Chapter 29
While diligently doing the cleaning, Venya focused on watching Giselle whenever she could.
The fiancée her master loved lived extremely normally for someone who had declared that she would stop at nothing if it meant breaking off the engagement.
When she woke in the morning, she washed her face, changed clothes, and ate. After her meal, she returned to her room, sat in a soft chair, and passed the time reading books. Sometimes, she would suddenly look out the window and sink into deep thought, or she would lie on the bed without moving and spend time that way.
Nowhere in her life could any signal of danger be found.
The only thing that could barely be called ‘foolish’ was leaving her seat once in a while after being summoned by Count and Countess Vellasi. According to the servants, they seemed to gather periodically, put their heads together, and discuss how they could break off the engagement with Grand Duke Raven Barietsch.
As soon as Venya learned the truth, she immediately reported it to Raven. She thought he would be deeply hurt, but his reaction was unexpectedly indifferent. It seemed similar reports came in often.
Like that, about a week after Venya began watching Giselle in earnest, it happened one day while she was cleaning the room as usual.
For some reason, the maids who always stayed by Giselle’s side were nowhere to be seen. There were only Venya and Giselle in the room, just the two of them.
As though noticing Venya feeling awkward about the unusual silence, Giselle, who was sitting before the table and reading a book, spoke to her.
“Ah, the other girls stepped out for a moment because I had something for them to do. They’ll be here soon, so don’t worry.”
“I see… Understood. Thank you for telling me, Miss.”
There was something somehow unsettling about her words, but it was difficult to pinpoint exactly which part felt that way.
Venya merely hid the quiet discomfort she felt beneath a diligent face, took the dry cloth her hand was used to, and silently wiped the furniture filled with expensive ornaments.
Within the stillness flowing through the room, the sound of the cloth wiping, swish, swish, rang out loudly.
It was clearly an ordinary day no different from usual, yet the back of her head kept prickling, and her spine stood taut with tension. Her toes curled on their own.
‘Why am I suddenly like this?’
Just as the various sensations descending on her without a known cause were making her mind grow hazy, Giselle’s voice abruptly cut in.
“Is Grand Duke Barietsch doing well?”
“……”
When Raven Barietsch’s name came out, breaking the silence, Venya’s hand, which had been wiping the display cabinet, stopped. At the same time, cold sweat began to flow down her back.
What did Miss just say?
She had clearly heard it with both ears, but she couldn’t believe it. She doubted whether she had heard properly.
As if mocking that thought, Venya’s body proved that what she had heard was correct by making her heart beat rapidly. The fingertips gripping the cloth trembled. The strength gradually left both legs planted on the floor.
‘No way…’
An ominousness that was gradually transforming into certainty struck her. But Venya forced herself to deny the truth and stared at Giselle.
With an innocent smile, pretending to know nothing, Venya asked back.
“…What did you say just now? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you properly…”
Hearing that simple answer, Giselle, who slowly lifted her eyes from the page, also looked back at Venya.
Why was it? The eyes that, at first sight, she had thought were as blue and beautiful as a clear, deep lake somehow felt strangely cold. Enough that chills ran through her for an instant.
Those cold eyes soon curved into an elegant arc and narrowed. Then the owner of those eyes continued the conversation calmly.
“I was wondering whether Grand Duke Barietsch is doing well.”
“……”
“In truth, I did something rather rude to him a few months ago. He looked deeply heartbroken, so I asked because I was curious whether he was alright.”
“…I don’t quite understand what you mean, Miss.”
“Then, shall I change the question a little?”
Having opened like that, she closed the book with the fingertips that had been tracing the sentences on the page. A leisurely smile, as though she were humming, had risen around her lips.
“What kind of face does Grand Duke Barietsch make every time you report how I’m doing?”
“……”
“I think you would know well.”
The blue eyes glimpsed between her softly curved eyes shone bewitchingly, like those of a snake.
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