Chapter 28
* * *
Venya’s mission, after entering the Vellasi mansion as a spy under Grand Duke Barietsch’s orders, was to watch whether his lovely fiancée did anything foolish and report it to him.
Those ‘foolish things’ included all sorts of things Giselle did in order to break off her engagement with him.
It was extremely common for Raven to push his own people into other families as spies. Therefore, Venya was used to such work. Working as a spy was not easy, but it was not exactly difficult either.
Apart from that, she knew very well that this infiltration carried a different weight from the usual. It was because she knew well just how much Raven loved Giselle Vellasi.
In the past, there had been a time when he suddenly disappeared for about a month.
Once House Barietsch learned of it, they were naturally turned upside down. They used every possible method to find Raven. Even so, Raven’s whereabouts remained unknown.
Eventually, speculation slowly began to spread among the people that perhaps he had died. Around that time, one day, he suddenly returned.
With the stupidest face she had ever seen.
After that, Raven wandered endlessly around the mansion without resting for a single day.
As time passed, around three months after his engagement to Giselle was arranged, he left Corvinus, saying he wanted to see her face in person, then returned with a face stained by hatred and betrayal unlike anything she had ever seen before, and even so, by a terrible love he couldn’t cut off.
The only person in the world who could make Raven Barietsch travel between heaven and hell in an instant was Giselle Vellasi. Everyone who worked for the Grand Ducal House of Barietsch knew that fact.
It was a mission to watch over such a Giselle. It couldn’t be anything but more important than anything else.
With a heavy sense of duty on both shoulders, Venya headed to the Vellasi household. And about two months after infiltrating, she was assigned as the maid in charge of cleaning Giselle’s room.
‘Things are going more smoothly than I expected. Since I’ll be cleaning the room of the person Master loves, watching her will be much easier, and I should be able to give Master information that will help him.’
She was extremely fortunate. It hadn’t even been long since she entered the mansion, yet she was already able to keep her close and watch her. How could that not be a relief?
However, it didn’t take very long for Venya’s judgment to change.
Venya’s impression when she first faced Giselle Vellasi was simple.
‘Is that… really a person?’
Even though she was seeing her directly with her own two eyes, she simply couldn’t feel that she was a living person.
Giselle Vellasi was like a work a sculptor had poured his whole life into making with all his heart, then God had breathed life into it. Otherwise, there was no way to explain her appearance.
Giselle Vellasi was dazzlingly beautiful.
Her silver hair, which suited her snow-white and smooth skin well, looked as though highly pure silver had been drawn into thread and woven together. It was soft and elegant, and her tall, slender figure was sensual, yet noble as if proving her birth. Even the feet that peeked out between her dress and her well-groomed toenails were beautiful.
But among her outward features, what drew the eye most was by far her eyes.
The pupils set in her large eyes were an intense blue, as though the clearest blue in the world had been gathered and melted down, and when looking at them, it felt as if one might be pulled into them.
No lake or sea could compare to those eyes. That was how beautiful Giselle’s eyes were.
Facing her, Venya understood why her master was so desperately hung up on her. If it was a woman that beautiful, it would be stranger not to fall for her at first sight.
“Is there something on my face?”
Suddenly, a voice as beautiful as that appearance tickled Venya’s ears.
Venya asked back blankly, like someone bewitched by something.
“…Pardon?”
“No, you’ve been staring at my face since a while ago, so I wondered if something was on it.”
Only then did Venya realize that, as someone beneath her, she had been rudely staring straight at Giselle’s face, and her gaze hurriedly dropped downward.
“I, I’m sorry. Without realizing it, I…”
She had not made a single mistake during the past two months, but at the most important timing, she had committed a huge mistake. Venya’s heart tightened with anxiety.
Worry surged over her that she might be scolded severely and driven out. But unlike what she expected, Giselle smiled freshly and asked kindly.
“There’s nothing on my face, is there?”
“Pardon? No…”
“Then that’s fine. You said you’ll be in charge of cleaning my room from now on, didn’t you? I’ll be in your care from now on, Venya.”
At that one warm reassurance, deep relief filled her until tears sprang to her eyes.
‘I’m glad. I’ll be able to watch Miss from right beside her, just as Master ordered.’
Her relief at the fact that she would not fail the mission she had received from Raven lasted only a moment. On the other hand, she felt quite strange.
She was a spy who had come to watch Giselle so she wouldn’t do anything foolish, yet she was moved because Giselle had forgiven her.
But that was all. Venya recalled the expression Raven had worn when he returned after leaving the mansion, excited at the thought of seeing his fiancée, and steadied her heart.
‘I’m a person of Grand Duke Barietsch to the very end. For the sake of his love, this can’t be helped.’
With the face of a good and simple maid, Venya bowed her head toward Giselle.
“Thank you, Miss. I’ll do my best and work hard from now on.”
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.