Chapter 17
After the loveless wedding ceremony ended, at the end of the night that flowed like a formality.
Agnes, lying alone on the bed, was blankly staring at the ceiling.
Although her status had been restored, the ducal castle, which had been neglected for a long time, was not immediately suitable for use. And because the remnants of the rebel army were appearing in the capital day after day.
The place where Agnes was staying was the ducal family’s mansion prepared in the capital.
“Here…… the wallpaper is clean.”
It was unexpected.
She had been prepared to endure any kind of treatment.
Whether it was humiliation or cold treatment.
But Lionel was more indifferent than expected.
He was neither cruel nor affectionate. He even seemed to have shown a bit of mercy.
At least, the ceiling of this room wasn’t tattered and worn out like the one in Agnes’s room.
This alone was something.
Agnes wiped the hardened tear stains running down her eyes with the back of her hand and slowly raised her body.
The toe shoes she had been holding between the blankets rolled down to the floor with a thud.
Agnes silently hugged them again.
She hadn’t overcome despair.
She was merely learning how to accept and endure it.
Agnes carefully placed the toe shoes on her lap.
As if handling an old friend, her small hand slowly stroked the curve of the shoes.
“I can do it. This time, I’ll be able to say it properly.”
She murmured lowly and took out a small wooden box hidden under the bedside table.
When she opened the lid of the box, inside were several neatly organized sheets of paper and a torn admission proposal that had been pieced together.
And there was a brief statement signed by a knight.
Even if the whole world turned its back, as long as Agnes knew the truth herself, she couldn’t give up.
On the day of the carriage accident, the coachman who was riding with her and the knights who were in the procession fell and died.
There was no one to testify to her innocence.
But, one of the knights who had escorted Claire.
To the one who had shown somewhat human eyes, she knelt and begged, and finally received a promise.
To testify that on that day, he had driven the supply carriage to the north, not the south.
That was the first evidence to prove her innocence to Lionel.
The second was the admission proposal from the Royal Academy.
The one that Adrian had torn to shreds and thrown into the trash, Agnes had personally searched and found.
Digging through discarded food waste and damp piles of documents for several nights.
She pieced together the torn pieces of paper one by one and confirmed the official seal remaining in the corner.
With this, the rumor that she had lobbied to join the royal dance troupe would be proven false.
Rather, it would prove the fact that she had received an admission offer.
“With this much, Lionel might listen to my story a little this time …….”
She didn’t expect love from Lionel.
She just hoped he would withdraw his hatred.
The pain she endured to stand on stage and the contempt from her family—she had been able to bear it for one reason.
The warm words Lionel had given her when she was young.
That encouragement from back then was the only strength that had kept Agnes going until now.
That was why.
Even knowing it was foolish, even while getting hurt.
Agnes kept lingering around him.
Like a duckling that had just hatched from its egg blindly following the first thing it saw.
“So…… just once, look at me as I am, like before. Rael.”
Hugging the toe shoes tightly on her lap, Agnes quietly buried her face in them.
Even if the wallpaper in this room was new, one fact remained unchanged.
No matter how many nights passed and the sun rose, there was still no one who stayed by Agnes’s side.
That was no different from when she was in the Bardo mansion.
***
As the day brightened, Agnes set out to find Lionel, carefully holding a box in her hands.
The morning sunlight seeping into the corridors was still cold, and the wheelchair wheels cautiously scraped the polished floor as they moved forward.
She felt gazes following her everywhere she went.
They were sharp and blatant stares.
One of the servants who was cleaning muttered as if passing by.
“I heard someone from Bardo came this morning. Is he here to meet her?”
“Hey! No matter what, you have to call her the Duchess. You’ll get in big trouble!”
Another maid who was mopping, startled, took her colleague away to another place.
Because of that, water remained on the unfinished mopped floor.
When the wheels touched it, the wheelchair slipped and spun idly for a moment on the wet floor.
Her balance shook, and the direction she was moving forward twisted.
Since no official maid had been assigned yet, there was no one to push the wheelchair from behind.
The busy servants glanced at her, but no one stepped forward to help.
They all just passed by pretending not to see.
She had to pass through entirely on her own strength.
Because of the continuously spinning wheels, only after struggling until her hands turned red did Agnes finally arrive in front of the office.
However, making the effort worthless, the servant guarding the door blocked Agnes.
“I’m sorry, but there is a guest who arrived first inside.”
The tone was polite, but the meaning was clear.
It meant to turn back immediately.
Undeterred by the cold treatment, Agnes composed her expression and asked back.
“There is a prior guest?”
“Yes. So, if it’s not urgent, please come back later.”
Come to think of it, they had indeed whispered earlier that someone from Bardo had come.
Perhaps……?
“Is that prior guest indeed someone from the Bardo side?”
The servant reluctantly nodded.
“Yes. He said he was a knight belonging to the merchant group.”
In an instant, Agnes’s expression changed.
If it was a merchant group knight visiting the ducal residence today, there was only one person.
Precisely, the knight who had promised to testify to the truth.
“I know him. I have something I absolutely must say. Please let me in, even if just for a moment.”
The servant showed difficulty.
“It is difficult without His Excellency’s permission.”
At that moment, the adjutant who heard the commotion spreading like an argument opened the office door and came out.
“What is the matter?”
“Well, the Du…… chess has come to visit. I told her there is a prior guest, but she still insists on seeing the Duke.”
The servant spat out the title ‘Duchess’ with a very reluctant expression.
While clearly showing reluctance.
“Right now?”
The adjutant stared at Agnes expressionlessly.
There was no sign of dislike like the other servants.
Perhaps because he had fought alongside him on the battlefield for a long time, he had come to resemble his superior’s personality.
His blunt face was just like Lionel’s.
“Please wait a moment.”
After a short reply, the adjutant disappeared inside.
Then, a few minutes later, the door opened again.
“You may enter.”
Agnes deeply inhaled, tightly hugging the box to her chest, and crossed the threshold.
The sight of Lionel organizing documents caught her eye first.
In neat attire, his sharply drawn face was expressionless as always.
Across from Lionel, someone was already standing.
A slightly hunched back and a posture standing with one leg crossed habitually. Hair tied in a ponytail by gathering the scarce strands.
Agnes recognized at a glance who he was.
Her prediction was correct after all.
The prior guest was none other than the knight belonging to the Bardo merchant group whom she had visited a few days ago, knelt before, and begged: Hunts Lockwood.
Agnes’s face brightened immediately.
“Sir Hunts. You really came……! Thank you.”
She didn’t know why he had come straight to Lionel without informing her. But Agnes welcomed Hunts for now.
However, Hunts cleared his throat uncomfortably and then avoided her eyes.
“……?”
What is it?
Something felt off.
Her heart brushed with anxiety at Hunts’s subtle reaction, but Agnes tried to ignore it and brought out the words she had prepared.
“Your Excellency the Duke.”
“I’m listening, so speak.”
Lionel turned the document he was looking at without even looking at Agnes.
It was a title unfit for a married couple, but no one pointed it out.
Rather, it seemed as if Agnes should address him that way.
It was bitter, but right now, such trivial things weren’t important to Agnes.
“As I told you before. I said I would show you evidence that I did not smuggle weapons.”
“Did you.”
It was a reply with no sincerity at all. Still, Agnes did not yield.
“Sir Hunts here is the first piece of evidence.”
“Evidence, you say.”
Finally, Lionel’s gaze turned to Agnes.
The metal glasses frame he wore only when handling paperwork further highlighted his sophisticated image.
“Yes. I intended to transport supplies to the north, not the south, and I actually went to the north. Sir Hunts witnessed that scene directly.”
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