Chapter 8
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“Is it already okay for you to walk around like that?”
Lionel glanced at the crutches leaning against one side.
It was only a fleeting moment, but in his eyes passed an instinctive concern that even he himself was not aware of.
Agnes could not readily answer.
Because it was not okay.
Her body, having lost muscle, trembled just from brief movement, and cold sweat flowed down her thin back.
“Considering you caused enough uproar to shake the capital, it seems you weren’t injured that seriously.”
To Lionel’s reply, which was mercilessly cold, Agnes clasped her trembling hands together.
And she whispered to herself.
‘Calm down. Rael didn’t mean to hurt me. He was trying to fight against the enemy.’
Yes, so let’s not be afraid.
The fingers of Lionel, who once dreamed of becoming a pianist, were still slender and elongated.
Those lines were so delicate. Just looking at his hands, it was unimaginable that he was a soldier.
Through the fear she was desperately suppressing, gladness and affection toward her old friend who had cheered each other’s dreams raised their heads.
How have you been? The greeting rose to the tip of her throat, but Agnes swallowed her words.
Because it was not appropriate as a greeting to Lionel, who had lost his younger sibling.
In the end, Agnes managed to utter one word with difficulty.
“Rae-.”
But she soon corrected the address.
Because she remembered just moments ago how much Lionel hated that nickname.
“……Your Grace. It seems there is a misunderstanding. First, regarding the marriage proposal-,”
“You told Adrian Bardo that you have a connection with me.”
As Lionel’s words fell, Agnes’s heart sank.
She had never brought up such a story.
She was puzzled how Adrian knew that fact.
“So, did your father order it? Since your life as a dancer seems to be over, try to gain some pity from me using our meager childhood connection?”
Lionel sneered coldly.
“I really regret it. Having formed a connection with someone bearing the Bardo name. The young me was truly foolish. Why did I do such a disgusting thing, tsk.”
After spitting out harsh words, Lionel briefly furrowed his brows.
As if he himself had been hurt by the words he just threw.
But that expression passed so briefly that no one noticed it.
Not even Lionel himself.
His eyes, having firmly swallowed a moment of shaking, hardened coldly again.
His blue eyes settled on Agnes’s legs.
Agnes bit her lip. To Lionel, she was merely the protagonist of the gossip that had occupied the capital, a woman mad with ambition.
She had to correct the misunderstanding first. Agnes calmed her increasingly rapid breathing and opened her mouth.
“If it’s because of the rumor that I smuggled weapons to the south, that is not true.”
“Not true, you say. Do you have evidence to back that up?”
“I don’t have it right now, but if you give me just a little time, I will prove it,”
“Well. Is there really a need for that? There’s an easier way.”
Lionel leaned crookedly against the backrest and smirked.
“Say with your own mouth that you will not marry. Then I’ll believe you. That the rumor is false.”
“…….”
“Why, can’t you? Are you that covetous of noble status? Know your place, Agnes.”
That’s not it. I only heard about our marriage a few minutes ago. I need to say that I never wanted something like this.
But her tongue wouldn’t move because of the walkie-talkie hanging at Lionel’s waist that kept catching the edge of her vision.
Fear kept escaping control.
“I didn’t know your ears were injured as well as your legs. Why are you suddenly silent?”
When there was still no answer, Lionel stood up from his seat himself. Then he approached directly and gripped the backrest of Agnes’s chair.
In his breath that came close, a faint smell of gunpowder was mixed.
The stimulated sense of smell acted like a detonator, making Agnes let go of the reason she was barely holding onto.
Fearing that tears would physiologically well up if she let her Agnes down even for a moment, Agnes exerted strength in her eyes.
But perhaps that looked like she was stubbornly refusing to back down, as Lionel’s momentum became even fiercer.
“Then, I expect you to prove your innocence. Agnes Bardo.”
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After Lionel left the Bardo mansion, Agnes sat blankly for a while.
The Lionel who had become cold was unfamiliar,
and she resented the war that had driven him to that and the rumors surrounding her.
But Agnes did not powerlessly sink into emotions.
Because she knew all too well that no one would solve the problem for her if she just stayed still.
Agnes, taking deep breaths, carefully touched her legs.
Below the knee felt numb like tree bark.
A vague anxiety that sensation might not return suddenly surged up.
“Let’s not think like that already.”
Rehabilitation, yes, rehabilitation will do it.
Since she hadn’t met a doctor yet, she decided to sort out this situation first and properly assess her physical condition then.
Ignoring the anxiety as best she could, Agnes supported herself with the crutches.
However, when she struggled to find Adrian, what returned was a furious roar.
“What did you just say? Say it again!”
“Please make the marriage with His Grace never have happened. It wasn’t my intention.”
Adrian snorted, making an incredulous expression.
“Intention? Who told you to quibble about such things? You should be grateful just for being clothed and fed!”
However, Agnes did not back down and straightened her posture even more.
“If you’re doing this out of fear of retaliation for what our merchant group has done, I’ll find another alternative. First, calculating the damages suffered by the Black Iron Knights-,”
“Be quiet! You’re defective and your market value has dropped, yet you think the cost of raising you all this time means nothing!”
No matter how much she persuaded, Adrian did not listen.
Perhaps Chloe had already meddled. He wouldn’t even listen about the smuggling with Cercadia.
Adrian ordered the servant waiting outside the door to drag Agnes out.
“Lock Agnes in her room right now! Do not let her out until I give the order!”
“Father, please……!”
Watching Agnes being dragged away, Adrian stomped his foot roughly.
“Insolent thing! What does the likes of her know to blabber recklessly!”
Sitting with legs crossed, savoring dessert and observing the situation, Chloe snorted.
“See, if you had sent me to His Grace from the beginning instead of Agnes, it would have been fine. Why insist on Agnes?”
Adrian, his face flushed red, gulped down cold water.
“Do you think I enjoy this? Who stupidly got caught with that Cercadia bastard?”
“Oh my. You’re not blaming me right now, are you? In the first place, it was you, Father, who ordered me to smuggle weapons!”
“Can’t you be quiet……! What if someone hears!”
Startled, Adrian hurriedly looked around.
“If being caught bothered you that much, you should have just let Agnes die. Why stubbornly bring her back and save her, then treat me like this!”
“You, this……!”
Adrian’s face turned bright red. Unable to continue his words, he eventually slammed the desk and shouted.
“You get out too! Right now!”
“I was going to anyway.”
At that unrefined appearance, Chloe primly left the room.
Left alone in the room, Adrian panted and took out a framed photo buried deep in the drawer.
Inside the frame was a photo of Adrian as a child and his biological older sister, the original owner of the Bardo merchant group.
The peculiar thing was that the sister’s face in the photo closely resembled Agnes.
When he opened the back of the frame, a document fell out with a rustling sound.
It was the official ownership document of the merchant group.
“Do you think I saved her because I wanted to save someone?”
His gaze, gleaming with greed, glared at the top of the document, the owner section.
The name written there was none other than Agnes Bardo.
Not Adrian Bardo, but Agnes Bardo.
No matter how many times he looked, that fact did not change.
“Damn it. If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have had to put that thing on my family register……!”
Thud!
Adrian’s fist, crumpling the document, slammed the desk.
A being who could neither be left to die nor abandoned.
To Adrian Bardo, Agnes was such an existence.
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