Chapter 45
“I’m tired…….”
The backyard of the Bardo trading company.
Agnes sat huddled in a sunlit corner next to the old warehouse building.
As she sat for a long while, the sunlight settled warmly upon her forehead.
Escaping from Mrs. Nora and Andrew to find this place steeped in memories of Rael finally gave her some room to breathe.
“I’m glad Father didn’t tear this down.”
Inside the building, an accordion with several missing keys sat lonely.
It was something she had secretly brought here for Rael, who had wanted to play the piano.
Agnes rested her chin on her knees and stared at the dust-covered accordion for a long time.
Even while away from the trading company, she had often missed this spot.
Perhaps she was more attached to it because she had personally tended to it for a long time after Lionel left for the battlefield.
Instead of a salary, Adrian had handed her this place as a supposed reward and thrown work at her day and night.
The reason she had worked silently without complaint all this time was also because of this place.
Whenever she slightly displeased him, Adrian would threaten to demolish it.
Fortunately, instead of simply helping with the trading company’s affairs again, she had asked Lionel for a promise to receive this small garden under her own name.
“Now I don’t have to worry about this disappearing anymore.”
Agnes, who was smiling softly, furrowed her brows.
“Ugh.”
As the hem of her skirt, shaken by the wind, brushed against her leg, a short groan leaked out.
Lifting the light blue hem slightly, round burn marks were clearly visible next to the long scar running down her calf.
“It was already unsightly…… and now it’s even uglier.”
Agnes gently pressed the tip of her index finger against the scar.
She couldn’t tell if the pain that had flickered by moments ago was phantom pain or if it was because her nerves were truly coming back to life.
Papers were spread out in front of Agnes, who had climbed down from her wheelchair to sit on the ground.
They were about the latest theories published in the medical community.
Andrew’s treatment method was indeed a newly published medical theory from the Western Continent.
There were certainly cases where it had shown effects.
Agnes herself occasionally felt a faint pain in the areas of dead nerves.
Recalling that, she thought perhaps it really was effective.
However, on days she finished walking training, even her healthy left leg would tremble and her entire calf would throb.
Each time, the doubt of ‘Is this really the right treatment?’ reared its head.
At those times, she constantly requested to stop the treatment or lower the intensity, but it was not accepted.
Within the Duke’s mansion, Lionel’s instructions were absolute.
Unless he personally said to stop the treatment, Agnes’s opinion meant nothing.
She tried to add a word about the treatment at the end of a telegram, but even that was not permitted.
This was because Mrs. Nora would stand close by and monitor the contents of the telegrams.
“……I wish Lionel would come back soon.”
It felt as though once he returned, the strange air in the mansion, Mrs. Nora, and Andrew would all return to their proper places.
Is he still in the North?
There was still no news from Lionel.
“Sigh……”
Agnes let out a deep sigh and patted her cheeks.
Just a little bit.
Let’s endure just a little bit more.
She was the one who had first said she would receive the treatment.
Since the papers and diagrams said Andrew’s method was right, let’s stop doubting.
Even if it goes wrong, won’t the broken legs just become a little more useless?
“Yes. Lionel was the one who personally assigned this person to me, so I don’t want to disappoint him.”
Just then.
With a rustling sound, curly brown hair suddenly appeared.
“……Miss Agnes?”
Lifting her gaze at the pleasant mid-low voice, Kain was standing amidst the sunlight.
“Oh, ah. Why is Miss Agnes here, I mean that—,”
Kain, who seemed quite flustered, scratched the back of his head.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I should call you the Duchess now, but it doesn’t stick to my tongue so I keep making mistakes.”
Kain smiled brightly, but for some reason, he appeared uncomfortable.
Kain, busily moving his feet as he stood, pointed toward the main building of the trading company.
“I stopped by because I had business.
I received a sponsorship proposal from Miss Chloe.”
“You know Chloe?”
“Yes. I’ve said hello a few times along with Miss Floris— ah!”
Kain snapped his head up and hurriedly waved his hands.
“Please don’t misunderstand! We aren’t close. Saying hello in passing is all. The reason I came today is to refuse the sponsorship.”
The words poured out like an excuse though she hadn’t even asked.
“I see.”
As Agnes replied shortly, Kain fell silent and hesitated for a moment.
His face looked as though he had many words left to say.
However, the voice of a trading company employee looking for Kain stopped his mouth.
“Mr. Kain! Where on earth did you go? Mr. Kain, please answer!”
“Ah, dear.”
Kain looked back and forth between the employee calling him and Agnes, then lowered the corners of his eyes regretfully.
“Um…… could we perhaps meet again?”
“If you stop by the trading company. I plan to help with the trading company’s work for the time being.”
“I see! I think I really have to go today. Well then, let’s see each other again next time.”
“Yes.”
“Definitely……!”
Kain hesitated for a moment before running toward the direction of the employee.
Agnes watched the direction he disappeared and tilted her head slightly.
“But…… how did he find this place?”
It was a backyard that even the trading company people rarely visited.
As if to prove it, the old warehouse door creaked as the wind brushed past.
“Did he get lost or something……?”
After the brief meeting with Kain.
Fatigue was deeply settled on Agnes’s face as she returned to the office.
“Aren’t you overdoing it? Your complexion looks bad.”
At Lucian’s question, Agnes stroked her thin cheeks.
“It must be because there’s a lot of work.”
She made that excuse, but the touch of the cheek against her fingertips was cold.
Her eyes fell upon the chrysanthemums in the withered vase.
They had been in full bloom just a few days ago, but now they were turned brown with their heads bowed low.
The short autumn was passing quickly.
‘I should empty the vase.’
Agnes thought so and opened her notebook to organize the tasks for today.
“Lucian. What happened with the things I asked for last time?”
“Here is the data regarding the Castia trading company. There don’t seem to be any particularly suspicious parts. The financial statements are a bit unstable, but that is common in newly formed trading companies.”
“Is that so?”
Agnes received the data.
Despite Lucian’s words, she had not withdrawn her suspicion.
No one paid attention to it now, but at one time, Sercadia’s specialty was wool fiber.
The hair of Harmon goats that grow in the severe cold of northern Sercadia.
That thin, soft fiber was used as material for nobles’ formal wear and high-end brushes.
And.
The wigs supplied by Castia were also mixing human hair and goat hair, considering unit cost issues.
Could this be dismissed as a mere coincidence?
However, Agnes gave a faint smile.
As long as Lucian also belonged to the trading company, she couldn’t share everything.
Everything happening inside this square room would be reported to Adrian.
“What about the House of Count Guten and the Grand Theater?”
“The owner of the Grand Theater is avoiding a face-to-face meeting. Thus, they have relayed that they wish to proceed with the contract termination in writing.”
Lucian listed what he had found out in a flat voice.
“The problem is the trading company on the side of the House of Count Guten. I cannot get in touch with them at all.”
She had seen the article that part of the House of Count Guten’s property had been confiscated by the military. Was it because of that?
Agnes let out a sigh.
Since the deadline for the contract termination on the side of the House of Count Guten was the day after tomorrow, she couldn’t just block it and delay.
“Rather than waiting like this, it would be better to visit in person.”
Lucian nodded.
“If you are going out now, I will accompany you.”
Agnes turned her wheelchair to the side with a word of thanks.
Then, a drawer that hadn’t been fully closed got caught on the wheel and pulled out, falling to the floor.
“Ah……!”
Fortunately, it was empty, so there was nothing to clean up.
As Agnes tried to put the fallen drawer back in, she discovered a daisy pattern carved on the bottom.
Below the pattern, the numbers December 08, 1947, of the Imperial Calendar were written small.
It was a truly strange coincidence.
Because the numbers below the pattern were the same as Agnes’s birthday.
“Is it the pattern of the place where the drawer was made?”
But since it didn’t have much meaning, Agnes put the drawer back in indifferently and stepped outside.
While following the hallway, she heard Chloe’s shrill voice.
“What? He refused the sponsorship?”
Chloe’s face was flushed red.
It seemed Kain had expressed his refusal.
Agnes quickly turned her head to avoid her gaze.
Nothing good would come from running into Chloe in that state. It was obvious she would become a target for her to vent her anger.
So she deliberately tried to take the long way out, but,
“You there! Come here for a moment!”
Chloe called over several workers holding shovels and gave some instructions while pointing somewhere with her finger.
It was toward the backyard.
Agnes’s hand, which was rolling the wheels, stopped abruptly.
“Why over there……?”
Of course, given the structure of the trading company building, there was also a narrow path leading to the material warehouse in that direction besides the backyard.
However, strangely, she had an ominous premonition.
Somehow, she had a feeling that, following the pointe shoes, something precious was about to be taken away again.
But before she could check anything, Lucian approached with the carriage.
“The carriage is ready. Let’s go.”
Agnes’s wavering gaze lingered on the backyard for a moment.
“……Surely, it can’t be.”
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