TNKHC 08

Chapter 8 ….

“Ah….”

The confusing first meal with him had finally come to an end.

Exhausted, Elena collapsed onto her bed and closed her eyes.

“…It doesn’t matter if you break.”

She let out a small, incredulous laugh.

She had no intention of playing along with this insane dollhouse fantasy.
She was going to escape this place no matter what—and meet Aiden.

Knock, knock—

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Jane walked in.

“My lady…!”

“Jane! I’m sorry. Isn’t that heavy…?”

Jane, who had brought a whole armful of heavy books, was panting hard.

She must’ve had a hard time coming all the way from the library, which was far from the main building.
She decided she’d make sure to treat Jane to something delicious later.

“Just a little?”

Elena widened her eyes at Jane’s joking reply—but then both of them burst into laughter.

“Ah, Jane. Did you bring all the books I asked for?”

“Yes. The servants had a hard time finding these, my lady. What on earth are you going to use them for…?”

“I’m going to escape. From this damned castle.”

It had become clear to her during breakfast.

If she stayed quiet here, that crazy psycho would no doubt devour her alive.

Before that happened, she had to escape this wretched mansion.

But she couldn’t make a plan while knowing nothing.
The better she understood the layout of this huge estate, the better her chances of escape.

She couldn’t leave freely anyway, so she might as well do something.

Elena plopped down on a chair and boldly opened one of the thick books.

“But… I can’t read.”

From the very first page, unfamiliar squiggly letters filled her vision.

White was the paper, black were the letters.

To Elena, the Imperial language looked like some strange foreign language.

She felt so stupid she could cry.

She couldn’t even read, so why had she asked Jane to bring her so many books?

“My lady, I’ll teach you.”

Jane looked at her teary-eyed lady with fondness and smiled.
She pulled a chair over from the tea table and sat close beside her.

“Alright, my lady. This is read as ‘A’. It’s a vowel. There are a total of six vowels in the Imperial language. Repeat after me. A.”

And so, Jane’s Imperial language tutoring began.

She was a capable teacher, pointing out all the important parts clearly. Elena, for her part, followed along well and picked things up quickly.

“Oh my, my lady! Are you a genius? You’re already starting to read after just a few hours!”

“I’ll have you know, I used to major in languages.”

Elena folded her arms and lifted her chin proudly at Jane’s praise.

Jane looked at her curiously.

“Could it be… my lady attended an upper academy…?”

Oops.

A gypsy attending an upper academy—what a slip.

This was why memories from her previous life were of no help here.

“Ah! No… I just wanted to go to an upper academy… you know, to learn languages!”

Jane’s eyes lit up and she clapped her fingers together.

“Then why not make it your goal to attend the Public Ardeo Upper Academy?”

“…What?”

“If you enroll in an upper academy, you can study all the languages you love! Modern and ancient Imperial, and even foreign languages like Kurnas. Plus, Ardeo has the Empire’s greatest linguist, Professor Killian!”

Jane clenched her fists in excitement, more thrilled than Elena herself.

“No, I—I just want to get out of here as soon as possible…”

Elena scratched the back of her head, avoiding Jane’s gaze.

She felt a bit sorry, but her goal wasn’t school—it was escape.

“You can enroll after you escape. The more goals the better, my lady. And you’re talented. You learn much faster than normal people.”

“…You think so?”

Elena’s cheeks turned red like an apple at Jane’s praise. She shyly hid her face behind her hair.

“By the way, how was your meal with the Grand Duke?”

“Don’t even mention it. It was worse than I imagined.”

“Worse?”

Jane covered her mouth and laughed elegantly at Elena’s comical expression.

Her refined demeanor was like a scene from a magazine spread.

“Yeah, the worst. It’s never been the best—no, not even average. Always the worst.”

Elena pouted, voicing her complaints.

Still, it felt good to have someone she could vent to, even a little.

Like clearing away five hundred years’ worth of built-up frustration in one go.

“But the Grand Duke is always thinking of you, my lady. Don’t hate him too much.”

“Ha, if that man thought of me even a little, he’d have let me go. No—he wouldn’t have locked me up in the first place. What on earth is going through his head…”

Elena muttered gloomily like she was casting a curse.

It stung a bit that even Jane seemed to be on his side.

“He probably just doesn’t know how to interact with people. He’s been alone since he was very young.”

“Alone?”

“Yes. The Grand Duke and Duchess passed away. And he lost all of his precious friends too. So he’s always been alone.”

Come to think of it, she’d never heard any rumors about his parents.
It had just been taken for granted that he became Grand Duke at a young age.

“It must have been chaotic for him. The Duchess was murdered, and the former Grand Duke took his own life.”

“What…?”

Elena’s eyes widened in shock.

It wasn’t illness—it was murder and suicide.

It was a story the public didn’t seem to know well, and she was a little unsettled by it.

“I think he was about eleven at the time. That’s when it all happened, and he inherited the title immediately.”

“Eleven…”

That was far too young.

Eleven was like… fourth grade in elementary school.

For a little kid to bear the weight of ruling a duchy—unbelievable.

“He must’ve had a tough time.”

“Yes. He’s not the type to show it, but I’m sure it was hard.”

“Still, I don’t want to justify him because of that…”

Elena lowered her head and muttered.

No matter how tragic his life had been, she didn’t want to defend him.

It was like debating whether to morally judge a killer who came from an unfortunate home.

She’d lived through hardship too.

Pain doesn’t justify everything.

He was probably just twisted by nature.

And she didn’t want to compete in some “who’s had it worse” contest.
Weighing someone else’s pain on a scale never felt right.

“I was always alone too.”

Though Aiden had been by her side… still.

Thinking of how he had always been truly alone made her feel a tiny bit sorry for him.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never heard your story, my lady. What was your life like?”

It sounded like someone asking about an old friend they hadn’t seen in a long time.

Flustered, Elena cleared her throat as if preparing for a speech.

“I—I, I…”

Words wouldn’t come out, like she’d suddenly become an idiot.

Maybe it was because she’d never talked about herself to anyone before.

Her mind was a mess—where should she even start?

“You can take your time.”

Kindly, Jane held both her hands tightly.

Warmth seeped through her fingers.

“I’m… an orphan. At least he had parents. I didn’t. I don’t even know their faces or voices.”

“Ah…”

Jane’s face stiffened for a moment.

Maybe she shouldn’t have said it.

She wasn’t looking for pity.

“I grew up in an orphanage. And then…”

Elena stopped mid-sentence.

She didn’t want to talk about the daily beatings she’d endured there.

It felt embarrassing—and she didn’t want to make the mood gloomy.

“I left the orphanage and lived freely. Well… ‘freely’ might be a bit of an exaggeration.”

“……”

“Honestly, I was just another nobody, a wanderer. So being treated like this feels strange. And having you call me ‘my lady’—it’s kind of cringey.”

She fidgeted with her fingers, sneaking glances at Jane.

Jane’s face didn’t look good. Maybe she really shouldn’t have said it.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought that up.”

“No, my lady.”

Jane suddenly spread her arms wide.

“Come here.”

“Huh?”

“Come on.”

Elena found herself pulled into Jane’s embrace as if defying gravity.

Her arms were soft and warm, like a fluffy pillow.

“My lady… how much have you endured all this time?”

“Huh? I’m fine, I wasn’t—”

And then, out of nowhere, tears began to fall.

“What the… why…”

Realizing she was crying, Elena frantically rubbed her eyes.

But the damned tears wouldn’t stop—they just kept flowing.

“Why am I crying…?”

Jane simply hugged her tightly without a word.

She hadn’t felt sad at all—so why was she crying?
Pathetic.

“Jane, I’m weird. Why are my eyes…”

The relentless tears annoyed her more than anything.

Like her tear ducts were broken.

Jane patted her back gently and whispered:

“That’s like the little moss that’s grown in your heart, my lady. Moss that’s been quietly growing in the shade. It needed sunlight and love, but it didn’t get any.”

She used a strange metaphor.

Moss in her heart?
Moss was damp and gross—more like a pest than anything else.