“Haa, haa…!”
Elise inhaled sharply. She couldn’t believe what had just happened to her.
“I met Taylor John… I actually met Taylor John…”
Elise had encountered Taylor John and been attacked.
And she had narrowly managed to escape.
‘Now what should I do?’
Another fear rushed in to fill the void where the initial terror had passed.
‘Taylor John never leaves a witness…?’
She had seen Taylor John, and he had seen her. There was no way Taylor John would let her live.
‘If that person I saw really was Taylor John… how on earth can I escape that threat if a person like that is trying to kill me?’
Elise now understood why Taylor John had been able to leave not a single witness, and why his case had remained unsolved for 5 years.
If he set his mind to it, Elise would have no choice but to die.
‘No. I don’t want to die like this.’
How could she escape death?
Just how could she avoid dying at his hands?
‘He can kill anyone. Anyone who’s alive…’
Then, what if she became a person who was already dead?
No one in this world can murder a corpse.
“…Right. I’ll become a dead person.”
In the midst of her fear for survival, a brilliant idea flashed through her mind. Elise went straight to Grand Duke Calan.
“…So, you want me to turn you into a corpse?”
“To be precise, I’m asking you to help me fake my death,” Elise said calmly. “Your Grace said it yourself. You said the North is a godforsaken land.”
It was a land beyond the reach of The Central.
“If I go down to that distant North and fake my death with Your Grace’s help, I’ll be safe. I’ll be able to live with a new identity.”
“I understand the circumstances, Lady Elise.”
The Grand Duke spoke cold words with his youthful face.
“But why should I help with such a ridiculous scheme? Faking the death of my wife… the only thing to be gained from such a nonsense act is—”
“A new wife, I suppose. Along with her dowry, of course.”
“…What does that mean?”
“You said you were marrying me because you needed the dowry. If I pass away, wouldn’t you be able to welcome a new bride? Then the dowry would double, so it would be a gain for Your Grace as well.”
Elise felt her face grow hot as she spoke.
She had done her best, but it was still flawed logic.
She was asking him to participate in this absurdity just to get one more dowry.
‘Is such childish logic really going to work?’
But unexpectedly.
“Hmm…”
The Grand Duke, who didn’t feel like a child at all except for his face, tilted his head.
“It’s preposterous, but a brilliant idea.”
The Grand Duke nodded readily.
“I will cooperate. Since Lady Elise’s life is on the line.”
“Thank you. You won’t regret it, Your Grace.”
The marriage proceedings moved quickly.
Grand Duke Calan had no other relatives, and Elise’s father was more interested in the profits gained from the marriage than the farewell to his daughter.
Thus, Elise didn’t regret for a single moment tricking her father at the last minute into changing the marriage contract to be much more favorable to the Grand Duke in the event of her death.
“I’m grateful, but why did you go that far?”
“Because if the marriage contract had been written the other way, my father would have been happy to hear the news of my death.”
She wanted her father to cry rather than laugh when he heard the news of his only daughter’s passing. She wanted him to truly grieve and mourn.
Even if that emotion was created by money rather than affection.
‘I think I’ve become twisted.’
Her own feelings toward her father were so messy that they felt disgusting.
The tiresome emotions.
The tiresome family.
The tiresome father.
‘…Maybe this isn’t a crisis, but an opportunity.’
She thought while seated in the moving carriage.
She wasn’t just running away from Taylor John now. She was escaping from all the chains that had bound her until now.
It was a farewell to all things tiresome.
Now Elise would live a new life.
A new life, completely different from before…!
***
“Chains…”
Mari muttered blankly.
“Was I a chain to you too, sister?”
She couldn’t even steady herself due to the overwhelming shock.
Leaning halfway against Lure, Mari began to sob.
“Was I just a past that you had to throw away and leave behind? Is that why you left for the North without saying a single word?”
“Mari…”
Lure gave her a worried look, but no comfort could reach her now.
At this moment, Mari had just realized that the most precious memories supporting her entire life were all lies.
“No, I asked something far too obvious. Of course you would want to shake off someone like me. Even becoming friends wasn’t something you wanted. Seeing plays with me, laughing and chatting while playing along with my pranks… all of it was…”
Suddenly overcome with emotion, Mari lowered her head and stopped. When Lure tried to reach out and comfort her, unable to watch any longer, Mari avoided the hand and stood up.
Though she wavered, she stood straight on her own and lifted her skirt to pay her respects to Elise.
“I’m sorry for not knowing anything when it was all a lie. You must have struggled so much hanging out with someone as selfish and slow-witted as me. …Lady Elise.”
“Mari, please!”
Elise shouted as if she couldn’t bear it anymore.
“Please listen to me. Of course, becoming your friend at first was because of my father’s coercion. It’s true that I lied about liking plays when I didn’t, and that I sometimes compared my situation to yours. But you are precious to me too!”
Mari merely smiled with an expression that showed she didn’t believe a word of it. Elise pounded her chest and cried out.
“It’s true! That’s why I left a sign only for you!”
“…A sign?”
“Yes! The cause of my death! Didn’t you think something was strange? You knew I didn’t have a lacquer allergy!”
“Could that be…?”
“I wanted to let only you know. That I was alive, so you could be at ease. That’s why I suggested using a lacquer allergy as the cause of death. Because only you would recognize that there was no way I’d die from a lacquer allergy!”
Mari’s eyes wavered.
“It’s not that I never hated you. But Mari, you were the only regret I left behind. Truly, truly precious… my only ally…”
***
“Are you talking about that friend named Mari again?”
The Grand Duke asked in a polite tone, though he couldn’t hide his bored expression.
“Chatting is about the only thing I can do in this suffocating prison.”
Elise said, tapping her white indoor slippers.
“How much longer did you say I have to wait for my new identity to be ready?”
“There are exactly 3 days left. Just bear with it until then.”
In 3 days, living in hiding in the Grand Duke’s Castle would be over. Elise would start a new life in a rural northern village.
“By the way, Lady Elise—”
“I told you to call me Elise. We agreed to be friendly as accomplices.”
“Ah, that’s right. My apologies. Elise.”
The Grand Duke nodded obediently and changed not only the title but his manner of speaking to be a bit more friendly.
‘Actually, the reason I did that was because it felt so strange for a child to keep calling me Lady Elise.’
At any rate, the changed title and manner of speaking sounded much better than before, when he had been trying too hard to act like an adult.
“But Elise, why do you like that person named Mari so much?”
“Well, it’s because Mari is a completely different person from me or Your Grace.”
She thought environment played a part, but that wasn’t all.
Mari was a unique eccentric even among the noble ladies raised in wealthy and loving environments, and she lived uniquely as she pleased.
From the perspective of someone who had lived her entire life thinking her life was a scripted play, she couldn’t help but admire someone who lived life so much according to her own will.
“Besides, I don’t have to lie or dress things up when I’m in front of Mari. Mari always sees a person for the image they want to project.”
“Even when you say it like that, I can’t really imagine it. I’d like to see her face someday to see just what kind of person Elise evaluates so highly.”
“If you meet Mari, I’m sure Your Grace will like her too. Your Grace has aspects similar to me.”
“We’ll see about that. Putting that aside, Elise.”
The Grand Duke brought up the main point, as if small talk was now sufficient.
“I know it’s rude, but would you be willing to share a room with someone for a few days?”
“Pardon? With whom?”
“With Lady Sarah, of course. I’m scheduled to have my second bereavement soon.”
At those words, Elise accidentally spat out the tea she was drinking.
“Pfft! *Cough, cough.* Wait a minute. Your second bereavement? You don’t mean you’re actually going to kill her…”
“Actually, I married Lady Sarah under the same conditions as Elise.”
She had thought it was strange.
The Grand Duke, who reportedly hadn’t had a single marriage proposal until the House of Crimson suggested one, had married a second time immediately after his first bereavement.
“Upon looking into it, it seems Lady Sarah also had many concerns.”
When Sarah’s husband died young, she became a widow at an early age. A young, beautiful, and wealthy widow immediately became everyone’s target.
All sorts of low-quality suitors, who believed Sarah was flawed because of one marriage, hovered around her and made advances.
Unable to bear it, Sarah lived with the words that she would never marry another man and would live as a celibate for the rest of her life. Even so, the pestering never ended.
When everything was becoming tiresome, the Grand Duke’s proposal to give her an opportunity for a new life was very enticing to Sarah.
Elise was impressed after hearing the whole story.
“You have a good eye for business. You managed to find such a person.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s all thanks to having a good teacher. Wasn’t it Elise who taught me that two dowries are better than one? Of course, three dowries would be even better.”
“But Your Grace, will you really be okay?”
Elise spoke cautiously, unable to overcome her worry. After spending time together, she too had grown somewhat fond of this old-souled Grand Duke.
She didn’t have the slightest desire to be his bride, but she also didn’t want to see him ruined.
“If rumors spread that your brides keep dying, the loss to Your Grace will be great as well. Bad rumors will surely circulate.”
“Well, does honor put food on the table?”
The Grand Duke sneered.
“It’s troublesome to look easy, but the opposite is fine. I think it might actually be better if rumors spread that I’m a blood-crazed Grand Duke. It will reduce the number of people who look down on me because I’m young.”
“…Well, if Your Grace thinks so.”
Elise quietly sipped from her teacup.
‘I guess he really doesn’t care about his reputation.’
The Grand Duke already seemed determined on a third marriage. No matter what she said, that determination didn’t seem likely to change.
‘If that’s the case…’
“By any chance, have you already decided on a third bride?”
“No. Since it’s a secret that must not be leaked, I intend to approach carefully. Besides, it’s inherently difficult to find a woman of marriageable age who would want to wash her identity by marrying me.”
“…Actually, there is someone I’d like to recommend.”
Elise said, looking down and fiddling with the rim of her teacup with her finger.
“As the third bride, how about Mari?”
“If it’s Mari, you mean that Lady Mari Menzel whom Elise always talks about?”
“Actually, Mari has been weighing on my mind. I shouldn’t have gone to find Mari right after meeting Taylor John, but I did something unnecessary…”
Thinking about it now, it was a very shameful thing. While she was surprised and terrified after being chased by Taylor John, the only person who came to mind was Mari.
But she shouldn’t have just visited like that without a plan.
‘Because of that, Mari might have become Taylor John’s target.’
Recently, Elise had been dreaming every night.
They were dreams that bordered on nightmares.
[Mari, Mari! Where are you?]
Inside a fog where she couldn’t see an inch ahead.
She wandered around, desperately looking for Mari.
[Don’t stay in dangerous places! Come here, the hidden room in the Grand Duke’s Castle is safe! It’s a bit dark, cold, and deep, but it will be warm if we’re together!]
But Mari never answered, and she would wake up from the dream shortly after.
‘It’s probably just my inner anxiety manifesting as a dream.’
Elise coldly diagnosed her own condition. She couldn’t bear the thought that Mari might be in danger.
She was tired of this dream now, too.
She wanted to reach a resolution somehow.
“Baron Menzel lost his wife early and is someone who dearly cherishes his only remaining family. If I secretly meet with Baron Menzel and let him know what kind of crisis Mari is in, he will willingly agree to Your Grace’s plan. Your Grace will be able to receive a massive reward from the Baron, and I’ll be able to evacuate Mari to a safe place.”
The Grand Duke hesitated, but soon gave in to Elise’s persuasion. Just as she had predicted, the contract between Baron Menzel and the Grand Duke was concluded smoothly.
“We decided to send the bride to the North 2 months later. However, the Baron said he wanted to keep all of this a secret until right before sending Lady Mari to the North.”
“Pardon? Why?”
“He said Lady Mari shows a fear response bordering on trauma toward Taylor John. He’s worried she might collapse if she finds out she might have become Taylor John’s target.”
As far as Elise remembered, Mari hadn’t been that afraid of Taylor John. That is, until their last meeting.
‘She must have become afraid of Taylor John because of me.’
She felt a slight sense of guilt.
‘I should be really good to Mari once she arrives in the North.’
But things didn’t go that easily.
“It’s a problem, Elise. A suspicious man has attached himself to Lady Mari’s side.”
“What?!”
“Mari trusts that man excessively and keeps him by her side wherever she goes.”
“Then… it will be difficult to explain the truth.”
In the end, she couldn’t tell Mari the truth even while Mari was leaving for the North.
“The top priority is to separate that man first. Is there no way we can intercept Mari before she arrives in the North?”
“It should be possible. Let’s give it a try.”
However, the Grand Duke returned a few days later with a gloomy face and said:
“We failed.”
“Why? Didn’t you plan it thoroughly?”
Before taking the train to the North, there was only one accommodation where they could stay. They had already recruited the innkeeper and prepared sleeping incense.
After putting Mari’s entire party to sleep, they just had to carry Mari out. It should have been a mission that couldn’t fail… but why on earth?
“Well, apparently a carriage overturned in the middle of the journey. So they ended up camping halfway up a mountain instead of the planned location. Since it wasn’t a proper building and, of all things, it was raining heavily, they couldn’t use the sleeping incense. They tried using brandy as a last resort, but not a single person would touch the alcohol.”
“Oh my god.”
“They tried to cut off the train as a contingency, but even that failed.”
It was a succession of ridiculous bad luck.
“That person who’s sticking to Mari’s side, what did you say his name was?”
“It’s Heis.”
“Heis…”
Elise chewed over that stubborn man’s name.
“It’s better to be careful of that man. No matter how much I think about it, that person is definitely favored by the heavens.”