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Chapter 04 — Freedom That Left Only Scars
“Siena, this is your last warning. Put the gun down.”
Damian’s face and voice became even colder and more rigid.
At his words, Siena’s hand, still aiming the gun, began to tremble. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“So because of that woman, you don’t even care about me anymore?”
“Siena.”
“I’m your fiancée! You’ve only known that woman for such a short time, so how can you treat me like this?”
“Siena, I told you that’s not true.”
“I hate you. I hate that woman even more. I wish you’d all just die. You’re all I have!”
Even through Siena’s sobs, Damian did not waver in the slightest.
His black eyes looked down at her with the darkness of the deepest midnight, silently condemning her.
Ah… this is the end.
The thought suddenly crossed Siena’s mind, and the tears gathered in her eyes finally fell.
At the same time, something inside her snapped.
Perhaps it was the lifeline called Damian that she had been desperately clinging to.
The strength slowly drained from Siena’s pale hand, and the hunting rifle began to lower.
Just then, a deafening clap of thunder exploded outside.
Startled by the loud sound—as she always was—Siena instinctively tightened her grip.
Her finger pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The bullet grazed Damian’s arm.
“Ugh.”
“Your Grace! Are you alright?”
Lily hurried over and caught the staggering Damian as he clutched his bleeding arm.
Siena could only stare blankly.
She couldn’t even tell whether this was reality or a dream, yet the vivid red blood flowing from his arm stood out with terrifying clarity, filling her vision.
“What happened?”
A man dressed in black rushed into the tent.
After taking one look around and understanding the situation, he immediately closed the tent entrance.
Then he approached Damian, exchanged a few words with him, and walked over to Siena.
He gently removed the rifle from the stunned Siena’s hands, engaged the safety, and checked the remaining ammunition.
Even then, Siena’s gaze never left Damian.
“Damian…”
“Go back, Siena.”
His cold dismissal and the icy glance that briefly met hers made her heart sink.
Her empty eyes darted around in fear.
It was an accident.
I swear.
I wasn’t trying to shoot you. It just happened.
The excuses she wanted to say spun endlessly inside her head.
But as soon as she saw his expression, only her lips trembled.
No words came out.
Instead, Siena desperately shook her head.
“You’ll have to take responsibility for what you’ve done.”
But Damian offered nothing except that cold warning.
As he removed his jacket to examine the wound on his arm, he tossed it carelessly onto the table.
The handkerchief Siena had tucked into the jacket slipped out and fell helplessly onto the floor.
Watching Damian ignore it completely, Siena realized this truly was the end.
She slowly turned away.
Behind her, she could hear Lily’s gentle voice asking if Damian was alright, along with the sound of a first-aid kit being opened.
But Siena couldn’t even bring herself to check how badly he was hurt.
She stumbled out of the tent.
“Ah…”
After walking several meters away from Damian’s tent, I felt raindrops landing on my face and looked up.
I’d heard thunder moments ago.
And as if mocking me, rain had begun to fall at the exact moment I felt most miserable.
It’s finally over.
No more being forced to move against my own will.
No more kicking my blankets every night in humiliation because my body acted on its own.
But…
Why do I feel so strange?
Maybe it was because I’d lived as Siena for several months.
Her memories and emotions had become hopelessly tangled with mine.
The aching, desperate feelings that belonged to Siena pounded inside my chest as if they were my own.
At least it was raining.
Even if I cried, no one would be able to tell the tears from the rain.
Everyone was staying inside their tents, so no one would see me like this.
Even as I was soaked to the bone and the cold seeped into my very marrow, I simply stood there, staring up at the pouring rain.
After quite a while, something suddenly settled over my head.
It was a fairly heavy jacket.
When I turned around, the black-haired man who had treated me like a madwoman was standing there.
“What is this?”
“They say you shouldn’t acknowledge crazy women, but ignoring someone you know feels a little rude.”
“Do we know each other?”
“You know me.”
“…Well, I suppose I do.”
“See? Then we know each other.”
He casually brushed his soaking wet hair back and shrugged with an easy smile.
Could seeing someone only once really count as knowing them?
Besides, he’d treated me like a lunatic, and now he was acting friendly and speaking informally.
The nerve.
No matter how pitiful I’d looked, I was still a noble.
He was a bodyguard, so presumably a commoner.
“Why are you speaking so casually?”
“Because we know each other.”
“Just because people know each other doesn’t mean they speak informally.”
“I do.”
“…”
Part of me wanted to answer him just as casually.
But for some reason, the words wouldn’t come.
Judging by his teasing smile and playful tone, he didn’t seem frightening.
Yet somehow, he carried an authority that made it difficult to treat him carelessly.
Forget it.
The weather was miserable.
My mood was miserable.
There was no point wasting time on pointless banter.
I gave up responding and pulled the jacket tighter around myself.
It couldn’t keep the rain off anymore.
Both my hair and clothes were already drenched.
Still, if I happened to run into someone on the way back, I didn’t want them to see me looking this pathetic.
“I’ll have it cleaned and return it. Just tell me your address.”
“Just keep it. I’ll come get it later.”
“You know who I am?”
“I was the one who cleaned up today’s incident, Siena Hargreaves.”
“…”
“Now hurry back. Stop looking so pitiful.”
It wasn’t that I was feeling sorry for myself…
Or maybe that’s exactly how I looked.
I had been standing in the rain doing nothing, after all.
I obediently turned to leave.
“Oh, wait.”
He stopped me, then began roughly wiping my face with a handkerchief.
“Mmph… Wh-What are you doing?”
“You’ve got gunpowder residue on your face.”
“The rain will wash it off. Just leave it.”
“It only seemed to smear more.”
“…”
“Wipe it off while you’re walking.”
The handkerchief he held out to me was the very one I—no, Siena—had given to Damian.
Of all times…
Why this handkerchief?
I didn’t take it.
I simply stared at it.
“Aren’t you taking it?”
“It’s alright. I’ll wash my face when I get back. Just… throw it away.”
“Throw it away?”
“Yes. I’m sincerely asking you.”
Only then did he seem to notice something strange.
When he looked at the pink tulip embroidered in one corner of the white handkerchief—or what could hardly still be called white anymore—his expression stiffened in surprise.
But he quickly closed his hand around it and smiled as though nothing had happened.
“Well, taking out the trash isn’t part of my job, but if that’s what you want.”
“Please. Thank you.”
After hearing his reply, I turned away.
Today was supposed to be a good day.
The day my humiliation finally ended.
Yet my heart felt as heavy and sodden as the hem of my dress, soaked by the muddy rainwater pooling beneath my feet.
After the hunting competition, I avoided going out and remained shut inside my bedroom.
I was, after all, the criminal responsible for the firearm accident, merely waiting for Damian’s judgment.
Fortunately, Damian had treated it as an accidental discharge.
Otherwise, the rumors would have grown into attempted murder, and I would have been completely ostracized from high society.
Given how terrible my reputation already was, people would have readily believed the exaggerated rumors.
“Miss. The Count is asking for you.”
Mary’s cautious voice carried obvious anxiety, and her face looked dark with worry.
So it’s finally come.
Swallowing nervously, I set down the novel I had only been pretending to read.
As soon as I entered the drawing room where Count and Countess Hargreaves were waiting, the heavy atmosphere made it difficult to breathe.
