Chapter 16: 16

Chapter 16 – Comforting

Hadius kept his eyes on the documents for a long time.

The shadow of the flower vase set by the window disappeared, and the maid changed the cold water in the teacup three times.

Grozhang was by his master’s side, not saying a word.

Is he not afraid?

Trunia is where the rebels are armed with guns and swords. Most of the nobles have already left the country, and Myer, the King, is also running away from the mob.

Meeting with the King in a place like that to negotiate is like adding fuel to the fire. No family forces their successor into such a dangerous situation.

“What happened to the secret letter I sent?”

Grozhang quickly came to his senses and pulled out his notebook.

“His Majesty the King has accepted. He will meet you privately. On the 18th at noon, he will enjoy horseback riding at Tiso villa, and will drive away all the servants, aides, and escorts and wait for you.”
“On the 18th…”
“The Young Master will be in Trunia. Officially. I purposely set up a tight schedule for the day before. If we say you suddenly suffered from exhaustion just before departure, no one will ever suspect it.”
“Alright.”
“I bribed a servant from the detached palace beforehand. If someone asks about your whereabouts that day, he will make something up. That you couldn’t get out of the bedroom because of a severe cold.”

Hadius nodded.

“Keep your guard up in the forest while I’m away.”
“Do not worry. I’ve made it clear to Hilden Farm and Beppy Dilson.”

After going through the last page of the thick pile of documents, Hadius leaned back and pressed his eyelids. When he pulled his hand back, his silver-grey eyes were looking into the void, beyond the chandelier.

There are two Trunia mines to be obtained through the negotiations, Mondio and Lucan.

But Hadius secretly planned to obtain one more.
Onteras.

Hadius intended to secretly own the gold mine, which would bring enormous wealth to Meyer Steel.

Something that is completely his.

The Meyer family’s successor seems to have everything in the world, but in reality, he has nothing. Hadius could no longer tolerate himself.

From now on, he will have it, step by step. Everything that the name Meyer represents.

***

“Charlotte, are you really not going?”
“I’m not going. How sad would Brave be, if even I left? Dogs don’t like being alone.”

What a ridiculous excuse. Emilia’s eyes narrowed, but she nodded.

“Then what do we do? … Ah! We can take Brave with us. Right?”
“Huh? Oh… Th-That’s right…”

Charlotte hugged Brave’s body tighter, not knowing what to do. Emilia chuckled and spoke.

“Don’t worry, Charlotte. We will ride Mister Beppy’s carriage. That way you won’t have to run into other people.”
“I-It’s not because of people.”
“Then why are you insisting on not going?”
“It hurts. I can’t walk because it hurts so much here.”

Charlotte grabbed her uninjured ankle again.

“Weren’t you playing with Brave just a while ago?”

The child’s face became distorted. She must be thinking about what kind of excuse to make so that her sister will let her go.

Charlotte usually followed her sister’s words, obediently. Except for one thing, the matter of coming out of the attic.

“Alright. This time, only I will go. But you must keep trying not to hide. You cannot live in hiding forever. If you only avoid people like that, you will really become a monster.”

Charlotte finally sighed in relief. Seeing her tear up, she felt sad again.

Well, isn’t she the child who was hung upside down on a tree while being called a monster? For Charlotte, the outside world will still be unruly. She has to approach everything slowly. Don’t be impatient.

Emilia got on the carriage alone. On the way, she didn’t forget to stop by the Cavendish mansion to return the money.

At first, Mr. Haspel waved his hands, saying he could not accept it. He was afraid about Young Master Malvin finding out about this.
Emilia forced the bag of money into his chest.

“Do not worry, take it. I will talk to Young Master Malvin.”

The moment Haspel accepted the bag of money, with a resigned look, Emilia’s heart became much lighter.

The carriage ran diligently, heading to Sitmer.

Sitmer was famous for being the place where the King’s villa was located. According to Beppy, sooner or later Laura will work there, as a maid. Not just a maid, but a royal maid.

Royal servants are given private bedrooms and treated so especially to the point they have a private chapel.

Emilia felt unusually happy that Mister’s sister was treated so well.

A picturesque landscape unfolded outside the window. Under the steep hill, several small houses, churches, and grain warehouses formed a community, and the wide vineyards were also spectacular.

The carriage stopped in front of a reddish-brown brick house, with smoke rising from it.

It wasn’t much different from Emilia’s house. It was a typical country house, with all kinds of vegetables growing in the garden and with chickens and pigs wandering around.

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“Brother!”

A girl with her hair braided on both sides rushed out like crazy. Beppy hugged the child tightly and stroked her head with his big hand.

Emilia was overwhelmed with pride, even though she did nothing to save their lives.

“Emilia came.”

Grabbing her brother’s hand, Laura turned her head towards Emilia. Looking at her, skinny and with a tanned face, she felt like crying.

‘Such a small and young child… In a brothel…’

Her heart broke but, the truth is, Emilia didn’t know exactly what kind of place a ‘brothel’ was. She just heard that it was like ‘hell’ to women. Maybe it’s a place where they swing a whip and hit women violently. Didn’t her stepmother get whipped by Mitch’s biological father too? She doesn’t know why they hit people, but it’s clear there are heinous people who enjoy it.

“Hello. Young Lady!”

Fortunately, Laura looked much brighter and livelier than she expected.

“Hello, Laura.”

The two greeted each other, cheek to cheek.

“I’m not a Young Lady, you can just call me Emilia.”
“I can’t. Never…”
“Why can’t you? I also call that person from the Meyer family as ‘Young Master’.”
“But… Still…”

It seemed like she could see Hadius, looking down coldly, behind Laura, who didn’t know what to do.

“Mister Beppy works at my house but I have never thought of him as a servant. He is a friend that my family is grateful to. So, we are also friends. If you keep calling me Young Lady, I may not be able to stay here because it is uncomfortable.”

Laura nodded reluctantly.

The three passed through a fence full of azaleas and headed towards the small brick house. The closer they got to the house, the more they could smell the savory and delicious scent.

“I didn’t know what the Young Lady… No, what Emilia likes, so I prepared some plain bread and pork stew. I didn’t make it, is it alright?”

Emilia nodded, suppressing her curiosity about who could have made the food if it wasn’t Laura.

“I eat anything. I even won second place in the sandwich eating contest at the village festival.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I had a match with the butcher’s son, who is famous for being a glutton. I only had three while he ate five, but at some point, the tables started turning. You see, I am usually stronger in the latter half. His speed slowed down sharply at the sixth sandwich, and I got faster. Everyone was going crazy.”
“Wow, that’s awesome.”

Awesome? Emilia hid her smugness with a light hand gesture.

“Anyways, I thought I was first place, but it turned out I had dropped a piece of bread. In the end, I unfortunately ended up in second place.”
“Is not fair that a slender and beautiful young lady like Emilia is even good at eating.”

Laura giggled and grabbed the doorknob.

“Oh, actually, there is one more guest. I wanted to surprise you, so I didn’t even tell my brother…”
“Ah, is that so?”

As soon as she asked, Emilia fell into a strange mood.

“You will definitely like it.”

An ominous sense of premonition slowly rose.

While Emilia’s face was already stiffening, the door opened.

There was a banquet set up on the large table in the living room, and a ‘surprise guest’ was sitting in the very middle. As she expected just before the door opened.

“Welcome, Emilia.”

Hadius Meyer, raising his hand with one arm spread over the worn-out chair.

Emilia wasn’t surprised. Her heart just pounded violently.

“It’s a good thing that I brought in the chef. I didn’t know that the woman who got second place in the eating contest is my fiancée.”

Hadius filled a glass with wine. Emilia was already frozen in place and couldn’t move.

Beppy bowed silently and Laura was excited by herself, pulling Emilia’s arm. Her body, stiff like a log, was seated across from Hadius.

“Now, show us. The skill that won you second place in the sandwich eating contest.”

There was a lot of appetizing food on the table. Emilia looked down at the steaming stew and wondered how to react. In her blurry vision, she was suddenly handed over a glass of wine.

“Drink.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why? Are you afraid it’s poisoned?”

Instead of answering, Emilia let out a long sigh.

“I’m telling you in advance, I’m not trying to force you to say no this time. I’m not trying to deceive you.”
“Then what?”
“Would you believe me if I said I’m comforting you?

Emilia, who was trying to ignore whatever he said, forgot her resolution and frowned, as if asking what he meant.

“You had to deal with that woman alone. I neglected you.”

Oddly enough, her heart dropped at that moment. She was caught up in an endless abyss.

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