TRG 13

Chapter 13

Not long after the bad news arrived, rain began pouring down again. Elizabeth prayed that Kiern had safely reached the main estate.

The heavy rain showed no sign of stopping. Because of it, Elizabeth—who had neither carriage nor horse—ended up completely stranded at the villa.

Rising floodwaters made it impossible to travel on foot.

Elizabeth quietly waited at the villa for Kiern to return, while also praying earnestly that the duchess would be safe. That would have been Kiern’s wish.

The duchess was frail and often collapsed from illness.

Remembering how anxious Kiern always became in those moments made Elizabeth understand why he had hurried back, leaving her behind.

She hoped it was nothing serious, as usual—that the duchess would recover quickly, as if nothing had happened.

And then, Kiern would eventually remember her, left behind at the villa, and send a carriage for her.

But contrary to Elizabeth’s expectations, no carriage arrived even after three days.

Only the relentless rain continued. She assumed the weather was simply preventing travel.

However, even after the rain lessened, no carriage came to the villa. As time passed, a growing sense of unease and anxiety crept in.

She began to wonder if something had happened to the duchess.

Then, when the rain had completely stopped and puddles filled the ground, Elizabeth could no longer wait for a carriage and left the villa.

The weather had turned into a strangely warm and gentle summer day, as if it had never rained at all.

Suppressing her anxiety as best as she could, Elizabeth walked and walked.

The hem of her dress was ruined with mud, but she did not stop. A foreboding feeling rose to her throat.

She kept telling herself it was just needless worry—that nothing had happened.

By the time she reached Agaphel Castle, she was on the verge of breaking down.

“Lady! Waaaah!”

Crying voices echoed everywhere, making Elizabeth’s heart drop. The servants were all weeping uncontrollably.

No one even asked where she had been. They all seemed out of their minds.

“No… it can’t be.”

Pushing through the sobbing servants, Elizabeth made her way toward the duchess’s room.

Then someone grabbed her wrist.

“Elly, where have you been?”

It was Stella. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

Elizabeth ignored the growing dread and grabbed Stella’s shoulders.

“I was at the villa. It rained too heavily, and there was no carriage, so I couldn’t come back right away.”

“Oh my God! You mean you walked all the way here?”

Only then did Stella notice Elizabeth’s muddy shoes and hem and gasp in shock.

But Elizabeth ignored it and asked what mattered most.

“More importantly, where is the duchess? And Kiern?”

At her question, Stella pressed her lips tightly together before bursting into tears again.

“Sob… Elly. Don’t be shocked. The duchess….”

“Don’t cry. Just tell me, Mother.”

“She passed away this morning. She suddenly collapsed the day the heavy rain started… and she never recovered.”

“…What?”

“Yesterday she briefly regained consciousness and even spoke normally, so everyone thought she was stable… but this morning, she suddenly….”

Stella couldn’t finish her sentence and collapsed into tears, clinging to Elizabeth. Elizabeth stood frozen, unable to speak.

“Yesterday she even told me to take good care of the duke… our poor lady, what are we going to do?”

Stella spoke through tears, but Elizabeth’s thoughts were focused elsewhere.

“…Kiern? Mother, where is Kiern?”

At her words, Stella swallowed her sobs and pointed somewhere with trembling fingers.

The duchess’s room.

After calming Stella slightly, Elizabeth cautiously entered the room. She didn’t even knock properly—there was no response.

Kiern was sitting beside the empty bed. The room was neatly arranged, unchanged except for the absence of the duchess.

Even though he heard her enter, he did not react at all. He looked as if his soul had been drained from him.

His eyes were dull, like gemstones that had lost their light. It was an unfamiliar gaze.

The clear, warm eyes she had seen by the valley were gone without a trace.

Despair, regret, remorse, sorrow, misery, confusion…

All kinds of negative emotions she could neither fully comprehend nor name seemed to swirl violently in his eyes.

At his devastated appearance, Elizabeth couldn’t bring herself to offer comfort.

She didn’t know how to ease a grief like his.

She blamed herself for her arrogance in thinking she could easily comfort him.

The room was filled with unbearable sorrow, leaving no space for her to step inside.

And so, she quietly closed the door again.

Not Heaven, But Hell

When Elizabeth stormed into Stella’s room without warning, she let out a scream.

“Oh my, you scared me. Elly! What kind of rude behavior is this?”

She appeared to have been in the middle of doing her makeup. Frowning, she began fixing her uneven makeup.

Elizabeth stepped closer to her and said, “We need to talk.”

“Mom has to go out. If you have something to say, just say it. I’ve gotten pretty good at listening while doing my makeup.”

Stella replied casually as she applied lip color.

Elizabeth snatched the brush from her hand.

“This is serious. Look at me when I talk.”

“Oh? What on earth is so serious that you’re staring at your mother like that? Scary, really.”

Stella pouted and crossed her arms, as if telling her to go ahead.

Now that the conversation had finally started, Elizabeth hesitated.

Considering what Kiern had said—that she should ask Stella what she had done on the day the duchess collapsed—there was only one thing she needed to ask.

The relationship between Stella and the duke.

Steeling herself, Elizabeth grabbed Stella’s shoulders.

“Mom, what is your relationship with the duke?”

“What kind of relationship? A maid and her master, obviously. Why would you even ask something like that?”

Stella let out a small laugh, as if it were a ridiculous question.

Elizabeth’s face hardened. “Don’t joke.”

At that, the smile vanished from Stella’s face. She asked coldly, “Why? Did someone say something about me and the duke?”

“….”

“It’s all nonsense. You know that, don’t you? I’m pretty, so there are always men who mistake a glance for affection.”

Stella sighed deeply, as if tired.

“Recently, there have been quite a few men making advances at me. When I rejected them, they must’ve held a grudge and started spreading strange rumors. Honestly, I don’t know why people live like that.”

“Mom.”

“Men are all the same. They’re obsessed with anything pretty, always trying to drag it down. It’s ridiculous—like they even have anything worth showing off themselves.”

“Mom.”

“Elizabeth, you should be careful too. There’s not a single sane man who talks about love. Love, my foot. In the end, only money matters.”

“Mom!”

Unable to bear it any longer, Elizabeth shouted. Stella stopped mid-sentence and looked at her with wide, startled eyes like a rabbit.

Elizabeth felt a bitter pain in her chest at Stella’s endless excuses.

Stella tended to talk more when she was lying. She herself didn’t seem to realize it, but Elizabeth—who had spent her whole life by her side—knew it all too well.

And so she could tell. Stella was lying now. That realization tore her apart.

Kiern’s suspicion… was not a misunderstanding. That truth dragged Elizabeth straight into hell.

“Mom… why did you do that?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You shouldn’t have done that to the duchess. Right?”

“Elizabeth! Are you doubting your own mother? I said I didn’t do it!”

Stella shot up from her seat with a fierce expression, stomping her foot as if she had been gravely wronged.

“How could you do this to me? How can you not believe your mother?”

“Then tell me. Where were you on the day the duchess collapsed?”

“What?”

“The day it poured heavily with rain. You left early that day saying you had an appointment. Who did you meet?”

At Elizabeth’s unexpected question, Stella froze, stammering like someone who had lost her words.

And with that, Elizabeth felt something else inside her collapse again. Beneath it all was a deep abyss.

Elizabeth had been stuck at the villa during the storm that day and only returned to Agaphel Castle several days later, so she knew very little.

It felt as though a storm had swept through the castle during the five days she was gone. The atmosphere had been in complete chaos due to the duchess’s sudden death.

Because of that, even when the duke—who should have been away on a long trip—was suddenly present in the castle, she hadn’t sensed anything unusual.

She had simply assumed he returned early after hearing the news of the duchess.

In truth, Elizabeth couldn’t bring herself to ask anyone about what had happened that day. Everyone was grieving, and the death had been so sudden that she buried her curiosity without question.

She thought staying by Kiern’s side, smiling as if nothing had happened, was a form of consideration for him.

But it was not true consideration. Real consideration for him might have been taking her mother and leaving Agaphel Castle forever.