Chapter 54: Scandal
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 54: Scandal
Herdin dismounted, his eyes fixed on the spot where Blair should have been. He turned to the knight standing before him.
“...Where is the Duchess?”
“T-That is…”
“Speak. Do not make me ask twice.”
“...She has not been seen for about an hour.”
At the knight’s words, the blood in Herdin’s veins ran ice-cold before boiling over in a wave of fury.
He slowly closed his eyes, forcing down the rising anger. The suppressed emotion burned like a hot brand, scorching his throat.
“Explain the situation. What happened?”
The knight quickly relayed the events. The Seldon family’s child had gone missing, and all the noble ladies, including Blair, had lent their family knights to aid in the search. While Lina had briefly stepped away due to an upset stomach, Blair had vanished.
“...Any witnesses?”
“Everyone was so frantic looking for the child that there don’t appear to be any.”
Having heard the full report, Herdin opened his eyes. His razor-sharp blue gaze pierced through them.
“Since when did you serve Marquis Seldon as your lord?”
His low voice dripped with murderous intent.
Under his oppressive aura, the knights flinched and trembled. It was the primal instinct of a beast recognizing a stronger predator—the raw fear of death itself. They were suddenly reminded that their usually generous lord was, at his core, the cold and ruthless ruler of the North.
The knights couldn’t even bring themselves to utter an apology; they could only bow their heads in shame.
Standing beside them, Lina also trembled, caught in the suffocating atmosphere. But what terrified her even more was the fear that something might have happened to Blair because of her own negligence.
The air was so thick with tension that a man could have been struck down on the spot, but a woman’s voice cut through it.
“I came to offer my gratitude… Has the Duchess not returned yet?”
It was Rachel Seldon. She was holding a child in her arms—her nephew, the very boy who had been lost.
Herdin’s brow furrowed at her words.
“...What do you mean, ‘not returned’?”
“I saw her heading into the forest with a knight earlier.”
Herdin’s expression hardened.
A knight?
Could it be that bastard Asiel?
“My Lady. Do you remember which family that knight belonged to?”
“I was so frantic that I didn’t get a look at the family crest. I just assumed he was a knight of Delmark… Did something happen to the Duchess?”
At Rachel’s words, the Delmark knights and Lina began to stir with unease.
A noblewoman disappearing into the forest with a knight during an outing.
Regardless of the truth, it was the perfect recipe for a scandal.
Realizing this, Lina hastily stepped in front of Herdin.
“N-No, Your Grace! It’s a misunderstanding! The Duchess would never do such a thing!”
Forgetting her fear from moments ago, her only thought was to defend Blair’s innocence.
“She knew I would be back shortly, so there’s no way she would leave without a word to me—”
“Shut your mouth.”
Herdin coldly cut off Lina’s defense. Terrified, Lina clamped her mouth shut.
In a situation like this, a vehement denial would only fuel suspicion. Especially in front of outsiders, they couldn't afford to give them any ammunition.
Clinging to the last shreds of his rationality, his mind began working with cold speed.
Lina was right.
Even if she truly had a passionate lover, Blair was not someone who would make such a clumsy mistake.
Besides, now was not the right time for her to trigger the scandal she had planned. She still hadn't uncovered the truth behind the Empress's Palace Fire Incident.
‘I don’t want to live in ignorance, sweeping everything under the rug just because it’s hard or scary anymore.’
Yes, she had definitely said that.
But…
Can I trust her?
Me, trust that woman?
What if she’s already gotten what she wanted from this contract marriage? What if she no longer has any reason to maintain it?
Regardless of the truth behind the Empress's Palace Incident, she might have decided to spark a scandal and leave my side.
After all, the only thing proving this contract is a mere scrap of paper.
Suspicion spread like wildfire.
‘…No, that’s not what’s important right now.’
First, he had to get Blair back. No matter who she was with or what she was doing, that was the priority.
Just as Herdin reined in his emotions and prepared to head toward the forest, Rachel, who had been watching him, smiled understandingly.
“She’ll be back soon. The Blair I know is that kind of friend.”
“Indeed. There’s no way our noble Duchess would do such a thing.”
Wesley, appearing as if from nowhere, chimed in to agree.
“Ah, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I happened to overhear as I was passing by.”
Herdin stared at Wesley with cold eyes.
Wesley flinched slightly under his gaze but quickly put on a sly smile.
“Perhaps the Duchess simply went for a short walk and lost her way?”
“Y-Yes! That must be it!” Lina cried, desperately latching onto the explanation without even knowing who Wesley was.
Seemingly pleased with her agreement, Wesley patted Lina’s shoulder and addressed Herdin.
“Since things have come to this, I’ll deploy our knights to help as well. We must find her quickly before this escalates any further.”
Herdin stared icily at Wesley, who spoke as if he were doing a great favor, before mounting his horse and riding into the forest without a word.
* * *
Taking Herdin’s silence as consent, Wesley took it upon himself to deploy the Marquis’s knights to search for Blair.
‘She should be around here.’
Leisurely scanning his surroundings as he ventured deeper into the forest, Wesley finally spotted what he was looking for.
In a dense thicket of overgrown trees stood a dilapidated, abandoned house—an old cabin once used by forest keepers.
Seeing it, the corners of Wesley’s mouth curled upward.
Inside that cabin, Blair, kidnapped on his orders, would be waiting.
Wesley had instructed the kidnapper, who was disguised as a knight, to take Blair to this location. He had also ordered him to stage the scene as soon as he heard the neighing of horses.
It had to look as though the two of them had been caught in an intimate tryst.
‘I can’t wait to see the state that haughty Duchess is in.’
And the look on Herdin’s face when he saw his wife like that…
The anticipation was so thrilling he could barely contain his excitement.
Suppressing the grin that kept trying to spread across his face, Wesley called out to Herdin, who was riding ahead.
“I think I heard voices coming from that abandoned house over there. Shall we take a look?”
Dismounting without a word, Herdin led the way toward the cabin. Wesley followed close behind, eagerly anticipating the reaction to come.
Just then, Herdin’s footsteps abruptly halted as he stepped inside.
‘Did he see it?’
Expecting to find a disheveled Blair and a thoroughly shocked Herdin, Wesley stepped into the cabin.
But contrary to his expectations, the moment he crossed the threshold, Wesley’s face froze.
‘What on earth…?’
There was no one there.
* * *
Thirty minutes earlier.
Blair struggled to open her eyes, as if waking from a deep slumber.
The first thing she saw was a crumbling ceiling adorned with cobwebs. Sunlight filtering through cracks in the roof glinted off the dusty strands.
‘Where am I…?’
Blinking to clear her blurry vision, Blair finally realized she was gagged.
At the same time, her final memories rushed back. She had been waiting for Lina when she stepped out of the carriage to find the Young Marchioness Seldon. The moment she did, someone had covered her mouth from behind.
She had been kidnapped.
As reality set in, her heart began to hammer wildly against her ribs.
‘Who? And why?’
Just then, the sound of approaching footsteps from behind was accompanied by a stranger’s voice.
“Shouldn’t she be waking up by now?”
Blair quickly shut her eyes before the man could see.
Striding closer, the man roughly grabbed her chin and forced it upward.
“Damn, she really is gorgeous.”
“…”
“It’s a bit boring just staring at her.”
The man’s rough fingers caressed Blair’s lips. The touch, dripping with a dark, insidious desire, made her skin crawl, but she endured it with everything she had.
Based on his words and her own raw instincts, she knew she must not let him find out she was conscious.
“Hmm, I’d better go take a leak before she wakes.”
Leaving Blair, the man stood up and walked away. Soon, the sound of trickling liquid echoed nearby. Hearing this, Blair cautiously opened her eyes.
The man was urinating in a corner of the cabin.
Although he wore a knight’s uniform, he didn’t seem to be a real knight. The family crest embroidered on his right sleeve looked plausible at a glance, but upon closer inspection, it was extremely crude.
Blair quickly scanned her surroundings. Fortunately, her arms and legs were not bound. He likely assumed he could easily overpower a single woman.
Nearby, she spotted a fairly large wooden plank.
‘If I hit him over the head with that, will it knock him out?’
But what if it didn’t work in one blow? He would catch her for sure.
‘Even if I get caught, I don’t think he’ll kill me.’
If killing her was the plan, he would have done it already. Unless he was waiting for the right moment. Either way, killing her immediately would cause him trouble.
In that case, it was worth a try.
The sound of trickling gradually subsided.
Holding her breath, Blair quietly stood up and picked up the wooden plank. It was heavy, but she could swing it with both hands.
She only had one chance.
Blair swallowed hard and raised the plank high.
But just as she was about to bring it down on his head—
“Oh? You’re awake?”
The man turned around and smirked.