Chapter 60
Only after the hot water had grown cold did Agnes manage to wash and step outside.
When the bathroom door opened, Simon and Mrs. Nora were standing there together.
“What happened today is entirely my fault for failing to manage the servants properly.”
Mrs. Nora feigned a troubled voice, her eyebrows drawn low.
“I have dismissed everyone who dared to neglect their duty to support Agnes, and I did not provide them with letters of recommendation so they cannot move to another estate.”
Simon nodded with a deeply troubled expression.
“This will never happen again.”
Would it really not?
Agnes stared blankly at their faces.
The coldness still lingered in her body.
That chill seemed to have burrowed deep into her bones, cooling even the temperature of her emotions.
“I see.”
Agnes nodded dryly.
It wasn’t exactly a sign of acceptance.
She simply felt drained, thinking that no matter how much she continued the conversation, nothing would change.
The will to participate in the conversation with any enthusiasm had vanished.
“Agnes—.”
Simon called out cautiously, but Agnes turned her gaze away.
“It’s time to go to the trading company. I need to prepare, so please leave now.”
Agnes’s voice was calm, but there was a certain hollowness within it.
The face reflected in the mirror was even paler than the day before.
‘Once I start working, I’ll be fine.’
Agnes comforted herself like that.
As she always had.
Like someone to whom nothing had happened.
However, every time the wheels of the wheelchair rolled down the hallway,
the ominous radio static still lived on faintly somewhere deep in her ears.
“Lucian. Please send this to the Bel-Air townhouse. Use the fastest delivery.”
Agnes handed Lucian a box of tarts that smelled sweet and fragrant.
Her white fingers were covered in bandages or blisters here and there.
Agnes had easily found the recipe for the fig tart that Kain had been searching for.
It was right there, in the diary of Elena Bardo, the founder of this trading company and her aunt.
As soon as she found the recipe this morning, Agnes had immediately shut herself in the trading company’s kitchen to make the tarts.
She had to keep her body moving.
She felt as though if she stopped, the anxiety would come rushing back.
So, she spent her time kneading dough and measuring sugar until her fingertips were worn down.
Since some of the long-term employees at the trading company remembered those fig tarts, she had even asked them to verify the taste.
The completed tarts were placed in Lucian’s hands, along with a letter apologizing for Chloe’s rudeness.
“Please be careful so the shape doesn’t get ruined.”
“Understood, Duchess.”
Once Lucian left to deliver the items, Agnes let the strength leave her body and leaned back comfortably in her wheelchair.
Stacked in front of her were documents that would normally take four or five days to process, now perfectly organized.
“Now I can finally breathe.”
The busy movement had been worth it. The radio static in her head had completely vanished.
Agnes spread her hands and held them under the light.
The hands that had been trembling until this morning were now calm and steady.
The terror that had weighed on her chest and the anxiety that had dug into her fingertips seemed to have disappeared without a trace.
It felt as if the world had finally returned to its proper place.
But as she sat still, anxiety began to flicker in a corner of her heart again.
She felt like she had to do something.
If she stayed still like this, she felt she would be sucked back into last night’s nightmare in an instant.
Agnes took a small breath and stood up.
“……I should head out now.”
There was still one schedule left to handle.
Specifically, the negotiation with the Costia Trading Company that Adrian had set up arbitrarily.
Even though it was a meeting Adrian had arranged on his own, it couldn’t be avoided.
The meeting place with the Costia Trading Company was not far from her own company.
It was close enough to take less than ten minutes by carriage.
Today, a knight from the Duke’s estate, assigned to replace Lieutenant Greg, accompanied her.
Agnes fastened her coat and boarded the carriage.
When they arrived at the destination, the carriage of the Costia Trading Company had just arrived as well.
Watching the people from Costia disembark one by one, Agnes’s eyelashes fluttered.
Her gaze fixed on one person’s face.
Among the representatives of the Costia Trading Company was the person from the portrait Lionel had shown her a few days ago.
Agnes calmly gripped the arm of the knight standing beside her.
“Sir…… go to the Duke right now.”
“Pardon?”
“Rebelt.”
The single short word cut through the air.
Agnes’s voice was nearly a whisper, but it was thick with tension.
“Rebelt is here. Hurry.”
The knight nodded, his face hardening instantly.
A sharp alertness flashed in his eyes as well.
“I will return shortly. If you feel you are in danger in the meantime, you must evacuate.”
“……I understand.”
Before she could even finish her sentence, the knight turned away urgently.
His armor made a metallic clanking sound as it bumped.
He immediately untied a horse from the carriage and climbed onto it.
Agnes watched the knight distance himself before turning her gaze back.
The people from Costia, who had recognized her, were walking toward her.
Agnes forced herself to swallow.
Her intuition whispered to her.
This was no ordinary negotiation meeting.
Meanwhile.
The knight, who had ridden to the Duke’s estate without rest, burst through the doors panting for breath.
Just then, Mrs. Nora and Jessie, who were passing through the hallway, looked at the knight.
“What is the matter, Sir? It is not yet time for Agnes to return.”
The knight looked around, gasping for air.
“Where is the Duke?”
“He hasn’t returned yet. We just received word that he’ll be here soon, but why are you like this?”
“I have urgent news to deliver to the Duke.”
“If that is the case, tell me. I will pass it on.”
The knight hesitated at Nora’s suggestion.
There were many ears listening.
And no matter if she was the head maid, he couldn’t just blurt out military-related matters.
The knight snatched one of the discarded mail envelopes being carried by a passing servant.
Then, he hurriedly scribbled on the back of it. The content stated that Rebelt had appeared at the negotiation site between Agnes and Costia.
To ensure the contents didn’t leak, the knight folded the envelope and handed it to Nora.
“Please ensure this is delivered to the Duke as soon as he arrives. The content is—,”
“Do not worry. I will not read it.”
“Then I shall return to the Duchess. She may be in danger.”
The knight exhaled as if relieved and left the hallway.
As soon as he disappeared, Nora opened the envelope without a moment’s hesitation and checked the contents.
Then, she issued a stern warning to Jessie, who had been glancing at the contents alongside her.
“You, forget what you just saw. We received nothing from that knight.”
“What? But Agnes-nim might be in danger—,”
“Shhh! Be quiet! If you don’t want to be kicked out of this mansion like the other children, keep your mouth shut!”
Late in the afternoon, the merchant train slid slowly into the station.
The light of the setting sun brushed against the windows, staining the cabin floor red.
Lionel put on his coat and stepped onto the platform.
The wind was chilly.
In the end, he had lost the man who had killed the Minister of Internal Affairs and fled.
Still, he had definitely gained something. Lionel crumpled the blood-stained vellum in his hand.
“I’ll have to move more carefully from now on.”
“I will proceed with tracking the individuals from Sercadia as discreetly as possible.”
“Yes, and don’t forget to keep a watch on Jerome Winterbolt.”
Lionel moved toward the estate.
He planned to stop by briefly to check on Agnes’s face before heading out again.
However, as soon as he arrived at the Duke’s estate, what caught Lionel’s eye was the dark window of Agnes’s room.
“Where is Agnes?”
Lionel, handing his jacket to Mrs. Nora who followed behind him, glanced at his wristwatch.
It was already long past the time Agnes should have returned home.
“Is she still at the trading company?”
“It seems so. She appears to have a lot of work today.”
Mrs. Nora replied nonchalantly.
But at that moment, Lionel’s gaze stopped on one person.
Jessie.
She was the young servant standing behind Nora.
Her fingertips were trembling slightly.
Her eyes shook with anxiety, and her toes fumbled against the floor.
Lionel instinctively sensed something ominous.
His gaze went straight to Jessie.
“You.”
A low but cold voice echoed through the hallway.
“Answer me. Why has Agnes not returned yet?”
Jessie gasped.
Her lips quivered.
And her gaze reflexively turned toward Nora.
Nora’s eyes very slowly swept over Jessie.
Her head tilted gently.
Keep your mouth shut if you want to stay in this mansion.
Even without hearing the words, Jessie understood.
However, she could not ignore her aching conscience.
Though she didn’t know everything, Jessie had seen it clearly. The envelope Mrs. Nora had opened definitely said that Rebelt had appeared where Agnes-nim had gone for negotiations.
Wasn’t Rebelt the terrifying terrorist organization that the newspapers talked about every day?
Jessie’s hands rose to her chest, trembling violently.
“Duke, the, the truth is, Lady Agnes is currently……”
“What about Agnes.”
But the moment she squeezed out her courage to speak, Lionel’s aura changed in an instant.
From the man who until a moment ago had only an air of exhaustion, unrefined anxiety erupted fiercely.
Simply because she had mentioned Agnes.
“Speak clearly. Has something happened to Agnes?”
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