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~Chapter 22~
“Follow me carefully—the roads are tricky.”
The old lady led them out of the city and down some narrow alleys. Haron and Annie stuck close to Astia, watching everything carefully.
Even though it was daytime, the alley was dark and made them nervous.
“Young lady, should we just go back? She seems a bit strange…”
“I think so too, miss.”
Both Annie and Haron didn’t like the situation, and Astia also thought maybe they should turn around.
“We’re here.”
The old lady stopped in front of a suspicious-looking bookstore. Even in the dark alley, the bookstore stood out and looked very neat on the outside.
“Let’s go in.”
At Astia’s words, Haron and Annie nodded, still looking uneasy.
Inside, the bookstore was full of old books covered in thick dust.
Not just the inside, but the location itself made it hard for customers to find. No wonder it was always empty.
“Young lady.”
The old woman smiled kindly, glancing at Haron and Annie behind Astia.
“Can you leave your friends outside for a bit?”
“What?”
“I need to tell you something, just for you.”
“……”
“I’ve seen a lot of nobles, and you move like one.”
Astia’s eyes widened. She’d only said they were her companions, but the old lady seemed to know right away she was a noble.
“I needed to tell you something, so I called you here. And you did pay me 1 gold…”
“…Alright.”
Astia decided to trust the old lady, who didn’t seem threatening at all.
Before they went inside, Haron had said it was safe, and Astia was curious about what the old woman wanted to say.
She asked Annie and Haron to wait for her.
“Then I’ll stand by, miss. I don’t see any danger, but I’ll stay alert just in case.”
Annie looked worried, but stepped aside at Astia’s request.
Now alone, Astia looked at the old woman, who suddenly became serious.
“Lady Astia Rovellito.”
The old lady said her full name exactly.
“Grandma? How do you know my name…?”
“I worked as the nanny for the last Duke of Cellion. Back then, our families weren’t enemies, so I saw you as a child at the Rovellito house.”
Astia was shocked to hear the name of the Cellion family from her.
“Pyu.”
When Ruby heard the name, he shivered and stretched his tiny leg toward the old lady.
Whenever the Cellion Duke’s house was mentioned, Ruby reacted strongly, so Astia patted him gently.
‘He must really miss Diego.’
It seemed Ruby cared a lot about missing Diego, and it made Astia’s heart ache.
“My name is Rain. I spent most of my life serving the Cellion family…”
Rain took out a handkerchief and wiped her tears.
“I never thought I’d be driven out.”
“Driven out…?”
“After Lord Ruet took over, he drove out all the servants who were kind to Lord Diego.”
Rain let out a sad sigh.
“I almost lost my life… but someone helped me escape.”
Astia was confused. Rain had been the Cellion family’s nanny, but not only was she thrown out, someone had even tried to kill her.
Astia listened closely, and suddenly remembered something from the original story.
Rain.
In the original story, the male lead Diego used an information guild, and someone named Rain always helped him.
For some reason, Rain cared for Diego like her own grandson and helped him whenever he visited the guild.
“I can’t tell you who helped me—it’s a secret.”
“The Lash Information Guild.”
“…?”
“That’s who saved you, right?”
“…How did you know?”
Rain’s wrinkles deepened. She raised her eyebrows and stared at Astia.
“No one knows that, and you’ve never even left the mansion, have you?”
“Ahaha… Well, there’s a way to know these things.”
Astia forced a pure smile, trying to cover up her slip.
Rain’s face went from serious to a little relaxed.
“…I never thought you’d know that, but that makes things faster.”
Rain slowly knelt down in front of Astia and looked up at her.
“Do you know where Lord Diego is? Since you know about the Lash guild, I thought maybe you’d know this too.”
“Grandma! Please get up, your knees must hurt.”
Astia hurried to help, but Rain firmly refused.
“I have to show how serious I am.”
“But still…”
“I’ll get right to the point. Is Lord Diego alive? I thought maybe the Rovellito family would know something about the Cellion family.”
“…I really don’t know much about him. I just heard in the newspaper that he disappeared.”
“I see…”
Rain looked disappointed and slowly stood up.
She must care about Diego so much that she even asked Astia, even though their families were rivals.
Astia supported Rain and asked gently,
“Doesn’t the guild know anything?”
“No. No one knows where Lord Diego is, or even if he’s alive.”
If the best information guild in the empire didn’t know, it must be serious.
‘I feel bad for her.’
Astia felt sorry that she couldn’t help. To be honest, she wanted to meet Diego too, even for Ruby’s sake, but it wasn’t possible.
“Thank you for listening, young lady.”
“No, I’m sorry I couldn’t help.”
“Hehe, I’ll keep searching for Lord Diego. The other servants who were thrown out are safe, and we’re all just waiting for him to come back.”
“I hope you find him. Huh? Are you not feeling well, Ruby?”
“Pyu…”
Astia hugged Ruby, who was whining softly.
Rain looked at them kindly and said,
“And it’s true what I said about the rabbit’s influence. I have a good feeling about these things.”
“Really? It’s a good influence, right?”
“Yes. You’ll rely on each other as you live.”
Rain wiped her wrinkled eyes, sounding sure.
“Maybe now, or maybe in the future. That’s just the feeling I get. Thank you for talking with an old lady. Oh, please keep the Lash guild a secret.”
“Okay, I will.”
“You’re a smart young lady, so I’m not worried. I hope we meet again someday.”
After saying that, Astia said goodbye to Rain.
Watching Rain slowly walk away, Astia felt sad.
‘Prince Diego must have been a really good person.’
All his servants were waiting for his return, and just like in the original story, Rain cared for Diego deeply.
Her faith that Diego was still alive made Astia feel how much she loved him.
One thing was clear:
There was some kind of trouble going on in the Cellion family that was hard to explain.
“Pyu pyu.”
Seeing Ruby looking so weak, Astia decided it was time to go back home.
After the festival, Ruby changed a bit.
He didn’t act cute anymore, and spent most of his time staring out the window.
“Ruby, aren’t you hungry?”
“Pyu.”
Sometimes he wouldn’t eat, even when Astia gave him clover.
“Are you sick?”
Astia was so worried she asked Adel to check Ruby and tried everything, but nothing worked.
“Ruby, do you want to tell me something?”
“Pyu…”
Ruby often stared at Astia with sad eyes.
On nights when Astia woke up sweating from nightmares, Ruby’s red eyes looked even sadder.
He stopped eating and just lay down all day. Ruby was getting weaker, and Astia worried more every day.
“Asti, why don’t you let Ruby go? Maybe he’s unhappy living in a house when he was a wild rabbit. I don’t like seeing you so sad.”
Seeing Astia suffer, Damian suggested letting Ruby go back to the wild.
Astia understood, but decided to wait a bit longer.
‘Was I selfish to take Ruby to the festival?’
She felt guilty that she might have stressed Ruby out, so she tried even harder to care for him.
“Pyu.”
One night, Ruby waddled over to sleepy Astia.
“Ruby.”
“Pyu pyu.”
Half-asleep, Astia hugged Ruby. Ruby stared at her with red eyes, then tapped the bed twice with his front paw.
“Huh?”
Ruby spun in place as if telling her to stay.
“Pyu!”
Then he ran away and came back again.
“If I stay here, you’ll go out and come back?”
Astia asked what she was thinking, and Ruby made a happy noise as if to say yes.
“Pyu!”
Ruby seemed lively again, which made Astia so happy.
That night, she hugged Ruby extra tightly, feeling like he might disappear.
The next morning.
“Ruby?”
Feeling empty next to her, Astia woke up early—and realized Ruby was gone.
