Chapter 44
The Mistress Who Didn't Return
There was no way these noble young ladies would ever have the chance to see the Deposed Emperor anyway.
Regina, instead of the truth that the Deposed Emperor's one visible side of his face was breathtakingly beautiful, began to gleefully imagine the half of his face that was hidden away.
Every few hours, a strange pus would fill up, so he always had something propping up his chin, and if you got close, you could see a viscous, black sludge-like pus contained within.
Of course, it smelled terrible, and her poor cousin had to endure the stench and even occasionally change the container holding the pus.
The stories, embellished with imagination based on the symptoms of the precious patients who sought out Pellieresse, immediately caught people's attention.
Regina leisurely observed the explosive reaction as she described the Deposed Emperor in increasingly grotesque terms.
The interest of these young ladies wasn't about how hideous the Deposed Emperor was.
"Would my poor cousin ever have done such a rough job? In this beautiful Mansion, the hardest thing she had to do was embroider a handkerchief for my father."
"Is she really nursing him there? What are the maids doing?"
"The Black Manor is so big. Besides, even commoners who don't know anything find it difficult to enter and work there. The servants' attire is terrible, and there are few of them. I don't know if there's anyone who can take care of him. He's so famous for being rough, who would dare to handle him?"
"By the way."
Just as Princess Seletina was imagining the terrible nursing and looking pitiful, a young lady who loved to gossip slyly brought up a rumor.
"I heard from my father that the two of them are rumored to have a very good relationship? This is the first time the Deposed Emperor has had a Consummation Proof, and at the wedding anniversary party where only his close aides were invited, the two of them..."
Regina twisted her eyebrows and mouth simultaneously, scraping together insincere sympathy and spreading it on her face.
"Ah... Poor thing. Is it really a good thing to have a good relationship?"
A deep sense of disgust appeared on the faces of some of the young ladies. Regina gathered her eyebrows in a pathetic manner and smiled sadly.
The wretched Yuan Pellieresse.
On the other hand, the shining Regina Pellieresse, the only legitimate daughter of the current Count Pellieresse, who was receiving the undivided attention of First Prince Bolonico.
It was obvious who the young ladies who would lead society in the future would sympathize with and feel superior to amidst this extreme gap, and who they would want to bring into their group.
Even if Yuan Pellieresse would never appear in society.
"I don't know why she keeps saying such useless things."
"Regina is doing well on her own, don't ruin it."
"Can't she just stop after one verse? What about our reputation if she says that? It sounds like Yuan was sold off."
"She was sold off, wasn't she? Sent to a place with no substance as proof of loyalty to the Imperial Family, right?"
Sold off my ass.
The Count Pellieresse, who sent two nieces, the family's assets, to the Black Manor without receiving a single penny of dowry, did not agree with his wife's words at all.
Priscilla, regardless of what her husband said, peeked through the crack in the drawing-room door at the chattering girls and smiled contentedly.
"Stop looking for Yuan, that girl. Just watch our daughter, who will become the foundation of this family's livelihood. Look at her. She's not intimidated at all, even among those prestigious family daughters. And she's the prettiest."
"Please be careful with your words too. You're a Countess, how can you talk like that? If you use that tone in front of other people, they'll say you're the daughter of a merchant again..."
"You should do well. I'm going to try to get back on good terms with my family this time, no matter what. What's the point of being a noble if you don't have any money? Hmph. If Regina does well, we won't have to worry about the family business anymore, right?"
Leaving Priscilla, who was moved by seeing Regina skillfully conversing with the girls who had been nobles since birth, the Count Pellieresse gestured to his confidant standing at a distance.
The confidant quietly shook his head.
The Count had planted people in the northwest where the Black Manor was located.
They were using all the emergency funds, which had temporarily extinguished the immediate fire thanks to First Prince Bolonico's name.
'I can't give up on Yuan.'
He was using Regina to prevent the immediate crisis, but he didn't think for a moment that Regina could capture Bolonico, whom even Grand Duchess Ariesta had failed to capture.
Now, the relationship between the Deposed Emperor and his wife in the Black Manor was no longer even a topic of gossip.
Yuan, who had mixed in with the line of people going to fetch water from the morning, desperately needed a private space where she could release the pain, as she had taken Klaud's pain into her body.
The Chapel Cemetery was perfect.
The maids who were always by her side would return to the well to help with the work if she said she was going to pray at the Chapel.
It was also the only time she could be alone.
Lancelot, who had come to work at the Black Manor early in the morning, spoke to Klaud, who was watching Yuan and the line of servants through the window.
"I always feel this way, but your wife gets along with the servants so well. What noble lady in the world would ride on a cart like that to follow the path to fetch water?"
"It's unacceptable."
It was half a joke, but Klaud replied coldly. It was clear that he had never liked it.
Lancelot casually bumped Klaud's arm to lighten the mood.
Klaud's eyes, which had been fixed on the receding line while leaning against the window, were filled with annoyance.
"You used to be like that too, Klaud. Whenever we came here, we would fight like commoners. That was fun."
"Did you come here to reminisce?"
"You're so sensitive. Why are you like this all of a sudden? Did you two fight?"
Klaud chuckled at the word 'fight'.
They could only fight if there was something to fight about.
Every day, he heard rumors that the couple had a very good relationship, and he lost even the will to fight when his wife said she didn't care as long as he was happy, not knowing how miserable he felt.
But how despicable and disappointing he was to no longer ask, thanks to the comfortable nights that had become so familiar...
Klaud nervously shook his hair.
"We didn't fight."
"You did. I knew you wouldn't listen even if I begged you to treat her well. Isn't Eddie enough with his paranoia? There's no need to watch your wife going to the Chapel so suspiciously. She's just going to visit her family's Cemetery."
With Lancelot's scolding voice as the last thing he heard, the room fell into a distant silence.
"What?"
Lancelot realized he had made a mistake at Klaud's expression, which looked as if he had been slapped.
"Your Highness, you called?"
"Where is Louise Pellieresse?"
"!"
"Should I be more specific? I'm talking about my eighth wife, who died without me even seeing her face."
Klaud examined Gustav's face reflected in the closed window.
The butler, with a pale face, was blankly looking at his back.
"I don't know if I'm really your master. Do I have to let this go too?"
"Th, that's..."
'I heard you've started working little by little these days, so I thought you knew.'
'While I was running around this barren neighborhood working in your place, I often visited the Chapel, and there were two graves there that I hadn't seen before.'
'One is Louise Pellieresse, your eighth wife and the current mistress's sister.'
'Oliver is next to her. They were buried side by side.'
The more flustered Gustav became, the more Klaud's mood sank underground.
"How could you hide something like this?"
'You didn't know.'
When Klaud first heard those words, he wasn't angry, but very embarrassed.
'It must have been hard for her to tell you.'
'Everyone knows you don't want to associate anything related to death with this Mansion.'
What was she thinking when she hid the truth from him and went to see her sister?
The next day.
Yuan, who had followed the line as usual, was shocked by the absurd news.
"What did you say?"
"I was surprised too. Yesterday, there were only two trainee priests off duty, so they were left praying in the Chapel, and some precious people came and said they would move them to a better place."
"Even so, how could they..."
Last night.
Someone dug up Louise's grave and moved it elsewhere.
Yuan was so shocked that she stared blankly at Louise's memorial tablet, which was placed alone among the memorial tablets of other people.
"I'll ask the priest again when he comes out. This is really... Still, if the family came to take her, it would be a good thing since the mistress brought and cared for the unidentified body, wouldn't it?"
When she entrusted her sister to this Chapel thanks to Gustav's consideration and held a simple funeral.
Yuan had pretended that she had found a corpse who died on the first day of coming to the Mansion when asked who the deceased was.
If she said that Louise was her sister in a place where they clearly knew her identity, Marquess Compagni might come and burn her to ashes someday.
The head priest, who didn't know Yuan's circumstances, was smiling kindly.
"Who, or which way did they go?"
"They said it was to the north..."
"Please let me know when that trainee priest wakes up."
"Mistress, what's wrong?"
Yuan told Monica, who had come to pick her up, that she wanted to pray more and asked her to go back first.
She insisted that if it got late, she would call a hired carriage from a nearby village.
Yuan immediately began to search for her sister, following the testimony of the trainee priest who came out late.
She was half out of her mind.
The mistress did not return to the Mansion.
The repercussions of that one sentence were very large.
When Yuan finally did not return to the Mansion until just before sunset, the servants began to stomp their feet and look for the butler Gustav.
"Would the mistress even know how to call a hired carriage in that neighborhood?"
"She hasn't even gone down to the village yet!"
"The priests must be busy, and the mistress isn't the type to make such a request."
One by one, the servants gathered at the entrance.
Their worried faces were all filled with anxiety.
Soon, when it got dark, this area would be completely dark.
Unlike other Mansions with colorful bricks, it would be difficult for even the most skilled coachman to find this Mansion unless the surroundings were lit with fire.
"There, there, Mr. Mazarin is coming!"
"That guy is so slow!"
In the end, Ralph, the chef, who couldn't overcome his anxiety, ran out to the gate.
Soon, when it got completely dark, everyone would have to go to their rooms according to the rules of the Mansion, so only a few of the servants flinched and followed Ralph.
Mr. Mazarin's expression, who had driven the carriage himself, was dark.
"The mistress borrowed a carriage."
"Did she get lost? Shouldn't we all go out with torches and look for her?"
Chef Ralph babbled and looked around.
He was about to snatch the torches from the guards outside.
"The carriage didn't head towards the Mansion."
The faces of the servants who were huddled together at Mr. Mazarin's words stiffened.
