Chapter 54
Episode 54. Scandal
2023.10.24.
Herdin dismounted without tearing his eyes from the spot where Blair should have been and asked the knight before him.
“……Madam.”
“Th-that is……”
“Speak. Don't make me ask twice.”
“……She hasn't been seen for about an hour.”
His blood ran ice-cold at the knight's report, then boiled over.
Herdin slowly closed his eyes, suppressing the rising fury. The restrained emotion scorched his throat.
“Explain the situation. What happened.”
The knight quickly recounted the events.
The Seldon Viscount's child had gone missing, and Blair along with other noblewomen had lent their family knights to the search. While Rina had briefly stepped away due to stomach pains, Blair had vanished.
“……Witnesses.”
“Everyone was focused on searching for the child, so no one seems to have seen anything.”
Herdin opened his eyes upon hearing the full story. His piercing blue gaze stabbed at them.
“Since when have you served the Seldon Viscount as your liege?”
Killing intent dripped from his low voice.
The knights flinched involuntarily under the pressure. It was the instinct of beasts sensing a superior predator. Akin to fearing death.
His usual leniency made them freshly realize he was fundamentally the cold, ruthless ruler of the north.
The knights could not even utter apologies, merely bowing their heads.
Rina beside them trembled under the intimidation as well. But what terrified her more was the fear that her negligence might have led to something happening to Blair.
In this atmosphere where anyone could drop dead without surprise, a woman's voice interjected.
“I came to give thanks…… Has the Duchess not returned yet?”
It was Rachel Selden.
She held a child in her arms. Her missing nephew.
Herdin narrowed his eyes at her words.
“……Not returned?”
“I saw her heading into the forest with a knight earlier.”
Herdin's expression hardened.
A knight.
Could it be that bastard Asiel?
“My lady. Do you remember which house the knight was from?”
“I was too distracted to see the family crest. I assumed it was a del Mark knight…… Has something happened to the Duchess?”
At Rachel's words, the del Mark knights and Rina began to grow restless.
A noblewoman vanishing into the forest with a knight at a hunt.
The truth was unknown, but it painted the perfect picture for a scandal.
Realizing this, Rina hurriedly stepped forward before Herdin.
“N-no, Your Excellency! It's a misunderstanding! Madam isn't like that.”
Forgetting her fear moments ago, her sole thought was to assert Blair's innocence.
“She knew I'd return soon, so she wouldn't do that without a word to me—”
“Shut your mouth.”
Herdin coldly cut off Rina's defense of Blair. She clamped her lips shut with a frightened expression.
In this situation, vehement denial would only fuel suspicion.
Especially before outsiders who weren't del Mark.
His barely held reason cooled his head, spinning rapidly.
Rina was right.
Even if she truly had a passionate lover, Blair wasn't the type to reveal it so clumsily.
Nor was it the right time to trigger her planned scandal. They hadn't yet uncovered the truth of the Empress's Palace incident.
‘I don't want to live burying it all anymore, out of exhaustion or fear or whatever.’
Yes, she had clearly said that.
But…….
‘Can I trust her?’
Me, that woman?
What if she had already achieved the purpose of this contractual marriage? What if there was no reason to maintain it?
Regardless of the Empress's Palace truth, she could ignite the scandal and leave his side.
Only that single scrap of paper proved the contract.
Suspicion spread like wildfire in an instant.
‘……No, that's not important now.’
First, he needed to bring Blair before his eyes. No matter with whom or doing what—that came first.
As Herdin composed himself and turned back toward the forest, Rachel, who had been watching him, smiled as if fully understanding.
“She'll return soon. That's the Blair I know.”
“Indeed, our noble Duchess wouldn't do such a thing.”
Wesley suddenly interjected in agreement.
“Ah, I wasn't eavesdropping, just happened to overhear passing by.”
Herdin regarded Wesley with icy eyes.
Wesley faltered briefly under the gaze but soon grinned brazenly and added,
“Perhaps Madam just went for a walk and got lost?”
“Y-yes, that's surely it.”
Rina desperately agreed without even knowing who Wesley was.
Pleased by her support, Wesley patted her shoulder and said to Herdin,
“Since it's come to this, we'll deploy our knights to help. We should find her quickly before things escalate.”
Herdin stared coldly at Wesley, who spoke as if bestowing a great favor, then mounted his horse and headed into the forest.
* * *
Wesley took Herdin's non-response as assent and arbitrarily sent his marquisate knights to search for Blair.
‘She should be around here by now.’
Leisurely scanning the surroundings as he ventured deeper into the forest, Wesley finally found what he sought.
Amid dense, overgrown trees stood a dilapidated ruin on the verge of collapse. Once a forest keeper's lodge.
Wesley smirked upon spotting it.
Blair, kidnapped on his orders and disguised as taken by a knight, should be there.
He had instructed the kidnapper—posing as a knight—to bring her to this ruin. And upon hearing a horse's neigh, to stage the scene.
As if the two had been intimate there.
‘Can't wait to see what state our lofty Duchess is in.’
And Herdin's expression upon seeing his wife like that.
The mere thought sent thrilling shivers through him.
Suppressing his rising smirk, Wesley called out to Herdin ahead.
“I think I heard voices from that ruin. Shall we check?”
Herdin dismounted silently and approached the ruin first. Wesley followed, anticipating his reaction.
Then, Herdin's footsteps halted abruptly upon entering.
‘He saw it?’
Wesley entered eagerly expecting the sight of disheveled Blair and Herdin's shocked face.
But contrary to expectations, Wesley's expression hardened the moment he stepped inside.
‘What the hell…….’
No one was there.
* * *
Thirty minutes earlier.
Blair opened her eyes heavily, as if waking from deep slumber.
The first sight was a crumbling ceiling embroidered with spiderwebs. Sunlight filtering through cracks sparkled off them.
‘Where…… am I?’
Blinking to focus her blurry vision, Blair then realized a gag filled her mouth.
Her last memory returned simultaneously.
Waiting briefly for Rina, stepping down from the carriage to check on Viscountess Seldon. Then, someone covering her mouth from behind.
She had been kidnapped.
Reality hit, and her heart began pounding wildly.
‘Who? Why?’
Footsteps approached from behind, accompanied by an unfamiliar man's voice.
“Time to wake up, eh?”
Blair quickly closed her eyes before he could see.
The man strode closer and roughly lifted her chin.
“Damn, you're filthy pretty.”
“…….”
“Just looking gets boring, though.”
His rough fingers caressed her lips. The touch reeked of sordid desire, chilling her, but Blair desperately endured.
From his words waiting for her to wake and her instincts, she sensed she mustn't be caught awake now.
“Hmm, better drain the lizard first before you wake.”
The man rose from her and walked away. Soon, the sound of liquid splashing followed. Blair cracked her eyes open.
He was urinating in a corner of the ruin.
He wore knight's garb, but didn't seem like one. The family crest on the right arm of his uniform looked plausible at a glance but was crudely made up close.
Blair quickly scanned her surroundings. Fortunately, her arms and legs were unbound. He must have thought he could subdue one woman alone.
Nearby lay a sizable wooden plank.
‘Could I knock him out with that?’
But if he didn't go down in one hit? She'd be caught then.
‘He probably won't kill me even if caught.’
If he meant to kill, he'd have done it already. Or was waiting for the right moment.
Either way, killing her immediately would complicate things.
Worth a try, then.
The splashing sound gradually faded.
Blair held her breath, quietly rose, and gripped the plank. It was hefty, but manageable with both hands.
One chance only.
She swallowed and raised the plank high.
But the moment she swung for his head.
“Huh? You're awake?”
The man turned with a grin.
