Chapter 117: [Chapter 117] Emotional reunion
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Epero's party arrived at the grand duke's residence earlier than expected.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
Despite the overwhelming number of carriages and people right at the doorstep, we didn't hear a sound.
If Yona hadn't quickly knocked on the door to alert us, we might have greeted them in a rather disheveled state.
The image of Epero bursting into my office without permission flashed before my eyes, and I closed my eyes tightly for a moment, feeling a bit dizzy.
While they waited in the first-floor lobby, I managed to pull on a dress, pushing away the clingy Roardnes.
He insisted on helping me get dressed, so I was forced to participate in his little game.
Yona, seeing me covered in colorful bruises, prepared a dress fit for a visit to the grand temple.
But even that dress couldn't hide the marks he'd left, so I couldn't even put my hair up during the journey.
Roardnes even insisted on riding in the carriage with Yona, using the excuse of close protection.
"Where's Vincento?"
"I've entrusted him with the funeral arrangements. As a cousin of Bardenaldo, he's perfect to leave in my place. No one would object to the heir of the Winstor Marquisate handling the funeral of the crown prince."
Roardnes looked out the window after saying that. Something had clearly happened between him and Vincento. Since chasing him to the office door during the funeral, Vincento hadn't shown his face again.
Although he seemed to have conveyed orders through Neil, he always had this subtle expression and looked out the window whenever Vincento's name came up. Somehow, he looked a bit lonely.
"Lien, come here."
Roardnes, who had been lost in thought for a while, looked at me intently and spoke.
Although it was a top-class carriage from the palace, Roardnes seemed to dislike even the slightest jolt of the carriage and patted his thigh, calling me over.
"Why?"
"Sit here."
"I think it would be more uncomfortable there."
"...Try sitting once and judge for yourself."
"The cushions here are just right. My butt doesn't hurt at all."
"Your butt doesn't hurt? That can't be right."
Roardnes arrogantly tilted his chin and raised the corners of his lips.
'...I'll forgive you because you're handsome.'
Staring at his sculpted nose and lips that looked like they had been busy all night, I bit my lip.
Whenever the sunlight streamed into the carriage, he sparkled like a golden statue.
Despite neither of us having slept a wink all night, he looked full of life and radiant, unlike me with dark circles under my eyes.
"I stayed up all night..."
"Stop! Okay, I get it! I'll sit for just 10 seconds. Is that enough? Don't say anything about staying up all night in broad daylight like this, or we won't do it again like last night."
My mouth, which seemed to want to protest like a child who had a delicious cookie taken away, opened slightly.
Instead of anger, the image of his face, red-eyed and whispering words of love as he focused on me all night, scattered like an afterimage.
"You should know this, Lien. I've really held back."
"...That's holding back?"
When I said to tone it down, he always replied, "Yes," but his face, which looked a little sad, started to open his mouth.
"Well, how much..."
But the words died in my throat.
Roardnes, who stared at me for a while with an incomprehensible look, blushed and chuckled before hugging me tightly.
"No, it doesn't matter."
"What is it?"
That's when it happened.
"Your Highness! Your Highness!!"
Neil, who was in charge of our escort, knocked loudly on the carriage window.
"What is it?"
"Your Highness! A woman is following our procession closely."
Roardnes opened the window with a long arm, and Neil, who had brought his horse close, quickly reported.
"Take care of it."
"Well, that... she looks familiar. I think she knows the Duchess."
Neil quickly added.
"Let's check it out."
I got out of Roardnes' arms and stuck my upper body out of the window.
"Lien!"
Roardnes grabbed my arm in surprise.
The carriage slowed down on its own. My hair, which I had lowered to cover the back of my neck, fluttered wildly in the wind.
I tried to shield my eyes from the overly bright sun and looked out into the distance to see the figure following.
The moment I saw the tangled brown hair fluttering much more wildly than mine, I felt like my breath was taken away.
"Adrienne!"
I turned pale as a ghost and retreated. When I was about to sit down with my hand on my chest, Roardnes, who had immediately pulled me into his arms, checked my complexion.
"Who is it? I'll go out..."
"No! No, just... just go."
I barely managed to spit out the words, feeling like my neck was being choked.
My nose felt stuffy, as if tears were about to burst out.
"Just, just let's go."
Not yet ready to face Bianca, I simply closed my eyes tightly and buried my face in Roardnes' arms.
He didn't say anything else and held me tightly by the shoulders.
Although the carriage was clearly speeding up, the sound of the hooves seemed to get closer in a strange way.
"...Lien!"
"!"
Bianca's shrill voice pierced my ears.
"Adrienne! Please! Please stop!"
The sound of the hooves grew closer and closer, and then gradually faded away.
But as the sound faded, the desperate sound of the hooves and her desperate cry seemed to crush my heart.
Bang, bang-!
"Stop the carriage!"
I finally got up and hit the wall of the carriage.
Hihhihihing-! As the carriage stopped abruptly, I threw open the door before Roardnes could hold me.
A few carriages behind, far away, I saw Bianca falling off a horse that was foaming at the mouth.
She staggered precariously, about to fall, but as soon as she saw me, she ran towards me with her eyes bloodshot.
I walked towards her, confused about whether I should stop her or not, through the guards who seemed hesitant to stop her.
And soon.
Bianca, who had come close, burst into tears and hugged me tightly.
****
In the end, Roardnes was kicked out of the carriage.
Without a word, I had Bianca placed in a carriage and called for Yona, who was following in another carriage with some servants.
Bianca never once mentioned the name "Blie" to me.
She simply stared at me with determined eyes, as if there were no other option but for me to be Adrienne, regardless of who I was with or where I came from, and she repeatedly shed tears.
I barely managed to calm her down, who refused to let go of my embrace, and I had Bianca and Yona sit side by side and started the carriage.
The carriage was soon plunged into darkness when I closed and locked the half-open window and drew the curtains.
Yona seemed momentarily startled by Bianca's sudden change of attitude and my calm expression, and then folded her hands neatly, waiting for me to speak.
I had also cried a lot as soon as Bianca hugged me, so I quickly wiped my face with a handkerchief.
"Madam, are you unwell?"
"Yona, and Bianca. You're going to believe me no matter what I say now, right?"
Inside the swaying carriage.
Bianca's trembling eyes and Yona's bewildered expression were directed at me.
"I'm not Blie Acacia right now."
****
Inside the slowed-down carriage, screams and sighs faintly escaped.
Roardnes drove the horses, increasing the distance between the following carriages and the procession of Epero's group ahead.
A harsh woman's curses and shouts pierced his ears, breaking through the soundproof carriage.
Roardnes shook his head at Neil, who was looking at him with worried eyes from a distance, and gestured for him to go ahead.
He had recently heard that Pireta, Adrienne's father, had also contributed to this tragedy.
So he guessed that the commotion inside the carriage was related to him.
****
I briefly explained what had happened from the moment I first thought I had died to the present, but it couldn't stop Bianca's anger.
From the middle, Bianca, who seemed like she would rather plug her ears and faint, barely managed to keep her composure when Yona held her.
"Lien, Lien. How could you endure this absurd farce alone? A weak girl who used to faint at the slightest thing, going through all that hardship!"
She eventually got up, hugged me, and sobbed for a long time, repeating, "I'm just glad you're alive."
Hugged by her, I turned my gaze to Yona, who had become stiff.
Yona just opened and closed her mouth, then looked at my face carefully and her eyes welled up.
"Oh, I didn't recognize you as Lady Blie!"
"Yona, it's not your fault. I'm sorry. If I had known that you were so close to Blie, I might have been able to tell you sooner."
Yona, who had been confused, wiped her eyes with a handkerchief when I apologized.
"At first, I was too... confused. I couldn't tell anyone this. Who would believe such a thing? There's no story as incredible as this, no matter how much you read. I even thought it would be easier to think I was crazy."
"...You don't need to make excuses, Madam."
Yona replied in a deep voice.
I had made up my mind.
Since Yona was originally Blie's person, I planned to let her go even if she didn't follow me, who was still pretending to be Blie, and had put Blie in the coffin.
Because Yona followed not me, but Blie, her benefactor.
"I want to help you, Madam."
Yona's small, white hand rested on my clenched fist.
Her rough-feeling palm felt so warm that I was about to cry.
"Helping you, Madam, is also helping Lady Blie. Isn't it?"
"Yona..."
"Even though you are a stranger to me at first, Madam was always kind to me. Lady Blie was the same, even though she pretended not to be."
For a moment, I was speechless.
If she had asked me how I could pretend to be her benefactor and use her, I would have had nothing to say, but Yona's face was the same as before, even though I said I wasn't Blie.
"It doesn't change the fact that Lady Blie is my benefactor, but the fact that the person I serve is Madam doesn't change either. Madam, I like you."
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