The Shadow in the Bushes
Billred's words had left a lasting ripple effect. Idel felt her mind growing increasingly complex and squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
Ah, what on earth do I do about this?
She had barely escaped thanks to her composure this time, but she knew she couldn't keep pulling it off every time.
She could deliberately stir up trouble and take her punishment, but there was no guarantee that things would go her way like this every single time.
“What excuse can I give to avoid the stares…?”
Idel muttered her inner thoughts without realizing it and tightened her grip on the hand she had been holding.
A small groan escaped, followed by Sigmund's voice laced with irritation right next to her ear.
“Damn it, who breaks someone's hand just because they feel like it! Do they want to make a person who looks at it disappear! Or some kind of friend or whatever!”
“Huh?”
Idel froze like a broken clock, halting all her actions mid-motion.
After a moment, as if recalling something, she blinked and turned her head toward Sigmund.
For the first time since entering the Duke's house, a bright smile spread across Idel's face.
“Hey, you're really capable in so many ways? Thanks!”
“……Ugh.”
Sigmund's face, smiling like that, turned out to be surprisingly appealing, so he furrowed his brows tightly.
In that fleeting moment, he felt ashamed of himself for calling a mad girl who had crashed her head into the ground appealing.
Whether Sigmund turned his head or not, Idel was satisfied. It was a successful escape that proved the worth of leaving the Duke's residence.
She released the hand she had been gripping and jumped down from the chair.
She then addressed Billred.
“I'll pay for the items at a reasonable price and give it to you in installments. I think it's easier for me to give and for you to sell too.”
…Does she know about that at her age? Most people don't.
Billred thought this while quickly erasing the thought.
Well, it was fine as long as they could communicate properly.
“Whatever the customer prefers. Anyway, according to the contract, half the compensation is only received upon successfully removing the curse.”
“Yeah, that's right. Then, I'll head back for now.”
“Sigmund's hand isn't worn out yet. It would be fine to keep holding on for a bit more, right?”
“Why would you, Master, decide that on your own?”
Before Idel could even answer, a sharp voice suddenly interjected from the side.
Idel shrugged lightly.
“It's fine. He seems to be running out of patience too.”
Billred glanced at Sigmund and, without saying a word, agreed with Idel's words.
True. He was definitely like the mad dog.
With a small sigh, he shook his head and handed Idel a small ring.
It was an ordinary silver half-ring that looked plain.
“When meeting the customer, special preparation is needed. The location might not be this place next time either. The day before you come, rub this ring three times. Then, on the day the customer arrives, I'll send Sigmund to the place marked with a pair of crows.”
“Okay. What about time?”
“Well, it's Sigmund who waits impatiently for the customer, not me.”
“Where did he even pick up that?”
Billred ignored Sigmund's profanity and neatly wrapped up the conversation.
They lightly shook hands.
“Oh, and if the surface of the ring turns black, it means it's been delivered.”
“Yes, I'll keep that in mind. Then, I'll see you next time.”
“Yeah, see you next time. Oh, customer, go back and rest well. You have to, okay?”
Idel gripped the doorknob firmly shut and nodded with a small head bob.
It was truly time to go back now. Even if things were fine here, if she stayed any longer, she would definitely be caught.
***
“It's fine now?”
Idel scoffed at her past self for thinking that.
“Idel-nim!”
“Idel-nim, where are you! How is it over there? Did you find it?”
“No, she's not here. What about that side?”
“Not a trace?”
“No, none.”
Look at that—truly checking if the situation in front of her was fine.
Between bushes, a place where one child could barely fit, Idel hid and gently closed her eyes.
Because the Duke's house had been turned upside down more than expected.
During her composure, a tiny ant in the garden would have been hard to see, but people were spread out everywhere.
All of them were servants mobilized to find Idel.
“Haa…… It seems she didn't escape from the side building. Where exactly did she go?”
“Yeah. I heard the Duke and the lady herself are looking for her personally.”
“She probably disappeared suddenly. They're worried it might be some kind of accident.”
Even the Duke and Duchess are jumping around like crazy?
Idel bit her lower lip hard to swallow her groan.
No matter how she racked her brain, she couldn't see any way out of this predicament.
“Since the Duke and Duchess are involved, getting caught is just a matter of time.”
Originally, the letter from Jiana was in her room.
That letter had kindly marked the shortcut and hideout for her.
There was no way the Duke and Duchess would stay silent once they got involved.
“Hey! The statue side!”
“What?”
“Jiana-nim said she went to the mountain while crying and stuff. There's a shortcut behind the statue and a hideout where Jacob and I used to play. She went there but got lost on the mountain.”
As expected.
Idel realized her thoughts had been correct and let her guard down.
It would have been better to come up with a new plan assuming she might get caught.
“Pretending to sleep will be better in many ways.”
It was easy to make an excuse about falling asleep from fatigue.
It also fit her accumulated image of Idel.
Especially the greedy part where she didn't care about others and only did whatever she wanted.
Idel quickly finished her calculations and crouched down as small as possible in the bushes, closing her eyes.
“…It's fine. Trust the reputation I've built up.”
Idel muttered that to herself and was about to sharpen her senses again when—
“Bush rustle.”
A sound of bushes rustling came from somewhere with no presence at all, and at the same time, a shadow fell over her head.
“I found you.”
The familiar voice and familiar words.
The person who uttered the exact same words as Jiana had days ago was Duke Clementine.
Idel, who had realized the owner of the low, sunken voice, made her body crouch even smaller, pretending to be asleep.
It was an effort to hide her heartbeat, which had risen too high.
“Eek.”
She had almost made a sound.
Idel swallowed her spit silently and slowly caught her breath.
Wait, weren't the ones chattering around here servants just a little while ago?
“I thought I would get caught soon, but why would the Duke come looking himself?”
A red light flickered briefly in her mind.
In the worst case, she might be locked in the room and unable to take even one step.
Idel raised the alarm one level and calmly sorted her thoughts.
“Even if I hand over the information about the shortcut, I must hide the fact that I successfully escaped from the Duke's house.”
She had to cleverly mix truth and lies.
“I did use the shortcut, but it was because I went to the hideout. And I got angry and tripped over a bush because no one was there at the hideout. That part is fine too.”
“I'm crying because I'm so angry and then fell asleep.”
She would then head toward distrusting Jiana's words.
After finishing her thoughts, Idel buried her face deeper into her knees, pretending to thrash in her sleep.
That was to hide the movement of her eyes beneath her eyelids.
Meanwhile, Vincent Clementine, who had found the child curled up in the bushes, immediately crouched down and placed his hand on the child's forehead.
Luckily, the body temperature felt from his fingertips was not hot.
“Her breathing is even, and there are no wounds on her body… Her forehead looks a bit swollen. But it's not severe enough to make her collapse. She just fell asleep, right?”
His gaze, dark and deep, landed on the crouched child.
“Haa……”
Looking at the child sleeping soundly as if the outside commotion was not her fault, a whirlwind of emotions surged inside him.
At least relief that it wasn't kidnapping, anger at the child who had caused everyone trouble on her own whim, the discomfort of the unwanted truth of being a biological daughter, and the resulting pain and regret.
“Uung……”
The child, wearing the clothes she had received from Jiana, moved her small body slightly.
Then the dirt- and dust-covered face and the swollen, red forehead wound were revealed.
“What in the world was she thinking, doing something like this.”
With a quiet mumble, Vincent narrowed his brows and coldly looked down at the child.
Suddenly, the image of his wife who had swallowed her emotions over Idel's face overlapped.
Her words of caution as she had grabbed him and said it.
“Don't be too harsh on Idel, Vincent. You're still bleeding. The child too, you, and even me watching.”
He knew it all logically.
Now, the most confused person was none other than Idel.
But he was also a person.
He knew, but he couldn't control his emotions, so he was holding on at this level—the flawed one.
Moreover, Idel seemed to only do hateful things, no matter who looked at her.
She had spilled food on Rowena's clothes and tried to raise her hand to her daughter Jiana, and she had tormented the servants.
Look at this now. The child didn't even feel sorry for the wrongs she had committed and was making people suffer on purpose.
“…What am I going to do with you.”
Just as he thought that far, a voice calling him from behind rang out.