent people.’

For a while, she really thought that Donovan had loved Annie and so she wanted to help.

‘I thought he was too shy and didn’t know how to express his feelings.’ 

However, she realized that he was not suffering from a clumsy young love, but that the young master had just grown up to be a bad seed. 

Donovan was like a son to her, thus there was no way to soothe her bitter heart.

‘He was quite cute when he was young.’ 

Nanny. It wasn’t so long ago when he had chased after her calling her nanny but when did he grow up to be such a ruffian? 

Instead of being the nanny, the head maid clicked her tongue while lamenting that he had become a person who would strike at her who had raised him. 

“Young master, I’m entering.”

She sighed and grabbed the doorknob to Donovan’s room. 

‘Huh? What is this smell?’

A cruel, fishy smell that she had never smelled in her entire life in this small country town hit the tip of her nose. 

The maid flung the door open, suppressing the trembling of her fingers. 

“Young master!!!”

The young master, a rascal who was raised dearly by the Viscount, was lying on the floor with his injured body while groaning roughly. 

The man who rubbed his feet on Donovan’s back to wipe the blood off the heels of his shoes was a face that even the head maid knew.

‘The servant of the Grand Duke of Lagrange!’ 

The servant that the Grand Duke of the North had brought was very suspicious to her that the name she once heard was stuck to her. 

‘Wasn’t he called Dylan?’

He was definitely the man who was often spotted with Annie and so Donovan had been on his guard and was always on edge. 

“What are you doing right now! The young master is a patient!”

“Uh, ugh! Hey, you! Call someone!” 

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Donovan, who found the head maid, had shouted quickly, but the suspicious servant moved a bit faster.

He approached her without any signs and closed the door.

Click. 

It wasn’t long ago when it was oiled and the smooth sound of the door closing reverberated. 

“Don’t move.” 

The decisive command was like a magic spell that tied the head maid’s ankles to the ground.

“Left hand, shoulders, and was it the back?” 

The man with his back to the sun murmured quietly.

Now that she looked at him, he felt eerie as she could not even see any traces of emotions on his dazzling face. 

‘Was he always this kind of person?’

The head maid thought calmly, pressing on her pounding heart.

No, he definitely wasn’t. 

The man who was always next to Annie was definitely blunt but he had a gentle atmosphere with him. For a moment, a cold wind blew through the open window. 

The man wrinkled his neat brows as if he had forgotten the existence of the head maid who was looking at him filled with fear and glanced at the window. 

“Your Grace, that woman had helped Annie who was a maid escape so please don’t kill her.”  

At the end of her gaze, the person who had introduced himself as the ‘Grand Duke’ jumped down from the window sill.

‘Your Grace? Did he just call that man ‘Your Grace’? Wasn’t he the Grand Duke?’ 

Only then did the maid understand the situation when she looked alternately at the crook Grand Duke who returned as a blonde and the servant who had black hair. 

The object to beg had changed. Donovan realized this too late and with a weeping scream, he put his hands together. 

“Ple-please save me, Your Grace! I committed a mistake because I couldn’t recognize you!”

"............"

“I never dreamed that Annie was your person, Your Grace! I committed a sin worthy of death!”

At Donovan’s scream, who had turned deathly pale, the black-haired man swept his chin with his long fingers.

“I have no thoughts of killing you.” 

Donovan’s face instantly brightened at the man’s words. But the head maid shook her head and bit her lips. 

Because he didn’t have the face of a human being who would show mercy. The person that Donovan had messed without knowing was a demon wearing a human face. 

“I was just thinking of cutting out the hand that had touched her.”

A man's low voice softly echoed through the room.

The sunlight streaming through the clean windows was eaten by his dark black hair.

“Ah.” 

The sword that was raised from the ground wailed sharply. The man raised one corner of his lips as if he had remembered something too late.

“By the way, how dare you grab her head.”

────── 〔✿〕──────

So I never expected this kind of reaction.

‘I thought he was someone who didn’t know what was going on.’

The saying went, you could sound water ten fathoms deep, but you could not sound the human heart a single fathom. [1] 

“Are you really going to follow me?”

“That’s right.” 

As I hurried out of the manor, I was lucky enough to meet Dylan around the garden – now that I think about it, it made me wonder if I was indeed lucky. 

Still, he and I were friends who had built our own kind of friendship so I was happy to explain the whole story to him before I left, for a moment. 

‘But it’s like I’ve gained baggage to go.’ 

When Dylan heard my situation, he said he would go with me and followed me without packing anything.

I wondered if it was all right to take the servant of Lagrange with me on the run when all he knew how to do was clean enough to make people slip with the way he polished the front porch. 

‘Was he preparing some fish? Why does it smell so fishy?’

I looked back at Dylan who was chasing after me with a sullen look on my face. 

“Do you not need to tell His Grace?”

“I just happened to be on vacation.” 

“Dylan, I’m grateful but I’m not going out to play.” 

I even hid my conspicuous pink hair just in case people would recognize me.

I grabbed my brown hood tightly and glanced at Dylan but he only shrugged his shoulders and replied, “I never thought of going out to play.”

“Even if you didn’t commit a crime you could become a criminal. We don’t know what that ruffian Donovan would do.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Why?”

“By the way, is it okay to curse now?” 

As if he was surprised to see me getting worked up over Donovan, he gently raised his eyebrow. I snorted and murmured Donovan, that bastard. 

“Of course. I’m free now.” 

When I thought about him deceiving me who had no memory and all the work he had put me through, my heart seethed and I wanted to go back to the manor and turn everything upside down. 

‘Just wait until I have power.’

If I was lucky enough to take my place in the capital and hit it big, I thought I would definitely get my revenge. 

But if Dylan gets involved with me, it could be dangerous for him even if he didn’t do anything wrong. 

“The path may be dangerous.” 

Whether he knew that I was worried about his safety or not, Dylan only shook his head with a blunt face. 

“That’s even more so.”

“Excuse me?”

“You said you could be in danger. I’ll be your escort.” 

At first, I thought it was a joke, but I guessed that he was quite serious with his firm mouth.

‘Why is he making people’s hearts flutter?’ 

“Well, just until I get far enough from the Viscounty. Until then, I’ll be in your care.” 

It would have been nice to hire an escort knight under the circumstances, but I couldn’t possibly spend what little the head maid had given me to hire people. 

‘Dylan isn’t a knight but he seemed to be able to use a sword on some level.’

I compromised with my reality, shrugged, and approached the old man sitting on an old ferry tied to the shore of the lake.

Though it had a shabby appearance. The old man, who had been looking at the ripples of the lake, seemed he had a lot of free time so I came forward.  

“Excuse me.”

“Hm?”

The old man looked back at me as he fiddled with his long white beard. However, the moment he found Dylan behind my back, his eyes widened greatly. 

“You came just in time.”

“This is the first time we met.”

“Oh?” 

The old man seemed to know Dylan, but he coldly shook his head, dismissing my suspicion.

“It’s a common face so I’m often mistaken.” 

It was unbelievable that such a handsome face was common, but the relationship between the old man and Dylan was not important to me because I had to run away immediately. 

Fearing that Donovan had sent someone to chase after me, I looked behind me anxiously and then lowered my head toward the old man. 

“Can we borrow this boat? I can pay you the boat fare.”

“What about the boat?”

“I need to cross the lake due to a situation.” 

On the other side of the lake facing the Viscount’s territory was the territory of the Count of Devonshire. 

It had a transient population compared to the Viscounty and it also had frequent exchanges with the capital so it wouldn’t be too difficult to hide. 

“Ah! No wonder the fortune told was strange so this is what it meant.”

“Pardon?”

“I was going to throw away the boat anyway, so I don’t need the money, child.” 

The old man murmured strange words and didn’t inquire about my circumstances further then slowly stood up from his place. 

After handing the oar to me, he tapped Dylan’s shoulder familiarly and chuckled. 

“Do your best.”

‘I really think they know each other.’ 

If Dylan didn’t want to talk then I didn’t want to know either. 

I sat opposite him who carried many secrets and grabbed the oar with both my hands. 

“Do you know which direction Devonshire is? I’m planning to go there for now.”

He had been looking around with one hand on his chin when his face distorted due to my question.

“Devonshire?” 

Notes: 

[1] Idiom meaning: Human nature[The human mind] is unfathomable.