Chapter 35
Slap!
Katrina’s palm hit Ayla’s cheek. Ayla was surprised and stayed rooted to the spot.
“Did you make him do that?”
Ayla’s green eyes shook.
“No! I didn’t make him do it. I really didn’t know!”
Ayla immediately understood what Katrina was talking about, even though she didn’t specifically tell her. Ayla understood right away what she was saying.
“Did you forget that I told you not to be arrogant? Didn’t I tell you not to talk to that lowlife!”
Katrina was visibly irritated.
Her niece’s beauty was extraordinary, so she brought her to the castle and raised her well. But how could she act like that?
If Ayla didn’t act recklessly, Katrina was planning to pair her up with Maxim Lancert someday.
Katrina still clearly remembered the day she saw Ayla hanging out with the lowly soldier.
After that, Ayla wept and clung to her, asking for forgiveness. But she was still immature and kept seeing him.
Fortunately, he died in time. If the truth was known, all of Katrina’s plans would go to waste.
“Sniff…”
Ayla constantly shed tears every time Katrina was upset with her.
“I told you to live silently and that I would match you up.”
“It’s my fault. Please forgive me, I won’t do it again.”
“Is there anyone else besides me who knows that you’ve been sneaking out with him?”
Ayla shook her head firmly.
“No! No one knows! Please don’t kick me out.”
Katrina sighed. She was so angry that her face was heating up.
“Get rid of all the evidence.”
Ayla clung to Katrina’s arm with tears in her eyes.
“I’ve already burned them all. Don’t worry about anything.”
Katrina looked pitifully at her niece, shook her off her arm and left. Ayla, who was left alone, cried on the floor. When she remembered Kyle’s lifeless body, she wailed pitifully.
‘Why would you die like a fool? Why did you die!’
‘Ah… no! Rose!’
Gasp!
Hans opened his eyes wide.
It was quiet in the room because it was not dawn yet.
He recalled the strange dream he just had. It was so unpleasant and ominous that he couldn’t fall asleep again.
‘Don’t tell me something happened to Rose…’
He opened the drawer next to the bed and took something out. It was a small portrait frame of his sister, Rose. Hans put his sister’s photo frame in the drawer because of their mother, who looked sad whenever she saw it.
He looked at Rose’s picture with determined eyes.
Morning soon arrived at the Etoile mansion.
“Who is that?”
Count Jared, who was eating breakfast, was bewildered seeing the person coming his way.
His son, Hans, was walking leisurely to the table.
Hans Etoile, a famous playboy in Solstern, looked more attractive today.
He was dressed neatly. He grinned and walked past the maids, who blushed and giggled after seeing his actions.
“What’s up with you? You always skip breakfast.” Count Jared asked after seeing his son’s suspicious actions.
He threw a red apple at him. Hans grabbed it easily.
“I was thinking about going to Rose.”
The Count and Countess looked at each other in surprise. The Countess said, “Did I just hear that right?”
Count Jared laid down his fork and slowly wiped his mouth with a towel.
“What do you mean? You’re going to meet Rose?”
Hans pulled out a chair and sat down with his long legs crossed gracefully.
“Because I miss her. It’s not a big deal for her brother to see her.”
Count Jared sent out all the maids and servants around them.
He lowered his voice and warned Hans.
“What do you mean? You think we don’t want to see Rose? You know that the imperial family is keeping a close eye on our family.”
“If we cower first, they’ll be more ruthless. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
Count Jared was frowning after listening to him.
In fact, he did have this thought, but it was weird to hear it from his son.
However, after Rose went to the North, the Imperial family quietly and secretly watched their family.
At a time like this, when they were closely watched to see if there was anything to nitpick about, they could cause unnecessary misunderstanding if they went to the North.
Hans was not wrong either. It was also pathetic to deliberately keep away from their only daughter because they were wary of the Imperial family.
What parents would turn a blind eye to their children?
In such cases, it may be better to act confidently. Since when have the Etoile family been wary of the Imperial family?
Mrs. Audrey opened her mouth carefully as if she understood what her husband was contemplating.
“Honey, wouldn’t it be okay? Rose is our daughter. She’s the only daughter of the Etoile family.”
She placed her hand on her husband’s and looked at him determinedly.
“Hans is just going to see his sister.”
It would be a relief if Hans could meet Rose. She wanted her husband to give him permission.
“……”
Count Jared couldn’t do anything but sigh.
Even if he didn’t allow it, Hans would do what he had decided to do.
To be honest, it was Count Jared himself who couldn’t sleep every night because he was worried about Rose.
“Sigh…”
“……”
There was a moment of silence at the table where the three people were sitting.
The problem wasn’t how Hans would go to the North, but how he could avoid the Imperial family’s suspicion.
They were drowning in their own thoughts in silence.
The sun, which was shining brightly, was visible outside the wide window.
On the warm carpet, Rose laid down and looked at the wolf cub next to her with her eyes twinkling.
Looking at her like that, Natalie only sighed because she couldn’t stop her.
“Is it that cute?”
“Yes, look at its actions. How could it be so similar to a puppy?”
Rose rolled the ball of wool around and played with the wolf cub.
The wolf cub, which used to be dirty and malnourished, was now plump. Its blue eyes were also sparkling, unlike before.
Anyone could tell that it was pampered by Rose.
Thanks to that, Rose became brighter as well. Rose, who was shaken because of the recent incident, quickly recovered.
“Ah… Stop! It tickles!”
The wolf cub crawled to Rose’s lap and stretched its paw towards her face.
Rose smiled as the paw tickled her cheeks.
Natalie said something after seeing this scene.
“Your dress is going to get ruined.”
Rose didn’t heed her words and played with the wolf cub’s paw instead.
“Oh my. How could you be so cute?”
She had already forgotten that she was almost bitten to death by the vicious wolf in the forest before.
“You’re so cute. How could you grow up to be that big?”
Natalie didn’t understand her words but she didn’t say anything.
Clip, clip!
Natalie and Rose looked at the desk, where the sound had originated from.
Hannah was cutting the stems of flowers with a blank face. Her eyes were looking elsewhere, not at flowers as the stems scattered on the floor.
“Hannah?”
Natalie tried calling her, but Hannah didn’t seem to hear her.
Clip, clip.
She would cut off her fingers if she continued.
“Hannah!”
Rose urgently called Hannah’s name.
“Y-Your Highness!”
Hannah, who dropped the scissors in surprise, quickly answered Rose.
“What are you thinking about?”
“N-nothing.”
Rose didn’t think so.
Rose and Natalie looked at each other in confusion. Looking at Hannah, who was different from her usual self, something must be up.
Hannah looked at Rose nervously, as if she had been caught hiding something.
In fact, she had been having a hard time these past few days because of the scene she had witnessed.
To be more exact, what Lady Ayla had left behind was so shocking that she couldn’t get it out of her head.
On a piece of paper that looked like a love letter written to someone, Ayla had hoped that the Empress would die. She wished someone would kill the Empress. There were a lot of complaints written about how she was about to die because of the Empress.
The other half, which was almost half burned, was even more horrifying. She got goosebumps reading it.
Apparently, the letter was full of hatred.
The letters even haunted Hannah in her dreams.
‘I-it’s really… Lady Ayla, is she…’
It was hard to imagine that a beautiful girl like Ayla would do this.
It remained a trauma, and Hannah shrank in fear at the sight of Ayla from afar. She often looked around the castle in case they bumped into each other.
There were many occasions where she was lost in her own thoughts, and because she had nightmares every day, there were shadows under her eyes.
She kept thinking about the terrible letters while trimming the flowers.
“I’d like to invite Mrs. Katrina’s niece. Was it Ayla? She was worried about me, but we haven’t properly met yet.”
Rose stroked the wolf cub and said to herself.
“That pretty girl? Your Highness met her?