A serial killer.
“Mmmph…”
Fear choked her. Anne struggled with all her might.
The recent article that had caused a stir in the social section of the newspaper came to mind.
The killer who only targeted and murdered vulnerable women was a guest at this Lancelot Hotel.
Don’t tell me, the Young Lady too?
Her heart sank, and her mind went blank.
“Wuh-uh-mph…”
Pale with fear, Anne began to struggle with all her might. The man didn’t budge.
Terrified, Anne thrashed and brought the heel of her shoe down on the assailant’s instep.
“Calm down, Miss Anne. It’s okay, calm down.”
“…”
“His Grace, Duke Leopold, sent me.”
“!”
Anne stopped struggling. The man continued.
“Miss Blanchett is with His Grace. Rest assured.”
“…”
“Please pack the Young Lady’s things and leave quietly.”
Stunned, Anne obediently nodded. Only then did the man slowly remove his hand.
Anne reached out, grabbed the vase decorating the sideboard, and turned around.
Standing face to face with the man in a Lancelot Hotel uniform, Anne opened her trembling lips.
“H-How can I believe you?”
Her eyes, full of suspicion, glared straight at the assailant.
“He told me to leave this behind.”
The man picked up a box from the teatable and held it out to Anne.
“Open it and show me yourself.”
Anne commanded, gripping the long-necked vase tightly.
“Ah…”
With a faint whimper, the brass vase fell onto the carpet with a thud.
Young Lady.
A radiant brilliance shone out, blinding her. It was the diamond tiara the Marquess had given her as a gift.
“The fever has subsided, and the swelling on the instep has also gotten much better.”
The doctor stepped back a few paces from the bed and quietly reported.
The woman who had walked in the rain all night had suffered a high fever. It was only natural.
“For now, she needs plenty of rest.”
Johann nodded and then gave a short nod of his chin, indicating that the doctor could leave.
“Your Grace, you should also get some rest—”
Johann brought a finger to his lips, silently cutting off the doctor’s words.
After the doctor left, Johann sat on the chair beside the bed.
The bedroom, with all the curtains closed, was immersed in a twilight-like gloom even though it was morning, and only the lamp cast a soft glow.
He watched Olivia, who was breathing in shallow, repetitive breaths, with a calm gaze.
Just like when she was rescued from the lake, her face was a stark white.
The situation, no different from that day, even gave him the illusion that time had been turned back.
‘…Even if I have nowhere to go. …I don’t want… you.’
Is that why you went to the lakeside, Olivia?
You would rather choose death than be with me. That’s how horrible I was to you, Olivia.
Johann reached out a hand to Olivia, who seemed to be in a deep sleep.
He slowly brushed the hair stuck to her pale cheek and neck behind her ear. The tip of his finger touched her earlobe, which was hot and soft.
‘If anyone has to go to hell for this, it’s not me, it’s you. Your Grace, you yourself.’
Diane Brooke’s curse rang in his ears.
Although it was Diane Brooke who pushed her, Olivia’s life had already been a hell.
Her lowly birth. The terrible abuse. And Diane Brooke. But the one who actually drove her into that hell was himself.
‘…I don’t want… you.’
A rough sigh escaped Johann’s dry lips.
That was the undeniable truth he came to realize after rushing here through the storm.
Johann held a lukewarm washcloth in his hand.
As he slowly wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on her round forehead, a familiar name was heard mixed in with her faint, almost-broken breaths.
“…Ed.”
His hand stopped abruptly. Johann’s face darkened, and his thick eyebrows twitched. His stomach slowly twisted.
His piercing gaze was fixed on her slender face for a long time.
The newly wrapped bandage had become useless. As he clenched his fist, blood was seeping out, as if the wound had reopened.
“Ed.”
The voice that seeped in like a mist again was weak and longing.
He felt as if he was plunged into a block of ice. He slowly took a breath.
Suppressing his urge to shake her awake, Johann brushed back his disheveled hair.
‘Johann…’
He recalled the voice that had been searching for him while she was unconscious after falling into the lake.
His name, Johann, Johann, Johann, which had been called and worn out hundreds of times by her lips.
In the woman’s eyes, which always looked at him and only called out to him, there was no longer anything that could be called affection.
He didn’t need any confirmation. Not since the moment she demanded a divorce. Because his wife’s eyes had been cleanly purified.
Olivia repeatedly opened her eyes a couple of times and fell back asleep while she was in a confused state.
Each time, a blurry figure came into her view and then disappeared like an illusion when she closed her eyes. She fell back into sleep without the energy to even tell if it was a dream or a hallucination.
Then, after a long time, she woke up. It seemed like she had a very long sleep.
She dreamed of her grandmother.
‘Child. Let’s eat some soft persimmon.’
What twelve-year-old Jian wanted to eat was peach-flavored pudding, but all her grandmother could give her was a soft persimmon she had gotten from the master’s house.
Jian took a big spoonful of the soft persimmon her grandmother offered with her wrinkled hand.
The moment she closed her eyes tightly and held it in her mouth, it tasted like sweet peaches.
‘It feels like I’m eating with a baby. Do you like it that much?’
Startled, she opened her eyes. Her grandmother’s figure had already changed into that man.
He tilted his head and smiled in the transparent sunlight streaming through the front window of Grand Blue.
‘…Ed.’
A large hand slowly reached out and cupped her face. A smooth and warm touch lifted her chin.
Her heart began to race uncontrollably. And at that moment, Edgar disappeared, and she was standing face to face with Sarah Pavlova on the center court of Dumblin.
‘You’re a fake, Olivia Blanchett. A fake Queen.’
Olivia’s eyes snapped open.
“…”
Only after the unfamiliar ceiling came into her slowly clarifying vision did she realize that this was not the suite at the Lancelot Hotel. Come to think of it.
The bewildered Olivia got up.
“You’re awake?”
His voice was a bit indifferent. Olivia turned her head toward the source of the sound.
The one standing there was not a hallucination. It was that man. If that was the case, then this place was… Her widened eyes looked around.
Surely this wasn’t the Leopold Hotel. The thought alone was terrible.
He seemed to have noticed her gaze and explained.
“Relax. It’s a manor house on the outskirts of Litton.”
“…My clothes.”
“That’s also nothing to worry about.”
Olivia, who had been looking down at her body, which had been changed into pajamas, lifted her gaze. Johann was also dressed neatly.
He was tidy, wearing a black sling over his crisp, unwrinkled shirt. The bandage on his left hand was also clean.
Because of that, his bloodshot gray eyes looked particularly sharp.
“Why are you here?”
Making people uncomfortable.
Olivia looked at the man’s dark eyes for a moment and then asked.
“To see you wake up.”
The blunt answer was a little cold. His unpolished gaze was rough, as if he was angry.
Olivia averted her gaze. She slowly scanned the wall, looking for a clock.
How long had she been like this?
The space with the thick curtains drawn made it difficult to tell if it was day or night.
“Where’s Anne?”
Olivia, whose consciousness had returned for a moment while she was being moved from the carriage to the bedroom, had looked for Anne.
‘…I have a favor to ask.’
‘Say it.’
‘Call Anne for me.’
“Downstairs.”
“I want to see her.”
“Later. After you eat.”
Johann, who simply dismissed Olivia’s request, had food brought in.
A clear stew with flaked fish was set on the auxiliary table next to the bed. He dismissed the attendants and served her himself.
“Eat.”
Olivia obediently held the spoon. Her pale face was without color.
“I can eat by myself.”
“You used to like it. Me watching you.”
Johann, who had been quietly looking at Olivia, said in a low voice.
“Right now… it’s uncomfortable.”
Gulp, the sound of water being poured into an empty glass stopped for a moment. Then, the full glass was placed in front of her.
“Eat.”
She no longer had the strength to argue with the man. Olivia, who had given up, spooned up the stew listlessly.
She decided to focus solely on recovering her strength and getting out of this place as soon as possible.
‘I really want to defeat the Princess. To do that, I will definitely win.’
She recalled the words she had once said to Edgar, as if making a promise.
So maybe. The method was wrong, but it might have been for her own good, and such a pathetic defense mechanism was at work.
‘Recruiting Olivia Blanchett was a stroke of genius. For a dark horse like that to catch Edgar’s eye. He’s a lucky bastard.’
It felt like the watery broth was stuck in her throat.
‘His operating profit is said to be five times that of last year. The clash between a noble princess and a lowly illegitimate child. He really is a business prodigy.’
The soft, minced fish felt like grains of sand.
It can’t be.
“Focus on eating, Olivia.”
“…”
With eyes as cold as a blade, Olivia stared at the half-empty dish.
Her eyes were red, but she didn’t let go of the spoon she was holding tightly.
Her mind was completely elsewhere, which sharply irritated Johann.
He wanted to grab her wavering, pale-blue eyes and pull them toward him.
On the day of the final match, Johann, who arrived at the stadium a step behind Edgar, tasted a terrible hell.
His wife and Edgar.
Before he kissed Olivia’s lips, Edgar had raised his narrow, gray-blue eyes and looked directly at Johann.
The gazes of the two men clashed in the air.
‘Olivia is a no.’
‘Then. Try and stop me.’
Edgar smiled, his eyes curving smoothly.
The bastard lowered his head with the expression of a man holding a straight flush in a gambling game.
As the silvery flashes rained down simultaneously like cannon fire on a battlefield, Johann’s eyes sank deep. Incredibly calm.
Shouldn’t he repay this humiliation?
He pulled out a mortal card to turn this game around.
Sarah Pavlova.
Johann, who was well aware of Edgar’s financial details, had already been informed of their deal.
He didn’t want to use this royal straight flush if possible, but since the provocation came from the other side first, Johann sent an urgent telegram to Sarah Pavlova, who had gone back to her hometown.
“Let Olivia know about their deal.”
And as a result, Olivia was now eating her meal obediently in front of him. For now, that was enough, Johann thought.
“But…”
Olivia silently placed the spoon on the plate and opened her lips. She raised her head, and their eyes met.
Johann watched her silently with a much more relaxed gaze.
“Why were you there?”
“…”
No matter how much she thought about it, no answer readily came to mind. The person who had returned to Rondos. And in such a state…
Johann’s brows furrowed slightly. A moment of silence passed, and he was about to part his lips when,
“Olivia!”
At that moment, the bedroom door began to rattle loudly, as if it would break.
