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Erich’s approaching expression was utterly terrifying.

“It’s a crisis!”

Honestly, I wasn’t scared when Betty was the only one around. I couldn’t fully trust Betty, but she wouldn’t pry into my secrets if I wanted to keep them hidden. I believed she would carry out my request.

“But Erich is different.”

The more I prevented him from entering, the more suspicious he seemed. He would open the door.

“If it were John, he’d have hidden even Erich’s rampage.”

If John’s collapse were exposed, things would become even more complicated. Erich, who arrived before me, scanned me with a sharp gaze.

“What are you planning here at this Blanche dukedom?”

“Erich Blonou!”

Betty, who had been stammering at me, burst out in anger. I had never seen Betty look so frightening.

“What are you saying to my mistress? Right now, I’m talking with my mistress, so don’t interrupt.”

“No. I won’t be swayed just by your words. This concerns the security of this mansion.”

Ignoring Betty, Erich tried to open the door. I instinctively reached out to stop him.

“Why the blood…?”

Erich grabbed my arm. The eyes that looked at my hand trembled.

‘Oh my. This can’t be happening.’

My hand, which should have been fine when I last woke, now bore a wound I’d seen in a dream.

‘When did this happen?’

I’d been too overwhelmed to notice. The palm was smeared with scratches and blood.

‘I didn’t realize because it didn’t hurt.’

I hurriedly hid my hand.

‘What kind of excuse will you make?’

Neither Betty nor Erich looked away from me. Betty’s eyes, which had already been damp, grew even sadder, and Erich’s face turned pale as if he’d seen a ghost.

‘Why is his reaction like that?’

His complexion drained as if he’d seen a ghost.

~·~·*· . ·*· . ·*· . ·*·~·~

Lately, Erich hadn’t been able to shake thoughts of Estelle.

‘The Lady has truly made that woman the duchess of Blanche.’

John married Estelle to no consultation at all. He even received imperial approval and the temple’s seal. No matter how noble the Blanche duke was, killing a proper wife is hard. John offered various rationalizations, but Erich felt they were all excuses. Then he met Estelle. She sat on a high tree as if about to fall.

“Long time no see, Baron Blondé.”

How she had climbed so high with those delicate arms. Aghast, Erich lashed out at Estelle. It would have been better if that woman had died.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Estelle’s answer was natural. From the start, Erich himself hadn’t shown her the respect due to a mistress, or even as a human being. He had also pried where he shouldn’t.

‘Anyway, you hate me. You’ll figure it out on your own. You don’t have to interfere any longer.’

‘I’ll manage it. If I fall, I won’t die anyway.’

A voice that sounded resigned, as if he’d tried to die many times.

‘Then wouldn’t it be good if I died?’

‘If I die by mistake, you’d be delighted.’

It was a reasonable thing to say. But since Estelle had spoken Blanche’s name, Erich felt a despair he couldn’t describe. Estelle’s pale complexion, as if she could disappear at any moment. Unwittingly, Erich spoke words he hadn’t intended.

“…If you want to die, go somewhere else.”

Estelle Libertan. She was nothing more than an adopted child of a vanished family, raised by the Blanche duke’s house, a tool for her master’s revenge.

‘You’re fake.’

But why was the thought of her dying so terrifying? Erich fought the urge to speak nonsense, then fled from Estelle’s side.

“No, it’s my fault for thinking I could talk to someone like you.”

It wasn’t actually a conversation with Estelle. He knew talking to Estelle would be pointless, yet he felt foolish for attempting it again. After leaving the garden, Erich sought Estelle, worried she might hurt herself.

“This is to not ruin Master’s revenge.”

He searched to see if she might have fallen, but Estelle had already vanished from the tree, as if their recent exchange had been a hallucination. For a moment, Erich stared blankly at the tree.

‘What exactly is that woman?’

Erich knew Estelle had secrets. From the crystal incident she suddenly exposed to the orphanage she’d visited, questions surrounded her. It made sense that Erich found Estelle perplexing. But most of the Blanche dukedom didn’t know these things. Yet now he accepted Estelle as true mistress of the house. Even Petricia, who had shared his doubts, now seemed to think the same. When Erich returned to the mansion, he found a handkerchief Betty was holding.

‘That handkerchief. What is that handkerchief?’

A blood-stained handkerchief.

‘Nothing special. It’s one of the evidence pieces I collected during my last mission as a spy, and I’m planning to dispose of it now.’

‘When did you collect it? What evidence is it?’

‘It’s something you don’t need to know, brother.’

For some reason, Erich felt as if the owner of that handkerchief might be Estelle. This only added to his confusion.

“What on earth are you hiding?”

Estelle, meanwhile, was caught in Buchanan Betty plotting something suspicious. Truthfully, he was certain he’d caught a suspicious scene.

“What are you planning here at this Blanche dukedom?”

Trying to interrogate her as if she were a culprit, he forced his way into her room.

“I will reveal this woman’s true nature.”

Betty tried to stop him, but he pressed on. What he witnessed, however, was completely different from what he’d expected.

“Why the blood…”

Her hands, as if hiding something, had blood on them. Blood dripped from her mouth, as if freshly spilled. Then Betty’s handkerchief that she’d been clutching sprang to mind. He remembered Estelle’s tale about the medicine and the rumors he’d dismissed.

‘You heard the mistress is terminally ill? She’s living in Libertan, but she’s an adopted daughter, not a biological one. I pity her.’

‘Seeing her in person, she’s truly kind and good. Strictly speaking, she’s not to blame. She won’t live long anyway…’

Could the rumor be true? The calm attitude toward death that Estelle had shown all this time now made sense. The blood on the floor behind the slightly opened door suggested there might be more blood on the bed further away.

‘She endured the pain.’

Estelle could manipulate others’ pity by claiming she was terminally ill. But instead, she endured it with a calm smile, accepting Libertan’s guilt.

‘Why…’

She wasn’t the villain Erich had imagined.

“You truly believed I’d be that sick…?”

Betty roughly shoved Erich, who tried to justify himself.

“Is that satisfying now? Having dug out something your mistress wanted to hide, are you satisfied?”

Erich collapsed to the floor helplessly. His glasses rolled away, his hair scattered. Yet he couldn’t even think to pick up his glasses, staring blankly at Estelle.

“I… I…”

“Lord Blonou. Have you resolved all your questions?”

Estelle smiled awkwardly, hiding a hand as she slowly closed the door.

“It’s a shame to show you something you shouldn’t see. Now I’ll rest. Betty, please…”

Click. The door locked.

~·~·*· . ·*· . ·*· . ·*·~·~

John snapped to attention. Yet his body felt unusually refreshed.

“Has the rampage ended?”

This use of dark magic was beyond John’s plans. He hadn’t expected Estelle to be made happy by preparing the magic ball, or to be attacked there. He’d even removed all enemies to protect her.

“But Estelle?”

Estelle, with a naïve, loving face, stubbornly remained by his side. It seemed she wouldn’t be driven out, and she might even attack him directly…

“Milady?”

Estelle had fallen asleep right beside him. In her hand was a cloth that she had used to tend to him all night.

“She’s alive.”

That fact brought him both relief and deep confusion. From the moment he sensed the sign of the rampage, John had wanted to move to a safe place where he could control things. Normally, no matter who warned him, he would move.

‘But the side effects don’t necessarily mean I’ll die. If the duke allows, I want to stay by the duke’s side.’

But Estelle’s voice slowed him down. So everything changed. John could not move to the usual hiding place to resolve the side effects, and the mansion would have fallen due to his power.

‘But…’

From the room to the mansion, everything surprisingly remained intact.

‘What on earth happened?’

Estelle slowly opened her eyes. Her cream-soft pink platinum hair swayed, and a fragrance filled the room. It was a scent that stimulated him.

“Duke?”

Estelle looked at him in awe, her eyes wide like a rabbit. Her deep blue eyes, as if the entire world was focused on John alone, shone as she gazed at him. Every time John looked at Estelle’s eyes, he thought, Estelle always stared at his red eyes with curiosity, but the truly beautiful thing was her mysterious deep blue eyes. No jewel could capture that mystic glow. Estelle tilted her head and fluttered her long lashes shyly. Seeing this tender, fragile side, John felt an intense urge to destroy her with his own hands. Even that broken shape would be beautiful. The brilliant morning sunlight streamed through the window. Estelle was bathed in sunlight. She smiled radiantly, as bright as a beam of sunshine.

“Glad you woke up. How does your body feel?”

John had never thought the sunlight could sparkle. In his life, sunlight was just sunlight. But seeing her in a sunlit room somehow felt different. Her shining smile was making something new in him, redefining what it means to sparkle. He suddenly noticed the wrists she extended toward him.

‘That mark…’

The red marks on her wrists, the injured-looking palms and fingers. The scar on her neck.

‘Why did I think nothing happened?’

How could he not have realized sooner? The side effects of black magic, the rampage, could not be prevented without any damage. If there seemed to be no harm, that would mean someone had borne it.

‘Because I’ll endure whatever happens.’

Of course this alone could not explain the rampage’s subsiding. He needed to know how Estelle endured the side effects…

“I feel strange.”

John couldn’t take his eyes off Estelle, as if enchanted.

“You… you…”

He snorted in a dry gulp, his weary eyes contorting in pain.

“Why do you look so glittering?”

It was clear his heart had broken beyond repair because of that stupid, silly woman.

~·~·*· . ·*· . ·*· . ·*·~·~

The side effects of black magic seemed dangerous.

“I feel strange.”

His usual cold and merciless demeanor was gone, and he spoke in a dazed, incomprehensible way.

“Why do you look so glittering?”

Feeling awkward, he scratched his cheek and looked toward the window. ‘Is my rationality not back yet?’ Since John had woken, he should open the window to ventilate the room.

“I’ll open the window for you for a moment.”

I stood up and opened the window. A cool breeze rushed in. I hadn’t properly opened the window for fear someone might come in. Then a strange gaze from outside crossed my sight. I bowed my head. A man below looked up at me with a tender gaze. A handsome man with short silver hair and blue eyes, the epitome of a restrained beauty. If John reminded him of a languid black panther, this man gave off the aura of a noble knight. The wind tousled his short silver hair. The man kept staring at me with a blank expression.

‘That man…’

In an instant, I knew.

‘Leandro Pelcis.’

The original male lead, Leandro, who had come to rescue me from the Blanche dukedom.

“Lady. I’ve come to save you.”

~·~·*· . ·**##^^##**· . ·*·~·~

Hey there, It’s Green Rose 😉

Since I human I might have make some mistakes while translating so please if you find them let me know here in the comments or in the Discord group so I can correct them and be careful in the future so they do not repeat.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

~~~Next Chapter~~~

Next chapter will be released Tomorrow.

See you then!!