Chapter 134: Chapter 134 Don’t come to the capital of the empire (6)
She felt annoyed when she saw him pretending to be happy to have met her, but she got out of the carriage, trying not to express it.
Sir Dowain stood in front of her, but she shook her head and warned him not to provoke the duke.
“I didn’t expect to see you in the middle of the main street.”
When she said that, she saw the duke’s security pointing their swords at Martin’s neck.
She continued, pretending to ignore them, “May I ask why you stopped my carriage?”
“…I’d like to serve a cup of tea to a beautiful lady. Would you take a moment? ”
He was smiling tenderly, but he seemed to threaten that he would not tolerate her rejection. She had no choice but to climb into his carriage.
As he traveled with her in the carriage, the duke babbled about useless things such as hot weather or the famous veal. As if he had met his longtime friend, he talked to her informally.
The problem was they were not close enough at all to call each other old acquaintances.
She had no idea where she was being taken because the curtains were closed inside the wagon. She had also been isolated from the knights who accompanied her.
It was a big mansion they arrived at, large enough not to come into her view at first glance. He guided her with a gentle gesture.
Arriving at the small parlor and sitting face to face with him, she began to feel the strain.
On all four sides of the parlor, there was an awful lot of stuffed animals. The stuffed animals hung on the wall randomly seemed odd and frivolous. Somehow, she seemed to smell the mixed scent of alcohol and the rottenness of the stuffed beasts. If he had no hobby of collecting stuffed animals obsessively, it was obvious that he wanted to intimidate her.
“You have a wonderful hobby.”
“Do you think so? It was my father’s hobby. He had the blood of the Benyahan family, but he could not live as its member because of some deficiencies. Because of that, he devoted himself to hunting like crazy,” he said with a laughter, which sounded eerie.
She also laughed, shaking off uneasiness. It was never good for her for a man to show his feelings like this.
“Nothing is as beautiful as one’s being immersed in something. Women mostly fall in love with men when they are engrossed in something,” she said.
She decided to put out an air of ingenuous beauty in front of him. Namely, she wanted to make him believe that she was so stupid that he could not make himself understood. Indeed, he made a strange look when she said that.
“…I never thought Sir Schroederl’s lover was a commoner. As you two are in love, that’s not a barrier. I think it’s a beautiful thing to be immersed in something as you said.”
“Do you really think so? In the eyes of others, does Sir Schroder seem to have me in his heart?” She said as if she was thrilled. It wasn’t easy until she clasped her hands and laughed shyly, but she could easily get by after that. She spontaneously twisted her body, moving up and down her shoulders. It was not that difficult for her to disguise as a shy girl.
“Why do you hate Francis Hazlet? I hear Sir Schroder punished Hazelet unreasonably…”
Wendy was a bit embarrassed when he mentioned the name that she did not expect to hear from him, but she hid her embarrassment skillfully.
“… I don’t care. She might have loved Sir Schroder secretly or she might have jealous about me standing next to him. By the way, how did you know about her? ” She abruptly turned and asked him sardonically.
“There are some things that I come to hear against my will. It’s because your dating Schroder has become such a hot topic in social circles. ”
“I see. It was really annoying to hear me being talked about in social circles. ” She sighed, putting on airs. When the duke laughed, she also laughed along in satisfaction.
After that, the duke asked a few more questions about the relationship among her, Francis and Lard, but she told him nothing useful. Presumably he didn’t seem to know anything about her relationship with Francis. He just focused on the fact that Wendy was a commoner and that Lard was involved in Francis’ punishment.
Wendy could wrap up the conversation by giving a big yawn as if his questions were boring.
The duke, who kept a gentleman’s attitude all along despite the commoner woman’s rudeness, seemed to be sick and tired of her.
“You look tired. Please take a break… Debbie! ”
When he looked at the door and called for a man, the man with a stout build came in.
“Escort this lady to the place prepared for her.”
The duke then said goodbye to Wendy with a bright smile.
“I enjoyed talking with you.”
Shaking dirt off her skirt, she walked out with the man named Debbie.
Left alone in the parlor, the duke talked to somebody, “What do you make of her? I’m curious what you think. ”
After some time in silence, a man appeared behind a glass framed with a stuffed bear.
He was Viscout Bual, his right hand man who took care of all his dirty work.
“… I think you can use the fact in your favor that Sir Schroder resorted to an expedient in the case of Francis. You could press him by citing her status. ”
“What’s the point of using that right now? If our coup succeeds, Schroder will not be able to survive.”
“If so…”
“What do you make of her?”
“She just looked like a childish girl. I didn’t know Sir Schroder would like this type of woman… Anyway, the two seem to be in deep love, so you can make use of that. I think we’re lucky.”
Bura was encouraged by his unexpected discovery of Schroder’s lover while looking for the weakness of the Hazlet family.
“Do you really think she looks stupid? Didn’t you think it strange that she accepted the situation so calmly? She showed no agitation at all even when she saw my men pointing their swords at the knight escorting her. I never imagined that she would communicate with me so naturally. That makes me feel uncomfortable.”
“Isn’t it because she is such a stupid bitch who can’t see reason?”
“She is too ignorant to feel scared or she is strong-minded enough to deceive me.”
Auguste did not agree with him easily. He felt as if he was overlooking something about her. If she’s not stupid at all, how could she stand undaunted in the face of a threatening situation? He didn’t feel she was arrogant enough to just rely on Sir Schroder.
He was lost in thought about her for a while, but he couldn’t find a satisfactory answer.
Then he told Sir Bual before leaving the room, “Keep an eye on her. I’m going to have her as an important hostage to take Sir Schroder’s life.”
“How long should I walk?” Wendy asked the man sharply, but the man called Debbie didn’t reply. No matter how loudly she shouted at him. He didn’t show any reaction. He opened his mouth only when he reached the dark, damp underground corridor.
“Go in,” he told her, opening the iron bars that were blocking the hallway.
“Do you mean I should go inside here?”
The man opened the door a little wider instead of answering. She stared at him, gnashing her teeth. Inside there were iron bars on both sides of the corridor. It was a dungeon.
‘He put on all airs as a gentleman while thinking of jailing me in this place? Damn bastard!’
She sneaked back, ready to flee, but the man came a couple of steps closer to her to stop her.
“Let go of my hands!”
Catching her trying to run away, he caught her by the neck quickly. When she shook her head violently, feeling humiliated, he stopped moving.
“Argh! Let go of me! ”
Was it because of her struggling? The man who grabbed Wendy’s neck let go of her hand, and then gently touched it. She felt creepy, swearing at him unconsciously. Ignoring her curses, he touched her wet yellow hair stuck around her sweaty neck.
“Hummm… this is not a necklace,” he said with disappointment when he touched it.
Initially frightened about him considering raping her and clenched her teeth, she now realized that he mistook her yellow hair for gold. Then the man carried her as if she was a baggage and opened one of the prison doors. He threw her into the prison without any consideration of her pride.
Holding onto the closed prison door, she shouted at him, asking for his help repeatedly, but he disappeared in a hurry without any word.
Wendy, once again calling for him to no avail, was angry that she was still putting on an air of innocent beauty that she had shown while talking with Duke Engre. She was foolishly hoping for him to come back at her shouting.
“Miss Wendy!”
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