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Chapter 56
I recalled what I had said to Lady Lilypen.
“Don’t you want revenge? You were abandoned despite giving your loyalty.”
At a glance, the Duchess didn’t seem like a very good mistress.
Moreover, among the information that the head butler had casually given about the main family, there was enough reason for her to hold a grudge against the Duchess.
I had only scratched at that surface.
‘I’m not sure if this will work, but at least it should increase internal confusion.’
At that time, I hadn’t confirmed it directly, but the situation inside the current Duke’s family was far more chaotic than expected, and things were turning out much more positively than I had hoped.
The Duchess was struggling.
“It wasn’t me! It was all that girl Kasia’s doing!!!”
It was then that Lady Lilypen stepped forward with a sinister expression.
“The Duchess… has been harboring resentment towards the late Duchess, and has wanted to kill Lord Edmund for a long time.”
“Shut up! Don’t lie!!!”
Lady Lilypen’s words sounded very convincing to the Duke.
During their arguments, the Duchess had frequently mentioned the late sister-in-law, so it wasn’t the first time.
“And the Duchess has always hated the little lady. Because the little lady kept interfering with the Duchess and only followed the Duke’s commands.”
Lady Lilypen’s words felt strange.
She always referred to the Duchess as ‘Mistress,’ but now she was calling Kasia ‘the little lady’ and referring to the Duchess with a distant title.
However, neither the Duke nor the Duchess noticed this.
“So she was always planning to kill both of them at once.”
Lady Lilypen spoke, her expression like someone choking, but she said everything she needed to.
The manipulated facts.
“I’m just repeating what I told the Duke.”
Just as Kasia had threatened.
The Duchess’s eyes rolled back.
“You!!! What nonsense are you spouting all of a sudden?! What grudge do you have against me to say such things…!!”
The Duchess’s astonishment and anger weren’t meant for the Duke.
He was in a state where his reason had burned away into ashes.
It wasn’t just simple anger and frustration that filled his head.
Most of all, the emotion pushing him to the edge was one.
Fear.
‘I won’t be able to find the family seal like this!’
The only person who knew its location was Edmund, but he was dead.
No, his wife had killed him.
Now, the Cohen family’s seal would forever be buried in the darkness.
He would never become the rightful Duke of Cohen.
Just that thought twisted his insides, but there was an even more serious issue.
‘…How do I explain this to the Emperor?’
The former king of Palts, who had been killed, and the conqueror who took over the kingdom.
The Emperor of Zenobia, Karl III.
He had obtained the position of Duke by submitting to the Emperor.
The Emperor had demanded two things.
-
Assist in ruling the Palts kingdom.
-
Deliver the Cohen family seal to the Emperor.
The Cohen family seal, along with the holy sword of the Palts royal family, was one of the last two remaining ancient magical artifacts.
In particular, the holy sword of the Palts royal family was the most powerful magical artifact and also a symbol of the ancient empire’s rule.
The Emperor wanted to use it as proof that he had secured the continental hegemony.
The Cohen family seal was also the key to finding the holy sword of Palts.
But, he had already made the Emperor wait for seven years.
Recently, Emperor Karl had looked quite anxious.
“When will you stop making me wait, Apen?”
“It’s almost done. Just a little more, just a little longer, Your Majesty.”
If the Emperor found out that he couldn’t locate the family seal…
If he learned that he wouldn’t be able to obtain the holy sword of Palts either?
‘Forget about wealth or titles, my life is in danger!’
Naturally, his son Patrick’s engagement with the Emperor’s daughter would be called off.
“Damn! Damn it! Damn it!”
No, even before that, his position and life were hard to secure.
The Duke’s head spun so quickly that it gave him a headache.
The one judgment he made first was simple.
‘For now, I have to hide it! The rumor about Edmund’s death can’t get out.’
The people before him were witnesses who knew about Edmund’s death.
Killer intent flashed in the Duke’s eyes.
We had been moving at full speed for the past two weeks.
Thanks to that, we were now far away from the villa.
‘Maybe I can relax a little now?’
I thought that as I felt some ease.
‘So maybe we can go a bit slower?’
But the moment I realized that my mind had loosened, I shook my head.
‘No. I have to stay sharp. Right now, I’m Edmund’s protector!’
The reason I was having such weak thoughts was clear to me.
I was physically exhausted.
The four of us weren’t accustomed to traveling, especially not such a strenuous journey.
And I was the worst off.
It wasn’t just the first day that my feet were a mess.
The wounds treated with a magic potion started to reopen from the second day, and my condition worsened.
Eventually, when Edmund sat me down on the side of the road and took off my shoes, the soles of my shoes were almost completely stained red.
“Goodness!”
Edmund clenched his teeth, his face turning pale. He must have been struggling too.
“Are you alright, Miss?”
The nurse whispered, holding me tightly with a worried expression.
“I’m fine.”
Edmund replied with a voice that sounded strangely wet.
“You don’t look fine at all.”
Well, I couldn’t argue with that since I could hear it myself.
Before that, in my current condition, I didn’t even have the strength to fight.
“If I had known this would happen, I should have made more healing potions.”
Wallace repeated the words he had said countless times over the past 20 days as he treated my foot.
I weakly shook my head.
“But that potion… is only made in the Magic Kingdom, right?”
Also, the ingredients were extremely expensive.
It was too wasteful to make me use it.
Of course, I had already used one on myself.
“It will take several more hours to reach the next village.”
“But it’s impossible for you to walk!”
“Right. I…”
Wallace’s words were stopped by Edmund.
“I’ll carry her.”
The nurse and Wallace both looked at Edmund with concern.
In fact, Edmund wasn’t in good condition either.
He was a bit better than me.
Edmund was still only fourteen years old.
He wanted to help, but he couldn’t be a burden.
I gathered all the strength I had left and tried to stand up.
“I’m fine, really.”
But—
“Miss!”
“Kasia!”
“The little lady!”
I couldn’t hold on and collapsed.
When I briefly opened my eyes in my dazed state, I was being carried on someone’s back.
‘Is it Wallace?’
But no, it wasn’t.
Wallace was walking beside me.
He was keeping an eye on me and the person carrying me, ready to help me up at any moment.
‘Edmund…’
Edmund was carrying me on his back, breathing heavily as he walked.
His breathing was rough, and I could hear his heart pounding in his chest.
‘Is he alright? Edmund must be struggling too.’
I didn’t have the strength to voice my worries.
And oddly, Edmund carrying me like this, his back, his body heat, his labored breaths, and the sound of his racing heartbeat.
They gave me a sense of relief.
Maybe that’s why I fainted again, drifting into unconsciousness.
On Edmund’s back.
When I opened my eyes again, it seemed quite some time had passed.
The sky outside the window was dark blue. It was dawn, I think.
‘How long was I out? This isn’t the time to be like this.’
As my mind cleared, I tried to sit up immediately.
But I failed.
My body was heavy, not only because of fatigue, but there was an even heavier obstacle.
‘Edmund?!’
Yes.
Edmund was lying next to me, holding me tightly in his arms!
For a moment, I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest.
