Chapter 4
“Haah…….”
Eliza let out deep sighs as she absentmindedly drew lines all over the paper.
After organizing what she could remember of the original work, the conclusion was once again clear.
To survive, she had to attack Hagen first.
‘I should break off the engagement first. There’s no way Father will allow it.’
In this family, she had no power whatsoever. Eliza rubbed her dry face with her hands before burying it in both palms.
How long had she been like that when a guest came to her room?
“Dear, are you in your room?”
“Come in.”
Eliza raised her head. The Countess of Waluer entered through the wide-open door, wearing a dress with an extravagantly puffed-out skirt.
Several layers of ribbons hung down, and her hat was adorned with an abundance of feathers.
Judging by her appearance, she seemed to be going to another party somewhere.
“Is there still no news?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean the young master of Hagen. Haven’t you received a proposal yet?!”
“We…….”
Eliza firmly closed her lips that had been about to move and lowered her head.
When her mother acted like this, quietly obeying was the quickest way to get through the situation.
‘Why is she pressuring me again today?’
The Countess of Waluer looked Eliza up and down before clicking her tongue.
“You’re already nineteen years old. At an age when it should hardly be enough even to give birth to an heir for a family, how is it that there’s still no news of marriage? Lady Wilhelm has no time because she’s busy pondering over the marriage proposals piling up! And yet you, despite having a fiancé, can’t even get married…….”
Eliza let her mother’s continuing nagging go in one ear and out the other.
Apparently, she was attending a party at the Wilhelm estate today.
The Lady of Wilhelm was popular in the marriage market because not only was her bloodline excellent, but her temperament was also gentle.
Since her daughter’s name would inevitably come up at a party where she would be the main attraction, her mother must have come to pressure her before leaving so that she would not lose face.
“I didn’t give birth to you deficient in any way, so what on earth is the problem? Haah…….”
Before the woman who continued to pour out words hurriedly, Eliza forcefully relaxed the crease that was forming between her brows.
Did her mother even know that it had been less than a week since her daughter had been kidnapped and returned?
“Mother, what if I were to break off my engagement with Hagen…….”
“What?! What do you mean by that? Did the young master of Hagen say something to you?”
The startled woman hurriedly approached Eliza. Eliza quickly shook her head.
“It’s not that. But―”
“If it’s not that, then don’t even think about breaking off the engagement. You know how deep a connection your father has built with Hagen, don’t you? If all of that falls apart now, what are we supposed to do about the losses?”
Eliza swallowed the sigh that had risen to the very tip of her throat.
She did not know exactly how much debt had accumulated with Hagen in exchange for selling her off.
She only knew that it was an amount so substantial that they could not bring themselves to pressure Hagen first out of shame, yet could not give up on the marriage either.
“……Have a good time.”
“Don’t entertain any foolish thoughts and hurry up and try to get married. Could it be that you lack charm as a woman? Tsk, perhaps the young master of Hagen doesn’t like you so thin, so you should gain some weight and become more voluptuous…….”
“Mother, you’ll be late.”
At Eliza’s subtle remark, the woman finally made a startled sound and hurried outside.
A strong smell of cosmetics remained in the place she had left behind.
Only then did Eliza release the fatigue she had been suppressing.
“Haah.”
Eliza disliked such intense fragrances. That was why she had always felt comfortable whenever she visited the room of the Marchioness of Hagen, Vanessa…….
「“Madam, hold that side a little tighter.”
“Yes, dear. For the sake of the Great Darkness.”
“For our Great Darkness!”」
In the original work, it was said that Vanessa was the one who put shackles on Eliza and thrust Eliza’s chest toward a knife.
Considering Vanessa’s innocent impression, it was a scene difficult to imagine.
But Eliza could no longer trust anything about Hagen.
She had rather hoped that it was merely the Marquis’s unilateral decision, but Eliza had even discovered an evil grimoire in Vanessa’s room when she visited under the pretext of paying her respects.
What kind of cruel fate was it that Vanessa happened to leave the room at that moment, and that the book within her line of sight happened to be suspicious of all things?
“……Ha.”
The touch that had gently stroked her shoulder while telling her to visit whenever she wished had been so soft and warm that the young girl had believed it to be affection.
The illusion had shattered, and the empty space revealed so starkly in reality still stung.
Eliza deliberately tried to think coldly in an attempt to fill that emptiness.
‘Should I have brought it as evidence? No. If I had, I would have been discovered immediately.’
She was just about to sink back onto the sofa and begin worrying again.
Knock, knock, someone tapped on the balcony window.
“……Has he gone crazy?”
Eliza’s brow furrowed sharply as she looked toward the window. Leopold, who had climbed up the tree to the balcony of her room, was smiling brightly from outside the window.
Leopold mouthed the words.
‘O.pen.it.’
Just looking at that face made her feel another headache coming on.
Eliza strode toward the window and waved her hand dismissively without opening it.
“I’m not opening it. Go back.”
Leopold, who had been resting his hand against the window, assuming that she would naturally open it for him, blinked. Then he calmly knocked again.
“I said go away!”
When Eliza shouted at him, Leopold widened his eyes and tilted his head.
It might have been cute when he was young, but did he not realize that doing that with the face of a fully grown adult man was simply creepy?
‘Open it.’
His low voice sounded as though he were mumbling.
Eliza firmly shook her head. Then, just as she turned her back,
There was suddenly a loud thud behind her. When Eliza hurriedly turned around, Leopold had taken his hand off the window and met her gaze.
With a creak, the balcony door opened with a squeak.
“Looks like the window was broken, Eli.”
Leopold spoke shamelessly, his long eyes curved into a broad smile.
Eliza stared incredulously at the shattered lock. That madman……?
“Just send the bill to Hagen.”
“Why on earth did you come? I told you I couldn’t meet you.”
“Did you?”
Leopold lightly shook the hand with which he had broken the lock and approached Eliza. The crease between Eliza’s brows showed no sign of disappearing.
“I was worried that someone might be bothering our Eli.”
“It seems like Leopold Hagen is the one bothering me.”
“Like this?”
Leopold lightly tapped her eyebrow with his finger.
Eliza instinctively slapped his hand away. The sharp smack echoed much louder than she had expected.
Eliza held her hand and took a step backward. Leopold stared expressionlessly at the back of her hand.
“Why do I feel like you’re avoiding me?”
“You’re imagining things.”
Eliza sighed loudly enough for him to hear, then walked over to the desk and sat down. She naturally tidied the things on top of it as she scolded him.
“You could have just assumed I was busy. A lady has her own circumstances, after all.”
The documents on which she had written information from the original work in Korean were placed inside the drawer.
Leopold watched each and every one of her movements intently.
“I was curious why I couldn’t meet you.”
“You did receive my letter after all.”
When Eliza raised her head, a pair of clear blue eyes immediately met hers. Leopold approached her with his eyes sparkling.
“That’s true. But you didn’t write down the reason.”
“Ha…… Leopold. Even if I am your only friend…….”
“Aren’t I your only one, too?”
“You and I are different.”
“So what’s the reason?”
Eliza ran her tongue over her parched lips. It was not difficult to spit out the excuse she had thought of beforehand.
“I met someone I like.”
“You? As if.”
But Leopold scoffed at her words and dismissed them.
Just as Eliza knew him well, Leopold also knew every detail of her exceedingly narrow social circle.
“Eli. Your fiancé is right here.”
He bent down and placed both hands on the desk. As the distance between them narrowed, their shadows mingled.
“If you’re going to like someone, you should like me.”
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