***
Rachel couldn’t quite understand his thoughts on how and why Ian had come to visit the runaway maid.
‘How in the world did he know that I was here?’
Rachel’s knuckles were white from how tightly she had clenched her fists.
“How long are you going to stand there? Let’s go in now.”
Ian said as he walked past Rachel, who was standing still, and into her yard.
The steps he took through the garden were natural, as if it were his own home. Without any hesitation he crossed Rachel’s yard and grabbed the front door knob.
Rachel had closed the door tightly, but the doorknob broke in Ian’s hand.
He looked at the broken doorknob helplessly, not liking it, and soon kicked the door.
The front door of Rachel’s house whisked open, and Ian looked at Rachel again.
With a look that said, “What are you doing not coming in?” Rachel hurried to her feet.
She wanted to run away at once, but there was no way she could get away from him, since he had come this far.
Even if he came to kill her, she had no choice but to walk after him.
There was no point in turning around and running now, because running would not save her life.
Rachel followed his orders as usual and got to her feet.
Ian confirmed Rachel’s movements and then moved into the house.
He glanced around the house silently.
After opening the doors from room to room and looking around the house, he sat at the kitchen table. All that sequence of actions were natural.
It was as if it were his own house.
On the contrary, Rachel was listening to a small sound, crouching her shoulders like a thief who came in to steal things from someone else’s house.
“Do you have anything to drink?”
Ian asked softly to Rachel, who looked at him as if she was afraid of him.
“Would you like some …… milk?”
Rachel’s eyes flashed in panic at the unexpected request.
“Can I have some of that?”
Ian said, pointing to the candied lemons on Rachel’s kitchen shelf. The candied lemons were shining yellow in the bright sun.
“Did you make it?”
“Oh, yes… Do you want it?”
Rachel couldn’t understand Ian’s behavior. Whoever made the candied lemon, why did he care?
But Rachel didn’t need to dare to understand his behavior. She had to obey his orders.
In the midst of this silent nodding, Rachel hurriedly approached the shelf with the lemon candies.
“Please wait a moment.”
She tried tirelessly to open the lid of the glass jar containing the lemon candies, but her hands were soaked with sweat from her nervousness that even opening the lid was not easy.
“Give it to me.”
“Argh!”
As Rachel wiped the sweat from her palms on her skirt, a voice came from above her head.
Rachel, who had been nervous, was suddenly startled by the voice and screamed.
Crash.
A moment later, with a clatter, the glass bottle fell to the floor and broke luridly.
Rachel’s shoulders bent a little more, and a silence fell between them.
“…”
Rachel looked down at Ian’s feet and saw that she had stepped on his foot and spoke carefully.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“…”
“I’m sorry.”
Rachel saw the look on Ian’s face and the foot she had crushed and immediately slurred her words, while Ian stared at the panicked Rachel and opened his mouth.
“I’ll have a glass of milk.”
Rachel hurriedly moved away from Ian and poured a glass of milk.
He emptied the glass of milk in one gulp, placed the empty glass on the table, and looked around the house once more. His indifferent gaze caught sight of Rachel’s little house.
“Come on out. Let’s go.”
He left without the slightest hesitation, just as he had when he had first entered Rachel’s house.
Rachel walked after Ian, unable to ask why on earth he was here or what he wanted.
“Get on.”
Ian, who escaped Rachel’s gravel yard, walked to the place where his black horse was waiting, turned around and told Rachel. He pointed at the black horse with his chin.
“What? You want me to ride it?”
Rachel asked Ian back, but hurried to get on the horse before she could hear his answer. For she remembered that he didn’t like to repeat.
Rachel stepped up the ramp to climb up, but her long skirt made it difficult for her to get her legs down on the other side of the horse. Rachel, who was struggling, forcibly crossed one leg to the other side of the horse to organize her posture.
Once Rachel had straddled the horse and adjusted her posture, Ian followed suit and mounted the horse. He mounted the horse easily without dithering as Rachel did.
‘What the hell is happening?’
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Rachel slowly moved up to the front of the horse, feeling Ian’s body behind her. But as he reached for the reins, she couldn’t go any further.
Ian drove the horse without the slightest explanation of where he was going. Rachel held the horse’s saddle tightly in both hands, trying not to touch Ian.
At the same time, she looked around to find out where he was taking her. Ian crossed the village and escaped Ravenna.
The people in the village stared at Ian and Rachel and the wonderful black horse, but before they could comprehend the situation, the horse had already moved away.
In no time at all, the emperor’s black horse crossed the small village, and when it came to the entrance of the village, it slowly came to a stop. At the entrance of the village stood a large carriage that attracted the eyes of the innocent countrymen as much as the black horse.
When they reached the entrance, Ian dismounted first and held out his hand to Rachel.
“…”
Rachel wondered for a moment what the hand meant as it was placed in front of her.
“Hold it.”
However, at Ian’s ensuing words, Rachel held his hands with both hands.
“No, it’s dangerous, so grab it and come down.”
Ian laughed once in a funny way and then explained once more.
“I can go down by myself………”
But this time, before Rachel could say all the words of rejection, she closed her mouth in a gasp and hurriedly dismounted from the horse, holding onto his hands, just as he had said.
Ian left his black horse in the hands of the man standing beside the carriage, and climbed into the carriage.
Rachel was still standing there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.
“What are you doing? Get in.”
Ian told Rachel every step of the way, as if he was trying to educate a child who didn’t know anything.
But that didn’t mean that his language was warm and loving or that his words were soft.
He just sounded authoritative and arrogant. Maybe he seemed annoyed, or even angry. His manner of speaking was tremendously stiff.
‘What do you mean, you want me to take the carriage?’
Rachel couldn’t help but open her mouth.
“Um, excuse me. Where are we going now?”
Actually, this wasn’t the only question she wanted to ask.
How in the world did he end up here in her place?
Why in the world did he come to visit her?
What is he going to do with her?
But Rachel had only uttered one of her many questions.
“The capital.”
“….”
The question, “Why?” came up to her chin, but she just couldn’t ask.
As an Emperor, he didn’t have to explain the reason to her.
Rachel’s face became anguished but never showed tears as she looked back at Ravenna, feeling that she could never come back here again somehow.
She slowly got into the carriage, despite her fears that she might not be able to return to Ravenna ever again.
Neighhh.
Soon, the carriage began to move slowly, starting with the whinnying of the horses pulling the carriage.
***
The carriage moved without a break, and the clear sky was gradually turning orange. Rachel silently looked down at only her lap, feeling the Emperor’s gaze on her as he sat in front of her.
When she thought about it, she wondered if she had been brave. She left him and run away? Is that why he came to get her? To get revenge?
She felt dizzy because he suddenly appeared after six years.
She still felt like what had happened to her was a lie, but she couldn’t deny the situation because Ian was sitting in front of her.
Much of the encounter was omitted. No greeting, no purpose.
But then again, he didn’t have to bother explaining his plans to her. He had authority and he could do whatever he wanted.
She wasn’t in a position to ask, but she still wanted to know why he had come to her.
“…”
The hidden memories of him suddenly flooded her mind at Ian’s sudden visit.
She tried hard not to think about it, but it could never go away.
She struggled constantly not to remember the man, but the many hours she had spent with him was constantly rushing in.
“….”
Rachel was a servant girl ever since she was young.
Maybe from the age of seven?
Her mother, who was quite young in my memory, had sold her off as a young servant girl in the imperial palace.
A few gold coins soon became more important to her mother than her young daughter. Still, she raised Rachel until she was seven years old, so she couldn’t deny that her mother did her best for her.
Her mother was a bar woman, and that was how she ended up having a child whose father was unknown.
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The woman who had the child left the bar and started working in a diner.
She left the bar for the sake of her child, but no matter how good her intentions were, the world was not so kind, and she realized it.
She realized that she could not live like this any longer.
So when she heard that they were looking for young maids in the Imperial City, she sold her only daughter off in a heartbeat. At least she thought if her daughter worked at the castle, she wouldn’t starve.
And so, seven-year-old Rachel was deprived of her freedom for the rest of her life for a few gold coins.