159 - The Evil Husband (15th Anniversary Edition) Chapter 159
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The odd jobs Aileen started as 'Ilen' weren't as difficult as she'd expected. Aileen kept her mouth shut, pretending to be mute, and only moved between the tavern's backstage, the warehouse, and the lodgings.
No one paid attention to such a small, skinny handyman. Since she covered half her face and couldn't speak, she was even more ignored. Except for the dancers who gave her errands.
"Ilen!"
"Ilen, you're here?"
"Why are you so late? We were waiting. Come here quickly!"
For some reason, they seemed to like Aileen quite a bit. Maybe it was fun to tease her because she was so easily startled and ran away at the slightest thing.
In fact, Aileen felt like her lifespan shortened by a day every time she went backstage. It was because the dancers preparing for the show would approach her half-naked.
They found her naive reactions amusing, which made them tease her even more. Alessia ignored whatever pranks the dancers played like it was nothing, did her job, and disappeared quickly. But Aileen reacted to every single prank, so the dancers found it fun to tease her.
Today, Aileen was surrounded and tormented by the dancers again, and she hurriedly ran away, clutching a pile of stage costumes they had carelessly taken off.
"Ugh..."
Aileen shuddered slightly. Alessia had told her several times not to work too hard and just do things roughly, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Hiding in a corner with the laundry, Aileen glanced upwards.
Some of the seats on the highest floor were Box seats, which had a clear view of the backstage. It was a place deliberately set up for people to peep at the dancers changing clothes. It was always full because it was the most popular seating.
But strangely, ever since Aileen started working, the Box seats had been empty. Only one Box seat was consistently occupied, and the rest were all vacant.
Since the seats above weren't clearly visible from below, Aileen often wondered who the only regular customer was.
After putting the clothes in the laundry basket, she was hurrying to the warehouse to get props for the next stage. Suddenly, she realized that Alessia had been missing for a while. Aileen looked around, puzzled.
"Wow!"
Just then, a huge cheer erupted, and confetti exploded. Colorful, glittering paper scraps rained down from the sky, and the music grew even louder. The reaction was much more boisterous than usual, and Aileen wondered what was going on, so she peeked outside.
It seemed people were cheering because they were seeing the newly prepared performance for the first time. As she watched the dancers with large feather fans dancing for a moment, someone who shouldn't be here caught her eye. A stunned murmur escaped her lips.
"...Father?"
But the questioning mutter was buried in the loud music and quickly disappeared without a trace. Aileen stared at her father, frozen.
At first, she thought it was a hallucination, but that couldn't be. She had never hallucinated her father, even if she had hallucinated Mother. Her father, with his hollow eyes and hunched posture, was cautiously looking around and squeezing through the crowd.
Aileen, who had been standing blankly, suddenly snapped out of it. And she hurriedly left the backstage and chased after her father.
The most popular Tavern in Fiore Street was packed with people. Aileen barely managed to push her way through the crowd.
Her father entered a small alley in the corner. It was a place Aileen had gone to find her father in the past. Aileen immediately pulled aside the cloth covering the entrance and entered the alley.
But the moment she stepped inside, Aileen immediately hesitated. A long, winding alley, numerous rooms, and the lewd sounds coming from them. The past and present overlapped, and hallucinations echoed as if on cue.
"..."
A wave of dizziness washed over her, and her feet stuck to the ground. She felt afraid. Mother's voice lingered in her ears, but Aileen forced herself to move again. Cesare wasn't here to hold her hand. She had to chase after her father alone.
She wanted to call out to her father in a loud voice, but she couldn't, not in her disguise. Aileen anxiously moved her feet and kept looking inside.
She was wondering if she should open each of the closed doors when she finally saw her father's back.
Aileen quickly ran and grabbed her father's wrist. Her father, who had been walking hunched over, was startled and turned around.
"...Wh-what is it!"
Even though she was disguised, he didn't recognize his daughter at all. Aileen quickly took off her glasses and whispered.
"It's me, Father."
Her father's eyes widened. But he wasn't happy about the unexpected meeting at all. He distorted his face and shouted.
"You stupid thing!"
Aileen flinched back at the sudden outburst of swearing. Her father, who had stepped closer as she retreated, rebuked her.
"When His Excellency took you as his wife, you should have been groveling and trying to please him, but instead, you ran away?!"
She couldn't even ask why her father was here. He was shouting about His Excellency as if he wanted everyone to hear, so Aileen hurriedly shook her head.
But her father was about to shout regardless, so Aileen had no choice but to slightly open the door next to her. Fortunately, it was empty. Aileen quickly dragged her father into the room.
As soon as they entered the empty room, her father raised his hand as if he had been waiting for it. But he couldn't bring himself to slap her. He just breathed heavily and lowered his hand again. Her father looked Aileen up and down and asked.
"What on earth is this?"
"...What about you, Father."
Her heart was pounding like it was about to burst. Aileen clenched her trembling hands tightly and asked.
"What are you doing here?"
"Ha! You abandoned your father in the countryside and pretended not to know me without even a single letter, and you were just trying to work at a Tavern?"
She had sent several letters in the meantime, but her father acted as if he hadn't received a single one and became angry. There were so many things she wanted to say, but Aileen tried to explain the situation first. But her father didn't even give Aileen a chance to speak.
"Let's go back to the Grand Duke's Residence right now."
Her father suddenly grabbed Aileen's wrist and pulled her. Aileen tried to shake off his hand and said.
"I can't go back right now, ugh, it hurts...!"
But her father had no intention of listening to her at all. He didn't care about what Aileen was thinking.
"You should be grateful that His Excellency favors you, and now you're acting arrogant? Because of you, right now!"
"Please listen to me!"
It was an involuntary cry. Aileen shouted, and her father's hand momentarily lost its strength. Aileen, who had barely escaped his grasp, rubbed her throbbing wrist and faced her father.
"I just came out for a while because I have something to do. I want to help His Excellency..."
But her father's face was full of ridicule.
"You?"
"..."
"Get a grip. You've only lived as the Grand Duchess for a few months, and you really think you're something? You're nothing. Help His Excellency? Haha. Flattering the Grand Duke so that he's happy and warming his bed is what helps him. Not acting however you please like this."
Scornful words poured out incessantly. Aileen didn't back down even at the sharp, glass-like words. In the past, she would have been intimidated by her father's words, but now she could at least retort with a trembling voice.
"...I'm not a pet."
She was about to say it again to her father, who was raising his eyebrows. Suddenly, the outside became noisy, and there was a flurry of footsteps and muffled screams. Someone knocked on the door and shouted.
"Come out quickly! There's an inspection!"
At the word inspection, her father rushed to open the door. The alley, which had been quiet, was in chaos because everyone in the rooms had run out. Aileen's father chased after a man knocking on the door of the next room and asked.
"An inspection! Where!"
"Damn it, the Imperial Army is inspecting! They got a tip about drugs!"
As soon as he heard that, her father was swept away by the crowd and ran away. Aileen didn't even have time to grab him. And Aileen wasn't in a situation to chase after her father either.
'The Imperial Army...!'
If she was caught by the soldiers, it was over. She had to hide somewhere, anywhere. She looked around the room, but it was too simple to hide in. And there was a high chance that this kind of place would be thoroughly searched first. Suddenly, a refuge came to Aileen's mind.
It was the high-rise Box seat.
