Chapter 071. Rosalyn
A carriage stealthily came to a halt on the gloomy street shrouded in deep darkness.
Though its exterior was draped in black cloth as a disguise, it was evident at a glance that it didn’t belong in this slum permeated with poverty and dampness.
“This is the place.”
The young man seated next to the coachman quickly alighted and opened the carriage door.
The person who stepped down through the opened door was even more out of place on this street.
It was Constant Samuel.
With his brows deeply furrowed, he pulled a handkerchief from inside his frock coat and pressed it over his nose.
As if worried that the filthy air of this slum might seep into his body.
His golden gaze slowly scanned the dilapidated house ahead that the man pointed to.
The marquis’s face crumpled even more unpleasantly at the sight of the exterior, so rundown it was hardly worthy of being called a house.
“…Is it certain that the woman named Delma is really here?”
At his sharp question, the man standing behind nodded.
“Yes, I’ve confirmed it myself several times.”
“….”
“Let’s go in. She should be waiting inside.”
“…Alright.”
He had come all this way to confirm with his own eyes, but he had no intention of lingering long.
Determined to verify what he needed and leave this filthy street quickly, the marquis pressed the handkerchief deeper over his nose.
Creak—
The eerie sound of the old wooden door opening echoed chillingly.
As he stepped through the opened door, a musty stench immediately assaulted his nose.
The nauseating smell made his stomach churn and his brows knit involuntarily, when suddenly someone prostrated themselves before him.
“…M-Master!”
The marquis gazed down for a long while at the old woman’s trembling, tear-streaked face with an utterly peculiar expression.
As if searching her features for someone he had known in the past.
It wasn’t long before a glint sparked in the marquis’s eyes as he scrutinized the old woman’s face.
“You’re Delma….”
Of course, time had passed, but her appearance was so different from what he remembered that his words trailed off.
“Yes, yes! Master, it’s me, Delma.”
As if to affirm for the uncertain marquis, the old woman quickly nodded vigorously.
Hot tears soon streamed down the layered wrinkles.
Yes… come to think of it, her voice was like this.
Delma, the skinny chatterbox who always stuck to that woman like a pair.
The marquis finally realized that the old woman before him was indeed the same person.
To feel the transience of time in such a moment—it was an exceedingly unfamiliar and strange sensation.
“…I’ve grown old and frail like this, but you still look as handsome as ever, Master.”
The old woman’s cloudy eyes sparkled as if transported back to those old days.
Master—since no one called him that anymore, the title felt incredibly foreign and awkward.
But yes… there had been such times.
Times when waking up each day filled him with excitement and overwhelming joy, and he believed those moments would last forever.
—How could I possibly call you by your name, Master….
—It’s fine, just try it once.
—…Samu…el.
—Not that. The other one.
—…Sam.
—Yes, Rosalyn. From now on, call me that when you address me. Got it?
—Yes, Mas… Sam. I will.
—I love you, Rosalyn.
—I love you too, Sam. I do.
The transparent tears welling up in those mystical green eyes, that breathtakingly beautiful sight, transcended time and vividly resurfaced in the marquis’s mind.
Rosalyn.
A low-ranking maid in the marquis’s household.
And the woman he had loved for the first time.
But ultimately, the one he had to abandon.
“…Rozy would have been happy if she were here too.”
Drip, drip—the name that fell from Delma’s tearful lips snapped the marquis out of his reverie.
Rozy, Rosalyn’s nickname.
The marquis clenched his fist tightly.
‘Foolishly again—.’
He had vowed thousands of times to never recall those memories he had already erased from his mind, yet once more, he was ensnared by the ghosts of the past.
The marquis reminded himself once again of why he was standing in such a place right now.
And soon, looking down at Delma, he laid out the reason for his visit.
“Do you happen to know where Rozy—no, Rosalyn—lives?”
Her sobbing shoulders flinched momentarily.
Delma looked up at the marquis with a face smeared in tears, her eyes filled with inexplicable bewilderment.
As that unsettling reaction slowly creased his brows, words slipped softly from her lips.
“…What do you mean, Master… Rozy, your Rozy is already dead… She’s gone….”
Thud—!
Clutching her head like a madwoman, Delma began to shake anxiously.
But the marquis, with his legs buckling and vision blurring, failed to notice her state amid the shock.
‘Rosalyn… d-dead….’
He had lied that she died to evade Olivia’s suspicions, but he had never once truly believed she was dead.
The image of the woman alive and breathing in his memories was still so vivid when he recalled her—yet she was dead.
The excruciating pain he had felt back then surged again, constricting his heart tightly.
“Marquis.”
At the low call, the marquis finally awoke from his chaotic hallucination.
After taking a deep breath, he neatly swept back his disheveled hair.
Still glaring coldly at the one muttering like a lunatic on the floor, the marquis slowly bent one knee and lowered himself.
The marquis’s attendant nearby wore a markedly surprised expression at this unfamiliar sight.
“Delma.”
“….”
At the gentle call of her name, her frenzied movements came to an abrupt halt.
As she slowly lifted her gaze to the marquis’s face, Delma bared her yellowed teeth in a wide smile.
“Master….”
“Yes, Delma. Could you explain to me how Rosal…yn died?”
“Ah, Rosal, Rozy… Rozy….”
Mentioning Rosalyn’s death made her cloudy eyes begin to shake anxiously once more.
The marquis gripped Delma’s shoulders firmly.
“Snap out of it, Delma.”
“….”
“Pull yourself together and explain to me how Rosalyn died.”
“….”
Just as he had done sometime in the distant past, the marquis began to berate Delma sternly.
As he watched her slowly regain her senses, a flash crossed the marquis’s eyes.
More force entered the hands clutching her arms, drawing a pained groan from Delma’s lips.
Staring straight into her eyes, the marquis whispered ominously.
“And Rosalyn’s child. What happened to that child. You’ll have to explain that to me as well.”
Understand? At his severe tone, the terrified Delma nodded repeatedly.
* * *
Click—
Deborah entered the terrace garden with a face full of tension.
—Once a day, in the afternoon, give me an hour of your time.
That was the negotiation the man had proposed yesterday after the intense back-and-forth(?) in the study.
In exchange for dropping that absurd directive, she was to give him an hour each day.
At first, honestly, she didn’t understand the words.
After all, he could just summon her.
Who in Elpengrin could refuse the duke’s call among the servants?
But if she hadn’t nodded there, it seemed the man would push through with what he’d said to Lady Charlotte.
So she nodded quickly.
Because he was such a busy person inside and out, carving out an hour each day honestly didn’t seem easy.
And it was just an hour—there was a bit of that mindset too.
But now that the first day had arrived, sighs escaped her involuntarily.
Even though there was no choice, she wondered if she should have held out a little longer.
Haa, with a deep sigh, Deborah slowly ventured inside, looking around.
Actually, this was her first time entering the second-floor terrace garden.
She’d heard it wasn’t used often, as it was where the grand madam or Lady Cheister invited close guests for tea parties.
Especially since Lady Cheister cherished the space so much, she disliked many people coming and going, to the point of having dedicated staff for maintenance.
Indeed, whether for that reason or not, it was a truly charming and beautifully adorned space.
The kind of personal garden any young lady might dream of at least once.
‘But… where on earth is he?’
Having called her but nowhere in sight, Deborah continued to scan the interior for the other person.
“Stop looking around and sit.”
Eek!
The low voice resonating by her ear made Deborah startle in fright.
In her surprise, she flailed, losing balance, and a solid arm caught her tilting body.
“Well, this isn’t bad either.”
At the stunning smile right before her eyes, Deborah’s heart began to pound wildly.
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Sorryyyy i couldn’t make it 🥲 and unfortunately I’m going to upload 3 chapters weekly for the next 3~4 months 😭
