Chapter 109. How to Lure the Wolf
"My, it's raining."
Around the time Blaire finished dinner with Mikhail and Anna, fairly heavy raindrops began tapping against the window.
It was autumn rain.
Anna, who was clearing the dishes, looked toward Mikhail and said, "You'll have a hard time getting home in this. Why don't you stay the night?"
At the unexpected suggestion, Mikhail startled and looked at Anna. Anna gave him a suggestive glance and added, "Of course, only if the Madam is alright with it."
"No, I'm fine—"
"Do that. In weather like this, it's easy to catch a cold."
Before Mikhail could even respond, Blaire readily accepted Anna's suggestion.
Mikhail gave Anna a troubled look but didn't refuse Blaire's kindness.
"…Thank you for your kindness, Madam."
"Not at all."
Blaire smiled gently and replied in the tone that had now become familiar.
Ever since she began living as 'Arwen Hales,' she had been using formal speech with Mikhail.
Mikhail had told her she could treat him comfortably, but Blaire's stance was stubborn.
'I am neither a princess nor a duchess anymore, so I stand on equal footing with you.'
It was a status she had grasped by the luck of being born a princess in the first place.
Since it was a position she had thrown away with her own hands, she no longer wanted to be bound by it. Now she had to grow accustomed to the identity of the commoner Arwen Hales.
Because that was the place of the name she had chosen to live under from now on.
"Then rest comfortably."
Blaire said she needed to wash up and headed upstairs first, leaving only Mikhail and Anna in the kitchen.
Mikhail gazed at Blaire's retreating back as she climbed the stairs, then turned to Anna. Anna began busying herself, subtly avoiding his gaze.
"Should I prepare tomorrow's breakfast in advance……"
But it wasn't as if Mikhail would fail to notice such an obvious cue.
"Anna. Don't make things difficult for the Madam."
It was the expected response.
Anna, who had been grinning with an innocent face, quietly closed the kitchen door and revealed her true intentions with a mischievous smile.
"You have feelings for the Madam, don't you?"
A woman who had weathered all manner of life's trials and was approaching her forties was quick to notice such things.
Mikhail swallowed a sigh, but in the end, he could neither confirm nor deny the question.
"Consideration is fine, but a man who's only gentle has no appeal. Sometimes you need the boldness to sweep in. You're not going to just watch from afar and protect her like a black knight your whole life, are you?"
"……"
"If you only considerate, some other man will snatch her away in an instant. As you know, Master, the Madam has more than enough charm for that."
"…I suppose so."
"Don't tell me you're thinking something complacent like, she's a woman with a child, so other men wouldn't be interested?"
"Of course not."
Mikhail answered with a bitter smile.
Anna didn't know that Blaire's husband was still alive. Or that she still loved him.
It was true that this wasn't the time to be so complacent, as Anna said. Not only for the sake of his own feelings toward Blaire, but also to erase the unstable imprint marked on her body.
But Mikhail found it difficult to face Blaire.
While working as a guild master, he had dealt with countless women. They had always been clear about what they wanted from him.
Whether it was money, a desire to have their own power validated, or emotional games that would satisfy them even if only as an act.
But Blaire was different from them.
She had treated lowly him as an equal human being, and hadn't taken his kindness for granted. Rather, she had been uncomfortable at being unable to reciprocate.
Because she was an entirely different kind of person from anyone he had ever met, he was all the more cautious and afraid.
What if my ways disappoint you? What if you discover the inner depths of me, who has lived a life at the very bottom?
"Take this and share it with her while talking. You're not going to waste the time you好不容易 got like this, are you?"
Anna pushed Mikhail's back, holding out a tray of neatly peeled apples.
Mikhail reluctantly took it and came upstairs. Fortunately, the bathroom was quiet, as if Blaire hadn't gone in to wash yet.
As he stood in front of Blaire's door, wondering what to talk about.
A loud noise came from inside the room. It was the sound of things being knocked over.
"…Madam?"
When Mikhail knocked, the noise stopped.
An eerie silence that made the previous commotion feel like an illusion. At the same time, a sense of unease washed over him.
"Excuse me, but I'm coming in."
He knew it wasn't proper for a man to enter a lady's room without permission, but his instinctive anxiety overrode that.
Mikhail opened the door without waiting for Blaire's answer.
The scene inside the room perfectly confirmed his anxious premonition.
All sorts of things were scattered messily about the room, and in the midst of it, a masked intruder was clamping a hand over Blaire's mouth.
Mikhail's heart dropped at the sight.
"Madam!"
The intruder, momentarily startled by the appearance of an obstacle, shoved Blaire toward Mikhail and fled through the open window.
Mikhail caught the stumbling Blaire and checked her complexion.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine……"
Mikhail laid Blaire, who was swaying as if she might collapse at any moment, on the bed, then alternated his gaze between the windowsill where rain was pouring in through the open window and her.
Blaire said she was fine, but her complexion was pale as she desperately steadied her breathing and stroked her stomach. It seemed less that she was truly fine, and more that she was trying to calm the child in her womb.
If it were up to his heart, he would have chased after the intruder who had tried to harm her, but right now, she came first.
"…I'll go fetch a doctor first."
* * *
At the hour when the dim light of dawn began to spread, Gerard was alone in his private chapel, offering prayers.
It was a first daily routine he had maintained for a long time, the way he began his day.
What broke that devout silence was the sound of knocking on the chapel door. Gerard didn't answer, but the owner of the knock quietly entered the chapel and approached him from behind.
"Your Holiness."
Gerard continued his prayers with his eyes closed.
The priest, who hesitated while watching his back, spoke up.
"…They say the capture has failed."
Hearing the news, Gerard furrowed his brow and opened his eyes. There was no object mentioned, but what it was remained clear.
"They say there's a man with her. Because security has become stricter since then, approaching her has become difficult."
A man.
More than the news of the plan going awry, the fact that there was a man by Blaire's side was far more irritating.
If Blaire's heart were to lean toward that man in the meantime, the imprint would disappear.
Then he might have to wait another long time for the opportunity to bring down Delmark. Perhaps an opportunity might never come again.
There had been many women who admired Herdin until now, but Blaire was the only one who had ever formed an imprint with him.
"I'll tell them to look for an opportunity to eliminate the man and then approach."
"…No."
Gerard cut off the priest who was speaking of the next plan.
"If we do that and fail, she'll just flee and hide somewhere else again."
"Then what……"
"If you cannot catch the rabbit to throw to the wolf, wouldn't it be better to lure the wolf into the rabbit hole?"
He didn't like this matter extending beyond his domain, but if he was to finish things before the imprint disappeared, this was no time to be choosy about methods.
* * *
Ruth watched Herdin signing documents with a cigar in his mouth. More precisely, he watched Herdin's hand holding the quill.
He was wearing gloves. He usually only wore leather gloves when going out, but at some point he had started wearing them indoors as well.
He couldn't remember exactly when, but it was probably around the time Blaire disappeared.
'Has he developed some kind of compulsion like germophobia?'
But it was a sensitive matter to ask the person himself.
He was thinking about consulting Agnes about it soon when Herdin handed him the signed document.
"Anything else?"
"Ah, we received a message from the Lord of Nerha."
"…Nerha?"
"A port city in the Kingdom of Clania, bordering Livren."
"Why there."
"He suggested that there might be things he could help with regarding Livren's business, and proposed that we cooperate with each other. He also mentioned he'd like to host you if you visit."
Herdin, wondering why Livren's affairs had suddenly come up, belatedly recalled the reclamation project underway there.
The business he had started on impulse, inspired by an idea from a childhood memory that had surfaced one spring day, was progressing smoothly.
Even though the girl who once said she wanted to cross the sea was no longer by his side.
As Herdin scoffed at himself over that fact, Ruth held out a letter.
"I think it would be good to visit and look around. Since Nerha developed as a port city first, you might come up with other ideas that could be applied to Livren's business if you see it in person."
Ruth made an indirect suggestion, wanting to redirect Herdin, who was frantic about finding Blaire.
Herdin set down his cigar in the ashtray and unfolded the letter.
They called it cooperation, but in truth, Nerha couldn't be pleased about another port city arising right next to them.
A competitor—and one backed by formidable capital from a foreign duke at that—entering the competition could hardly be welcome.
But since they had no grounds to stop it, it must be an attempt to negotiate. A direction of offering moderate help and establishing inviolability for their own share.
However, Herdin felt no need to go all that way. Especially not at this point when Blaire was absent.
The urgent knocking rang out just as Herdin was about to respond to Ruth's suggestion.