Chapter 7

It was an unbearably blunt question, leaving me nowhere to run.

My face instantly turned bright red, but the person who had asked the question calmly elaborated as though it were nothing unusual.

“You seem to regret it. That night, you didn’t really know who I was, so perhaps you were simply attracted to me based on my appearance. But now that you know my background, I thought perhaps I might no longer be good enough in your eyes.”

Of course, I couldn’t agree with that.

There was no way.

If anything, the opposite was true.

What I couldn’t understand was why a man like him wanted to marry someone like me in the first place. That was exactly what had me so confused.

But then, an even more ridiculous assumption slipped from the man’s lips.

“Besides, you have the option of the Marquis now, so perhaps that’s another reason? After all, the Marquis is a great noble everyone knows…”

“What good does that do me? He’s incredibly rude and not noble at all! I’d rather grow old and die an unmarried woman than marry someone like him!”

There was no need for me to be that honest.

I had instinctively snapped at his ridiculous misunderstanding. I immediately regretted my thoughtlessness, but apparently, my reaction had amused him.

A low chuckle suddenly escaped the man’s lips.

Of course, it didn’t last long.

The quiet laugh soon faded as though it had never existed.

The silence that followed was filled by his voice, even quieter and more resolute than the silence itself.

“Then that’s a relief. To be honest, I hoped you wouldn’t choose the Marquis as your husband, at least. I agree that the man is rude, but that’s not the reason. Perhaps that man…”

His lips, now completely devoid of any trace of amusement, moved coldly.

“might kill you.”

For a moment, I wondered if I’d heard him wrong.

Of course, I knew the Marquis wasn’t a good person. But there was a world of difference between not being a good person and possibly killing me, wasn’t there?

Moreover, the man’s eyes looked far too calm for the story he was telling beneath the flickering gaslight, which only made me doubt my ears even more.

But I hadn’t heard him wrong.

“I heard a rumor. That the Marquis’s former wives were actually all beaten to death by the Marquis.”

He delivered that horrifying piece of information as calmly as an old doctor who had grown accustomed to diagnosing serious illnesses, his tone as indifferent as though he were simply announcing an everyday occurrence.

As a result, all the shock was left for me to bear.

The Marquis’s former wives had all been beaten to death by him?

That can’t be true. How could something so horrible…

But the shock didn’t end there.

“Of course, it’s only a rumor. And even now, only a few people know about it. Still, there’s one thing I’m certain of. Among those few people is someone you know.”

“……”

“Your uncle. The current Baron Belphon knows about it too.”

“My uncle knows about this rumor too?”

Faced with yet another shocking truth, I asked again.

But once again, the man answered clearly.

“Yes. Definitely.”

“But… then, that doesn’t make any sense. If he’d heard such a rumor, why would he try to…”

At that moment, a truth I desperately didn’t want to accept slipped from the man’s lips without mercy.

“Your uncle has accumulated quite a lot of gambling debt. Enough that even the estate you’re living in together is about to be auctioned off. Apparently, the Marquis offered to pay off those debts for him.”

Of course, it wasn’t free.

The man’s lips slowly delivered the final sentence.

“In exchange for handing you over to the Marquis.”

Just then, the flickering gaslight returned to its original yellow glow.

Under that yellow light, my stunned expression was laid completely bare.

Truthfully, I’d always been uneasy.

Whenever my uncle staggered home in the early morning, reeking of tobacco and liquor.

Whenever I noticed that one household item after another had disappeared, things that could be sold for money, always on the days he came home like that.

But even so, I’d never imagined it would come to this.

And yet, here we were.

Now that I knew the truth, the words I’d kept buried inside for so long finally slipped through my lips.

“…You bastard.”

It was something I’d swallowed down even when he locked me in my room without giving me food as punishment, or threatened to throw me out whenever he pleased.

But now, I couldn’t hold it back any longer.

It wasn’t enough that he’d been slowly squandering the fortune my father had accumulated. Only three years after my father’s death, he’d even gambled away the house filled with memories of my father.

And now, he had tried to sell me to an old man who might be a murderer.

I couldn’t forgive him.

Then, suddenly, I heard a low chuckle from somewhere.

I turned toward the sound.

As expected, it was the man’s laughter again.

That only left me even more bewildered.

What was that laugh about? Does he find my situation funny?

As though he’d read my thoughts, the man slipped one hand into his pocket and said,

“Sorry. I didn’t expect you to curse so quickly. But don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t laughing at you. Rather, I like that honest side of you. Just like you were on the night of the 25th.”

The man’s lips paused for a moment before slowly whispering, as though emphasizing his words,

“Even now.”

His low voice seeped languidly into me.

Just like the glow of the gaslights illuminating the garden at night.

My face grew as red as the roses revealed beneath the light.

The corners of the man’s lips lifted slightly as he gazed at me.

But I couldn’t watch that smile for long.

The navy-blue mask he had been holding was placed back over his face.

“Then, I hope you’ll give me an answer regarding my responsibility soon. I’ll take my leave for now. I’ll see you again soon.”

After delivering his final words, the man turned around.

I stared blankly at his retreating back and thought,

Why is my heart beating so fast?

He had already walked so far away that I could barely make out his back anymore.

So why was my heart pounding as though I’d just gone for a run, and why did my face feel so hot?

Still, one thing had become certain.

Of course, I still couldn’t remember anything…

I really must have attacked that man first.

Because the me from that night must have felt exactly the same way I did now.

I’d been completely captivated by that man that night, too.

Just like I was now.

Completely and utterly.

That didn’t mean I could simply remain captivated by the man forever.

The reason was the bastard who found me in that enormous garden not long after he’d left.

No.

My uncle.

“Ellowyn! Have you gone insane? How could you say in front of the Marquis that you knew some lowly bastard like that? You even deliberately followed him out! You’ve completely lost your mind!”

Every word my uncle spat out was blaming me.

In the past, I would’ve been frightened.

Not because I’d actually done anything wrong, but because I’d been afraid that this time, my uncle might really throw me out.

But now, I didn’t even flinch.

There was a far more powerful anger filling my heart.

Of course, my uncle had no idea about that.

“Enough! I’ve already made up an excuse for you, so go to the Marquis right now and beg for his forgiveness! Tell him that you’ve never received this kind of affection before, so you didn’t know how to react when the Marquis showed you such kindness, and you instinctively fled the scene!”

I was almost impressed by how he managed to come up with such creative lies every single time.

But regardless, my uncle even laid out a set of guidelines for me and threatened me as usual.

“If you fail to appease the Marquis and the marriage falls through, I’ll throw you out that very day! So you’d better do your best! And it’s not just you! That Anne who is always hanging around with you, that wench too…”

But there was no way such threats could work on me anymore.

Not after I’d learned everything.

“You’re already about to be thrown out of that house. How could you possibly throw me out of it too?”

“W-what did you say?”

“I heard everything is already going up for auction anyway. Because you keep wasting money on that pathetic gambling you’re not even good at!”

My calm yet resolute voice startled my uncle.

The wrinkles between his brows crumpled like a sheet of paper.

“H-how did you…”

But his confusion didn’t last long.

“Did that damn shoeshine boy tell you? That I’m about to lose the house because of my gambling debts?”

My uncle clenched his teeth angrily before letting out a rough sigh.

“Haah. That bastard really is something, isn’t he? Earlier, he threatened me, saying he’d tell the Marquis everything about what happened on the 25th if I didn’t let you go. And now he’s going around spreading the word about my gambling debts too? Just what the hell is that bastard? Who is he to know everything?!”

Apparently, my uncle, just like me at first, hadn’t even considered that the man might be the passerby who had rescued me.

But there was no need for me to tell him that.

There were still many things I needed to discuss with my uncle first.

“Not everything. There’s one more thing that he knew and you knew, but I didn’t.”

I continued while staring directly at my uncle.

“I heard there’s a rumor that all of the Marquis’s former wives were beaten to death by the Marquis.”

I paused before asking,

“Is that true?”