WBSML 11

Chapter 11

“Is that bird really so precious to you?”

“Of course it is!”

“Then how does it compare to the allowance of mine you’ve been siphoning off?”

Hellreos flinched.

Since Eliza had never retaliated against him, he had never once considered that she might have discovered what he had been doing.

The way his eyes darted around made everything obvious, and Eliza’s mocking smile deepened.

“Or perhaps I should compare it to the jewelry you stole from me? Which would you be more upset about losing? I heard Miss Sonia has been proudly showing it off everywhere.”

“T-That…”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t know?”

The reason Eliza had never retaliated was because she knew that the more she did, the more her parents would blame her.

But after desperately searching for an excuse for a while, Hellreos seemed to run out of ideas.

He began snorting angrily again before forcefully shoving Eliza’s shoulder.

“You can’t accuse me without proof!”

“Ah.”

“I’ll tell Mother! That bluebird was a gift from her, you know?! You wouldn’t understand because you’ve never received anything like that, but they said it was incredibly expensive! You’re going to get in trouble now!”

A dull pain traveled up Eliza’s shoulder from the impact, and her irritation gradually began to boil over.

Before she could think, the words slipped out.

“Get out of my room right now, Hellreos Pruna Valour.”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Why? It’s a precious name Mother gave you.”

Hellreos hated his middle name.

It had been taken from his grandmother’s name, and he openly complained that it was horribly old-fashioned.

Eliza knew this very well and frequently used it to tease him.

Just as Hellreos raised his hand—

The bedroom door suddenly flew open.

“My lady! I brought what you asked for—”

“Tch. What a nuisance.”

The maid, who had hurried into the room, stopped when she saw Hellreos.

He at least had enough common sense to know that he shouldn’t hit his sister in front of other people, so he clicked his tongue and turned away.

“Just you wait!”

His heavy footsteps gradually faded away.

The maid hurried over to Eliza.

Eliza silently stared at the floor before speaking quietly.

“Nancy. Could you clean this up?”

“Yes, my lady. Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

“Oh dear. Why was the young master angry this time?”

“He thought I had done something to his bird.”

“Pardon?”

Nancy’s eyes widened.

Eliza returned to her usual calm expression and slowly walked back to the sofa.

By the time she leaned against the backrest, Nancy hesitantly asked,

“…Were you caught?”

“No. Of course not.”

It was indeed Eliza who had sneaked into Hellreos’s room and released the bluebird.

Even Nancy, who had kept watch for her, probably didn’t know this, but it had been one of the first steps Eliza had taken toward betraying her family.

There was only one reason Eliza had released the bluebird from Hellreos’s room.

The bird that Marquis Hagen had given her mother had been spying on the Valour estate.

Remembering the original story, Eliza tightly curled her palm into a fist.

“Has there been any word from Father?”

“Oh, he’s still meeting with Marquis Hagen.”

“I see… If it’s this late, I suppose he won’t call for me today.”

Eliza approached Nancy and rummaged through her pocket before handing her something.

It was a deep-blue feather with a beautiful sheen.

“Keep this somewhere safe, then make it into a pen for me. I think it would look nice.”

“You’re going to give it as a present?”

Nancy asked as she accepted the feather.

It was a natural question, since Eliza preferred pens without feathers attached to them.

But Eliza turned her head away.

“No.”

Eliza knew eyes that resembled the freedom of the blue sky more than anything else—eyes that couldn’t possibly be compared to something as insignificant as this.

Eliza adjusted her shawl and left the room.

Inside the closed door, Nancy thought to herself.

He hasn’t been coming lately.

There had been no word from the young master of Hagen, who used to visit almost every single day.

Did they have a fight?

After wondering about it briefly, Nancy shook off her thoughts and carefully put away the feather.

Then she began cleaning the ruined floor.

After a long period of persuasion from Eliza, Count Valour finally accepted her desire to break off the engagement.

There was one condition, however.

He demanded that she bring back clear proof that she was meeting the Crown Prince.

Not only that, he even ordered her to flatter him sufficiently to receive valuable gifts such as a necklace.

Eliza mocked the undignified instructions, but she worked diligently to carry out her plan.

Evidence of dark magic for the Crown Prince, and evidence that I’m meeting the Crown Prince for Father…

How did I end up this busy?

Eliza sighed as she looked up at the mansion before her.

It was the Hagen estate.

Breaking into a place for the second time was much easier than the first.

Once inside the secret room, Eliza put on gloves and picked up several objects small enough to conceal.

I’ll take this stone-like thing. If I take the papers, they’ll notice, right? Hmm… Should I take the ink bottle too?

Since she didn’t know what might serve as evidence, she took several things for the time being.

Once her pockets grew heavy, she left the room.

The moment the door closed, it slowly disappeared, seemingly melting into the wall.

Eliza watched it for a moment before approaching the window and sticking her head out.

“Inhale… exhale… Ah. I feel like I can finally breathe.”

The foul smell seemed to cling to her skin.

Eliza brushed at her clothes with her hands before walking away.

She had already finished signing the contract for the Saxen mine, so she intended to go straight home by carriage.

But when she reached the landing of the staircase, her steps suddenly stopped.

A man who had spotted her from below stood there, his eyes shining as though he had made an unexpected discovery.

“Illi?”

“You said you were out…”

Eliza muttered quietly and briefly considered going back upstairs.

But if she turned her back now, it would look like she was running away, which would be even more suspicious.

In the end, she descended the stairs with an expressionless face.

Naturally, Leopold followed her.

“Where are you going?”

Eliza didn’t answer.

She was about to walk straight outside when she heard a strange sound.

“Ugh…”

It was a groan that instinctively made her turn around.

Eliza hesitated for a moment, but eventually decided she had to find out what the sound was.

“Oh? Looks like he’s still conscious.”

“What are you doing?”

“Hm?”

In one hand, Leopold—who had followed behind her—was holding the back of a man’s neck.

The man was so badly injured that he couldn’t even support himself properly.

Leopold was dragging him along the floor.

“Who is that?”

“Oh, this?”

Leopold slowly blinked, his expression more languid than usual.

“A little rat.”

Their eyes met as his gaze passed over her.

Eliza’s shoulders flinched.

Those are the eyes of a rotten fish.

They weren’t the eyes she knew.

Eliza swallowed dryly as a growing sense of tension filled her.

“Do you want him? I can give him to you.”

A deep shadow filled Leopold’s long, narrow eyes.

His face completely devoid of a smile, he asked,

“What will you do for me if I give him to you?”

“…I don’t need him.”

For some reason, Eliza had a strong feeling that she needed to run away.

But then the man’s struggling groan came again.

“P-Please… save me…”

Damn it.

Eliza cursed inwardly.

By then, Leopold had released the man’s neck and instead grabbed him by the head.

“Can you be quiet for a moment?”

“Ugh… ngh… P-Please, save…”

The man groaned as Leopold tightened his grip with considerable force.

Eliza could no longer ignore it.

“Let him go.”

“Why should I?”

Eliza frowned.

The Leopold she knew had always fought for a reason.

Even if he had a loose tongue and often picked fights, whenever he fought—whether in battle or in a duel—there had always been a clear reason behind it.

Then why was he holding on to this shabby man who looked like a mere servant?

“Come to think of it, I had something I wanted to ask…”

The man’s voice trailed off lazily.

Eliza stepped between Leopold and the servant, using her own body to push Leopold’s arm away.

Leopold merely looked down at her thoughtfully.

He didn’t stop her.

“Ah. I remember.”

Leopold nodded as he straightened up.

“Is it His Highness the Crown Prince? The man you’ve chosen to marry?”

“…What?”

“I didn’t know you were after the position of Queen.”

Eliza instinctively placed a hand over her pounding heart.

If he was going to misunderstand things on his own, that was certainly convenient.

And yet, for some reason, she felt uneasy.

“Gasp!”

Leopold suddenly moved closer to her, making Eliza inhale sharply in surprise.

He had tossed the servant aside and was now holding Eliza by both arms.

“What am I going to do? I don’t want to give you away.”

The eyes that had once reminded her of the clear midday sky were now dark and still.

As though someone else had taken up residence inside them.