IBWMD 70

~Chapter 70~

‘…Ah. Crap!’

I screamed inwardly the words I couldn’t voice aloud.

I had barely managed to stop my hand—only to get hit full force in the face by another kind of attack.

From that absurdly handsome extra’s face, his glistening, teary eyes were pouring emotion straight at me.

“Let me see.”

“Where you’re hurt… please, at least let me check.”

A ridiculously good-looking man pleading with tearful eyes had overwhelming destructive power.

Is this how emperors feel when they just hand out titles and state treasures because a concubine bats her lashes?

‘Pull yourself together, Elaine.’

I felt the back of my neck burning as I opened my mouth.

“I told you, I’m really fine. Just look at his face.”

Smack. My finger pointed at the assassin crumpled in the corner.

Karl’s eyes followed the direction belatedly.

“That blood? It’s his. It splattered all over.”

“And for the record, we don’t need a doctor. If anyone needs one, it’s him.”

So please stop with that kind of attack. It’s seriously freaking me out.

Karl silently observed the assassin for a while, then turned back to me.

“What’s that, then?”

“That’s what you should’ve asked first.”

“Isn’t whether you were hurt the most important thing?”

“That’s why you need to stop—no, never mind.”

I was on the verge of falling apart under the bombardment of worried eyes and kind words.

Deliberately avoiding his gaze, I answered,

“If you want an answer… probably an assassin?”

“……”

“His outfit screams assassin. He even had a mask on earlier.”

Though now it was off. More precisely, I had stripped it off.

Seeing the torn black cloth strewn across the floor, I felt a little embarrassed.

“…An assassin, huh.”

Karl’s voice dropped even lower than before.

Finally, that suffocating sweet atmosphere began to lift.

‘Good… I think.’

As the air cooled, rational thoughts began to return.

And with them, what needed to be done next.

“He’s already been subdued, so it’s fine. We just need to keep him here and find out who sent him.”

“He’s unconscious, so we can’t interrogate him right away, but at least we can tie him—”

“Vacate the room, Elaine.”

Just as I was starting to regain my composure, Karl cut me off.

I blinked in surprise.

What was that?

He was the one who broke in, but I’m the one who has to move out now?

I couldn’t hide my disbelief.

“So you want me to be homeless—?”

“Go to the Grand Duke’s estate.”

An unexpected answer.

“Tell the head maid to give you the Grand Duchess’s room.”

Karl’s gaze shimmered as he said it.

“You’re entitled to it.”

…Why did my heart drop at those words?

‘Right.’

I knew what he meant.

This place had already been compromised by the assassin. Staying would be dangerous—he was telling me to get to safety.

‘He’s saying it out of concern. I understand that, too.’

The Grand Duke’s staff would definitely give me the room if I told them I’d been attacked.

They wouldn’t want the Grand Duchess from the capital to remain in danger.

Still, the Grand Duchess’s room?

‘…There’s no need to worry about something like that,’
he’d said earlier. But now it felt different.

‘It sounds like he’s acknowledging I really am the Grand Duchess.’

Or more precisely…

‘He’s saying: “You’re the Grand Duchess, so I don’t have personal feelings for you.”’

I know I’m being dramatic.

But seeing Karl’s eyes, looking conflicted and a little pained, made it hard to dismiss the thought.

‘Like he’s drawing a line between us. Saying the feelings I thought we shared were all in my head.’

A different kind of discomfort twisted inside me.

Of course, I could draw the line too.

Hadn’t I been the one constantly telling him not to say weird things?

‘Right. Just like that.’

We could pretend none of it ever happened.

I was just the Grand Duchess. He was just a knight who happened to bump into me a lot.

But still…

My eyes drifted downward—

Toward the sweet scent of butter that had subtly lingered in the room’s heavy atmosphere.

The cookies Karl had dropped when he lifted me earlier.

‘Did it take him a while to find them?’

Now that I thought about it, they seemed like popular cookies.

Made with real butter—a rarity in a town like this.

‘Even that bakery said only that flavor was sold out.’

So he must’ve gone through all that trouble to find them.

Then ran over at this late hour just to deliver them.

‘Just so he could see me happy when I got them…’

The more I thought about it, the more my stomach turned.

While I bit my tongue, Karl spoke again in a firm, insistent voice.

“Promise me, Elaine.”

“Promise me you won’t stay here—you’ll go to the Grand Duke’s estate.”

“…I can’t promise that.”

“Why not?”

Why?

Because if I go there, I won’t be able to walk around town like I used to.

I had been dealing with pickpockets, shady shopkeepers—finally getting close with the market people too.

Well, fine.

That was partly an excuse. Sure, those things mattered, but more than anything—

It was him.

I wouldn’t get to see you like I used to.

“Elaine.”

When I couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud, Karl urged again.

“I won’t leave you somewhere dangerous.”

“And I’m strong enough to handle threats on my own.”

“Your strength doesn’t matter.”

“……”

“Anyone can die, anytime, in any way.”

At those words, my mind flashed to Karl’s parents—killed in a carriage accident.

He meant it. He was genuinely worried.

But still…

Hearing that tone made me want to ask him something honestly.

‘You… really okay with me moving into the Grand Duchess’s room?’

Because that would mean the Grand Duke’s guards would take your place.

…You’d go back to your real job, and we wouldn’t see each other anymore.

‘I was the one who told you to go back to your job.’

So why does the thought of that actually happening feel so painful now?

Why does the scent of those butter cookies make my stomach feel worse?

Why does it feel like the honey wine still clinging to my fingers has melted my brain?

“Karl.”

Without realizing, I cupped his face with both hands.

Blink.

Karl slowly closed his eyes, then opened them and looked up at me.

Tiny golden and amber specks clustered and dispersed in his eyes—like melted honey and amber.

Inside them, thin, vertical pupils—like a reptile’s—narrowed and widened, repeating like a lens aperture.

As if they were taking dozens of snapshots of me.

“You…”
I was about to ask if he truly wanted to send me away, when—

Knock knock knock knock knock!

A fast and cheerful knock dragged us both back to reality.

“Young lady?”

“…Ack!”

‘Right! Beth!’

I whipped my head toward the clock.

Crap. The laundry should be done by now.

Karl’s visit had completely thrown off my schedule.

“Huh?”

Rattle, rattle. The doorknob turned several times.

“Why is this locked? Young lady?”

‘This is bad.’

My eyes darted wildly around the room.

A chaotic mess. A half-naked man unconscious in the corner.

…And Karl standing right there.

A vivid memory of Beth ranting on New Year’s night popped into my head:

‘That insolent alley cat! If I ever see him again, I’ll yank every hair out of his head!’

I was certain.

If Beth saw this, there was no way I’d get out of it clean.

WHOOSH!

Like someone set me on fire, I dropped my hands from Karl’s face and jumped to my feet.

He stood up too, swept up in my panic.

“Elaine?”

“Hold on.”

First, I grabbed the unconscious assassin and used him like a mop to wipe up the blood and water.

“There!”

With the determination of someone scrubbing three times per second, I cleaned the floor.

Then shoved his limp body under the bed like a soccer ball. Room—mostly cleaned.

Now the only problem…

“Young lady? Are you awake?”

“Uh, j-just a sec!”

I lunged and grabbed Karl’s collar.

Then opened the wardrobe door…

‘Why is he so damn big?!’

When I used to hide there, it was roomy. But trying to stuff Karl in—it was impossible.

“……”

“……”

Our eyes met. Meanwhile, the doorknob continued to rattle.

“Young lady! Is something wrong?”

“Uh, no! Just, uh… I have a stiff neck!”

“A stiff neck?”

Think!

Behind the curtain? Too exposed—scratched.

Under the bed? Already occupied by the assassin—no good.

“Are you in pain? Do you need help moving?”

“No, I’m fine! It’ll pass soon!”

“Should I pick the lock and come in?”

“No!”

Right. Beth was a pickpocket—of course she could pick the lock!

“Then I’ll just open it.”

And just like Karl, Beth never listened to me.

Click, click. As I heard the lock disengaging, my eyes scanned the room even faster.

Under the desk? Nope. That corner? That shelf? That—

My eyes locked onto the bed.

And at that exact moment—Karl’s did too.