Chapter 64: Chapter 64 I want to live next door to her house (2)
Stopping for a moment, she suddenly let out a screech as she couldn’t stand it.
Some of the passers-by looked at her as if they were surprised, but she didn’t care. She just couldn’t understand why that name kept coming to her mind. She felt tight and uncomfortable as if she fell on her butt in manure.
She raised her hand over the temple and pressed it several times as if to control her pulse. She found it pounding against her fingertips.
She felt something went damned wrong.
‘Is my behavior related to the symptoms I experienced at Jerus Hall?’
She labored under delusions beginning with the name of Lard Schroder and continuing into the conspiracy theories of the ‘poison’ at Jerus Hall. If the damn ‘poison’ was a virus and had finally manifested through the latent period, this was obviously a serious development she could not ignore.
She bit her lip and trembled with nervousness.
Arriving at the flower shop, she actively moved around with sparkling eyes as if she wanted to shake off all the idle thoughts and kill the ‘poison’ virus by working hard.
Only the sound of several streams of water gushing from the watering pot filled the flower shop. By the time she watered the twenty-ninth flowerpot, she felt satisfied and shook off some disturbing anxiety.
Come to think of it, she felt it was only natural that Lard’s name came to her mind.
‘This is so natural! How can’t I think of him when he and I went through such terrible things yesterday? Moreover, I have no choice but to think of his name, given that the fate of Altarin who did such a terrible thing rests in his hands!’
In some respects, it could be called expectation psychology. She had some expectation that Lard would bring about the satisfactory result with respect to the Altarian case.
‘Yeah, it’s because I have some expectations of him.’
How many risks would she have to face if she had to get revenge on Altarin herself?
If Lard did a good job of solving the case successfully, she would not have to take the risk, which was an ideal option for her..
After clearing up her complex thoughts, she felt surprisingly refreshed.
She chuckled as if she drove out the illusion of the silver poplar that had made her heart beat hard yesterday. Her laughter was grotesquely scattered in the otherwise quiet flower shop.
The bell above the door chimed.
She flinched, surprised by the sound of the door. While turning stiffly, she felt nervous without any particular reason. She gasped.
Wendy confirmed the identity of the man at the door and took a deep breath. It was the very man who had been filling her mind since yesterday. Forgetting anything like expectations of him, she was speechless at his unexpected appearance.
‘Well, why the heck is this guy here now?’
While screaming silently, she looked at his face in surprise. Frowning deeply, he caught his breath and called with a hoarse voice, “Wendy!”
His disheveled hair caught her eyes first. His uniform was full of the cold air on spring night. His breathing seemed somewhat rough. His voice trembled as if he was trying to tell her something.
Wendy quickly glanced at his haggard face and her lips trembled despite her rigid expression.
A bizarre smile was still on her face.
“I stopped by your house. I was worried because you were not there… I guess you must be very tired. Why don’t you take a day off?”
When he spoke with a sigh, she double checked his face. She saw a deep anxiety in his bloodshot eyes.
‘Did he rush here because he was surprised I wasn’t there?”
She felt distracted because of her wild speculation about his motives.
“… Well, I ended up coming here. By the way, what’s the matter with you, coming late at night like this? It looks like you wanted to see me urgently.”
She barely opened her mouth, trying to calm down. Her cold tone, arrogant gaze and twisted lips perfectly conveyed her feigned indifference to him. She tilted the watering can to hide her pounding heartbeat. The sound of her watering flowers filled the flower shop again.
“I wrapped up the investigation of Altarin and her servant, so I stopped by because you might want to know the results.”
“Were you at the palace all this time because of that?”
Obviously, he was exhausted from investigating the Altarin case without sleeping at all.
She glanced at his face quickly. He looked very tired.
“It has been a long day,” Lard said, as he recalled the hard interrogation. Looking at his fatigued face, she wanted to ask him if he would like a cup of hot tea, but she didn’t. She didn’t have the heart to speak the kind words that came to her mind at the moment, so she kept silent.
He said, “As the Scholters family met the emperor and acted immediately, I couldn’t delay it. Altarin admitted that she was partially responsible for the accident, but argued that she never thought her servant Bella had done such a terrible thing. So, Altarin has been imprisoned for three days, along with a 30-day house arrest. You may think that this is a disappointing punishment, but the fact that a noblewoman is sent to a jail even for a short period of time will be recorded as a great disgrace to her family. In that respect, the punishment against her is not light… As soon as her house arrest is over, she is supposed to have a series of confession sessions.”
“… Confession sessions?” She asked in a suspicious tone.
At her asking, Lard cleared his throat as if he was embarrassed, “Well, she has to hold a series of sessions where she has to confess her crime to the participants. It’s kind of a letter of apology. The crown prince ordered it. It’s going to be very humiliating for Altarin.”
Wendy’s face was strangely distorted. It seemed that she was not sure whether she had to smile or laugh at the prince’s bizarre decision. He stared at her as if he had anticipated such a reaction. When the water from the watering can began to fall on the floor, he quickly grabbed her hand.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m alright!”
Shaking off his hand, she looked down at the ground soaked with water. For a moment, there was awkward silence between them, but he continued, with an expressionless look, as usual, “Besides, the prince ordered her family to pay fines to the imperial family and the Schroder family. Some of the money paid to the Schroder is yours.”
She looked straight at his face, clearing her throat to get out of awkwardness.
As Wendy lived as a noblewoman for some time in the past, she knew well how shameful it was an unmarried young lady to serve jail time. Obviously, one month’s house arrest or reparation payment as her punishment was disappointing, but the so-called “confession session” was satisfactory from her point of view.
Although her punishment was extraordinary, Wendy thought she deserved it because she committed such a malicious crime against her.
“Got it… Did you question her yourself? ”
“Yes.”
Wendy felt vindicated when she thought how shameful Altarin felt since she was interrogated by Lard, who she longed for so much. Lard carried out his mission well.
In the end, Wendy decided to serve him tea to appreciate his special efforts. She felt she found a just cause to serve him tea this time.
She belatedly led him to take a seat at the table. While boiling water, she mentioned the name of the man who she had forgotten.
“…What about her servant Bellas? ”
“He was detained. He has not been sentenced yet, but he may be spending the rest of his life in prison. He will have to pay the price for his crime.”
In the case of Altarin, it seemed that the prince gave the ruling quickly to minimize the involvement of the Scholters family, but Bellas had not been given a final ruling.
She clicked her tongue in her heart but didn’t feel any sympathy for him.
When she was weighing the possible jail terms for Bellas, Lard asked, “When are you going back home?”
With a frown, she looked at his face for a moment as he was trying to check her schedule.
“I’ve got to water the flower garden in the back.”
At her reply, he stared at the darkness outside the window.
“… I will wait for you outside. So, as soon as you are done, I will escort you back home. You don’t have to refuse it. I’m doing this because it makes me feel at ease.”
In fact, she was ready to reject his offer immediately, but she shut her mouth.
She recalled struggling to take his offer to escort her from the Linus Medical Center recently.
She knew that she could not overcome his stubbornness as far as this kind of thing was concerned.
But she had a legitimate cause.
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