Chapter 32
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Kallion was bewildered by the sight of himself, as he was on his horse, fleeing away like a madman.
‘You’re leaving now?! Even if you go now, everything over there will already have been settled by the time you arrive!’
The head butler was right.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Layla, but he had assigned a shadow to her in preparation for anything unexpected.
No matter how quickly that shadow had sent word, considering the distance to the orphanage, half a day would have already passed.
Even if he cut down the travel time by riding a horse instead of taking a carriage, three or four hours would still have passed.
Everything would already be over.
Whether she had been safely rescued or reduced to a cold corpse.
Normally, he would have quietly remained in his office and waited for the next report, but he couldn’t bring himself to sit still.
Why…?
What did it matter to him whether she lived or died?
They were merely husband and wife in name, bound together for the sake of their houses and by paperwork. Until recently, she had simply been the daughter of an enemy house, and that opinion hadn’t particularly changed even after their marriage.
Just an annoying, troublesome woman.
A woman who persistently irritated some part of his nerves he hadn’t even known existed.
That was all.
And yet.
Then why did she make him feel this anxious and restless?
Even he couldn’t understand it, but sitting still wouldn’t solve anything either.
So despite the head butler’s attempts to stop him, he had mounted a horse alone and blindly ridden out of the estate.
The head butler had made a tremendous fuss telling him to take a carriage, but if he had, Kallion felt as though he might suffocate before he ever arrived.
And three hours after departing, he reached the orphanage covered in dust.
The moment he saw the blackened remains before him, reduced to nothing but hideous wreckage, his heart dropped.
“…Who are you?”
The men clearing away the debris looked at him in confusion.
“The woman who was here. No, is everyone who was at the orphanage safe?”
“Ah… Heaven was watching over them. Fortunately, there were a few injuries, but no one died.”
“That’s not right, man. It wasn’t heaven that saved them. Madam Baldomer saved the children.”
For an instant, sparks seemed to flash in Kallion’s eyes.
“That woman. Where is Madam Baldomer now?”
“She should be receiving treatment from a physician at the village inn. But may I ask who you are…”
Kallion didn’t even finish listening before turning his horse and racing toward the inn.
The moment he entered the inn, he asked an employee where the injured were being treated and headed straight for the room.
He threw the door open, and the first person he saw was Juliana, the very woman he had been searching for so desperately. She stared back at him with eyes just as wide with surprise, and relief washed over him.
Only afterward did he notice Layla beside her, receiving treatment from the physician for a burn.
“Lord Kallion…?”
Kallion’s brow hardened as he looked at the small burn being treated on the back of Layla’s hand. Then his gaze shifted toward Juliana’s bandaged arm.
The sight made anger rise in him even more fiercely than when he had seen Layla’s injury.
“I don’t recall assigning Baldomer’s people to you so you could do whatever you pleased.”
Is he angry because his secretary got burned?
Juliana’s expression crumpled at his reproachful tone, as though he were blaming her for getting his people hurt.
“Are you upset because your secretary was injured? You’re the one who sent people with me when I said I’d go alone in the first place.”
Contrary to her words, his gaze remained fixed on Juliana’s bandaged arm.
“Why did you stay at the orphanage instead of following the schedule in the first place?”
According to the itinerary Layla had reported, Juliana and the party accompanying her should have left the orphanage the previous day.
If they had…
Kallion forced himself to tear his gaze away from Juliana’s bandaged arm and turned toward Layla, whose hand was wrapped in a bandage.
If they had, this unnecessary situation would never have happened. He would have had no reason to come all the way here either.
Right, that was the only reason he was angry.
His people had been injured because of Juliana.
That had to be the reason for this emotion boiling inside him.
Just then, Layla spoke.
“I’m sorry. Even if the Madam insisted on staying, I should have forced her to leave.”
Her words were polite, but their meaning was clear. The schedule had been disrupted because of Juliana.
Juliana stared at Layla in disbelief.
If she hadn’t remained at the orphanage, the children wouldn’t have made it out safely.
She should have forced her to leave? Hearing that from someone who had seen her in the middle of the fire and fled in terror was absurd.
“If you’re going to say something like that, you shouldn’t have abandoned me and run away in the middle of that fire, Layla.”
Layla’s expression visibly stiffened.
“What does that mean?”
When Kallion asked with a frown, Layla hurriedly spoke.
“I only went out first to ask the others for help. It would have been more useful than remaining there myself.”
“Then did you actually ask for help?”
At Juliana’s icy words, Layla froze.
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