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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: The Letter
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I’m pregnant!
Haha, congratulate me!
I’m thinking of naming our baby Rose. So I’m going to his hometown to meet his parents.
So don’t you dare interfere, and just have a nice wedding, okay? That is, if you want to see your cute granddaughter’s face!
Bye, bye!
Philip, take good care of Mom!
Mom, make sure Philip doesn’t get into trouble!
I’ll be back, everyone! I’ll miss you!
After wandering the streets in search of her daughter, who had suddenly vanished from the temple, Helena returned to the manor and was handed the letter Lily had found in the wardrobe. It came with the ruined yellow bridesmaid dress.
Her reaction was slightly different from what Imeline had anticipated—a scream filled with fury.
Helena maintained a calm expression as she read the letter.
Lily, on the other hand, felt a sense of unease at Helena’s strange composure and studied her face.
‘What on earth did she write…? It must be about running away, at any rate.’
Genuinely curious about the letter’s contents, Lily asked Helena.
“What… what does it say?”
At the maid’s demure question, Helena lifted her head.
Her beautiful lips, which defied her middle age, curved upward into a smile. As if she hadn’t heard Lily, Helena muttered to herself.
“Ah… really… Imeline… Imeline…”
Feeling a chill, Lily stepped back. She had a feeling that pressing the matter further would lead to some terrible consequence.
Lily bowed politely to Helena and Philip.
“I will go and contact the police in the capital…”
“No.”
Helena raised a hand, cutting Lily off. Philip looked at Helena with surprised eyes.
“What’s wrong? We have to find Imeline. Considering she disappeared from the temple, she must have climbed out a window again…”
Philip stopped mid-sentence and covered his mouth. Helena narrowed her eyes and asked him.
“Again?”
“No, I mean, that’s her specialty, isn’t it? Climbing out windows and running away at the drop of a hat…”
Helena glared at Philip. Faced with her formidable aura, Philip looked troubled and fell silent.
While Philip stood frozen with a tense expression, Helena turned to Lily with a chillingly sweet smile.
“Lily. I’m sorry, but could you postpone my dinner appointment with the Duke by thirty minutes?”
“Ah… Yes, of course, Lady Helena.”
Like a veteran maid, Lily asked no further questions. But Helena walked to her vanity, opened a box, took out a diamond, and offered it to Lily.
“Oh, and the letter says our girl has gone to get some fresh air at a friend’s house in the suburbs.”
For such news, her expression is awfully grave.
“…Have you ever raised a daughter, Lily?”
Overwhelmed by the strange energy in Helena’s voice, Lily shook her head.
“If you had, you’d know… The relationship between a mother and daughter is a complicated thing. It seems my impending marriage has unsettled her. It wouldn’t do to tarnish Imeline’s reputation by tattling to the Duke about something so trivial, would it?”
Helena smiled brightly.
A strange light flickered in her brown eyes.
Lily had often experienced being overwhelmed by Young Lord Eric’s killing intent during their martial arts training.
Eric was a natural Aura Knight, and having trained his body from a young age with the secret techniques of the Orleans family, he knew how to wield an overwhelming killing intent. Having served in the knight order with him, Lily was rarely intimidated by the intent of other swordsmen.
But now, Lily felt overwhelmed by the smile of an ordinary person who shouldn’t have been able to exude such an aura.
“O-of course not, Lady Helena.”
Lily couldn’t look Helena in the eye and lowered her head.
As Lily, who had accepted the diamond Helena offered, was about to leave the room, she glanced up and saw that the smile had already vanished from Helena’s face.
✵ ✵ ✵
After confirming that Lily had completely closed the door and left, Philip snatched the letter from Helena’s hand.
“Is she really going to the suburbs for some fresh air? What does it say…?”
Philip’s words trailed off as he read the letter. His face slowly filled with horror.
After finishing the letter, Philip looked up, his face contorted with anger.
“Is she crazy? Imeline, that little brat! We have to catch her, Mom! Ah, damn it, but the Duke can’t find out… And she’s still worried about your wedding through all this…”
Philip pointed to the bottom of the letter with a worried expression.
*So don’t you dare interfere, and just have a nice wedding, okay? That is, if you want to see your cute granddaughter’s face!*
*Bye, bye!*
*Philip, take good care of Mom!*
*Mom, make sure Philip doesn’t get into trouble!*
*I’ll be back, everyone! I’ll miss you!*
Helena glanced at the sentences Philip was pointing at and clicked her tongue. Philip looked up at her, puzzled by her reaction.
Helena took the letter from Philip and sat on the sofa.
“What is it?”
Without answering Philip’s question, Helena looked back and forth between the letter and the ruined bridesmaid dress. She tapped the arm of the sofa with her finger, her eyes narrowing.
“You think this letter is her worrying about my wedding? To me, it sounds like the exact opposite…”
At the peculiar tone in Helena’s voice, Philip’s eyes widened like a rabbit before a hunter, and he tilted his head in confusion.
Philip sometimes had trouble understanding the things his mother or Imeline said.
‘A member of the ducal family? Please. Did any of Mom’s husbands ever truly consider you family?’
‘Shouldn’t people learn from their mistakes, Philip? Orleans might be no different from her other husbands.’
Like the things Imeline had said yesterday morning, for instance.
Seeing Philip’s expression grow more and more bewildered, Helena spoke as if he were pathetic.
“This means, ‘If you want the wedding to go smoothly, don’t look for me.’”
“Huh?”
Philip tilted his head.
Helena recalled the gossip she had overheard at the royal party.
‘So the people Lady Imeline met at the Rose that Blooms at Night were the princess and Young Lord Eric? It might only be a matter of time before the princess and Young Lord Eric get married.’
The nobles invited to the royal party had been whispering amongst themselves, but Helena had accidentally overheard Vivian’s scheme in the lounge.
Vivian saw Imeline at the Rose that Blooms at Night.
‘A girl who usually has no interest in men…’
And she was with Young Lord Eric, no less.
‘And a girl who usually despises Young Lord Eric…?’
Just then, a belated realization dawned on Philip, and he shot up from his seat, his eyes wide.
“Huuuh? Imeline met someone at the Rose that Blooms at Night?”
“You’re just realizing that now?”
As Helena retorted in a pathetic tone, Philip covered his mouth and muttered.
“Then the day she climbed out the window and stayed out all night, she was with Eric?”
At Philip’s words, Helena shot to her feet. Stayed out all night?! This was the first she was hearing of it. Philip, now flustered, looked at his mother’s face.
“Mom…”
“Tell me.”
“Mom, I’m really not sure…”
“Speak, my son. The rise and fall of our family hangs on this.”
Philip desperately shook his head and backed away. But he had never once won against Helena.
“W-well, you see…”
A short while later, after hearing the story of Imeline’s night out from Philip, Helena called for Lily.
“It would be best not to postpone my dinner with the Duke. We’ll go at the scheduled time.”
“Pardon?”
Lily looked back and forth between Helena and the dazed Philip with a bewildered expression.
“Oh, we’ll be leaving him here. Pay him no mind, Lily.”
✵ ✵ ✵
Two hours later, Helena arrived at the ducal manor alone.
“Imeline said she’s feeling unwell and might not be able to be a bridesmaid tomorrow. It’s such a shame, Your Grace.”
Helena smiled at the Duke with a genuinely regretful expression.
Lily, who had accompanied her, felt a shiver run down her spine at Helena’s performance and rubbed her arms. But soon, she had to leave the two of them in the drawing room.
Baldeck Orleans spoke with a concerned look.
“I see. It’s nothing serious, I hope?”
“Just a passing cold. She’ll get better soon. She was afraid she might pass it on to you, Your Grace. She may be my daughter, but at times like these… she’s truly an angel.”
Helena smiled gently and sat on the drawing room sofa. Baldeck replied with an affectionate smile.
“That’s because she takes after you, Helena.”
‘That’s right. Imeline takes after me.’
Her sharp tongue and brown eyes were similar, but most of all, it was the moments when her inner thoughts were impossible to read.
Philip wore his emotions on his sleeve, but Imeline was the complete opposite. When her thoughts grew heavy, she would clamp her mouth shut and retreat into her own world.
At times like that, Imeline was like a drowning person.
Someone who didn’t call for help or struggle, but simply used their own weight to sink to the bottom where they could no longer breathe.
Just as Helena had been at twenty.
‘Imeline spent the night with Eric… Does that mean the person in this letter is Eric?’
Helena recalled Philip’s words.
Imeline had been with Eric all night.
Why?
*With him, being trapped in a dark, narrow place isn’t as hard as I thought it would be.*
Her head spun.
Helena knew. She knew why Imeline, unlike Philip, had no interest in men or romance.
Imeline was still afraid of large men. Except for Philip.
Just then, the drawing room door opened, and a man entered. When his eyes met Helena’s, his expression hardened slightly as he greeted her.
“You’ve arrived, Madam.”
‘So he’s here.’
Eric Orleans.
Helena took a moment to observe Eric standing before her, the very man the butler had said would be home late today.
“…?”
Both Eric and Baldeck stared at her, looking puzzled.
It was only natural.
Even if she was to be his new stepmother, a gap in status existed between Helena, a lower noble, and Eric.
Yet Helena remained seated on the sofa, hesitating for a moment long enough to make everyone uncomfortable before finally rising.
Helena walked over to the somewhat flustered Eric and looked straight up at the man, who was much taller than her.
‘He’s big.’
This man, even larger than Philip.
What part of this man…
*I feel like if I’d had just one person like him in my life until now, my life would have turned out completely different. Well, it’s already changed, but still.*
What part of him had changed Imeline?
‘Do you even like Duke Orleans one bit?’
Helena wanted to throw Imeline’s question right back at her.
*Come to think of it, your letter never mentioned it. Not a word about liking or loving this man.*
Helena gave Eric a bright smile.
“You’re handsome. As always.”
“…?”
“You resemble an actor I saw once, a long time ago.”
Eric’s eyebrow twitched. He avoided Helena’s gaze.
Helena thought of Imeline’s letter.
*He’s an honest and good person.*
*His smile is cute.*
Honest.
Yes, on that point, Imeline might be right.
As Helena was thinking this, the butler called to her from behind.
“Dinner is ready, Madam.”
At the butler’s words, Helena turned around.
Following slowly behind Eric and the Duke as they headed to the dining hall, she paused for a moment when she reached the window.
‘That woman who died of madness. The Duke was hunting near the forest where she died. It was incredibly deep in the woods. There was a gamekeeper’s hut there, and I have no idea how that gamekeeper managed to get to and from it every day.’
Recalling what Philip had said after his visit to the ducal manor, she stared into the deep forest. Her fine, white fingers rested briefly on her chin.
‘How could a madwoman have gotten in and out of a forest that even a gamekeeper would find difficult to navigate…?’
