Chapter 08
“Waaaah!”
Yudis suddenly sat up, and the baby in her arms cried out in surprise.
The guests in the drawing room could only watch as she hastily handed the newborn, Materia, to the chief attendant and rushed out the door.
“What on earth is going on…?”
Count Hester murmured.
“How would I know?”
Lady Haiga, the Marchioness, stood up from her seat.
“Good grief, no wonder the baby won’t stop crying if you hold them like that!”
She scolded Adrian, who was awkwardly holding the baby Ubel and clearly unsure of what to do.
“Get a grip! If you can’t take care of a baby, just hand him over and go deal with the situation! You’ll end up dropping him!”
Adrian eventually handed Ubel over to the Marchioness.
She took the baby with practiced ease and gestured for him to go quickly.
Adrian bowed deeply and hurried out.
The Marchioness began singing a lullaby with a gentle smile.
As if by magic, Ubel stopped crying and began to smile.
Then, with her face turning serious, the Marchioness looked up.
“Now then, we should go too. It seems something has happened to Young Master Boris.”
The other guests slowly stood up. The Marchioness’s eyes narrowed.
“This is where Materia was born. If something happens to the Rohia family, it affects the entire Western Empire. I must know why they abandoned Materia and ran off.”
With that, she began walking, showing no signs of old age.
Though she had married into the Marquess household, she had once been a beloved imperial princess and still held the Emperor’s trust.
Even the Emperor couldn’t treat her lightly, and neither could the others.
Smack!
My mother, Yudis, slapped my cheek.
“What did you do to Boris?!”
I looked up in a daze.
Yudis had seen Boris collapsed in my room and, shocked, had slapped me immediately.
I touched my cheek. A bit of blood had smeared where her ring scratched the skin.
“Boris… Boris! Open your eyes! Someone call the doctor, now!”
She was on the verge of tears, holding Boris in her arms.
It was a ridiculous scene, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
Maybe some fingers hurt more when bitten, but is there such a thing as a finger that doesn’t hurt at all?
And if a finger was already cut off, it shouldn’t hurt, right?
Then why was I pretending not to know?
“Sia, if you don’t get a job soon… You know how hard it is for me to pay your brother’s tuition! If you slack off too, what am I supposed to do?!”
I clenched my fists and stood up straight. I tried to speak clearly to Yudis.
“It wasn’t me, Mother. Boris gave me that milk tea…”
“Answer me this instant!”
She didn’t even let me finish.
She wasn’t asking because she wanted an answer. She didn’t care what I had to say.
“Tell me what happened to Boris right now!”
She screamed so loudly I was left speechless. She looked completely out of control.
Then voices rose in the hallway, and an older man’s voice cut through the chaos.
“Do you know who I am? Step aside! I need to know what’s happened!”
Now’s the time.
I looked Yudis in the eyes, then slowly knelt.
With a pitiful voice, I cried out,
“Mother! I didn’t do anything… The young master told me to wait… I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
My voice trembled all on its own.
***
The moment she saw Boris collapsed on the floor, Yudis saw red.
She picked him up with shaking hands. His usually lively body hung limp in her arms.
“It wasn’t me, Mother. I didn’t do anything.”
A strange voice made her look up.
She saw a filthy girl. Dirty clothes, grimy hands.
Her greasy hair looked like it would slip through her fingers. And the smell—
Before she even registered who the girl was, Yudis was furious that Boris had been in such a dirty place.
Did those filthy hands touch Boris?
Breathing this dusty, foul air would surely make him sick.
While calling desperately for the doctor, Yudis screamed at the girl.
“What happened?! Why is Boris in your room?!”
“Mother! It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!”
The word “Mother” made Yudis freeze.
She had heard Izana couldn’t even speak properly.
Her eyes trembled.
Was this all a lie? She could talk? Walk?
Did she pretend to be helpless and now strike at her weak point through Boris?
Why else would Boris be here?
Yudis snapped.
Smack!
A thin scratch appeared on the girl’s cheek.
Yudis was shocked. She hadn’t meant to hit her.
“What happened?! What did you do to Boris?!”
Her anger had moved her hand before she realized.
‘Your unhappiness is your own fault for being born this way!’
How dare she blame anyone else!
Boris did nothing wrong. If anyone was to blame, it was Yudis for bearing him outside marriage.
Why must this innocent child suffer?
Fate was fate. Yudis had accepted it and married Bern Rohia.
Izana should accept hers and live as Yudis dictated.
“Poor Boris…”
Yudis hugged him and groaned softly.
A cunning girl, she thought.
At that young age, she had hidden herself and waited for the perfect moment to strike where it hurt most.
“Tell me what you did to Boris, now—”
“Duchess, calm yourself!”
A third voice interrupted her shouting.
“What is the meaning of this?!”
Yudis blinked and looked up.
Marchioness Ersha Haiga stared down at her in shock.
“Madam, let me check on the young master.”
The family doctor had arrived. He gently lifted Boris and laid him down.
He checked his pulse and examined him carefully.
No one else in the room dared speak.
“I didn’t do it… I didn’t do anything wrong…”
Only the soft, tearful voice of the young girl echoed.
After a moment, the doctor straightened up and said,
“He is not in any life-threatening danger, Your Grace.”
“Then why isn’t he waking up?!”
The doctor hesitated, adjusted his glasses, and replied,
“He appears to be sleeping.”
“What…?”
Yudis frowned in disbelief.
Before she could scream again, the doctor quickly added,
“He might have taken a sleeping pill or been affected by a sleep spell. In any case, he is just asleep. We must figure out what happened here.”
“You…!”
“Duchess, please calm down.”
Marchioness Ersha Haiga stepped between them again.
Though her hair was white with age, her upright posture and blue eyes showed strength and authority.
“Do not forget your place.”
“Ah…”
Yudis finally took in her surroundings.
Guests staring in shock.
And in the center, a trembling girl in clothes dirtier than a stable hand’s, who looked just like her.
