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Chapter 8
Odette woke from her dream and, digging through her memory, drew a rough, crooked map of mountains and rivers.
What is this… am I even supposed to find anything with this?
She sighed at her scribbles, then suddenly remembered a village name and wrote it down.
“Now finding the mine is Caeser’s problem.”
She immediately called a maid and asked to be dressed as nicely as possible.
After she was ready, Odette headed to the dining room.
Caeser was seated with his back to the window, casually picking up an apple when he lifted his gaze toward her.
Why is he half-naked this early in the morning?
Three buttons of his shirt were undone, exposing his sculpted chest in an unapologetically bold way.
Odette felt her face heat up instantly.
“G-good morning.”
“It seems the medicine I personally fed you worked after all. Come here.”
Caeser extended his arm and pointed to the seat beside him.
Gasp!
As soon as she sat right next to him, his “demonic aura” began to attack her.
A tingling sensation started at the sensitive skin of her neck and spread through her entire body.
“You seem quite sensitive. Your reaction is unusual.”
“I’m actually not sensitive at all—ugh!”
Without warning, Caeser leaned in and breathed hot air into her ear.
“Still not sensitive?”
“I-I’m sorry!”
Odette gripped her skirt tightly, trembling.
Then Caeser lifted a fork, offering her neatly cut meat.
“Eat. You need to recover quickly. You still haven’t properly comforted your husband who returned from war.”
“Comfort…”
“Yes.”
“I’m not Lady Amelia…”
“You’re my wife.”
Caeser smiled faintly, his lips curling.
Realizing once again that he had no intention of letting her go, Odette made a decision.
“Y-yes… I am your wife. So I’ve started thinking I should protect your property.”
Caeser rested his chin on his hand and looked at her.
“My property?”
“I often saw Count Anderson processing unidentified gemstone rough stones and selling them secretly.”
Odette glanced up slightly.
Caeser’s expression shifted subtly.
It worked!
Feeling encouraged, she continued.
“I once found a document while cleaning your office… I thought you should know about it, Lord Caeser Myce.”
“So you tell me my butler and head maid are spies, and now you’re saying my assets are leaking too?”
“I… I like money. My dream was to marry a rich husband and live comfortably.”
“That dream came true, then?”
Caeser tilted his head slightly, urging her to continue.
Odette wet her lips and went on.
“There was a document stamped with the Myce Count family seal. It looked important, but it was just lying on the desk, so I found it strange.”
“……”
“I put it in the drawer and thought I should report it to the butler. But when I opened the drawer, there were beautiful colored stones inside. They looked like gemstones used in noble ladies’ jewelry.”
“You’re saying the document you ‘happened to see’ was land deeds belonging to my family, and that there’s a mine producing gemstones on that land?”
“Yes! That seems to be it.”
Now hurry up and take it back from Count Anderson—then I’ll run away.
“You even know the location of that land.”
“Yes. Here it is!”
She pulled out the map she had drawn right after waking from the dream.
But Caeser didn’t even unfold it.
Huh?
A bad feeling crept in.
“P-please, just go immediately. Deploy the army, seal Anderson’s office, and secure the evidence.”
“Now?”
“Yes! Stealing gemstones from land you inherited is theft. If His Majesty learns of this, he’ll be very disappointed in Count Anderson.”
“…Is there really a need to rush?”
“What… do you mean?”
Caeser poked at the leftover meat with his knife and looked at her.
“If Eric dies and the Count is removed, who do you think becomes head of the house?”
Eric was Amelia’s older brother. He had once been engaged to Caeser’s sister Andrea, but she had died, and he had remained unmarried since.
“W-who becomes head of the house?”
“It disappears. Just like that. Boom.”
He opened his hand with a casual smile, as if mimicking an explosion.
“Ah… then we can just reclaim the mine afterward?”
“Correct.”
All her sleepless nights and dream effort… felt completely wasted.
“Still, the gemstones were pretty.”
Odette said faintly, disappointed.
“You like gemstones?”
“Who doesn’t? A diamond the size of a fist was dazzling.”
“You want them?”
He looked like he might actually raid the mine right now and bring everything back.
“I really want them. Rubies and sapphires the size of marbles too.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll bring them. In exchange—kiss me.”
Odette immediately regretted ever mentioning gemstones.
If I kiss him, I’ll be bedridden all day…
Caeser seemed to drain her strength and energy with every touch and kiss. Even now, just sitting close to him made her weak.
But she didn’t dare refuse.
Let’s think of this as the last kiss.
While Caeser went to the mine, she had already made all her escape plans.
She closed her eyes tightly and pressed her lips to his.
It was only a light kiss—but it felt like her heart had caught fire.
All her energy was being sucked away through his lips.
It feels like he’s draining all my strength…
Her body melted, and she clung weakly to his shoulder.
“Ugh… s-save me…”
“That’s my line.”
She could feel him smiling against her lips.
Ah… my marrow…
Her mind went blank, her spine turning soft, and she collapsed limply.
Late at night.
Caeser, who had promised to go to the mine, finally left the mansion with his knights.
Odette quickly packed her things.
The mountain hut where she and her mother had lived was remote—if she escaped there, Caeser would never find her.
According to the map, it’s at least seven to ten days away.
She needed spare clothes and shoes.
She also had secretly asked Emma before leaving Count Anderson’s estate to bring the money she had saved—thankfully, that had been a good decision.
Odette placed dirty gold and silver coins into a leather pouch, along with a few pieces of jewelry just in case.
“This is the moment!”
She had to escape through Caeser’s estate and cross his territory.
She threw her bag out of the back veranda. Unlike the front courtyard, the back garden was covered in fallen leaves, and the sound of the bag landing was muffled.
“Good.”
The hallway was eerily quiet.
She tiptoed down the stairs and moved toward the kitchen.
As a former maid, she was certain the kitchen back door would be open.
As expected, it wasn’t locked.
She slipped out of the mansion without a sound.
The lack of guards made her uneasy—but who would be insane enough to break into Caeser Myce’s estate?
Odette grabbed her bag and ran.
She ran until the mansion fence blocked her way.
She threw the bag over the fence and climbed a tree whose branches extended beyond it.
Using the branch, she crossed over and dropped down.
“Ugh!”
The moment she landed, pain shot through her ankle.
A slight sprain.
“It’s fine. At least it’s not broken.”
She picked up her bag and limped forward.
By tomorrow morning, she could take a hired carriage.
“Mother… just wait a little longer. I’ll bring flowers and visit your grave. I miss you.”
And so, Odette’s first escape began.
