Chapter 45
Episode 45.
“I couldn’t find out any more details as it was an event from seven years ago.”
Her fingers, gripping the paper, turned white. Agatha lowered her gaze, trying to read the next sentence, but it wouldn't easily register.
“She returned before the war ended, and then married Viscount Portoni through the introduction of the Aratus family. And three years ago, her husband passed away, I heard.”
“Had you been in contact during that time?”
“No, that wasn't the case. Until recently, neither letters nor greetings had ever been exchanged.”
“So today was the first reunion?”
“That’s correct.”
“Well. Perhaps it would be closer to the truth if I said I still hadn't found out.”
Agatha murmured self-deprecatingly and closed the report.
She didn't know why that woman became Viscountess Portoni instead of Marchioness Aratus.
Now, everything felt like it fit perfectly.
‘It really was an arranged marriage.’
She had someone else in her heart.
‘And I was a fool not to know that….’
The investigation before her marriage focused on the present, so there was no way it would have known about a lover from seven years ago.
What would have changed if she had known then?
“You’ve done well, Ethel. You may go now.”
“Should I dig deeper? We might find out more if we contact Aratus’s relatives.”
Agatha, who had been hesitating, shook her head. The condition he had set when they married was not to associate with Aratus’s relatives.
Perhaps this was also a condition he had set anticipating the current situation, she thought.
At that time, recalling Enoch’s relationship with Aratus’s relatives, Agatha forcefully shook her head.
Wasn't it due to the pressure from his relatives that he headed to the battlefield?
Indeed, watching Isabelle have to re-enter high society, and seeing the schemes for the position of Marchioness, Agatha was convinced that Aratus’s relatives were almost on the same level as her own.
It might have been for multiple reasons, but she wanted to believe it wasn't so.
“I’ll think about it later. Thank you for your concern, Ethel.”
Ethel, who had been watching with concern, bowed respectfully and left the study.
As soon as her aide was gone, Agatha sank deep into the sofa. Her personal maids approached with worried expressions.
“Madam.”
“I want to be alone.”
Exchanging glances, the personal maids stepped out of the study.
Thud. The door closed.
Meanwhile, Enoch was recalling the recent events as he returned to his tent.
—Lord Enoch.
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the tent, and when he went out, she was there.
Her black hair with a greenish tint and her blue eyes were unchanged from that time.
—It’s been a while. Could you spare me some time?
At that moment, Enoch was reminded of a past he had now buried seven years ago.
When the heir, who was thought to be on the verge of death, endured the harsh battlefield without dying, relatives one day sent a woman.
The woman they bought with gold and sent to the battlefield was given the hollow title of ‘fiancée.’
—Esther Rackyo, I am.
—I have nowhere to return now.
—Please just let me stay here.
Even when told to go back, she didn’t, and settled herself outside his tent, using the leather as a blanket.
Beside him, whom she ignored and pretended not to see, Esther openly attended to him.
Cleaning the tent, fetching water, intercepting errands.
As the presence of the ‘fiancée,’ who wouldn’t leave even when chased away and insisted on doing trivial chores, became familiar, he saw her eating gruel that even a dog wouldn’t eat.
—Is that your meal?
Enoch finally brought the woman within his boundaries. He allowed her to have meals, gave her blankets, and tolerated her attending to him by his side.
—I wish Lord Enoch would like me.
Enoch never replied to her constant murmurs. However, he didn’t ignore her either.
He didn’t like her, but she was someone he had ultimately brought within his boundaries.
He had only thought he would take responsibility.
—Return safely.
On the day the new commander, who had acted recklessly without listening to his words, suffered a great defeat and the army’s position became precarious.
Enoch went out that day, unaware that she had poisoned him.
Thinking back, she had acted much more erratically than usual then.
His body wouldn't obey him, and he sustained severe facial wounds, but he succeeded in repelling the kingdom’s army.
When he returned to his tent after the battle, Esther Rackyo had already fled.
But now.
The moment he heard it, he knew.
It was the relatives’ scheme.
Otherwise, there was no way this woman would have approached him again.
—Are you still angry with me?
He dismissed his attendants, who were in a frenzy, as he looked at her perpetually tearful eyes.
Although most nobles were hunting in the forest, invisible eyes and ears existed everywhere.
—Follow me.
The woman he met in the quiet forest was, unlike before, wearing clean, fine clothes and had the appearance of a noble lady.
Enoch listened silently to Esther’s confession.
—I had no choice back then. Those who sent me threatened to kill me if I didn’t do as they said to Lord Enoch…!
It was all as he had expected. Since the relatives had sent her, it was likely they who had ordered her to poison him.
—I regretted it so much after running away like that. Even if I was scared, I should have told Lord Enoch what happened…
Enoch leaned his back against a tree behind him without a word. Taking a shallow breath, he finally spoke.
—Then what about now?
—What?
—Is coming here today your own will?
Esther, momentarily flustered, soon made up her mind and spoke.
—Actually, I came to tell you something.
—What is it?
—Do you know Baron Thatcher?
Enoch’s mind recalled one of the relative families who had played games for the position of Marchioness in late spring.
He remembered they had replaced the head of the family and their heir as an example.
—He came to see me as a representative. He threatened that if I didn’t cooperate with their actions, they wouldn’t leave me alone…
But the warning didn’t seem to be enough.
Seeing that they had prepared such schemes again.
—These people are trying to harm Lord Enoch again. I felt I absolutely had to tell you this time, so I couldn’t just stand by!
No, perhaps it was his fault that this situation had arisen.
Was she this kind of woman?
Enoch gazed anew at the woman before him.
Thirteen years old.
He could see things now that he couldn’t then.
Enoch could now distinguish between lies and truth.
Seven years ago, the woman who had seemed so desperate and pitiful had secretly observed him with feigned tears, gauging him.
Whether he would accept her or not.
—Ha.
—Lord Enoch?
He couldn’t believe he had overlapped this woman with Agatha for even a moment.
Agatha’s ‘I like you’ and this woman’s ‘I like you’ were completely different.
His feelings were also entirely different. If Esther was someone he would take responsibility for, then Agatha was…
—…….
Enoch covered his eyes wordlessly. Only then did regret flood him.
To be so utterly captivated that nothing else was visible.
It was so pathetic that he only realized it now.
—You don’t believe me? This time it’s real. It was really your relatives who…
—Enough.
He straightened his body and wiped his dry eyes.
Several presences had just been felt and then disappeared.
It didn’t matter much if his past was revealed now.
But he didn’t want to create any more incidents that could cause problems in his relationship with his wife.
‘Please leave.’
When he uttered those words, the memory of Agatha’s eyes looking up at him, moist, made his breath catch even when he hadn’t been conscious of it.
Now, his throat felt choked.
Could he turn back time?
—L-Lord Enoch.
To do so, the past before his eyes had to be completely cleared.
—I will handle the matter of the relatives myself. Go back. Do not seek me out again.
—…Are you abandoning me again? You did the same seven years ago. If only Lord Enoch had clearly said, ‘I will make you my wife,’ I wouldn’t have…
—You poisoned me with your own hands, and now you blame me.
Enoch laughed lowly, then his expression turned chillingly cold. Esther’s face turned pale, overwhelmed by the faint aura emanating from him.
—L-Lord Enoch, I didn’t mean that…!
—Haven’t you already received sufficient compensation? Instead of seeking my assurance, you received clear compensation offered by the relatives, it seems.
His sharp gaze swept over Esther’s lustrous, voluminous dress and the small jeweled brooch.
Tears welled up in Esther’s eyes.
—How can you say such things…
—I must revoke all titles from the collateral branches. If you combine the events of seven years ago with today’s, even His Majesty wouldn’t object. Wouldn’t he?
Enoch’s gaze passed over Esther and landed on a large tree trunk deeper in the forest.
Esther trembled, startled.
—T-There’s nothing there, Lord Enoch!
—If you don’t want to come out, listen from there.
His arm, clearly well-trained even through his leather hunting attire, rested loosely on the scabbard of his sword. The moment his long, straight hand gripped the sword’s hilt, a bloody aura shot out, engulfing the bushes.
—Bring the mastermind of the seven-year-old incident and the mastermind of today’s plot before me. Otherwise, not only will your titles be revoked, but I will personally hang all of you from the city walls for the crime of disrupting the family.
