Chapter 24
The small room, which resembled an open space, had a small desk and chair and was surrounded by cylindrical walls packed with documents and books.
It was like a dark and gloomy one-person prison. I looked around briefly, recalling my purpose for being here.
“Keep watch.”
I quickly began to frantically rummage through the documents and books.
Thinking that I didn’t have much time, I hastily pulled out any documents I could find and started reading them, feeling a sense of relief.
All the documents here were.
Records of the Margrave’s illegal activities.
This one. That one. All of them.
Even if I brought a handful of documents to the Duke, the Margrave would end up in prison.
I gathered some important documents and proof of slave purchases and held them to my chest.
As I turned around, I noticed something behind Declan, who was keeping watch at the end of the stairs—a small door I hadn’t seen before.
The small, old door was so low that an adult male would have to bend over to get through, with iron bars at the top and a square hole at the bottom for food.
…Through that hole, dry bread and milk were delivered daily.
The rough hand and voice that had delivered the food…
I stared blankly at the door.
It was definitely an unfamiliar place.
Yet, strangely, I felt like I knew what it looked like inside.
When food came through the door, I would quickly run and grab that rough hand.
I begged to be let out… I think I did.
That rough hand would ruthlessly push me away.
‘This is…’
It seemed like these were memories of Estira from before I possessed her.
Short snippets of memories resurfaced, causing a headache.
What happened after that hand disappeared?
When I closed my eyes, another memory surfaced.
I ran to the corner of the room, clutching bread and milk. It was to give the food to someone.
‘Who was there besides Estira…?’
I saw a small hand soaking bread in milk and handing it to someone lying on the floor…
‘What the hell.’
There was a woman whose face was full of sickness.
A woman with a similar appearance to mine and golden eyes.
She was… Estira’s biological mother.
The mother, whom I thought had died shortly after Estira was born, had been locked up here and died in this place.
And the little girl had watched her mother die day by day.
‘My mom is sick! Please save her!’
…Was this why all memories before Estira turned five were so blurry?
“Ugh.”
Fear, rising from my unconscious, suddenly engulfed my body.
I didn’t think I was afraid when I saw that door. I felt nothing.
But suddenly, a chill ran through me, and my body began to shake like a leaf.
My breathing grew rough.
‘What is this? Why am I like this?’
I tried to steady myself, clutching my dizzy head, but it was in vain.
As my vision tilted and my body fell to the floor, I saw Declan’s urgent steps approaching.
***
It was morning, the sun had risen.
“Ugh.”
As soon as I opened my eyes, a piercing headache overwhelmed me, and I lay back down.
Looking around, I realized I was in my room, lying in bed.
‘I definitely went into the secret room in the office…’
I tried to recall my memory, but it wasn’t easy due to the throbbing headache.
As I rolled my eyes in a daze, wondering if breaking into the office had been a dream, I met Declan’s eyes as he watched me from beside the bed.
“Are you alright?”
He approached me.
I had seen him in the office, but was that a dream too? Just as I was about to frown, I saw the stack of documents clutched in his arms and my eyes widened.
“That…!”
“Yes. I brought them for you.”
Forget the headache, I sat up abruptly.
So it wasn’t a dream after all!
“What happened?”
“You suddenly collapsed, so I gathered the documents and got out. I closed the door properly too!”
Declan spoke excitedly, as if saying ‘I did well, didn’t I?’
He probably didn’t grasp how serious our actions were, which is why he could smile so brightly.
I let out a sigh, watching his innocent face.
As long as we had the documents, that was enough.
I exhaled in relief and sank back into the bed.
It felt like all the tension was draining out of me at once.
“But aren’t we going to get caught now, Master?”
“Did you help me knowing we’d get caught?”
I turned to look at Declan. He just gazed back at me with calm eyes.
“A slave doesn’t question what their master does.”
Declan smiled brightly.
“From now on, start asking.”
I gave him a brief scolding, then rummaged through a drawer for a sewing kit.
At that moment, the hallway and the area outside the window grew noisy, and the sharp shouts of the guards rang out.
“Catch the thief—!!”
Declan looked at me with anxious eyes.
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