Chapter 61 - 20. She (3)

21. Dignified

“Since you had been trained by the duke, you won’t say that you don’t know this letter, right? It was obtained from the assassins who visited me not too long ago.”

“…”

“So, let’s hear your story. What riches and honors do you guys get by killing me?”

Fanora immediately pushed her face as if to interrogate him. And at this moment, she thought to herself. If in the unlikely event, this was done by Aloken, this bastard would be put on my murder list right away.

The first thing that came to her mind for Duke Jalier’s family was her fiancé, Aloken Jalier. However, he had no motive to kill her. Rather, Aloken attempted to continue meeting with her. In the recent letter, he even sent a message of satisfaction with the information Fanora gave.

Even if he’s a cold-blooded man who kills and gets rid of his family, there is no reason for him to kill me. I still have a lot of information to share with him.

Then who in the Jalier family instigated the murder? Now only one person remained.

“…sent assassins.” Aloken glanced at the seal on the contract and reacted immediately after realizing it wasn’t forged. “Rose Jalier…!”

“!”

Bang. He suddenly rose from his seat and banged his fist on his desk. Has she ever seen Aloken show such intense emotions? Fanora flinched her shoulders in surprise.

“That brat is the one!” At the same time, Aloken noticed Fanora’s left shoulder’s awkwardness and noticed the bandage showing through her dress.

“… As expected, it’s Rose, right? Why your younger brother… to me?”

“See! He failed to take the duke position from me, so he held a grudge and vented his anger…” Aloken paused for a moment, took a breath, and then uttered the rest of his words. “He was aiming for something I hold dear.”

“…”

“Just to attack me.”

Somehow, Fanora choked when she heard the sentence he brought out. “Do you still have something to say?” said Fanora, holding the documents she had thrown to him.

“I already put up with him trying to intercept the succession.”

After that, Aloken tried to leave the study straight away. But Fanora blocked his way. When she saw Aloken’s eyes, she unknowingly grabbed his arm. “Now, hold on a second.”

Since her childhood, it was common for her to read others’ expressions, and she often tried to look out for them. Her eyes weren’t always accurate, but she knew for sure this time.

“What are you going to do?”

She couldn’t let Aloken out. If things went on like this, it seemed his younger brother would suddenly die in a carriage accident, just like something had happened in the future. Of course, she assumed Rose was the culprit and took steps to punish him, but it was shocking that Aloken reacted to this extent.

“…”

But Aloken, who was caught, did not seem to mind her dissuasion, opened his eyes wide and said clearly, “I already told him when we were young what would happen if he touched mine.”

“!”

After that, Aloken roughly slammed Fanora’s hand, which held his arm, and then raised his right hand to caress her injured shoulder. “But before that, I want to ask you one thing. If I ever kill Rose for this.”

Fanora’s gaze became unsteady when the word kill came out of his mouth. Aloken narrowed the distance to Fanora as if to look at her more clearly.

“Will you be unable to love me from then on?”

“…!”

“If you don’t like the person who would do that for the rest of your life, tell me right here. Right now.”

Fanora tried to answer her right away as he wished. It wasn’t right to harm people’s lives. Although she tried to emphasize that sentence again, which was natural and stereotypical.

“…” Her lips moved for a minute, but no sound came out. If she affirmed his actions here, it could lead Aloken into doubt if he later found her involved in the accident. She had to draw a line here.

“…”

Fanora’s stiff face changed as she avoided eye contact, choosing what to say. Aloken had to accept Fanora’s silence before he raised the corner of his mouth.

“Duke, are you going out?”

“Butler, follow me for a second.”

It was the last conversation between the two. Afterward, Aloken left the study, and Fanora, alone, looked at only the skins of animals on the floor.

“… I’m going back now, so tell the Duke I’ll see him next time.”

Why couldn’t she answer? As time passed, she began to think of self-help. But she already knew the answer herself. First, because she herself had already committed the heinous thing. The other reason was that she didn’t know what to do because she had never met someone who was so angry on her behalf.

* * *

It was a few days later. Facing a new morning at Celsius mansion, Fanora took out the black diary she was reading and turned her head.

“Lady, that… there is news from the Duke Jalier’s family…”

The sad news delivered by the servant was expected. Fanora closed her eyes tightly.

“Lord Rose Jalier, the second son of the former Duke Jalier, had an accident… They said that a funeral would be held in the duchy in the week of the beginning of summer… What should we do for the birthday banquet that was planned?”

Rose Jalier was dead. There were many changes with her regression this time, but only Rose’s death didn’t change in the end.

“I see.”

Fanora accepted the situation with a sunken face and immediately proceeded with what had to be done. For example, to inform the nobles invited to her birthday banquet that there was an unavoidable situation, or packing up to hear from the duchy…

If I have spare time, I will have to prepare a carriage as it’s not enough to leave immediately. We don’t have enough hands.

The distance between the capital and the duchy was quite far. Fanora couldn’t have enough, even if she had two bodies. Only one servant took care of her, so it would be busier than any other day.

“Cecil, you’re packing up here. I’ll go give the letter to the butler.”

“Yes? But Lady…”

“When I’m not busy, I have to help your work like this.”

So Fanora decided to make her own move to complete her preparations quickly. She carried a handful of letters with simple sentences written on them, asking for their understanding as she was canceling her birthday banquet, and walked down the stairs. After that, she found the servant on the first floor who was in charge of delivering the letter, and she delivered it safely.

Next, let’s prepare clothes for the funeral. Then she diligently continued to participate in the funeral.

“L-lady! Why did you come out yourself? You should make Cecil do the work.”

“Yes?”

“That, I heard Lady was seriously injured the other day. If you move your body a lot, it’s not good for your wound.”

A servant called her as Fanora tried to go upstairs again. Besides, she wasn’t the only one who stopped Fanora’s steps.

“Oh my, isn’t that Lady Fanora? Are you feeling better?”

The hallway where Fanora stood was used by servants, and soon another maid in the uniform popped out. Fanora didn’t know her face, but the maid acted friendly, as if she knew Fanora very well.

“How surprised I was when I saw Lady come so bloody last time! Where is Cecil?”

“Cecil is doing other work.”

“Then why doesn’t Lady call someone else to do the work?”

Of course, as the kitchen maid said, Fanora was a member of Celsius, so she had the right to command the mansion’s servants at any time. But Fanora in the past had never enjoyed her rights.

Fanora was often abused by her only exclusive maid, and the Count’s disregard for her and the various gossip about her overlapped, making Fanora become the ghost in Celsius. Nobody listened to her voice. No matter how much she cried, they just pointed their finger at her, saying she looked like a ‘banshee’. But how could the situation become so different?

“You guys…”

In the corner of her head, there were still memories of being despised, even by the servants.

“You guys are always busy. Isn’t it tiring to go to my room and receive work after that?”

But she couldn’t get rid of her doubt. What if they’re another human being like Seir? Fanroa was agonizing in her head, so she stopped talking about her honest feelings.

“Ah! No, that’s not like that.”

She just said something on the subject of not being looked down on. Fanora realized that she had spoken too thoughtlessly and tried to correct it, but the servants didn’t listen.

“Lady! How could you say that? We are servants loyal to the Celsius family, so we should respond appropriately.”

“This is not the time for you to do this, Lady. Lady said you were getting ready to go to the funeral, right? What else do you need to do?”

“What? Then I will go to the medicine storage room right away and get Lady the painkiller you use. Lady has to take it with you.”

No matter how old she was, Fanora was just 17 years old, and they were very old adults. The young lady had no confidence to intervene as they exchanged breathlessly.

She thought it was a weird start from the day she almost got assassinated. Why are the servants making a fuss these days…?  

A few minutes later, the servant ran away as fast as the wind and gave Fanora bottles of medicine.

“T-thank you.”

When she turned back the way she had come awkwardly, only the servants in the hallway.

“What a poor lady. It must be hard to meet a crazy robber and get hurt, but she has to go all the way to the cold North with that body.”

“Being a noble is not all about comfort.”

“Anyway, Lady is going to the funeral again. Who else other than Cecil that Lady would take?”

“Honestly, I’m saying this because we’re the only ones here… But Madam is too much. What is she going to do with the soon-to-be-duchess by belittling her body like that…”

As they began whispering the stories, another servant approached at the smell of interesting conversation.

“What are you all talking about?”

“Ah, Jack, did you hear Lady Fanora is going to the duchy tonight?”

“I already heard it. Since the carriage is ready, I’m on the way to tell Cecil.”

The coachman, wearing a shabby hat, exchanged a few words with them. When he heard that the subject of the conversation was the eldest daughter of the mansion, he burst out.

“Everyone should be nice to Lady. She’s a good person, okay?”

“What do you know to say that?”

“Of course, I know. The elders of this mansion have never been like that, but the Lady sometimes secretly pays for the carriage. She even said thank you. For use, the person who takes care of our pockets like that is the kindest person.”

He was the coachman who often picked up Fanora when she went to see Ronwe. Is there a saying that happiness cannot be bought with wealth? However, for these commoners, a penny of gold could be enough to make them happy.

“Ah, that means money is good after all.”

“But Jack has a point. Lady treats the servants like that. Cecil is my friend, so from what I heard…”

The servants’ voices gradually got smaller. Since it was a chat about their master, they talked like it was confidential information, but this time was different. Unlike in the past, when people whispered about the lady’s flaws, this time, they gave positive evaluations of her.

“And if you think about it, what’s wrong with Lady?”

“I know, right? It’s not like she wanted to be born that way.”

Subsequently, the male and female servants who carried the letters exchanged opinions. Then the coachman became very angry and interrupted them.  

“Yah, you punks! No matter how many years you guys have been working here, don’t talk nonsense!”

“We’ve been around for a long time.”

What they were talking about was none other than suspicion related to Fanora’s birth. Still, the coachman clicked his tongue as if he had a different opinion.

“I don’t know about anyone else, but I know because I’ve seen the dead madam myself. She wasn’t a person to commit such infidelity.”

“Really?”

From the way she treated Cecil humanely. The sincerity that had been devoted to the previous butler, Ronwe. Even to show kindness to each employee she usually passed by. All these actions were slowly piling up behind the scenes, to the point of driving away the dark rumors inside the mansion.

“Anyway, I feel sorry for her. She’s so soft-hearted that she’s so conscious of the servants…”

“Looking at what you’re saying, she certainly doesn’t sound bad at all.”

As a result, the seeds that Fanora had played in her spare time began to sprout.