Chapter 14
Judith sent the letter through a servant from the ducal estate.
Since she had mentioned the garden, the Duchess would naturally arrange tea there.
After the servant left, Judith looked at the Master and asked,
“Master, is there a secret passage leading to the rear garden as well?”
“There isn’t.”
Since the secret passages seemed to exist only inside the mansion, it was the answer she had expected. Judith slowly nodded, and the Master crossed his arms.
“However, after getting close enough, I could conceal my presence and hide in a tree or somewhere similar.”
“Oh?”
“Alone, yes. Bringing you along would be impossible.”
Before Judith could even say, I never asked you to bring me, the Master spoke in a voice tinged with murderous intent.
“I thought about it last night, and I believe infiltrating the estate and killing Sarah might be the best solution.”
As Judith opened her mouth to respond, the Master firmly shook his head.
“Don’t think me cruel.”
“Ah, well…”
“If we don’t stop that woman, Karl could die.”
“What I’m trying to say is—”
“A person who would do something that vile to a child deserves death.”
His tone was so resolute that he sounded like a soldier marching onto a battlefield.
After being interrupted several times, Judith finally shouted,
“Oh, come on! I know you’re the type who treats life rather casually, but—!”
Then she looked him straight in the eyes.
“Do you really think killing Sarah would free Young Master Karl from those thoughts?”
“…What?”
“What Karl needs is to realize that Sarah was wrong. Even if Sarah dies, what does it matter if Karl continues acting according to everything she taught him?”
The Master visibly flinched as if she had struck the heart of the matter.
Silence fell between them.
After staring at Judith for a long moment, the Master slowly spoke.
“Judith.”
“Yes?”
“You…”
Resting his chin on one hand above his mask, he fell silent.
Judith found herself momentarily captivated by the elegant gesture.
Until now she had never really thought about it, but after being pressed close together in the secret passage, she had become keenly aware that he too was a living person with blood and warmth.
She noticed once more how graceful his movements and manner of speaking were.
And for the first time, she found herself wondering what face lay behind the mask.
“…I believe you’re right.”
Startled, Judith quickly pulled her gaze away.
The Master spoke in a roughened voice.
“I let my emotions get the better of me. I made a fool of myself.”
“Ah, yes.”
Clearing her throat, Judith fidgeted with her fingers.
The Master called it making a fool of himself, but she actually found him more approachable when he showed emotion.
We’ve definitely gotten closer since going through that secret passage together.
I still don’t know his face or even his name, but…
They had become people who grew angry at the same things and searched for solutions together.
It felt as though they were genuine friends or comrades.
For Judith, who had lived alone ever since her father died, it was a warmth she had not felt in a long time.
As she drifted into thought, the Master suddenly spoke.
“I will follow your judgment, Judith. Whatever your plan may be.”
“Yes.”
At her absent-minded response, the Master playfully nudged her arm.
“Judith, you should understand the weight of those words.”
“What weight?”
“I rarely follow anyone’s lead. I trust no one, so I always act myself.”
He paused before continuing.
“But this means I will stand aside and simply watch what you choose to do.”
The declaration sounded far too grand for what it was.
Judith burst out laughing.
“Then what exactly would you do if you didn’t stand aside and watch?”
Despite her incredulous tone, the Master did not laugh.
Instead, he quietly added,
“It means I trust you, Judith. Rationally and emotionally.”
“Uh… Isn’t that a little late? Haven’t we been doing business on that basis for three years already?”
“Exactly.”
The Master leisurely crossed one leg over the other.
Though the mask he wore was as expressionless as ever, she could feel a gaze behind it more intense than any he had directed at her before.
“That’s why I’m saying it now.”
“Really? Then I suppose I’d better live up to that trust.”
Looking at the mask that stood between them like a wall, Judith smiled softly.
“This afternoon, everything will be over. Don’t worry.”
“Yes.”
Outside the window, the clouds drifted apart and sunlight emerged.
The light streaming between them felt both familiar and strangely different.
“Let’s watch and see.”
As always, his voice began fading from memory the instant she heard it.
Yet the sunlight slanting between them remained, settling in her heart with a peculiar weight.
* * *
I wanted to have lunch with her.
While eating lunch with Karl, Isabella let out a sigh.
I may have been a bit harsh on her, but…
She had wanted to show Judith that living in the House of Mayus was worthwhile.
That hidden motive was precisely why she had invited Judith to lunch.
She liked the girl.
Her clear, decisive manner of speaking.
The noble elegance that revealed she had once been raised as an aristocrat.
Her upright values.
And most of all, the detached confidence with which she accepted what was, in many ways, little different from selling herself for money.
Everything about her was impressive.
If Ekian ever comes back, I’d truly like to make that girl my daughter-in-law.
Yet the sighs would not stop.
The girl who dreamed of the future had firmly declared that Ekian would never return.
Not even after all this effort.
Even so, Isabella wanted to continue that futile effort.
She’s far too thin as well…
It couldn’t have been easy surviving alone for three years.
Judith’s life had been so difficult that the fact she had endured at all seemed miraculous.
To be honest, Isabella found it astonishing that a young woman raised as a noble lady had managed to survive so stubbornly on her own.
More than anything, she wanted to feed that child a proper meal and see her reaction.
“Karl, you’re eating well.”
Smiling warmly at her eight-year-old son, Isabella spoke.
“You need to eat well while you’re growing.”
“Yes, Mother.”
A few days earlier she had scolded him for barely touching his meals.
Perhaps it had worked, because Karl’s spoon moved steadily to his mouth.
Watching her son actually eat, Isabella finally felt some relief.
His complexion was still poor, but if he continued eating and sleeping properly, perhaps things would gradually improve.
Karl had been called a genius since childhood.
He learned to read at two years old.
By three, he possessed intelligence comparable to an adult’s.
As a result, despite being only three years old at the time, Karl clearly remembered Ekian.
Ekian had adored Karl.
His disappearance had therefore been a tremendous shock to the boy.
Even now, at eight years old, Karl still had not forgotten him.
The Duke and Duchess were patiently waiting for their son to process that loss in his own time.
Watching Karl quickly clear his plate, Isabella carefully changed the subject.
“I heard you’ve dismissed all your tutors lately. And you haven’t been attending the knights’ training either…”
Without lifting his head, Karl shoved another bite of steak into his mouth.
“I just don’t feel motivated.”
Isabella merely nodded.
Her second son had always matured faster than other children.
Even an early adolescence would not have surprised her.
Still, she could not help feeling that things might have been different if Ekian had been here.
“Well, at least you still have Sarah…”
As he grew older, Karl had gradually lost interest in everything.
Perhaps it was because of Ekian’s absence.
Fortunately, Sarah was still by his side.
Since childhood, Sarah, Ekian, and Karl had often spent time together.
Karl trusted Sarah deeply.
If that brought him comfort, then perhaps that was enough.
“Yes. Please don’t worry too much, Mother.”
Karl answered with unusual maturity.
“You’re right. Whatever would we have done without Sarah?”
Isabella was not the sort of person who paid much attention to servants, so she did not particularly favor Sarah.
She simply appreciated her because Karl was attached to her.
And through reports from the head maid, she knew Sarah was an exceptionally clever girl for a servant.
If Judith hadn’t appeared, I probably would have asked Sarah whether she’d be willing to act as a temporary daughter-in-law.
She had not mentioned it to Sarah yet.
But Sarah had always been her first choice for the role.
After all, she had been close to Ekian since childhood.
And she was pretty enough to deceive anyone who needed deceiving.
