TMC 11

CHAPTER :11

10. I’ll Have to Cover Everyone’s Ears

“Sir Hartz? He comes every day to help the young master. Maybe something is happening at the imperial palace?”

“There’s always something happening at the palace.”

“Well, it’s not like we can do anything about it anyway. More importantly, I hope the young master’s temper cools down soon. It would be terrible if the young lady got frightened…”

The maid suddenly froze when she saw Stella standing right in front of her.

Leaning against the wall, Stella asked them.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, My Lady.”

“Is Lord Castillo in trouble?”

*Is it because of me? Is it my fault?* She couldn’t bring herself to ask directly, but anxiety gnawed at her heart.

* * *

On the night the shadow of a crow flew in,

Adrian was buried under a mountain of work.

He couldn’t afford to show any weakness until Duke Castillo returned, so he had no time to waste.

“They are searching for Lady Bronte.”

Despite the urgency in Liam’s voice as he reported the news from the imperial palace, Adrian kept his eyes fixed on the documents he was reviewing.

“Naturally, the Bronte family hasn’t said anything either. How long do you plan on keeping her hidden?”

“Liam.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Be quiet.”

Adrian had never intended to let anyone know from the start.

Shutting his mouth, Liam let his eyes dart around as he waited for Adrian’s next words.

“No matter what you say, I have no intention of backing down when it comes to Lady Bronte.”

“But…”

“If you’re so worried, find a way to make Lady Bronte want to stay in this mansion of her own accord.”

“How?”

Liam asked, realizing that changing Adrian’s mind was a lost cause.

Red eyes flashed sharply.

Shuddering at the chilling gaze, Liam bowed his head.

“If you can’t do that, then we’ll just have to cover everyone’s ears.”

Adrian spat out the cruel words without a moment’s hesitation.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“A half-baked incident won’t be enough to handle this.”

“Then we blow it out of proportion. We could trigger a far more shocking scandal so that rumors about the Bronte family can’t even circulate. And if that’s not enough, we can leak some threat to the empire’s security. Do you understand now?”

Anyone else would have called him a madman, but Liam simply nodded as if he had expected nothing less.

“Yes. Understood.”

“We’ll stop here for today.”

Adrian stood up and put on the coat hanging on the rack.

Seeing him looking so neat, Liam muttered grumpily.

“Are you going to see Lady Bronte? Every time something happens, you visit her as if you’re seeking a shred of forgiveness.”

“Forgiveness?”

“Never mind, then.”

Liam flinched and took a step back.

Why did his tongue always itch to provoke his master when he lacked the courage to follow through?

Realizing his mistake too late, Liam slapped his own mouth and began to follow his superior out.

But Adrian stopped in his tracks.

“Why are you following me?”

“To go home…”

“Then who is going to organize that?”

Blocking Liam’s path, Adrian gestured toward the towering stack of documents on the desk.

Staring at the paperwork that had accumulated over days, Liam winced and shook his head.

“You can’t possibly mean for me to organize all that by myself, do you? It’s already so late…”

“Finish it before you leave.”

“Right now?”

“Yes. Right now.”

Liam’s face fell.

But Adrian paid him no mind and turned around.

From behind, Liam’s voice wailed, “I was wrong! I’m sorry!” but it was too late to change his mind.

Another subordinate standing nearby, who had been teasing Liam the whole time, slapped his forehead as if he had known it would come to this.

After leaving the office, Adrian walked along the corridor to clear his cluttered mind.

*Prince Theo is looking for Lady Bronte.*

The Emperor, the Empress, the Prince—everyone associated with the imperial palace swirled chaotically in his head.

Although he had joined hands with the Empress, the mere mention of the imperial palace made his skin crawl.

*They’re all cut from the same cloth, anyway.*

Setting aside the difficulty of choosing who was the lesser evil, at this rate, the empire’s future was nothing but bleak.

*Fools.*

He furrowed his brow deeply.

*To think they still haven’t found a single trace.*

As he swept his hair back, two maids walking past him flinched and bowed deeply.

Adrian stopped in his tracks and looked down at them.

A cold smile, entirely different from the one he showed Stella, played on his lips.

“What are you doing?”

“We… we haven’t finished our chores yet, my lord.”

Adrian glanced at the maid’s basket.

Washing curtains in the dead of night?

It was a truly absurd and half-hearted excuse.

*Is keeping one around not enough?*

At this point, it was becoming difficult to keep turning a blind eye to the spies sent by the Empress.

*I’ll have to send a warning.*

Telling them not to interfere any further.

Having made up his mind, he roughly grabbed the chin of one of the maids and pulled it up, wearing a fierce, savage smile.

“Didn’t you hear from Owen what happens if you get caught wandering around at this hour?”

“Th-that, well…”

“Don’t bother coming to work starting tomorrow.”

The maid looked utterly aghast.

“You can pack your bags and leave right now. Do as you please.”

The two maids exchanged panicked glances and nudged each other to say something, but under his chilling gaze, they could only lower their heads deeply.

“Ah, and I will personally convey your hard work to Her Majesty the Empress.”

Leaving the terrified maids behind, Adrian rounded the corner of the corridor.

There, he came face-to-face with Stella, who was standing stiff with tension.

“Lady Bronte?”

“I…”

“Can you not sleep?”

His frightened little bird was beautiful.

She was so breathtakingly lovely that even locking her away just to gaze at her felt like a waste.

Why was this beautiful bird, capable of swallowing even the darkness, wandering around at this hour?

*Did she hear the talk about the Empress?*

When she remained silent, Adrian quietly looked down at Stella’s legs.

It was only this morning that he had coaxed her into saying her leg hadn’t healed yet, but her act had come to an end all too easily.

As his gaze lingered on her feet, she awkwardly drew her toes together in embarrassment.

“It seems the injury to your foot is fine now.”

Adrian leaned slightly to the side and quietly observed Stella.

Perhaps because she was a bird he had yet to tame, Stella Bronte possessed a spirit so free she looked ready to fly away at any moment.

That very sight only fueled his desire to trap her inside a cage of his own making.

“My foot is well enough to walk on.”

“Is that so.”

Indeed, it seemed goodwill alone would never keep that bird tethered to him forever.

After all, one eventually grew tired of kindness.

He leaned back against the wall.

*What should I do?*

Stella hesitated.

Although she clearly had something to say, she kept reading his expression and couldn’t easily find the words.

Looking at her now, she seemed nothing more than an endlessly fragile woman, yet in the moments when she truly should have been terrified, she would plan her survival without a single hesitation.

*Since she’s a lady who ran away from home, breaking her arms or legs won’t make her stay quiet.*

If she wanted to, she could escape at any time.

Adrian crossed his arms and observed Stella’s constantly shifting expressions.

If she had indeed overheard the talk about the Empress, he wondered what sweet words he should use to persuade her.

She pursed her lips, deliberating as if about to say something, before gently biting her lower lip.

“Are you alright?”

“…….”

“I was worried about you, My Lord.”

Adrian’s pupils suddenly dilated.

The anxious look in her eyes, she said, was because she was worried about him.

She always caught him off guard with the most unexpected words, and this time was no exception.

* * *

*Did I ask a rude question?*

As Stella grew anxious while watching his expression, Adrian lowered himself to meet her eye level.

His eyes came into sharp focus as the distance between them closed.

Stella forgot to breathe, staring blankly into those crimson eyes.

Perhaps because they were close enough for their lips to almost touch, she felt a terrifying sensation of being pulled into those eyes, transparent as pomegranate seeds.

Yet, she felt as if the world would crumble if she tore her eyes away, so she couldn’t.

“Were you worried about me?”

Stella blinked slowly.

It was true that she had run over out of concern that he might be in trouble because of her.

“Enough to seek me out in the dead of night?”

His tone was entirely different from when he was scolding the maid just moments ago.

His voice was soft, gentle, and sweet as it echoed in her ears.

“……I was worried that something difficult might have happened because of me. I… I heard that you were in a bad mood.”

Eavesdropping on others without permission didn’t feel right, so she had briefly covered her ears upon hearing him scolding the maid.

Thus, she hadn’t heard what came after, but the initial conversation was enough to tell her that his mood was far from pleasant.

“I see.”

“Fortunately, it seems you are feeling better now.”

Stella took half a step back.

At her movement, Adrian frowned slightly, but soon let his lips curve into a gentle line.

Straightening his posture as if he had never been angry with the maid, he smiled brightly.

“It was nothing. And more than anything, looking at the star has put me in a better mood.”

Although the stars in the night sky were exceptionally brilliant tonight, she felt embarrassed because his words sounded as if he were referring to Stella herself.

“I’m… I’m glad.”

At that moment, stars began to pour down from the night sky.

Staring blankly, captivated by the sight of dozens of shooting stars falling in succession, she turned her terrified face toward him.

“What should we do? The stars are falling.”

While a falling star was a wondrous sight, in the empire, it symbolized someone’s death.

Even though she had lost her memories, the superstition she had heard since childhood remained deeply engraved in her mind, leaving her trembling with fear.

“Perhaps a new star is about to be born.”

Yet Adrian spoke calmly, as if he felt no fear of the falling stars.

Even though he, too, had been born and raised in this empire.

“Are you not afraid of falling stars, My Lord?”

“The thing I witnessed most on the battlefield was death. Compared to that, a star shows its end in a brilliant flash of light—how could I possibly fear it?”

“…….”

“If anything, I only find it beautiful.”

A soft smile spread across Adrian’s face as he gazed up at the sky.

Stella followed his gaze and looked up at the sky.

She had always thought of falling stars as terrifying because they were associated with death, but seeing it now, the final moment of a star was simply breathtaking.

Only after the meteor shower blanketed the pitch-black sky and faded away did she turn her eyes back to him.

“Are you afraid of dying?”

“I suppose so.”

“How much?”

Stella clenched her fists tightly.

Then, looking at Adrian with unwavering eyes, she voiced her resolve.

“I will do whatever it takes to survive.”

No matter how harsh and cruel this world was to her, she wanted to survive and live proudly in defiance of it.

Until she discovered what happiness truly was.

Even if everyone in the world told her she could never be happy, she wanted to survive and prove them wrong.

“Does that seem pathetic?”

“Not at all.”

“Even while running away with no memories, the desire to live was the one thing I never forgot.”

Sometimes, when she looked at the sky painted in a kaleidoscope of colors, she would think to herself how glad she was to be alive.

She did not want to fade away like a shooting star, burning out its final moment in the darkness.

“I know it’s a greedy desire, but strangely, I can’t let go of it.”

“It is not greedy at all.”

Adrian gently stroked Stella’s cheek as she spoke with breathless urgency.

Her cheeks flushed red at his touch.

“You may covet far more, Lady Bronte. Do whatever you wish.”

Blending with the silence of the dark night, Adrian’s voice wrapped itself around her ears.

Though he was standing right in front of her, she strangely couldn’t see anything.

Perhaps his voice was too sweet, leaving her other senses completely paralyzed.

“You are allowed to do so.”

Her eyes stung as emotions welled up within her.

Yet, strangely, no tears fell.

Only her hot, flushed eyes burned red.

Stella dropped her head, unable to bear the overwhelming rush of emotion.

She was so deeply moved by his words—that she was allowed to desire more—that her heart began to beat wildly.

Before she could even calm her racing heart, his soft voice pierced through her chest once again.

“For I will be your strength. Is there, by any chance, anything you wish to do?”

“I haven’t… thought about it yet…”

“If nothing comes to mind right now, take your time. I will help you with whatever it is.”

A bright halo of moonlight formed around Adrian.

At the same time, Stella fell deep into thought as she watched him shine radiantly under the moonlight.

Until now, she had endured solely with the thought of survival.

Because she had never considered anything beyond that, she remained in a daze for a long while, unable to snap out of it.

*What is it that I want to do?*