Chapter 39
39. My Child is Kind
Olivia's eyes snapped open at the sound of frantic knocking and a voice whispering like a demon. She quickly reached for the dagger on the bedside table. In Pulder, where firearms were illegal, a dagger was the only weapon she could acquire.
Before fear could paralyze her, Olivia tried to quickly assess the situation.
All the shutters were double-locked. Still, if the man was determined to break down the door, he would eventually succeed.
Olivia quietly grabbed another key. It was the key to Mrs. McPhee's house. Mrs. McPhee had entrusted it to her, asking her to show the inside of the house to potential buyers.
If the door showed signs of breaking, she would escape through the back door and hide in Mrs. McPhee's house.
Knowing that a day like this might come, yet having no choice but to live in this house, Olivia took a deep breath and tightly tied her shoelaces and hair.
Then, the presence she had felt in the bedroom moved to the right.
"I know you're in there, pretending you're not. How naughty."
His taunting tone was leisurely.
And then, he began to strike the front door with something heavy.
Bang, bang!!
The old wooden door joints rattled precariously with each blow.
"Come out! Olivia, come out. Olivia! Olivia!"
Bang, bang, bang, bang!!
The door seemed about to break from the relentless pounding.
Since this place was secluded, who would know even if he kept hitting it like that?
Olivia quickly turned and headed for the back door. Knowing that she must not let him know she was leaving the house, she slowly unlocked the back door, being careful not to make any noise.
Her heart felt like it would burst, and her fingertips trembled, but her eyes were wide and gleaming.
Even though she had lived in this house expecting something like this to happen someday, she had no intention of dying at the hands of a scoundrel like him.
Before opening the second lock, Olivia turned her head to look behind her. She was going to make sure he was still hitting the door before going outside.
But at that moment.
"Ugh! Ugh!"
A scream suddenly erupted.
"Stop, stop!! How dare you, do you know who I am!!!"
Olivia lowered her hand, which had been about to unlock the door, and tried to quickly assess the situation.
The person who had filled her with terror was now making a voice filled with fear.
Holding the dagger and key, she quickly approached the front door and carefully opened the side shutter to peek outside.
"We're from the Pulder Police Department. Are you there?"
A polite voice was heard from beyond the door.
"Are you there?"
The policeman's voice alternated with the assailant's wails.
"Let me go!!!"
Through the slightly opened shutter, she saw two men in police uniforms.
The nerves that had been as sharp as a cat's slowly melted away from her head. She leaned her head against the window frame and slowly took a long, deep breath. Only then did she hear the pounding of her heart, as if it would explode.
"Is anyone there?"
Leaning her head against the shutter, she slowly opened her eyes, placed the dagger and key, which she had been holding as a last resort, on the window frame, and unlocked the front door.
Without uttering a single groan, Olivia stubbornly held onto her trembling legs and opened the door.
Two uniformed men were looking at her with businesslike expressions.
And they were inwardly surprised that the woman who opened the door had a rather calm complexion. She had her hair tied back tightly and wore a firm expression that made her look determined.
Although, the hand hidden behind her back and the legs hidden beneath her skirt were trembling like aspen leaves.
Olivia desperately managed her expression and glared at the culprit who had been terrorizing her for months. And she kept thinking in one corner of her mind.
Who had called the police?
Who had helped her?
The assailant who had tried to enter Olivia's house was arrested at the scene and immediately taken to the local police station.
Olivia wanted him to be punished according to due process, so she went to the police station with them to fill out the relevant documents.
It was past midnight, but the police station was brightly lit like a city that never sleeps.
The assailant who had filled her with terror was sitting with his head bowed, quite different from the way he had been banging on the door. As a result, Olivia could not properly see his face. But she felt that his back looked somehow familiar.
"Can I know that man's name?"
The police officer, who had taken out various documents and handed them to her, glanced at the criminal being investigated on one side and shook his head slightly.
"Well, he claims to be from the Macdowell family."
"...Macdowell?"
The police officer nodded with a look of disbelief and casually pointed to the documents.
"Why would a son from that family try to break into someone else's house? It must be a lie. Fill out the documents there and go."
"Could you tell me who reported it?"
Someone had come to the police station and reported that a suspicious person was lurking around her house. Thanks to that, Olivia had escaped the crisis.
But the police waved his hand dismissively and refused her request.
"It is against the rules to disclose the identity of the reporter. Hurry up and fill out the documents."
It was then.
"Adam!!!"
A chilling cry echoed through the police station. The eyes of everyone inside the police station were focused on one place.
A noblewoman wearing a thin summer shawl rushed in with a surprised expression and scanned the surroundings. Then, she found a man crouching on one side and called his name as if screaming.
"Adam!!!"
The assailant, who had been hanging his head until now, finally raised his head.
"Oh, Mother..."
"Good heavens, why are you here doing this?! How dare you treat my son like a criminal with what authority?!"
The noblewoman glared at the police officer who was interrogating her son and vented her anger. Her son, whom she would not hurt even if he were in her eyes, was being treated like this!!
And behind her, a middle-aged gentleman with a stiff expression followed and stood beside his son. He glared at his son with a displeased expression, then raised his head and stared at the police officer in charge.
"I am Henry Macdowell. Why are you interrogating my son?"
A heavy silence fell on the anger in his low voice.
Henry Macdowell. He was a relative of the Pulder Vice President and ran a leading civil engineering company. Needless to say, he was from a noble family in the Norfolk Continent.
Even when the timidly cowering criminal claimed to be from the Macdowell family, he couldn't believe it, but the Macdowell couple had come in person.
The police officer in charge hesitated for a moment and reluctantly opened his mouth.
"He is charged with trespassing and property damage."
"What? Trespassing, property damage?"
"Yes, that's right. In addition, the victim has no intention of settling... so we had no choice but to take your son into custody."
Mrs. Macdowell, who was listening to her husband and the police officer, slammed the desk hard and shouted.
"Why would our son break into someone else's house and damage property?! Huh?!! Which house?!"
At that moment, the police officer inadvertently looked at Olivia. Following his gaze, the Macdowell couple's gaze also turned to Olivia.
"Did our son try to go into that young lady's house? Adam, did you do that?!"
Olivia stood up from her seat and said firmly to the police officer nearby.
"I don't want to face those people. Please arrange another place."
Mrs. Macdowell, who had been questioning her son, glared at Olivia as soon as she finished speaking and ordered.
"No, wait there for a moment."
"I don't want to face them. Please arrange another place!"
Olivia earnestly requested, but the police officer took a step back with a troubled expression.
Olivia looked at him with an astonished face, but the police officer ultimately avoided her gaze.
The Pulder's public power refused to protect her.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Macdowell quickly approached her.
"Now that I see you, I know who you are. Miss Olivia Liberty, am I right?"
Olivia tensed her stomach at the voice that dug into her ears and turned her head to face her. The noblewoman's eyes were filled with the contempt and disdain she had often seen.
"Yes, that's right. Mrs. Macdowell."
A choked voice leaked out.
Mrs. Macdowell maintained an elegant expression and scanned Olivia up and down. Then, she suddenly opened her mouth.
"You're very pretty."
Olivia's every movement stopped at the first word that came out.
"Our child often talks about Miss Liberty. Our Adam is a Herollington University student."
Only then did the reason why the assailant's back had looked somehow familiar become clear.
Mrs. Macdowell chuckled and elegantly smoothed her disheveled hair. Then, she took another step closer to Olivia and whispered softly.
"It seems Adam liked Miss Liberty. He was a Herollington University professor until today. Adam is a student."
Suppressing the rising disgust, Olivia spat out each word as if chewing them.
"...What do you want to say, Mrs. Macdowell."
"Let's settle this nicely."
"......"
"Adam is a good child. He probably just wanted to talk to you because he liked you..."
Unable to bear it any longer, Olivia cut her off and asked back.
"Does someone like that break into someone else's house at night?"
"......"
"Does he peek into windows at night and make them feel threatened?!"
"Look here!!"
"I have nothing more to say, Mrs. Macdowell. As the police officer said earlier, I want the person who put me in fear to be punished."
"What?! How rude!"
Mrs. Macdowell threw away her elegant mask.
"You need to know your place. How dare you talk about punishing my son?!"
"......"
"A lowly thing with nothing but a pretty face, you're so arrogant because you've become a professor. People need to know their place. How dare someone like you become a professor to teach the children of noble families?!"
"......"
As the insults continued, Olivia's eyes sank deeply. As calm and still as the surface of a sea that looks black because it is so deep.
Mrs. Macdowell glared at Olivia's black eyes, seething.
Suddenly, a chilling shiver ran down her spine.
It felt like she was looking into the darkness of the deep sea.
"You're creepy."
"......"
"Settle this. I'll give you plenty of settlement money. You've been fired from your professor position, so you won't have any money, right?"
"My position remains the same. Use that money to hire a lawyer."
"What?! How dare you!! Even if you want to punish him, do you think I'll let my son be punished?! You can never punish my son, never!! How dare you act so presumptuously today and expect to sleep soundly?! Just take the money and back off!!"
Around that time, the inside of the police station was in an uproar due to something, but Mrs. Macdowell, who was furious, and Olivia, who was exhausted, did not notice the commotion.
Olivia had no reason or energy to talk to her anymore. As she turned to finish filling out the documents, Mrs. Macdowell, with her eyes turned upside down, roughly grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.
And at the same time, she raised her hand to slap her cheek.
Oh, how tiresome.
Watching the hand being raised, Olivia thought slowly.
The unchanging contempt and anger were tiresome, her insignificant and pathetic struggles were tiresome, just everything.
Just everything seemed to have stepped away from her life.
No, it was as if her life had stepped away from all of this.
The distant hearing, the current scenes and situations meaninglessly captured on her retina, felt very distant and slow.
