Chapter 5
“Why? How? For what reason?”
As she kept incoherently asking him questions, Zed carefully explained what had happened to Leticia chronologically since the age of seven to now. He first explained how the woman she was searching for, Laya, had died; the relationships she had formed with others; and when she had her debutante. And coming to the current period, what duties she had and what actions she had taken up until now.
Her expression was pale and she looked as if she were properly hearing his words, but seemed mostly unable to understand what he meant. Because of that, Zed couldn’t bring himself to tell her what he had done recently. The fact that her fiancée had announced the breaking of their engagement and that she subsequently been nearly poisoned to death would be too shocking for her to hear in her state of mind and young age. The maids also completely sealed their mouths from speaking of the truth. The most important thing was preserving their mistress’ mental stability.
Even with the most generous of descriptions, the seven-year-old Leticia was a shy, easily frightened girl. It was hard to judge her as anything else other than that, because the moment someone bigger than her came up to her, she would curl up and stare at the person in fear.
It was particularly difficult for Zed. Even though he emphasized multiple times that he was her bodyguard, she still wouldn’t let her guard down towards him. Because of this, there were multiple incidents that troubled him.
Zed gave a long sigh. She was such a young and cowardly girl. Just what kind of educational environment did she go through that made her like the venomous snake she had become as an adult? Right now, it looked like she couldn’t even hurt a fly.
Slam!
At that moment, the door burst open and a maid hurriedly dashed into the room. Zed and Anna’s gaze quickly turned towards the maid at the same time.
The maid’s behavior was completely inappropriate. Before Anna could scold the maid on her lack of etiquette, Zed lifted his hand and stopped her.
“What is it?” he asked the maid calmly.
For the people working under Leticia, the work environment was quite strict compared to other houses. The maids and the butlers all understood and followed the rules as written for them. For the maid to intrude so violently likely meant there was something so serious as to throw out all the rules altogether.
“D-Duke Cabrian is visiting,” the maid reported.
Zed’s assumption was completely correct. A bothersome visitor was now here.
‘He would be absolutely useless in this situation!’
Zed repeatedly swore at the Duke in his mind.
The truth about Leticia losing her memory was currently being kept under wraps and was only talked about inside the household.
She already had plenty of enemies around her, so if the truth were to leak out of the household, she would become the laughingstock of the city. There were plenty of people looking for any chance to snatch a juicy bit of gossip.
Duke Cabrian would especially be excited about knowing this fact. It was clear to Zed that the Duke would be jumping up and down with joy, knowing that there was a reason for him to void the engagement between himself and Leticia. It was why Zed strictly rejected all requests from the Duke to visit the household, so that Zed could keep hiding Leticia’s current status.
Zed worriedly tapped his temple with his index finger, and began to issue an order.
“Bring him to the parlor room first—”
“He went towards the bedroom as soon as he entered. We tried to stop him as much as we could, but…”
Upon hearing the maid’s account, Zed’s conscious thought completely whited out. A mass jumble of thoughts jumped in and out of his mind rapidly.
When he was aware of himself again, he found himself already running down the hallway as fast he could. He was heading, of course to Leticia’s bedroom. Not long after, he arrived at the destination where anxious maids were crowding around a half-opened door.
Zed bit hard down on his mouth and immediately rushed into the room.
The very first thing he saw was Leticia sitting on the bed with a white négligée on, completely frozen. As Leticia didn’t know what to do in this situation, once she saw Zed come in she shot pleading gazes towards him as if she was begging for a rescue.
Zed slowly moved his gaze over. As he did so, the shape of a man standing in front of her filled his vision. The man’s hair was obsidian-black, and his eyes shone with a metallic blue tint. The clothes he wore were the uniform of Finance Ministry officials, and was dark blue like it was mixed with the colors of both his hair and his eyes. His suit was severely buttoned all the way up to his neck, and his face looked as beautiful as if God had finely sculpted a doll, giving him a somewhat inhuman look.
The man, who looked like even his blood was blue from coldness, slowly raised his finger and pointed at Leticia.
“What is ‘this’?” the man asked Zed, his face as expressionless as if he were wearing a mask himself.
The man was Leticia’s fiancée, Ludwig Von Cabrian.
Marriage between nobles was usually done for political gain. The higher the title, the more likely this was to occur. Under the genealogy of the royal family and close high-ranking nobles, blood relationships between marriages was not uncommon. By marrying a man and woman of close blood ties together, they were able to secure each other’s political power and lend a hand to each other in times of emergency. Doing so stabilized their positions even further.
Ludwig and Leticia were to be married under that tradition. Not even a year had passed after Leticia was born did their respective families agree on the pairing. For over twenty years thereafter, trade between the two families occurred with the future marriage of Ludwig and Leticia as the foundation.
At this point, it wasn’t a marriage, let alone engagement. It was simply an oath pledged between the two families, a contract that was sealed between the two signifying their marriage.
However, Duke Ludwig had ascended to dukedom at a slightly earlier age than expected, and unilaterally announced the breaking of the engagement. It wasn’t because the Laimi family had caused trouble for him or because he particularly hated Leticia. The only reason was a change in heart. He had “fallen in love”. He had gained “a lover”. And he wished to give the position of duchess to her.
This shocking news swept the city, and because of the huge difference in status between a duke and an illegitimate child of a noble, it brought to life new fantasies of marrying into higher prestige. The fact that he abandoned his own fiancée of twenty years for another woman only heightened Duke Cabrian’s image of “romantic” for the public.
Of course, it was not like there were no nobles that quarreled because of the “love” that they felt for each other. Cases of adultery were frequent as they differentiated between marriage and romance. If an illegitimate child was suddenly discovered, there would be fighting among family members, and blood would often be drawn. These terrible, dirty deeds kept endlessly cycling among the nobles throughout the years.
However, feuds happened inside the families only and would usually end. Announcements of the breaking of an engagement would spread throughout the country, and the combination of romance and marriage was practically nonexistent.
The commoners would fervently follow the drama as they became more and more complicated, treating it like entertainment instead. Sometimes that fervency would reach the noble social circles as well. Writers and reporters, musicians and artists would dramatize and glamorize events, and it was the result of this that began to approve of Ludwig’s and Yevnika’s love.
However…hatred and abuse narrowed on Leticia as she became the villainess of this fairytale, and from Zed’s point of view, Ludwig and Yevnika were just bastards that he wished he could just beat to death. He felt this especially strongly towards Ludwig, who had thrown away a twenty-year contract as if it were a piece of rubbish. The Duke was a betrayer that Zed could never forgive.
And yet….the Duke called her “this”?
Zed clenched his teeth.