Did You Love My Obedient, Submissive Appearance?
It seems Mother is still not recovered.
Esika sat down and spoke in that tone, as if there were no Duchess present, yet Kalian heard not a single word of it.
Only after several seconds did he finally open his mouth, staring at Esika with eyes that held no understanding.
“……That is so.”
His voice was low as Kalian answered, and Esika offered a faint smile.
“Your Grace’s cheeks are also a little flushed. Are you quite well?”
“This…… No. I am fine.”
Soon after, the special dishes prepared by Hemes began to arrive one after another.
Roasted goose, garnishes, oysters, and young veal steak…….
Esika picked up her knife with perfect composure and began to eat, while Kalian kept his brows furrowed and stole occasional glances at her.
She is beautiful. When was the last time I felt a woman so pretty?
It was not intentional, yet his gaze kept returning to her face.
A slight emptiness stirred in him at the sight of her eating without a trace of self-consciousness, but there was nothing he could do about it.
“Mother seems lonely these days. If you go visit her, she will surely be pleased.”
At Kalian’s words, Esika bit back the laughter rising in her throat.
He had always wanted her to be sincere toward his mother.
Instead, she had been slandered and condemned according to his mother’s wishes.
“As you say.”
What had happened before was of no importance to Kalian.
He had already forgotten it all.
The matter between Esika and Leona was nothing more than a private family affair, and it was no longer worth mentioning.
“And…….”
Kalian continued in a slightly strained voice, unlike before.
“I heard that your friend is being investigated at the government office.”
“Ah, Yuri, you mean?”
Kalian’s eyes flickered as he sliced the meat with his knife.
Honestly, he had not wanted to bring up Yuri’s name at this table.
If she had not sent that tearful letter…….
“It seems you tried to obtain a gem from her hometown without permission.”
Esika silently lifted her glass and took a sip of the wine inside.
The acidity pleased her.
“……If you would show me mercy.”
At Kalian’s words, Esika set the glass down.
Then she looked straight at him and said, “The complainant is my brother. Yuri did wrong, so she is being investigated. Is there any reason for me to interfere?”
“But…… Yuri has been your friend for a long time. She came to the Duchy for you.”
“As I told you last time, we are estranged.”
Esika’s crisp words made Kalian’s eyebrows twitch.
Yuri had said she could not even get bread or water there, and she missed Kalian every day.
The image of her crying every single day had taken root in his mind, and it bothered him.
“You are the Duchess of the great Klaus Duchy. Handling such trivial matters by contacting your hometown can prevent gossip from reaching the Duchy. Later, it can be settled within the family.”
“Your Highness the Duke.”
Esika’s clear voice calling him made Kalian’s fingertips tremble.
Her clear blue eyes held a cold light as she looked at him.
“I wonder since when Your Highness has been worrying about a mere maid’s hole. If there is a crime, simply expel her. Gossip…… Do you truly fear gossip?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you were truly worried about gossip, you would not have given her the Allet Ring.”
The words struck straight to the heart, and Kalian’s eyes flickered darkly.
He suddenly felt his throat burning.
“You told me not long ago to stop worrying about you and Yuri, yet I do not understand why I should care about that girl on Your Highness’s behalf.”
“Esika, that is…… It was a misunderstanding.”
Kalian said hurriedly to her.
“What I did for Yuri was right, but I did not sleep with her or cheat. I simply felt sorry for my wife…… I only wrapped her more tightly.”
Where did the wind come from.
He was tolerant toward himself.
The memory of that night gnawed at his conscience, yet it had been only one night.
And this was merely suggesting a measure for the Klaus Duchy’s maid.
Yet the attitude of blaming the one who had the affair was wrong.
Esika said to Kalian with sharp eyes, “Well, anyway, do not mention Yuri. If you truly wish to save that girl, why not move yourself as the Duke?”
“Esika.”
Kalian set down his utensils, his brows furrowed in anger.
His heart beat faster than before.
Esika’s beautiful white face now looked like a stubborn white rose.
I know, if she simply said she would do it, this conversation could end, but Esika ruined his mood again.
“…….”
Kalian silently lifted his glass and drank the wine.
Before Esika finished eating, he rose from his seat.
What angered him most was the sight of Esika eating deliciously without even glancing at him.
Today he had wanted to set the mood and spend a night with her.
The situation had become so irritating that he wanted to punish her in some way, beyond mere annoyance.
“You have changed too much.”
At Kalian’s words, Esika, with food still in her mouth, stared at him.
Then she chewed and swallowed before asking, “What kind of person was I that Your Highness knew?”
“You…….”
Kalian opened his mouth but suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
“Did you love my obedient, submissive appearance?”
Kalian had never loved the past Esika.
The stupid, obedient girl who only followed me was detestable.
His chest ached.
A beast that had never been fed was never the master’s from the beginning.
Esika, seeing straight through him, lifted the corner of her lips and continued eating.
Kalian stared at her pale face for a long time, then fled the room as if running away.
From behind, Esika’s laughter seemed to echo after him.
***
I never imagined a lawsuit would arrive from the Brigate Baron family.
The complainant was Superot Brigate, Esika’s older brother.
Esika would even care about such details.
Did she plan the gem theft from the very beginning?
Ugh, Yuri bit her nails.
Esika, you made me this far?
She was now locked in a room.
The interrogation room with bars like a prison.
It had already been four days since she had been taken to the government office, and there had been no contact with Kalian.
She had even sent letters begging for help, to be rescued, yet…….
Would she end up becoming a criminal with no help at all? Anxiety surged through her.
One slip and she would receive a ticket to prison for years.
But…… There must be a way to survive somehow. I am Yuri Anesis. The smartest, most beautiful, and cleverest in Prihatz.
In the dim room, Yuri’s eyes shone.
Many thoughts flashed through her mind.
After a while, the rusty door opened and a stern-faced investigator entered.
The low-rank noble investigator was a man in his mid-forties with a large mole on his nose, his hair in front half bald.
He had tied his remaining black hair tightly back, making it look as if his baldness was accelerating.
He sat opposite Yuri, spread out the documents, and stated her name and charges.
“Name: Yuri Anesis, age twenty-seven…… Yes, using the name of Duchess Esika Klaus to steal gems from the Brigate Baron family. Looking at the complaint, you have stolen multiple times…… Do you know that theft is a serious crime?”
Yuri lowered her head slightly, then slowly raised her face, tears brimming in her eyes.
The investigator showed a momentary hesitation at her pitiful expression.
Immediately, Yuri covered her mouth with her hand and burst into tears.
“Hic…… Uuh…….”
Her sorrowful crying filled the room.
The investigator looked away until her crying subsided.
It was not uncommon for female prisoners to cry before interrogation.
After a while, the crying gradually lessened, and Yuri’s voice flowed out.
“Investigator…… I am truly wronged.”
It was common for prisoners to claim they were wronged.
The investigator glanced at her.
Yuri Anesis, the maid of the Klaus Duchy.
With her beautiful golden hair and red eyes, she was strikingly lovely.
Her trembling shoulders, begging for justice, looked so fragile that one wanted to hug her.
“I…… I only did everything for my childhood friend Esika, hic…… I did not know that my heart wanting to help Esika would trap my foot…… Uuh…… Uuh…….”
Tearful tears fell down her cheeks.
Yuri looked at him with moist eyes to evoke sympathy and pleaded subtly.
“Please help me, Investigator.”