Chapter 33
“Ugh… Father, please just stop with the business now……”
It seemed she too had been suffering quite a bit all this time.
“If it’s painful, abandon your parents and shake it all off.”
She couldn’t hear Paiki’s words and continued to moan and groan. Then, the bell announcing midnight began to ring.
Come to think of it, didn’t they say her curfew was at midnight?
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than Aniella shot upright. She looked at the clock on the wall with her eyes and hurriedly rushed out of the banquet hall. Paiki, now alone, having lent his shoulder in silence and failed to receive any payment, blinked rapidly.
Those who had been sneaking glances at Aniella Mullier sleeping while drooling on Duke Paiki’s shoulder were also surprised. When they made eye contact with Paiki, they hurriedly turned their heads away as if they had seen nothing.
He looked like a man who had been rejected by a woman he liked and was trying to pursue.
‘When you feel bad, smile. And rack your brains to eliminate whatever made you feel bad.’
Remembering his foster father’s teaching, Paiki raised the corners of his mouth.
What should he do about Aniella Mullier, who left without a single word of thanks? Pondering this, he also left the banquet hall. As he slowly descended the stairs, chewing on his anger, a single glass slipper, dropped by someone, sat conspicuously alone.
Glass slippers weren’t common items, so he immediately recognized its owner. It seemed Aniella had dropped it while rushing away. He picked up the slipper and finished descending the stairs, where he saw her standing near his carriage, peering around.
She had run away without looking back, and it seemed she had taken a nasty tumble on the stairs. Her dress was torn to shreds, and she was limping, pleading with his coachman to give her a ride.
She was so eager to run away before, and now she was asking for a ride in his carriage?
I think it’s absurd, but when she realized it was her own carriage, her expression changed and she waved her hands dismissively, saying it was fine. Even though I hadn’t done anything, seeing her trembling in fear put me in a bad mood again.
My stubbornness kicked in, so I gave her a little scare and put her in the carriage. Her face was pale, as if she was about to faint, probably thinking I was going to eat her or something.
‘Why should I feel annoyed for helping someone? I tried to do a good deed that doesn’t suit me, and this is what happens.’
Paiki clicked his tongue inwardly, lit some jasmine incense, and closed his eyes. He really didn’t want to see her frightened appearance.
Before long, Aniella fell asleep, her breathing uneven. She was so scared and wary, yet she fell asleep right in front of him. Paiki, baffled, leaned forward to take a closer look at her face.
Her face, utterly exhausted to the point of falling asleep anywhere, stirred a sense of pity in him. Does Viscount Mullier know how much she sacrifices for the family and how hard she tries to obey her father?
Paiki thought not. If the Viscount knew, he would have stopped his pie-in-the-sky business ventures long ago. He’d heard from the Count that the Viscount had even reached out to moneylenders—how pathetic. Would he only realize it when his daughter dies from overwork?
“I wonder if taking her home is really the right thing to do.”
Paiki pondered for a while before finally making a decision and ordered the coachman to head for the ducal residence. Thinking about it, for him now, temporarily sheltering a single injured cat was as easy as pie.
What he was about to do wasn’t temporary protection but outright kidnapping, but the man with his twisted sense of morality didn’t see it that way. Usually, when he ordered someone kidnapped, it was for torture, killing, or taking hostages. So, by his standards, this was an act closer to protection.
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