HSLF 14

Chapter 14

“Miss Dorothy!”
At the front gate, pushing through the harem entourage to enter the mansion, Countess Serin was anxiously looking for Dorothy. Standing in the parlor, the countess’s face looked paler than Dorothy, who had just returned from a near-death experience. Seeing Dorothy walking in perfectly fine, the countess hugged her tightly.

“I’m sorry for causing you so much worry…”

“Who is it?”
“Huh?”
Before she could finish, her words were cut off. Impatient, aren’t we?

“You could at least tell me who it was.”

At first, Dorothy thought the countess was asking about the masked assassins who had tried to kill her. She hesitated before answering. Even though Serin’s territory was far from the capital, it was still influenced by the capital’s social circles.

She couldn’t say anything bad about the Marchioness of Moven. And she could never admit being threatened by her.

The countess noticed that Dorothy couldn’t answer properly.

“There was chaos last night.”
The countess whispered with a slightly anxious voice.

“Dorothy’s fans insisted on climbing the mountain to find you. They protested so fiercely and even tried to join the search parties themselves. One of them even went into the mountains, and the search party we sent yesterday afternoon had to bring them back.”

They even caused an incident? Dorothy had thought they were just timid, tearful little ones waiting at the front gate.

But if the countess said it, it must be true. Just like Dorothy could imitate the heroine Rosy in front of the harem, the harem behaved politely like the famous horse Blue Fairy in front of Dorothy.

“They protested, putting themselves in front of me, asking what they’d do if something happened to you.”
The countess looked as if she was thinking, “Well, they’re just kids, so I tolerated it. Otherwise, I’d have taught them a lesson about manners.”

“They went crazy over something that’s not even confirmed yet.”

No, she meant to half-kill them, judging from her expression. Judging from her expression alone, it seemed Dorothy had reached the level of reading minds.

“I’m disappointed in you too, Dorothy. You could have told me. I’m not someone who gossips.”

Even if she was disappointed, Dorothy could never talk about the Marchioness of Moven. If anything, it would make things harder for Countess Serin.

“But even so, a honeymoon trip… Romantic as it is, shouldn’t you have been more careful?”

Dorothy scratched her head, unable to immediately process the words that had just arrived.

“Excuse me?”
“A honeymoon trip.”

…Nowadays, do people romantically call assassinations that? A secret trip with a masked gentleman—something like that?

High-ranking nobles certainly had a way with euphemisms. As ordinary noble Dorothy, it was a world she would never fully understand.

Dorothy tried hard to understand the countess’s context, but staggered at the next question.

“At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were to be married the day after tomorrow.”

Holding a faint hope, Dorothy pointed to herself with her index finger and asked again.

“Married…? To whom? Surely not me?”

The countess nodded.

I’m going crazy! She thinks it was a sweet, loving date, not a deadly date with a masked gentleman!

“Absolutely not!”
Dorothy shouted in excitement. The countess looked at her in surprise.

“A honeymoon trip… Why would I do such a thing? Do I look like someone who would go on such cowardly, secretive dates?”

The countess stared at Dorothy.

“No way! I’d rather go on a public date scattering flower petals than do that!”

Ha. The world is so cruel. After being threatened all night, struggling with sleeping outdoors, now this bizarre problem bothers her. The world’s will must be a perverted madman worse than Lexa.

Dorothy desperately denied it, insisting she would never do such a thing, but the countess didn’t seem inclined to believe her at all.

“I thought your feelings for Duke Cameon were sincere.”

“My feelings for Duke Cameon have always been sincere! Last night, now, and forever!”

After lying more than a hundred times, lies started to feel more sincere than the truth.

“No, Countess Serin. Why on earth do you think I went on a honeymoon trip?”

Dorothy couldn’t understand it at all. Even surviving a 17:1 fight with a bear seemed more reasonable than this absurd speculation. And now there was a misunderstanding even worse than with the harem.

“That’s because you kept the identity of the other person a secret.”

Dorothy protested in frustration.

“That’s not it!”

“You secretly spent a deep night in the mountains with a man, and witnesses saw your romantic actions. Do you deny it?”

Dorothy thought of the forgetful knights. Their mouths were lighter than their armor.

And she thought of Lyle again. That madman… she should’ve just punched him once. No matter how cute I look while sleeping, why didn’t he wake me up to prevent this disaster!

“Tell the truth. Dorothy, wasn’t coming to Serin just a way to avoid others’ eyes?”

“No! Absolutely not! And I think you’re misunderstanding. It was absolutely not the kind of night you imagine. We were riding in the carriage together and encountered a group of bandits.”

The countess sighed and added,

“That’s exactly the problem. That mountain belongs to the Serin estate. The place where the count keeps his horses is strictly managed. Suddenly, bandits? Impossible.”

The countess was right. They weren’t bandits—they were assassins. But Dorothy couldn’t say that!

“Dorothy, don’t think I haven’t checked. I already confirmed the empty carriage that came down from the ranch. The driver said the guest would take your carriage, so they should go ahead first. The servant following also said you two seemed close.”

Dorothy’s mouth fell open. Her ankles caught like this? The countess’s logic left no gaps. Dorothy had thought the countess was smart, but she didn’t expect this!

“Did you… check the guest?”

“It was a guest invited by my husband. He often has such secretive guests. According to him…”

Dorothy swallowed hard.

“He’s too busy for anything to involve you. If people don’t change when they’re about to die, they can’t fall in love. My husband said that, but seeing you, I can tell. You are very charming.”

No, Dorothy did not want praise at this moment.

She considered what she could do in this situation. The countess would probably think Dorothy was lying no matter what she said.

Dorothy couldn’t explain everything, including the Marchioness of Moven, to the countess.

“Among the knights who brought you early this morning, some of them are also your fans.”

“That means…?”

The countess nodded. Dorothy’s head spun faster than it could handle. The talkative knights would spread the word from the harem to the capital.

Wow.

Things could be rough, but this is over the top.

“Already, they said your supposed love for Duke Cameon was a lie and now even think they have a chance.”

The countess added fuel to the fire. Dorothy’s perfect survival strategy, the “Duke Cameon crush plan,” could collapse so easily? She shook her head in frustration and took a deep breath.

“Excuse me, Countess.”
Rops. Dorothy needed Rops. Rops Barbarin enjoyed giving her headaches. He needed to provide a proper countermeasure for this mess.

“I need to return to the capital immediately.”

The countess nodded at Dorothy’s words. Dorothy spoke firmly.

“And Countess, may I borrow some paper and a pen?”

At a glance from the countess, a maid brought paper and pen. Dorothy wrote in front of the countess, explaining carefully.

“The man I was with is just a kind gentleman whose name I don’t even know. It’s truly a misunderstanding. As Countess Serin said, he’s not someone who can casually meet people. Please tell anyone who asks that it’s not true.”

Dorothy wrote quickly, earnestly urging the countess.

“What’s this?”

The countess glanced at Dorothy’s note with curiosity, without being rude. Ah, there it goes again—habit. Dorothy shrugged awkwardly, embarrassed, looking at the signature, which was much bigger and fancier than the note itself.

“Because he’s a fan of mine.”