Chapter 106
Chapter 106
Chapter 106
Adele gave them a polite smile. “Then, I shall tell the knights to retrieve the young master.”
“You have my thanks.” the duke smiled back, and he dipped his head lightly, “The Maktus family will never forget this favor.”
“I dare not accept this honor. I have just stumbled upon your son by chance, is all.”
Seeing the duchess’s uneasy face, Adele continued, “Although this castle cannot compare to the duke’s grand residence, the flower fields here are beautiful. I hope it will be of comfort to your wife while she waits for her son.”
The Duchess covered her mouth with her hand, feeling a little moved by Adele’s thoughtful words and looked at her.
“Young lady, pardon me for asking, but may I know your age?”
“Hm? Oh, I have come to be of legal age this year…”
“Then, Miss Lilliand, are you engaged to anyone?”
Adele was taken aback by her sudden remark and Duke Maktus was quick to rebuke his wife.
“Is this the time for you to be acting as such?” then, he whispered lowly, “You know our eldest is sick, and yet you still want him to marry?”
Scolded by her own husband, the duchess answered weakly, “…I know.”
Adele, noticing that the atmosphere around the ducal couple had turned strange, stood from her seat to greet them, and then left the guest room. Walking out of the door, she mentally counted the number of servants who will accompany her up the mountain.
Earlier, she told the Duke and Duchess that the knights would fetch their son, but there were only so many knights in this little barony and they couldn’t leave their posts. They still had to defend the castle after all.
Adele was in the midst of pondering how she should give orders to the servants when she abruptly stopped walking.
“Ah, right! I forgot to ask them more…”
In the end, the boy she met in the mountains may not really be their child. Wanting to ask more about the child, she walked back towards the room.
As she contemplated whether she should knock or not, she heard the slightly muffled voices of the duke and duchess through the door.
“…if I am to be honest, I do wish that he would disappear forever.”
Hm? What are they talking about?
“Wife, watch your tongue!”
“Why? Aren’t you scared of that child as well?”
Eavesdropping was improper, but Adele was drawn to their conversation that she remained rooted to her spot and couldn’t move away.
“Ever since he was but a baby, he had used that power to injure both servants and animals. Not only that, my body shudders in fear just by thinking about that time where he—”
“There’s nothing we can do about that.” The duke interrupted.
“But he killed someone!”
“He only killed an assassin sent by the enemy!”
“He was seven years old back then. Only seven! He even laughed like a demon-possessed after he took that person’s life…”
Adele called to mind the black energy the child used to kill the monster, as well as the cold smile he had on his face after he was done. However, it was quickly replaced by another vivid memory of the boy’s blushing face that avoided her gaze.
Staring at the unopened door, she quietly retreated from the guest room.
As she was about to leave with her servant, the maid ran over to her.
“Young lady!”
“What is it?”
“That…” hesitating, the maid took out a piece from her pocket, “Someone told me to pass this to you.”
Adele unfolded the letter and read its contents.
「I’ll wait for you at the entrance of the western forest.
Adele sighed as she read the sender’s name.
If he was a person with decent manners, he would’ve included an apology for the scandal he caused, but there was no such thing written inside the letter.
As such, it was obvious why her fiancée wanted to meet out of the blue even though they barely had any contact with each other. She could even predict what he might say.
He would probably ask Adele to help him since his grandfather might’ve already noticed something, like him wanting to break the engagement.
“Phew.”
Anyways, that place was in the same direction where she was going in the first place, so it would be a little convenient, if not a waste of time, to meet him there. Besides, Adele didn’t want anyone to listen in on her conversation with him.
If a servant heard them by accident, it would only be a matter of time before her father caught wind of it.
She could already picture her father’s throwing a fit.
Hence, she didn’t want to complicate things further and felt that it was fine to meet in a more secluded area and just cleanly break off the marriage between him and her.
She instructed the servant who accompanied her to wait a few distance away from their meeting place, and then headed there alone.
When she arrived in front of the pond, she saw Daniel waiting with his legs trembling. When he saw Adele, his complexion brightened.
“Miss Lilliand—!”
She cut him off, “You want to break our engagement, right?”
When Adele said those words that he wanted to hear, Daniel widened his eyes with a stupid expression. Soon, a sheepish smile appeared on his face.
“Do you agree to it? You know, I actually have a lover—”
“I know, you can go now.”
They weren’t engaged because they liked each other. So, she didn’t really mind that much if she was to never see him again because of their cancelled marriage.
But Daniel suddenly grabbed her arm and forced her to stop. “I have one more request…”
“…”
“It’s simple, really! You just have to meet with Bella.” he added with an agitated expression.