IDIBC Chapter 34

Meeting Them at the Chaplin Estate

Walter looked at the yellow rose I was clutching tightly and smiled faintly.

Why on earth? Was there a letter written on the yellow rose saying I wanted to go to the Chaplin estate or something?

“You probably shouldn’t have touched my body without permission.”

Of course, this was a moment when I needed to be careful, but since I was certain he wouldn’t kill me, there was no need to suppress my rising anger.

“I was standing still when you came and bumped into me, so it would be hard to say I forced it. And it would also be hard to say that was asking for my consent.”

“Ah…….”

He looked like he understood a little now, but his sharp gaze scrutinizing me remained the same.

“It seems I even fainted because of that.”

“Did……you?”

I looked around and pressed the back of my hand to my forehead, as if experiencing dizziness.

“Where is…… this? Is this a guest room at Count Enehaz’s estate?”

Despite my best acting, Walter did not withdraw his suspicious gaze. He tapped his lips with his finger, lost in thought, then tilted his head slightly to the right.

“Do you perhaps not know who I am?”

Not “Do you know who I am?” but “Do you not know?” What incredible confidence. Though it was probably confidence for a reason.

“No, not at all.”

But I also had the confidence to pretend not to know him. It’s not like Walter had Rochester’s ability to gauge truth.

“Am I someone whose…… well, someone it would be rude not to know?”

He laughed as if somewhat amused, then straightened his back.

“No. I am Walter Shaw Chaplin, the young duke of the Chaplin ducal family.”

“I see…….”

“You don’t seem particularly surprised.”

As he brightened his eyes with a serious attitude, his turquoise eyes became even more distinct. His eye color was so pretty it was hard to look anywhere else.

“And this place is not Count Eneharz’s estate, but my family’s. This is my bedroom.”

Perhaps considering it a memory to be erased anyway, he obediently explained the situation.

“I’ll know for certain once I verify it, but if what you say is true, I bumped into your body and……. yes. So Miss Lienne fainted, and I brought you here.”

“Though it is quite strange to bring an unconscious woman to the young duke’s bedroom.”

He smiled as if finding it somewhat interesting.

“Well, you could think that, but in any case, that’s not what’s important right now.”

When I just stared at him blankly without answering, he let out a small sigh.

“The reason I’m telling you about myself in such detail is because I need to know your family name as well.”

“Why…… is that?”

“We were clearly at Count Enehaz’s evening party.”

“That’s right.”

“And you were holding a yellow rose.”

I just nodded. Watching me, his eyes seemed somewhat dubious.

“You were holding a yellow rose at Enehaz’s banquet, and I am the heir to a ducal family.”

I couldn’t understand why he kept repeating what he’d already said, and my brow furrowed involuntarily.

“Is that particularly important? In the current situation?”

“Of course. By tomorrow, rumors about me will be rampant throughout high society.”

“Ah……!”

Suddenly, I recalled the young woman who had dropped the yellow rose in front of me. The image of the older man who had been holding her hand. My face scrunched up involuntarily.

So perhaps this rose meant she was willing to sell herself to someone.

“So we need to deal with this. I have no intention of taking you as my lover or mistress.”

My eyes squeezed shut. He was right.

“For those people to find out who you are will be easier than flipping a palm.”

If I stayed like this, by tomorrow I would become the protagonist of a scandal that would shake the Dermeier Empire’s high society.

Whether as Young Duke Chaplin’s mistress, or as a woman abandoned by him.

The Duchess Rochester had given me permission to dance on my hands at the banquet hall, but she hadn’t given me permission to disappear holding hands with a man from another ducal family while carrying a handkerchief embroidered with the Rochester family crest.

“Actually, it wouldn’t be difficult to distort people’s memories a little, but I won’t be able to hide the fact that you and I disappeared at the same time.”

“…….”

“Your parents, friends, whoever you came with will immediately notice you’re gone. And me too. So please tell me. Your family name.”

‘It’s Fennel, Fennel! The family from the Eastern Kingdom that the Dermeier Emperor ordered to be wiped out. Or if not that, you could say I’m a guest of Rochester. Sent directly by the Duchess herself, carrying a handkerchief embroidered with the family crest!’

I carefully suppressed my desire to cry and chose what to say internally.

Should I say Fennel, or should I say Rochester?

But my deliberation wasn’t long. Just as I was about to part my lips to answer—

Bang.

With a tremendous crash, Young Duke Chaplin’s bedroom door burst open.

“Ah…….”

A man with jet-black hair as if he’d gathered all the energy of the dark night, with intensely black eyes dark enough to be called darkness itself, stood there sharp as a blade.

As if he was about to break down the door any moment.

Walter and I rose from our seats simultaneously.

“Rica.”

“Ricardo?”

And simultaneously whispered his name. Our surprised eyes turned to each other. Walter’s turquoise eyes were asking me: Who are you, exactly?

Another “Bang!” sounded and Walter and I turned our gaze toward the noise.

The open door was trembling, as if Ricardo had struck it.

“Lienne, come here.”

A chilling voice flowed from Ricardo.

“Lienne? That Lienne…… Lienne Rowe Fennel?”

At the name spoken quietly from close by, I couldn’t move and had no choice but to look at Walter again. Walter murmured my name once more with a confused expression. Lienne Rowe Fennel.

Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he whirled to face me.

“You’re a Fennel. The woman who helped Duke Rochester’s son with his manifestation.”

At that moment, “Wheeew.” A frivolous whistling sound was heard. Where I looked, a man with bright red hair and golden eyes stood. A man with slightly upturned eyes that reminded me of someone, exuding a rather sensual atmosphere.

“The atmosphere here is way too strange……?”

He must be Paquin.

“Walter bringing a woman holding a yellow rose into his bedroom.”

Julian Bow Paquin was the heir to the Paquin ducal family and possessed the power to erase others’ memories. The price he paid for erasing others’ memories was literally money.

Depending on whose memory it was and how much he erased, he had to donate a corresponding amount of money to the temple. That was Paquin’s weakness.

If he didn’t do so, he believed divine wrath would come directly upon his family. In ways like the estate catching fire and everything turning to ash, or the family’s ships sinking.

“Come here, Lienne.”

As Ricardo called me again in a slightly more suppressed voice than before, I approached him without hesitation. Or rather, tried to approach him. If Walter, who was standing beside me, hadn’t stretched out his arm to block me.

“How rude, Ricardo, to rush in like a raging torrent trying to take away my guest.”

“She’s not your guest, Walter.”

“…….”

“She’s my person, whom you kidnapped and brought here. Ah, I can understand why you’re acting so rudely since you have no memories.”

Walter made an expression as if struck at his weak point, but soon straightened his back and put on a courteous face.

“As you say, I have no memories right now. So shouldn’t you understand that I can’t properly accept this situation?”

There was no response to his polite protest. Walter didn’t back down either. Without lowering the arm blocking me, he spoke more firmly.

“Since you’ve crossed the walls of Chaplin, she’s now my guest. So let’s sit down here and talk. If you don’t accept my request, I won’t treat you as my guest any longer either.”

Tense tension rippled through the bedroom. Ricardo glared at Walter blocking me as if to kill him. Of course, he had reason to be flustered since I’d disappeared like the wind. But hadn’t he seen all the circumstances with his own eyes? I couldn’t easily understand why he, who was usually so indifferent to everything as to be cold, was showing such emotional turmoil.

Just when I thought a war might actually break out between the two ducal families, another unfamiliar voice was heard.

“Right, Ricardo. In any case, it would be better if everyone sat down to talk. My neck is getting sore from looking up at all of you.”

At his words, the air that had frozen cold as glass shattered.

Looking over Walter’s shoulder, I saw a man in a wheelchair. I could tell who the others were, but I couldn’t figure out who he was. He looked noble at a glance.

But was his leg… injured?

However, there was no time now to determine who he was.