Chapter 146
“Then, we’ll be taking our leave.”
“Be careful on your way. I apologize once again for having today’s mishap.”
At Leo’s words, Rosetta climbed into the carriage. She did not give an answer, nor did she look at him.
Only, she silently reached for Alicia and wrapped her arms around the girl’s shoulders.
Even so, Leo’s eyes remained on Rosetta alone.
As the atmosphere had grown tense and awkward, Daniel and Alicia could only blink, not knowing what to do.
What in the world happened to you two.
Daniel nudged Leo’s arm with his elbow.
And only then did Leo’s persistent gaze on Rosetta leave her.
It was a quiet yet determined gaze, but Daniel pushed through this. He approached the carriage of Rosetta’s group, smiling awkwardly as though he wasn’t conscious of Leo.
“See you again next time, both of you,” he said to both Rosetta and Alicia. “I had a great time today.”
And so, the incident at the ducal residence ended without any of them talking about it.
Beyond those roundly curved, blue eyes, Daniel looked at Rosetta and Alicia one after another.
And as she met his gaze, Alicia felt her cheeks growing warm.
Trying her best to tug the corners of her lips into a smile, she answered.
“Yes, see you again next time. Thank you for today.”
The lively farewell made everyone turn their eyes towards her.
Nevertheless, Alicia remained unaware of this as she was looking at only Daniel.
Seeing this, Rosetta glanced up furtively beyond the carriage’s open door and examined Daniel.
Those blue eyes met her golden eyes.
With a rather aloof expression, she nodded to him.
“…See you next time.”
It couldn’t be considered a friendly farewell, but it was better than what Leo received—nothing, not even eye contact.
In time, the door of the carriage carrying Rosetta’s group was closed.
And as the hat-wearing coachman swung the reins to urge the horses forward, the vehicle started to move.
Standing side by side, Daniel and Leo watched the carriage as it was moving away.
“So, how did it go? Did you get to check that person’s face as you wanted?”
Once the carriage had reached as far a distance that it looked like a mere dot to them now, the still-smiling Daniel spoke first.
Silently, Leo raised one hand to rub the back of his stiff neck.
“Face, hm…”
As he repeated the question, he finally recalled the face beyond the mask that he had witnessed.
“Hah.”
Soon, a smile—which almost looked relieved—found its way to his lips.
And, his vivid red eyes glinted with satisfaction.
“Yes. I’ve finally confirmed that highly expensive face.”
“…Apparently so. You seem pleased, don’t you?”
At the question that had been whispered to him, Leo shrugged.
It’s nice to meet you, Ra. Well then.
“Yes, well. It’s quite a welcome experience to see that face.”
Leo’s lips once again drew a smooth arc.
* * *
About ten minutes ago—
Immediately after Maxwell’s mask had rolled to the ground, the pairs of black and red eyes faced each other.
“Goodness. In the end… your face got revealed, huh.”
As she said so, Rosetta stepped over the mask that lay waste on the floor.
Crack.
And, accompanied by a sharp sound, it soon split into pieces.
The two gazes that faced each other soon turned to look at her.
Rosetta stood in front of Maxwell, shrugging once.
As though she was trying to cover him with her body.
“My dear escort knight is a little shy. He doesn’t show his face to anyone he’s not familiar with. As you can see, he…”
“Aha. I didn’t know there was such a story behind that mask.”
“There’s quite a shameful backstory behind it, and there’s no need to elaborate on it further. So then, what are your thoughts?”
After all, you’ve been so curious about this mask all this time.
At the following words that she had hummed, Leo’s eyebrows rose.
“My thoughts…”
Trailing off, his red eyes headed back towards the unmasked face.
Rosetta was one head shorter than Maxwell, so no matter how much she’d try to cover him by standing in front of him, it’s impossible to hide that clearly visible face.
Leo’s eyes once again met the black eyes beneath the man’s indigo hair.
However, Maxwell averted his gaze as though he was running away.
As a result, Leo smirked.
A red tongue, appearing briefly, licked his own lips once.
Like a predator in front of his prey.
A belated response left his mouth.
“It’s just… unexpected.”
“Unexpected?”
“Yes. He looks very different from how I imagined.”
“Is that so? Well… I wonder what you might have been expecting.”
Rosetta responded with a smile.
Without another word, Leo silently smiled as he shook his head as though he thought nothing of it.
During the conversation, Maxwell remained silent all throughout.
The only thing he did was bow down, hiding his face.
Even so, it was a face that had already been revealed.
Rosetta turned slightly and checked Maxwell’s condition.
Because he was keeping his head bowed, his eyes met hers at a close distance.
For an instant, both of their faces hardened.
“We must go now, Milady.”
It was Maxwell who spoke first, brows furrowed and lips in a thin line.
Instead of answering, Rosetta blinked.
Her brows were a bit furrowed as well.
After a momentary, silent exchange between them, Rosetta faced Leo again with a smile.
“My knight must be feeling a bit uncomfortable right now, so may we take our leave first? The matter at hand seems to have been roughly sorted out, of course.”
“Ah, yes. I must apologize for inadvertently involving you in something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”
Despite him saying sorry, Rosetta did not bother to tell Leo that it was alright.
Instead, she just looked around.
The more she saw blood scattered around herself, the more the smile on her lips gradually froze.
“Today’s incident…”
In time, the lips with a frozen smile opened slowly and spoke.
Leo wordlessly waited for her to continue.
“Quite honestly, today’s incident is quite shocking. All of a sudden, intruders broke in. Besides that, the way the matter was dealt with wasn’t very smooth, and my knight got hurt.”
“I can’t apologize enough.”
“Well, it already happened, so what is there to do? The important thing is that the situation has been resolved. Nevertheless, I hope to hear about the intruder’s ident.i.ty and motives later, yes?”
“Of course. No, actually, there’s nothing more to investigate. I already know who those intruders are.”
“Do you, now?”
Leo nodded. There was not a single hint of agitation in him as Rosetta had posed the question.
No matter what he’d say here, it’s obvious that it would be nothing but an excuse and a lie.
“I am ashamed, but there are times when some pagans break in—those who use forbidden magic. Their numbers had decreased manyfold in recent times, so truthfully, we’ve dropped our guard against them.”
He explained all this in a calm tone.
And Rosetta could only laugh inwardly.
She was reminded that this man was the male lead of a dark, depraved novel. Of course he was good at acting as well.
“Aha, you dropped your guard. I see.”
Despite her soulless response, Leo nodded back with sincerity.
As he was given an empty smile by the woman, he looked back at her with evident embarra.s.sment.
“Yes, we were careless. However, just in case, we’ll make sure to investigate what happened today. Of course, I shall share the results of the investigation with you as well.”
“Alright. I’ll be waiting.”
At this point, Rosetta was ready to leave.
It seemed like everything that ‘needed’ to happen had already transpired, and the ‘trap’ that they had laid had also yielded them their results by now.
All she wanted to do now was to go back to Alicia’s side. So many people had dropped to the ground around her, but of course, she was worried about Alicia.
However, despite wanting to leave right then, Rosetta couldn’t act on this.
Because there’s someone here holding her back.
“Before anything else, Your Ladyship. I know it’s discourteous of me, but there is a favor that I would like to ask of you.”
Just as she had turned away, she was stopped in her tracks.
By a large hand, grasping her wrist.
His long fingers wrapping over her wrist one by one, as if making his presence known.
Slowly, certainly.
Rosetta froze.
A man’s cold hand.
The sensation of those long fingers clenching her wrist, and after, caressing.
Everything about it was unpleasant and chilling.
And, she was familiar with it.
Because this was what Urien often did to her.
He’d grab her wrist, caress it with his fingers and kiss the back of her hand…
‘It can’t be.’
Rosetta stopped thinking about it all and opened her lips to speak.
“Then, I’ll be sending off Maxwell first. Alicia must be worried right now.”
Her voice was exceedingly cold.
However, her gesture of shaking off the man’s hand on her wrist was even more glacial.
His hold on her fell off without any resistance, but even so, the man’s frost remained on her wrist.
Leo’s red eyes shone eerily as she touched her wrist unconsciously.
“Go ahead.”
With Leo’s reply, Rosetta beckoned Maxwell.
“Go to the carriage first. Wait there with Alicia.”
“But…”
“I’m alright, so go ahead. It’s an order.”
The moment she unhesitatingly said that it was an order, Maxwell soon nodded and turned away.
Both Rosetta and Leo remained silent.
And it was only when Maxwell had left their vicinity, to the point that he wasn’t visible to them anymore, that the silence between them was broken.
“The trust that you have in your escort knight must be deep.”
It was a gentle tone, but the whisper nonetheless carried danger within.
Touching her wrist again, Rosetta looked straight at Leo’s eyes.
It was as if a cold, damp snake was crawling up her wrist.