Chapter 92
Kallion quietly looked at Layla as she rested on the sofa after receiving treatment from the family physician.
“Layla.”
At his voice, Layla looked at him with a strained expression.
“Yes, Lord Kallion.”
“…Are you really telling me exactly what happened?”
At Kallion’s question, Layla pressed her lips tightly together and stiffened.
Then she met his sharp gaze with a resolute expression.
“I’ve served you for eight years, Lord Kallion. Surely you don’t think I would deceive you.”
“……”
Her gaze was so confident that Kallion found himself confused again.
Even if there were lies among Layla’s words, the raw wounds covering her calves were real.
Unless Layla had lost her mind and injured herself, someone had deliberately caused those wounds.
The only person in this estate who could lay a hand on his secretary was Juliana.
“Haah…”
No matter how much he thought about it, he kept circling back to the same place.
Kallion pressed a hand to his forehead in confusion.
That was when it happened.
The tightly closed office door flew open, and a maid rushed inside in a panic.
No maid would normally barge in without his permission, so he looked at her curiously.
It was none other than Juliana’s personal maid.
“This is terrible!”
At the maid’s pale face and ragged breathing, Kallion narrowed his eyes.
“What happened?”
At his cold question, Kate shouted as though she were about to cry.
“The Madam disappeared!”
Kallion frowned at the answer and asked again as though he had misheard.
“What…?”
When Kallion entered Juliana’s room, he looked around in confusion.
The room appeared so ordinary that it was difficult to believe its owner had left.
Had Juliana really gone?
At Kallion’s sharp demand for an explanation, Kate stepped forward tearfully.
In her hands were a ring Juliana appeared to wear regularly and a short handwritten note.
[ Dear Kate,
I’m sorry I couldn’t take care of you until the end. I hope this will be of some help to you. ]
It was Juliana’s handwriting.
“This is the note and ring Madam left behind. And when I checked the dressing room, several comfortable dresses the Madam often wore and her travel bag were gone.”
Though she was sniffling, Kate clearly reported everything she knew.
She seemed deeply hurt that Juliana had left her behind.
Kallion sighed while looking at Kate and pressed a hand to his forehead.
“She may return soon, so we’ll wait one day first. If she still hasn’t returned by then, send people out to find her.”
At Kallion’s words, Layla lowered her head while hiding her stiff expression.
“Understood.”
“The only place she could have gone is probably her family home in Heister. Contact Heister as well, just in case.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t tell them outright that Juliana left the estate. First find out whether Juliana went to the Heister estate.”
“Yes…”
Layla’s expression grew increasingly stiff as Kallion continued adding instructions.
Soon, she bowed and left the room to carry them out.
Kallion stared at the door through which she disappeared, then called the head butler, Cliff, who had been waiting nearby.
“Cliff.”
“Yes, Lord Kallion.”
“Just in case, send the people under you separately to search as well.”
“…Understood.”
Unlike before, when Kallion had trusted Layla completely, he was now giving separate orders behind her back.
Cliff looked puzzled.
But it lasted only a moment.
The head butler bowed and stepped out of the room.
Kate, who had been anxiously shifting from foot to foot, bent deeply at the waist and shouted.
“I-I’ll search around the estate too, just in case!”
Kallion watched Kate stride energetically out the door despite her swollen eyes, then dropped heavily onto the sofa.
It was where Juliana usually sat to read or drink tea.
Kallion stared at the sofa in confusion, then leaned his head against the backrest and sighed.
This marriage was bound by an agreement between their houses.
She wasn’t the kind of woman who would recklessly destroy it like this.
If she had intended to do that, she would have done it long ago.
No matter how cruelly he spoke to her.
No matter how roughly he grabbed her wrist.
Even during that humiliating night together, though he had ultimately been unable to go through with it, she had endured every humiliation and remained where she was.
As though there were something she absolutely had to protect.
Or something she was waiting for, despite having to endure all of that…
Kallion let out a self-mocking sigh and slowly closed his eyes.
Thinking that, when he opened them again, he would have news of Juliana…
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