Chapter 05

Sehera tossed out a single sentence to Leri, who stood wondering what she was thinking. This was the beginning. Embarrassingly, after all the delays, those first words came out far too calmly.

“A carriage… you say? Do you need something?”

Only after tilting her head and rolling her eyes did Leri ask that.

It wasn’t enough that she’d been holed up in the estate the whole time, barely venturing beyond her room and the dining room—now she wanted a carriage, not even a tea table prepared in the back garden.

Who could have expected that?

So naturally, she must have asked, thinking Sehera wanted to go to some shop in the nearby shopping district.

“I’m going to the Planer estate.”

She’d thought getting those words out would be incredibly difficult, but they came out as calmly as saying she’d have breakfast.

She deliberately didn’t look at Leri’s expression. Instead, she focused on the food in front of her.

For a while, no words came from Leri. The quiet dining room with only the sound of dishes clinking was familiar, but not hearing what should be heard felt a bit uncomfortable.

“Um, my lady. Going there means…”

“I conveyed my thoughts through you, Leri, and nothing came back. This must be his answer.”

To her, that man had always been just ‘Your Grace.’ She’d never called him ‘darling’ or ‘Ethan’… never anything like that.

Knowing he’d return home in a few days, knowing the letter would only reach him when he came home, she still couldn’t deliver it directly, and when he left the house again days later, she couldn’t even ask why there was no answer.

So this was as far as it went. Again… there was no place for her here.

“I want to leave right after breakfast. Is that possible?”

Sehera never looked at Leri until the end. Her gaze fixed on the food, her hands moving at a steady pace—her body moved on its own without even thinking about what she was doing.

Sensing the deep resolve in her calm voice, Leri couldn’t say anything more. She already knew she had no power to hold her back.

She was just… a little worried that Sehera didn’t seem sad even about parting with her.

“Even if you go there… you’ll be alone.”

She wasn’t in a position to worry about a noblewoman, but she had to say one more thing.

That there were people here who worried about her, and if she’d be alone anyway, wouldn’t it be better to stay here without the divorcée label?

Sehera’s hand stopped.

Leri hoped for a moment. That she’d make a slightly troubled face and say, “Right? I’d be alone there too…” and smile, finish her meal, and go up to her room.

Sehera turned her head to look at Leri. Her expression remained doll-like as always, but her eyes were different. Looking at those eyes, Leri knew.

What she’d been judging about her wasn’t really her at all, and this person… would leave no matter how much anyone tried to stop her.

She couldn’t stop her even more because no one knew what their master was thinking.

Two trunks hung from her hands as she came down the stairs. Just like when she first entered the estate.

“My lady…”

Even the coachman hesitated as he took her bags and loaded them onto the carriage. Leri called out to her with the feeling this was the last time.

“Leri, thank you for these two years. I’ll take good care of Willin and send him back.”

Willin was the name of the coachman who’d awkwardly loaded the luggage. She even knew the name of the coachman no one had told her about, this woman who cared about the servant who’d suffer through a day-long journey.

“Take care.”

Just before closing the carriage door, Sehera left a farewell with a smile toward Leri, who was still hesitating unlike herself.

At that beautiful smile, Leri’s eyes finally brimmed with tears. It seemed she’d never smiled once since coming here…

Bang!

The door closed, and Willin’s voice saying “Giddyup” came with the crack of a whip, and the carriage began rolling.

Leri stared at the back of the departing carriage, unable to move from that spot for quite a while.

* * *

Heavy footsteps carefully entered the quiet room where sunlight streamed in.

Thud… thud…

The heavy, slow footsteps seemed to look around. The room with slightly open windows where curtains fluttered was a woman’s room, decorated simply but beautifully.

The feet hesitated and moved around awkwardly in the room that felt strange without warmth or signs of life, then suddenly stopped.

The feet, whose gaze seemed to stop on the small desk in the middle of the room, approached the desk without increasing speed.

On that neat surface sat a notebook, a candlestick, an inkwell, and a quill pen. And as the gaze swept over the desk, one thing caught the eye. An envelope with one corner pressed under the candlestick.

Long, thick fingers touched it on the desk. The hand that picked up what was firmly sealed with sealing wax was full of hesitation.

And for a long while, it stood there holding the unopened envelope.

* * *

Ethan returned to the ducal estate, dragging his exhausted body.

When would he be able to stop this vagabond-like life? A heavy sigh escaped.

At least he wasn’t badly injured this time. For the past six months, he’d been able to return without injury. Because serious injuries kept repeating, he went out tense every time, but he moved that much more carefully.

Fortunately, he’d snapped to attention like that, and he was getting used to these tasks now, and the intensity of the work was gradually decreasing too.

Anyway, it took a long time. He hadn’t thought it would take this long…

Lost in his own thoughts, even though a physician who’d rushed over upon hearing of his return was following beside him saying something, he couldn’t hear it. He wanted to rest his heavy head, but his thoughts were many and someone beside him kept telling him to listen…

Ethan furrowed his brow sharply. His plan to enter his room without responding, thinking even the physician would retreat, fell through. He had no idea what the man wanted to say so badly that he followed so persistently.

About to close the door, he stopped abruptly and turned to look at the doctor.

“You’re not even a resident of our ducal estate, so why are you here at this hour?”

It was evening. Past twilight, when deep darkness now settled on the ground.

He’d originally belonged to the ducal estate, but about two years ago, after Duke and Duchess Croft disappeared from the estate, he’d left to find his own path.

He occasionally rushed over for him when he came with severe injuries, but he hadn’t fully returned as part of the ducal household yet.

So why was he at the ducal estate with such good timing without even being called?

“I’ve been waiting continuously to check the area I stitched a month ago. I should have removed the stitches already, but it’s too late. Hasn’t it festered?”

The doctor reached out and approached like he’d pull down his pants right away. Ethan lifted the scabbard he’d been unbuckling from his waist and pushed the doctor’s arm far away.

“Wait. It hasn’t festered.”

The doctor had been horrified at the deep cuts on his thigh and behind his knee. He’d said if it had gone just a bit deeper, he might not be able to walk, let alone fight.

He’d had an embarrassing thought then. What if he got seriously injured here right now?

If he’d been badly injured like that, maybe he wouldn’t have come here now. Maybe he could have lightened this weight he was carrying… thoughts like that.

He sat on the bed wearing flowing clothes. The doctor watched with mixed feelings as he rolled up his pants himself to reveal the hideously festering flesh.

“Look here, really! If you’re going to neglect yourself this much, wherever you’re going, take me with you. Please?”

The doctor spoke with his face scrunched up, seemingly upset.

As someone who’d done this work for a long time, he turned the leg where blood and flesh seemed tangled this way and that without concern, bursting out angrily.

If he was worried enough to act like this, she must be concerned about him today too. He only thought that if he kept all this hidden, she’d worry a bit less.

Even in the midst of this, watching the doctor fulfill his duty, Ethan briefly fell into useless thoughts.

And only then did Ethan grasp the subtly different atmosphere from usual.

The people who should come out to greet him came out well, the room was well-organized, and the sword he’d been wearing was thrown carelessly onto the sofa, scabbard and all.

Everything was the same as usual… but what was this feeling?

“Ugh…”

“I-I’m sorry! Does it hurt? Here… ah, the anesthesia hasn’t taken effect properly yet.”

Having to get another anesthetic shot like last time just to remove stitches—Ethan’s face showed slightly wounded pride.

But he didn’t deliberately show such feelings. Left like this, he’d faint while having stitches removed, so he endured without saying anything.

“Um, Your Grace.”

Then the doctor, who hadn’t even finished removing all the stitches, called him carefully. He didn’t stop his hands, but at the somehow hesitant voice, Ethan opened his tightly closed eyes.

It was because Leri had appeared. The head maid was a woman who handled work decisively, so they silently waited for her to speak.

“Um, Your Grace. Duchess Croft… Your Grace…”

He’d never seen Leri unable to continue and fumble like this. At this unprecedented event, Ethan’s eyes opened properly. And he looked at her properly.

She kept hesitating to report with an extremely anxious face, unable to finish. She couldn’t open her mouth in the end.

“Speak.”

Even at his firm command, Leri only bit her lips and couldn’t immediately speak.

Leri stood there unable to open her mouth for quite a while longer. In the meantime, after removing all the stitches and doing follow-up treatment, the doctor withdrew.

“You absolutely must not run, and don’t even think about moving if possible. If you really must move, do it slowly, very slowly. If you try to walk around as much as usual, you’ll definitely see blood again, 100 percent.”

I see.

Following the doctor’s words that made him tense, next came Leri catching his eye.