A black horse galloped at high speed down the long driveway lined with metasequoia trees. It was early dawn, and a fine drizzle of rain was falling like sleet.
The gatekeeper of Lancelot Manor heard the sound of hooves and ran out of his shack, assuming a defensive posture. The moment he clearly saw the white diamond pattern in the center of the forehead of the black horse, which was approaching through the bluish air, he hurriedly opened the iron gate with all his might.
Darkstar, with Edgar on its back, passed through the main gate without slowing down. The gatekeeper flinched and froze as the Marquis’s profile flashed past him. He completely forgot to bow.
With a tremendous crash, the front door of Lancelot Manor was opened as if it would fall off. The surprised servants lit up the lights in the manor and rushed into the central hall. It was an incredibly rude hour for a guest to visit.
“Y-Young Master?”
The butler’s eyes widened when he saw Edgar.
“What brings you here at this hour? Without any notice.”
Edgar didn’t stop at the flustered butler’s question. Instead, he climbed the stairs even faster. The butler followed Edgar with a sense of unease. The atmosphere of Lancelot Manor, which had been quietly preparing for the morning, instantly turned into a tense, fragile scene.
“His Lordship just fell asleep, Young Master.”
The butler, who was following Edgar’s long strides, gasped for breath. He kept his voice and footsteps low, afraid of waking the Duke. The Duke of Lancelot’s irritability and sensitivity stemmed from his chronic insomnia. As with most patients, the Duke would explode in anger if his hard-earned sleep was disturbed.
“If you have something to discuss, please wait until after sunrise.”
Drops of water dripped onto the marble floor, following his long strides down the long corridor. It was clear that something was wrong, as he had ridden his horse all the way here from downtown Litten at such an early hour. But if he were to barge into the bedroom now, it wouldn’t end in a small commotion either.
“Young Master.”
The young master, who would usually listen to the old butler, was like a large wall today. His words echoed and disappeared into the air like raindrops bouncing off a window.
“Please take a moment to catch your breath before you go see him.”
He remembered the time when the master’s son was born, and he was standing outside the birthing room. He had received the baby from the head maid and ran to the Duke with the child in his arms. He had watched the young master grow up since then. He had never seen him lose his composure before.
“Well then, Young Master. I’ll go in first and inform him…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Edgar grabbed the doorknob of the bedroom and threw it open. In front of the pale-faced butler’s eyes, with a loud bang, the corridor that had been filled with a bluish light became silent again.
Edgar strode across the Duke’s bedroom.
“Where is Olivia?”
Edgar stood in front of the bed and growled, clenching his fists and glaring at his father.
The Duke of Lancelot’s eyes narrowed. He was extremely sensitive, having been woken up by the commotion outside. The Duke got up from the bed and slowly approached Edgar like a prowling beast, standing in front of him.
The next moment, sparks flew from Edgar’s eyes. With a powerful blow, Edgar’s head snapped to the side.
“Explain.”
A terribly cold gaze shot at Edgar.
“What on earth have you done, Father?”
Edgar, who had straightened his head, bit his lip. He was on the verge of exploding, but he suppressed his anger with slow breaths.
“Speak so that I can understand.”
“…”
Edgar’s dark eyebrows rose oddly.
“Olivia has disappeared.”
“So that’s why you’ve come here and caused this indecent scene. For that trivial matter.”
With a smack, his head was snapped to the side again. It was a vicious slap. One side of Edgar’s cheek was bright red. But Edgar felt nothing.
“Why would you think I would get involved in such a bothersome matter? What would I gain from it?”
Edgar’s mind went blank as if he had been hit hard in the back of his head by the cold voice.
“…Wasn’t it you, Father?”
Edgar desperately tried to control his contorting facial muscles.
“It wasn’t?”
It felt as if his blood had turned cold. His father wasn’t the type to feign ignorance after causing a scene. He was the kind of person who preferred to get straight to the point and make a demand, whether it was a threat or a deal, with what he held in his grasp.
If not him, then where… was Olivia?
He was back at square one. Realizing that something was terribly wrong, the thread of his sanity, which he had barely been holding onto, snapped.
The Duke, who had been staring crookedly at Edgar, opened the cigarette case on the side table.
“Pathetic.”
The Duke snapped as he lit the end of the cigarette in his mouth.
Edgar slowly wiped his wet face with his hand. He had rushed here without considering all the variables. Such impulsive behavior was one of the things he hated. But he wasn’t in his right mind right now.
Was it Anne Bullen after all? Or the Crown Prince?
Or… could it be…
One of Edgar’s eyebrows rose slowly.
Did she meet that damned reporter?
“…”
The possibility was high enough. It might have been too optimistic to hope that Olivia wouldn’t run into the man who barged into the hotel at that very hour. He shouldn’t have let him live.
As he realized the gravity of the situation, he felt as if all the blood had drained from his body. His pale face looked like a ghost in the bluish light that had begun to stream through the window.
“I’ll be leaving now.”
Edgar turned to leave. But he couldn’t take a single step. He stood there dazed for a long time.
If she found out…
Then what would happen?
Suddenly, a hollow laugh escaped him. If things had turned out that way, there was no answer. A small ripple caused by a scandal had turned into a storm with Count Blanchet’s attack. Olivia, on the verge of losing all her assets, was brought to her knees before him. It was about to become a perfect, clean transactional relationship, as it always had been… but he had wavered.
He had thought she had wavered, but looking back now, he realized he was the one who had wavered. By pretending to be ridiculously kind. By smiling at her… and then he had fallen in love like a fool.
Heh heh. A laugh escaped him.
Olivia had disappeared. Or she had run away.
His consciousness finally began to clear. Her sudden disappearance. As the reason for it became clear, he couldn’t afford to delay any longer. Now, it was his turn to kneel before Olivia.
Edgar stormed out of the Duke’s bedroom and rode his horse toward Litten again. The morning sun, which had painted the sky, shimmered above his head.
Anne stayed up all night, her heart filled with anxiety. Her bloodshot eyes wandered over the empty bed, where bright sunlight was streaming in.
My Lady…
My Lady was not in the rose garden connected to the banquet hall either. Based on the testimony of a witness who had clearly seen her go out that way, Anne had spent the previous night and this morning searching every corner of the hotel.
“Lady Marie. I’m going out for a bit.”
“Don’t do that, Anne. You should get some rest.”
Lady Marie took Anne’s hand. The child, who looked half out of her mind, looked like she could collapse at any moment.
“It’s okay, my Lady. I’m really okay.”
“Lady Blanchet will be safe. So don’t worry too much.”
Tears welled up in Anne’s swollen eyes and fell. Lady Marie was about to wipe Anne’s cheek with her apron when the door to the room opened.
“My Lady!”
Anne, who had turned her head, shouted. For a moment, she saw an illusion. In the place where the illusion of her Lady had disappeared, stood Countess Elaine. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“I’m sorry it’s me, Anne.”
“O-Oh, no. My Lady.”
Every time the door opened, Anne went between heaven and hell.
“Still no news of Olivia, it seems.”
“…No, my Lady.”
Anne’s voice choked as she answered. Elaine sighed with a heavy heart, and the door opened again.
“My Lady?”
“Olivia?”
This time, Assistant Gerald entered with a ashen face.
“Is Lady Blanchet not here yet?”
Gerald asked the question Anne wanted to ask.
“…No, Assistant.”
Gerald, who had come in with a small hope that she might have returned, looked troubled. It was past noon, and there was still no news of Olivia.
“Where on earth did she go?” Elaine muttered, standing by the window and looking down at the hotel grounds.
“Anne, do you have any idea who she might have gone to see?”
“No, my Lady.”
“Shouldn’t we report this to the police, Mr. Gerald?” Lady Marie asked cautiously.
A missing person case in a five-star hotel. What’s more, the missing person was the Dumbledin championship winner. If this fact were to leak out to the public, all of Litten would be in an uproar.
‘The New Queen Disappears from Her Lover’s Hotel on the Night of the Finale’
Gerald sighed in frustration. It was a mysterious disappearance to anyone who saw it. In this situation, where police intervention was desperately needed, Edgar’s attitude was strange. The usual Edgar would not have hastily allowed public authority intervention, considering the hotel’s reputation, but wasn’t this a different case? Especially in an emergency where Lady Blanchet’s life might be in danger.
‘Find her quietly.’
Edgar’s order was simple. It was a problem that he had been drinking since early in the morning when he should have been maintaining his composure, but he wasn’t drunk enough to cloud his judgment. His quiet eyes were as calm as the eye of a storm. That’s why it was so unsettling.
“It hasn’t even been a day yet. Let’s just wait a little longer.”
“Then I’ll go out and look for her again.”
Anne rushed out of the room. Tears welled up in her eyes, which were red from crying all night.
She’ll be safe.
She didn’t have time to wait for the elevator, so she ran toward the stairs in the middle of the corridor. Just then, the door of a room on the left burst open, and a black hand suddenly came out and covered Anne’s mouth. Anne’s body was instantly sucked into the darkness, as if she were being pulled into a black hole. It all happened in the blink of an eye.
