Hearing that Fabian had come to the residence, Lucia hurriedly came out of her chamber. Her face was crammed with worries and had become worn out in the span of a few days. Fabian and Lucia sat opposite each other in the receiving room and Lucia urgently inquired, "Have you seen Sir. Krotin? Is he safe?"
Fabian's lips twitched faintly. 'Forget about safe, that guy is having such a blast. The punk has six lives, I'm telling you.'
"Yes. There is nothing wrong with him. The dungeon's environment isn't the best, but he is adjusting rather well."
Lucia heaved a sigh of relief. When Princess Katherine named Roy as the murderer that day, Lucia was more relieved than surprised. Hearing that he was the assailant and not the victim, meant that Roy was safe, at least.
"What will happen to Sir. Krotin?"
Lucia was deeply angst-ridden. She didn't know the specific details of the incident apart from the fact that Roy had killed David and the Countess of Falcon.
Later, she heard that the handmaid who sprayed something strange on her face was, in actual fact, the Countess of Falcon who had changed her appearance with a magical tool. The maid with whom she had gone into the break room, did not return with her. Lucia could only guess that something bad had happened to her.
There were six people's deaths that were connected to Roy, but out of those, the death of the two women in the restroom and the two knights were only known to those involved in the investigation.
In particular, the two women were found poisoned, and the toxin was discovered on the deceased Countess. Hence, Roy had not yet been directly associated with the demise of those two. The rumors spreading throughout the social circle was that Roy had killed both David and Anita.
"It is still being investigated."
"If they finalize that Sir Krotin committed murder, he will be sentenced to death. He killed none other than the eldest son of the Duke."
"…That is correct, but—"
"I will go to the palace and bear witness. If I clarify the situation at the time…"
"You cannot do that, Milady," Jerome and Fabian asserted at the same time.
"You have to understand why Sir Krotin has kept his mouth shut this entire time without even pleading his case. If Milady steps forward, you will become an involved party in this incident."
The death of the Duchess' maid was not known publicly. Roy was the Duchess' posse, but because he had been doing crazy things for a while now, people were surprised but they accepted it as feasible.
Nobody linked the Duchess to this incident. Besides, Princess Katherine had testified that the Duchess was with her at the time of the incident. Thanks to that, Lucia was omitted from the case.
The Duchess staying inside the mansion, within the iron-clad security and not coming out at all, was in accordance with her nature as she didn't like to socialize much, so there wasn't anyone who found it strange.
Many of the noblewomen who had witnessed someone die in front of them that day, had keeled over and had to be carried away.
People understood that the vicious act of her own guard escort would have given the Duchess a huge shock.
Fabian judged that as long as Roy kept his mouth shut, no matter how thoroughly they investigated, they couldn't implicate the Duchess because Roy had gotten rid of all the people involved.
'He is a crazy dude, but the guy's method actually took care of everything neatly.'
In Fabian's mind, Roy had gone to this extent, but if the Duchess had stepped forward and flipped everything over, the day that his Lord returned, would be the day of his funeral.
'I want to live long, Milady. I seriously want to live long.'
"Milady, I understand you're frustrated, but please wait until the Lord returns. I sent a pressing message and got a reply that he's already on his way."
"So I have to stay just like this? What do I do if Sir Krotin is executed in the meantime? The Duke of Ramis will not stay still."
"That sort of thing will never happen, so please relax your worries."
The King held goodwill towards Roy. Roy had saved his life quite a few times when he was the Crown Prince. The King would definitely not start the investigation and would drag things out until the Duke of Taran returned.
Even for political benefit, the work planned for the future with the Duke of Taran, who was in the prime of his youth, was much longer than that of the Duke of Ramis, who was in his twilight years.
"To think a good man like Sir Krotin was caught up in this kind of situation because he was trying to help me. There's no way Sir Krotin had planned to kill someone. Sir Krotin must have judged that the Count of Ramis would hurt me and handled it excessively, causing this incident to happen."
Lucia's eyes reddened, and tears rimmed her eyes. She took the handkerchief that Jerome quickly handed to her from the side and dabbed her eyes.
Fabian smacked his lips with a weird expression. He was frustrated because he couldn't say that that guy was nuts.
'It seems that punk made a fairly good impression on the Madam.'
"The specific details will be released when my lord returns. Although Milady has roughly told me about the circumstances at the time, it is still difficult to judge the exact situation since Sir Krotin has kept his mouth shut. I ask that you please wait in the meantime, even if it's frustrating."
"…Okay. It looks like there is nothing I can do."
"The most important thing is for Milady to be alright."
Fabian hurled curses upon curses at Roy, but a part of him thought that Roy did well. Imagining a situation where a group of those garrulous noblewomen saw the Count of Ramis and the Duchess, together alone in an enclosed space, Fabian seriously broke out in cold sweat.
A scandal surrounding the Duchess would rock the high society, and it wouldn't be a matter of merely dying once or twice in his Lord's hands once he returned. Roy had taken six lives and saved another life.
* * *
Hugo entrusted Callis with full authority and immediately left for the capital. He changed horses at intervals and dashed at maximum speed without rest. It took him a whole five days to get to the gate because he was initially at the northernmost distant point from the gate.
Upon arriving at the capital's entrance, Hugo prodded his horse again and raced to the mansion. Because of a horse galloping on the complex roads, carriages had to stop moving and streets became crowded. The knights following some distance behind the Duke had to sort things out so that it wouldn't lead to a big accident.
The horse arrived just in front of the mansion and Hugo jumped down from the horse then quickly entered the mansion. A servant ran to inform the butler that their master was back. By the time Jerome came out of his office in a haste, he was only able to see the back of his master, who was already on the second floor.
* * *
Lucia had no motivation at all. She sat absentmindedly on the sofa in her bedroom. Jerome had kept on encouraging her to eat something, but she didn't know how her food had tasted. Her mind was constantly replaying the situation of that day repeatedly.
Her unconscious maid collapsed on the floor, the woman who sprayed something on her face and the hatred and triumph that filled her face in the fleeting moment when their eyes locked, the dizziness that followed when she woke up from her momentary blackout, the Count of Ramis, Sir Krotin who was grappling with Count Ramis, and Sir. Krotin's voice telling her to leave.
'So that woman was the Countess of Falcon,' she thought dazedly.
One could only wonder what she was planning to do, even going to the extent of using a magical tool to alter her appearance. Fabian said that it was probably an attempt to make a scandal around the Duchess, but Lucia couldn't understand. How would this be helpful to the Countess for her to do such a thing?
Lucia couldn't empathize with the ugly twistedness inside the human heart. Even though she had undergone a lot of hardship in her dream, she had never blamed others let alone harbored intense burning hatred for them.
Her eyelids lowered slightly as she thought, '...She's probably dead, isn't she.'
They seemed prudent in discussing the specific details about what had happened to her maid. Seeing as there was no news up till now, her maid was most likely dead. Maybe something went wrong in the time she had collapsed. Lucia was more curious about why the Countess did not hurt her.
Lucia closed her eyes which were heating up.
'The poor girl died innocently.'
Lucia's heart ached at her maid's passing. She did not favor a particular maid on purpose, but she liked that maid because she was simple and sincere. It may be due to her experience of working as a maid in her dream, but she couldn't think of it as the death of only a servant. Her death was unfair and in vain. Her family wouldn't even be able to complain anywhere.
Even if they were a servant, as long as they were affiliated with the Duke, there were the Duke's people. Lucia should have protected her. She herself who was unable to do that seemed incompetent. She felt sorry but she didn't know how to comfort the heartbroken family who had now lost their daughter or sister.
Suddenly, Lucia heard the sound of the door opening and opened her eyes with a start. Seeing the person entering the room, Lucia quickly rose to her feet.
Looking at him approaching her, she thought she was running to him, but her body did not move. Before she even took a few steps, he quickly approached her and pulled her into his arms.
"Hugh…?"
She heard a soft sigh coming from the top of her head. She was wrapped in his familiar broad embrace, his arms holding her firmly and as she inhaled his scent, that she had missed, her heart felt like it was bubbling over. If this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
His vivid voice was not an illusion. Suddenly, Lucia's legs went weak and he caught her as she staggered.
Hugo hugged his drained wife and sat down on the sofa. He leaned her against his body, wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her closer. He stroked her forehead with his other hand and kissed her eyes that were beginning to grow moist.
"Hugh, Sir Krotin is…"
"I know. What about you? I heard you fainted. Did you see the doctor?"
"They said it was an anesthetic type thing that makes you unconscious for a short while. I'm fine. I'm not hurt either. But because of me, Sir Krotin is…"
Hugo buried his wife's head in his chest as she began to cry, and gently patted her back. The uncontrollable anxiety that had followed him all the way as he raced back home had disappeared the moment he confirmed her safety.
As soon as he had caught wind of the news of Roy's brief incident in the capital, Hugo's head was filled with thoughts of his wife.
When he received information about where the incident had occurred and about the people who had died, he grew more and more worried. It was an incident that occurred while she was being guarded. He didn't know what mindset he had as he ran to the capital, thinking about what might have happened to her, the subject being guarded.
His wife was not mentioned in the message he received, but he was still troubled by all sorts of ominous thoughts and imaginations. He was filled with rage and ready to kill every single person involved if even her fingertips were hurt.
"Stop. Vivian. Don't cry."
"What do I do? Krotin…"
"I'll take care of it."
Hugo held her chin gently and wiped her tears with his hands. He kissed her salty lips, wet with tears.
"Your face looks thinner. Did you eat properly?"
"I am okay. I only got protected inside the mansion."
"That's only natural. I told you not to worry about anything and just eat well and live well, didn't I?"
"But that was before this happened."
"It's all the same whenever. You have nothing to worry about."
Lucia burst into light laughter. Strangely enough, hearing his words, made it seem like there was really nothing at all to worry about and everything was going well, just like he said. It was as if she had been tense and unable to sleep for the past few days for no reason.
For the first time since the incident occurred, Lucia smiled.
"Your hands are cold. Your face is cold too."
"It's because I ran back on the horse. Is it too cold?"
"It's refreshing so I like it. It's like it's clearing my head."
Hugo looked at his wife, who was smiling at him, for a moment, then he cupped her cheeks with his hands and began to randomly plant kisses on her lips, nose, and eyes.
"Hugh…Hugh! What is it?"
"I'm checking."
"Checking what?"
"I'm checking that you're really in front of me. In the entirety of those few days I was heading to the capital, when I closed my eyes, you were there, but when I opened them, you disappeared."
Even though Lucia asked him to stop already several times, Hugo acted like he didn't hear and only released her after he had kissed her dozens of times all over.
"What happened to the thing with your vassal? You said it was important."
"I left the matter to their discretion and came back. Something bigger happened here after all."
Lucia sullenly crumpled up. "I don't know what to do. I can't think of a way to help Sir. Krotin."
"I said I'll take care of it. I did say you should cause a bigger trouble for me to settle, and you really did a big one."
Lucia tilted her head for a moment. Then remembering what he had said before, she cried out and hit his chest.
"Are you making such a joke right now?"
He snickered and swiftly gave her a quick peck on the lips.
"I'm saying it's not that big of a deal. Don't stew on it."
"Do you really have a way?"
"I do. That guy will be safe, don't worry."
"I know Sir Krotin is special to you. If Sir. Krotin is hurt, you will also be distressed. I don't want to see you saddened."
Hugo looked at her silently for a moment, then he chuckled, spreading his arms wide and hugged Lucia.
It was strange. He personally liked Roy but it wasn't to the extent of giving it meaning, but because she kept saying that Roy was special to him, he felt the guy was really such an existence to him.
"I'm happy to see you again. Hugh, I missed you."
Again, Hugo kissed his wife, who chose to only say beautiful words to him.