Chapter 44
***
lody inadvertently gulped down a deep breath.
She was already an accomplice!
Good heavens, she had heard nurous tis in her past life that one should not carelessly help others move their luggage!
Thump.
A ‘record taken by crossing the line’, impressively marked with a luxurious pattern, was placed onto lody’s startled hands.
“It’s alright. The ancient sages used to say.”
Claude, picking up another book, offered a comforting tale to lody.
“If you cross the line together, there’s nothing to fear.”
That was utter sophistry. The sages would not welco applying that saying to ‘laws’.
“We might find what we want to know in here, right?”
“…We?”
“Three things to keep in mind. The path a mber of the royal family passed, near the capital.”
And as he paused, lody provided the last piece.
“The day the painful snow… fell.”
“That day will be our new party day.”
There was a sense of certainty in his response, as if ‘we will definitely find the date.’ But lody, with a slightly worried expression, broached a possibility.
“There might not be a day that satisfies everything. It might not even be near the capital. Or my mother’s mory could be incorrect…”
“Are you scared?”
“Pardon?”
“About pinning your hopes on this.”
Well… Isn’t that obvious? She was even trying hard not to get overly excited.
“We will find it.”
His voice sounded more like conviction than encouragent.
“I will find it for you. So it’s alright for Miss lody to be excited.”
“…”
It was probably just consolation offered so lody could purely enjoy herself… but still, lody was truly grateful for such kindness.
And it felt a little strange.
“Sir,”
“Yes?”
“Why are you so kind to ?”
He looked at lody intently for a mont with a ‘why are you asking that now?’ expression, then replied as if it was the most natural thing.
“There’s no particular reason for
to treat Miss lody badly. There are reasons to be kind, though.”
“What reasons?”
“How would it be if I mistreated soone my sister likes?”
“Well… Miss Loretta would be upset.”
“See? The answer cos quickly.”
lody slowly nodded, yet sothing still didn’t sit right with her.
If he harbored such thoughts, then what was the aning behind the way he usually teased lody?
“Still, it’s a bit upsetting. To think I have to say sothing as pitiful as ‘soone my sister likes’ from my own mouth.”
He sighed deeply and slumped down on a nearby sofa, then opened the record.
From that point on, no matter what lody said, he hardly reacted and began to focus on reading the record.
Soon, lody also sat opposite him and started examining the record he had handed her.
“I will find it for you.”
Was it because of the conviction in the words she had heard earlier?
With every page she turned, lody felt her heart inexplicably race.
And as ti passed, surprisingly, the anxiety about her expectations ceased to be felt.
Sohow, that was the case.
***
The next day, when the postman arrived at the Duke’s house, Butler Higgins handed him a yellow envelope.
Surprisingly, the recipient was the postman himself.
Upon opening it, the first line of lody’s letter, written because ‘I might not be able to et you due to class,’ was visible.
“What does it say?”
Higgins looked at the postman with a pleading gaze, begging to be inford.
“Oh, you an you haven’t heard anything from lody?”
The postman was sowhat surprised that Higgins, who usually knew everything about the Duke’s house, was unaware.
“Hmm.”
Higgins did not hide his discomfort.
To Higgins, it seed that Claude and lody had been very happy since the early morning. But as they didn’t share the details, it was frustrating.
“Wow! To think there’s a day when I know sothing about the Duke’s house before Butler Higgins.”
The postman chuckled and quickly escaped onto the carriage.
“Don’t worry! It’s a really good… uh, is it good? More work doesn’t exactly sound good…?”
He mumbled to himself, shaking his head, then hurriedly left the Duke’s estate.
In the afternoon, Higgins, despite his restless curiosity, ca to know about the ‘really good thing that increases work’ the postman ntioned.
And on all the calendars in the Duke’s house, a certain date was marked with a yellow circle.
Beneath that pretty number, it was written:
[lody’s Joyous Birthday]
***
Not long after, the execution was carried out.
Even on her mother’s last day, lody spent her day as usual. Without showing any particular sadness or anger.
Just like everyone else.
She didn’t feel the renewed sensation of being ‘alone’.
lody had Loretta, who ca every morning to hug her, and Ronny, who grumbled behind her every ti.
Plus, today, a special guest had co to visit her.
“Miss lody, you have a visitor.”
Of course, lody knew that the visitor was due to co today.
They had expressed their intention to visit a few days earlier and had politely arranged an appointnt.
lody imdiately headed to the drawing room.
Her palms were sweating, strangely nervous.
As the door clicked open, the person sitting on the sofa stood up abruptly.
Last ti he visited, he had seed almost like a half-lted, languid jelly, but today, his actions were as sharp as ice, which was quite surprising.
And lody felt sorry.
“Hello, Isaiah.”
As lody called out and closed the door, Isaiah dashed towards her and knelt on the hard floor with both knees, with such force that it sounded loud.
It seed like it would be incredibly painful, but he didn’t care about his knees and looked up at lody with desperate eyes.
“I was wrong!”
He seed unsatisfied with saying it just once. Before lody could even respond that it was okay, he repeated the sa words several tis.
“I was really bad, I shouldn’t have done what you didn’t want! I really didn’t do well! If you want, hit , lody.”
lody was reminded of Claude’s words after that incident.
“It’s just that his head is hot right now. Once he calms down and reflects on the situation, he’ll surely want to apologize to you, Miss lody.”
It seed his words were true. Seeing Isaiah’s face, unable to be satisfied even after repeating his apologies, gave her that assurance.
And she also rembered what she had responded to Claude.
“I should be the one to apologize first. I lied. I promised not to co to et my mother, but…”
“Isaiah, listen.”
lody knelt down in front of him.
“I’m sorrier.”
“You, why are you sorry to !”
“Well, because of the promise…”
lody started to say but then shook her head quickly.
“Before that.”
There was sothing else she needed to apologize for first.
“Isaiah, you told
several tis that I have to fight for myself. But I always just ran away.”
“Well.”
“Thank you.”
Behind that ‘thank you’ was an unspoken ‘but from now on, it’s okay.’
Isaiah seed a little disappointed, realizing this from lody’s expression and tone.
Strange, isn’t it? He always thought he wanted lody to stand on her own, but when it actually happened, a sense of loneliness crept in.
‘Maybe… I.’
Even though he said so, it seed he quite liked it when lody relied on him. Isaiah thought to himself.
“I was thankful too, l.”
He brushed off the regret with a grin. lody offered a handshake as a sign of reconciliation. Sohow, she felt they could beco even closer friends from now on…
“Ah?!”
Just as she reached out her hand thinking they could beco friends. Isaiah suddenly scread upon seeing lody’s hand.
“Isaiah?”
She called out worriedly, but he was just shaking, his face pale, his eyes trembling.
‘What’s wrong?’
As lody tilted her head slightly, Isaiah pointed at her hand. A thin hand was wrapped in a white bandage.
Isaiah grasped his head and then thumped his forehead against the floor.
“Is it because of ?! Right! It’s because I held on too tight, isn’t it?!”
“Ah.”
lody quickly grabbed Isaiah’s shoulders to stop his bizarre actions.
Lifting his head, Isaiah’s eyes were, for so reason, brimming with tears.
“Hit , l! It’s okay if you beat
until your anger is gone!”
“This isn’t because you held on too tight.”
“Really? Then why are you hurt?”
“Just shake hands for now.”
He cautiously took her hand, responding to her invitation with a smile, as if handling a piece of delicate, breakable glass.
“But Isaiah, what punishnt did you receive for that incident?”
“Uh…”
At the ntion of punishnt, Isaiah’s expression turned as if he was about to cry again.
“Was it such a scary punishnt?”
“No. Compared to what I braced myself for, it was nothing.”
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