My Ruin to You - Chapter 55

This plan was accompanied by a bit of trivial luck.

Had the floor below been a common area, she wouldn’t have even dared, but as if fate refused to let her die, the space directly beneath Roseline’s room was a storage closet.

However, the situation was different from yesterday, when she had climbed out the window alone, or when she had escaped the Marquis’s estate.

She had to slip out unnoticed by so many people, and she also had to consider the dangers lurking in the streets. The time of escape would be dusk.

The knights, given their numbers and the need to prioritize the safety of their noble charge, would likely only move once the day was fully bright—just as they had today.

Her absence would be best discovered as late as possible, and for that, she needed an excuse to delay anyone from coming to her room.

“…….”

During mealtime, a heavy silence hung over the long dining table. The only sound was the shifting of gazes between Valen, seated at the head of the table, and Roseline, seated at the farthest end. It was already unusual for Valen, who had been taking his meals separately in his room until now, to come down to the hall—but Roseline’s condition was no less concerning. Her eyelids were swollen red, and her face was unmistakably that of someone who had been crying heavily.

“……I shall excuse myself first, Your Highness.”

Roseline, who had only barely touched her soup, quietly set down her utensils and rose. Her expression was blank, but the redness around her eyes made her look pitiful, leaving those who saw her in a somber mood.

Valen silently watched Roseline’s retreating figure. Only when her slumped shoulders had completely left the hall and disappeared behind the wall did he click his tongue briefly and set down his own utensils.

“Prepare a separate tray.”

“Yes, I’ll bring it to her room.”

“I’ll go.”

Merrick, seated at Valen’s side, rose from his seat. He arranged Roseline’s barely touched soup and dried meat on a tray fetched from somewhere and handed it to Valen as he approached. Valen reached out his hand. Since no noble would normally serve such things themselves, it took a moment for Merrick to understand what he meant. Knowing his master’s dislike for repeating himself, Merrick silently handed over the tray without comment.

“Seems I’ve won. Prepare 200 lourans.”

The brown-haired knight Giorno, craning his neck to watch Valen’s retreating figure, jabbed his elbow into the side of the knight next to him. Tashi, who had been chewing on a piece of hard bread, snorted when his ribs were suddenly assaulted.

“What did you even do to win already? Did the two of them even exchange a single word?”

“If His Highness is personally serving her, it’s already over. You wouldn’t know, but things were tense even when we arrived at the base earlier.”

“Seems you don’t know—His Highness is always tense.”

“Huh? Who do you think knows His Highness better—me or you?”

Giorno, a knight of the Grand Duchy, snorted and shot back. Though they all wore the same armor to deal with the unprecedented plague, their allegiances were clearly divided—half were from the Imperial Knights, and the other half from the Duchy’s Knights. Their perspectives on the situation were just as split. The Imperial Knights saw the others as intruders, while the Duchy’s Knights believed they’d been forced to fill in for the Imperial side’s lack of manpower. Even this pointless bet was just another part of their silent rivalry.

“Anyway, our bet only ends when the young lady becomes the Grand Duchess, so just sit back and watch quietly.”

“Sir, let’s be honest—have you ever even been in love? What kind of man would willingly step into this mess for a woman he doesn’t care about?”

“He didn’t come here for the young lady—he just found her here when he arrived. So, are you saying that if you knew your former lover was here, you’d just leave her behind? Is that how all the Duchy’s knights are? Wow, trash.”

“If we’re trash, then you’re a blockhead.”

“What? A blockhead?”

Tashi, who had been chewing on his bread, slammed it down and shot up from his chair.

“Let’s wrap up this disrespectful conversation here. Tashi, sit down.”

The captain, who had been tolerating the knights’ antics, finally intervened. Betting on the Grand Duke’s private affairs was clearly improper, but in a place devoid of entertainment, he couldn’t bring himself to stamp out even these small transgressions. Still, he found Merrick’s silent, indifferent reaction during the meal unsettling. When he glanced over, Merrick merely shrugged without changing his expression.

“Just knights sharing idle talk.”

“Nobody asked you.”

Hopeless.

The captain forced a stiff smile at the cheeky response and chewed on his dried meat with a grimace.

◇◇◇

“Ugh, I’m starving.”

Meanwhile, Roseline, holed up in her room, clutched her growling stomach. During the five days she’d hidden in that unknown house, she’d barely staved off hunger to ration her food, and yesterday, she’d gone without eating entirely—of course she was starving.

But what she needed now wasn’t food, but time. She had to maintain an aura that made others reluctant to disturb her, buying herself as much time alone in her room as possible without raising suspicion.

Judging by Valen’s silence, all her effort in rubbing her eyes red had paid off.

“Good. This’ll work.”

Roseline pressed her ear to the door, listening for any movement outside, then perched on the edge of the bed. She wasn’t interested in the top blanket—instead, she reached beneath the pillow and began rolling up the inner sheet, tying it into a knot.