What I Gained by Giving My Body - Chapter 1.22

“I’m sorry. His Grace has ordered that he will not receive any visitors.”

The gatekeeper of the Archduke’s mansion flatly rejected her.

“Then please call the Viscount. Or the head butler, or even the head maid…….”

“I’m sorry, Miss Hardick.”

The gatekeeper’s tone was polite, but his eyes were filled with contempt.

“It would be better for you to think that it was never a relationship meant to last long.”

Well, it’s true that it’s not a relationship meant to last long. Caitlyn thought bitterly. The gatekeeper was merely confirming her situation. But there was one fact he couldn’t possibly know.

It was that the relationship between Caitlyn and Archduke Akbar was not one that could be severed just because one side wanted to. Most of all…….

A gatekeeper, with a few more wrinkles than now, looks at the rear fence of the Archduke’s mansion with a curious face. When he kicks at a mark visible under the fence, the dirt collapses and a secret passage appears. The gatekeeper enters the passage hesitantly. The passage leads to the interior of the mansion, but the gatekeeper is bitten by a venomous snake at the entrance to the mansion and dies a painful death.

Does not the foresight she sees right now prove that her relationship with him is not over yet? Caitlyn didn’t argue further and quietly turned around to go home. What she had to do became clear.

* * *

A dark night. The crescent moon aided her nocturnal outing. Caitlyn headed toward the rear of the Archduke’s mansion to find the passage she saw in her vision. Fortunately, the location of the passage was exactly as it was in her foresight, and she headed into the dirt pit without hesitation.

She wasn’t worried about the venomous snake at all. Because her current future was still dying in solitude, not dying from a snake bite.

In the damp passage, there was an unpleasant smell of dirt and garbage mixed together. Caitlyn walked for a long time before she reached the point that connected to the mansion. When she looked carefully, it was a passage mainly used by servants.

‘Should I call this a relief?’

Caitlyn thought bitterly. Right now, she was wearing a worn and dirty coat that looked no different from those of the servants. It was a choice she made to avoid notice, but for Caitlyn, who couldn’t remember the last time she bought a new coat, she didn’t have much of a choice anyway.

In any case, since everyone thought she was a maid, Caitlyn could sneak into the mansion by blending in among the servants as if she weren’t there. She carefully climbed the landing. Since she had only been here once or twice, there wouldn’t be many people who knew her face, but she couldn’t help but feel nervous.

‘Oh no.’

Someone was coming down from above. Caitlyn cast her eyes down and stepped aside. It was behavior perfectly fitting for a maid, but unfortunately, she failed to avoid the other’s gaze.

“You there, come here.”

A voice that was incredibly light and swaggering called out to her. When she reflexively turned her body to the other side, her wrist was grabbed from behind and yanked up.

“Hmm. Did your superior teach you to play hard to get?”

Caitlyn tried to twist her wrist away, but instead, she ended up burying her face in the man’s chest. Almost at the same time as the pungent smell of alcohol hit her nose, the deer antler pattern embroidered in gold thread on his clothes caught her eye.

‘Oh no.’

Her blood ran cold. Judging by his insignia and age, this man was Baron Barrel, the heir of Count Barrel, Archduke Akbar’s long-serving retainer. He had only ever stayed in the North, so she had never met him, but intense rumors about him circulated.

‘I’ve heard that the Barrel family is utterly barbaric. Especially the Baron, whose hobby is harassing maids—he isn’t even married yet, but reportedly has three illegitimate children. Which family would ever marry their daughter off to such a scoundrel?’

Baron Barrel spoke.

“Now that I see you up close, your face is quite pretty.”

“Baron, I am…….”

“Shh.”

The Baron silenced her. It wasn’t with a finger gracefully placed on her lips. Caitlyn struggled against a palm that ruthlessly smothered her from nose to mouth. But she was no match for the Baron, who had been determined to have her from the start. The Baron dragged her down the stairs and threw her into an empty room.

“Please let me go, Baron! My—”

Before Caitlyn could even get out the words that her brother was Baronet Hardick, the Baron shoved a handkerchief into her mouth.