Chapter 48
But the audience ceremony from early season had already ended, and the Crown Prince's thirtieth birthday was in two weeks, so the timing was just right.
Gabriel said he would take care of obtaining the invitation. He would also make the clothes and arrange a chaperone. As expected of a romance fantasy male lead, his ability to handle everything from one to ten with meticulous care was truly top-notch....
Now he'll have to teach me dancing too. I felt slightly sorry for dumping so much work on him, but then I realized this was a disaster Gabriel had brought upon himself, and I shook off any guilt.
Yes. Gabriel was the one who asked to be my partner first. That's how love works. The person who loves more loses.
Come to think of it, how did Doline know Gabriel was my partner?
I never said anything. Has the news that Gabriel asked me to be his partner already spread everywhere? The social circle really does have fast rumors.
***
"Take care, Doline."
"Yes. Thank you."
Finally, finally the hellish time was over. Doline bid farewell with a gentle smile and hurried out of the room. She carefully closed the door and took a deep breath. Once she was out of Evangeline's sight, she could finally breathe.
'Damn, fucking hell.'
Even though it wasn't withdrawal symptoms, her hands were still trembling. She should have refused no matter how much the Bishop asked.
Not long ago, news spread quietly that Count Rohanson was looking for a tutor. Word was that the sickly young lady who had been waiting only to die had miraculously recovered and was preparing to enter society.
Perhaps because she was past the appropriate age for debut, Evangeline Rohanson had recently become frequent fodder for gossip among scandal-mongers.
Some said being sick was a lie and she had lived in seclusion because of her plain face. Others claimed the real Evangeline had died and the Count had found a lookalike replacement. There were even eyewitness accounts saying she looked like an angel descended when briefly seen at the temple.
Since Evangeline had used illness as an excuse and had no interaction with those around her, she had no one she was close with, so rumors only grew more rampant.
Doline had paid no attention to such rumors until Bishop Javaniya made her an offer. As always, she had gone to secretly purchase holy water.
"It will be a very easy task. If you do that properly, I will reward you."
The request was to infiltrate as Evangeline's tutor, find out what kind of person Evangeline was and what her relationship with Gabriel, the Knight Commander, was like, and report back to him. He promised to provide holy water once every three months if she fulfilled the request.
Doline was a severe drug addict. She had even been divorced after being discovered.
When her addiction grew severe, she would repeatedly drink holy water to treat the addiction every half year. But unfortunately, both were expensive hobbies that drained her gold, and she had been suffering from financial difficulties lately, so she readily applied for the tutor position that would give her both holy water and money.
She didn't even ask why he made such a request. Thinking about it now, she should have asked.
Thanks to an application letter the Bishop had skillfully fabricated, Doline easily passed. The beginning was very easy. She thought observing one sickly girl would be nothing difficult.
It was a misjudgment. The Evangeline Rohanson she actually faced was extremely bizarre. What, an angel? Sickly? Plain face? Among those who made Evangeline a laughingstock, who had actually met her face to face?
'She was no ordinary woman.'
Even Bishop Javaniya's assessment, who had met her directly, was completely wrong. That old man must have gone senile and developed cataracts from his age. Who knows what he was looking at to give such a low evaluation.
Pale skin so transparent you'd think it might shatter like ice, with no visible blood vessels, and red eyes that looked like the most expensive rubies had been set into hollow sockets. Evangeline looked less like a person and more like an angel statue decorating a temple.
Her vision spun round and round. Her head was being violently dug through.
Even without taking drugs, words were endlessly poured into her head. It felt like someone was speaking in her ear. It was tickling as if bugs were crawling inside.
"Bow at her feet immediately. Kneel and worship. Praise. Extol. Adore. Revere. Worship. Glorify."
Whenever she was with Lady Evangeline, such sounds always hovered in her head.
The reason Doline hadn't submitted to Evangeline was because she was already accustomed to similar sounds during severe withdrawal symptoms.
She already lived hearing things like 'Jump out the window.' 'Throw yourself under a running carriage.' Adding one more harmony to that didn't change anything. Words tangled together saying things like 'Slit your wrist to prove your worship' did enter as nonsense, but it was still ignorable.
But being familiar with it didn't make it something to do for long. She understood why all the other tutors had fled.
Without a clear purpose like Doline's, it would be hard to endure. She didn't know what kind of mental state the servants working in this mansion had. Were they all working while on drugs?
Especially the three maids hovering around Evangeline Rohanson seemed the most insane. Their brains must have been cut out or their courage broken.
The red-headed maid named Kanna already seemed dominated by the voice, and Daisy was wary of Doline. Among them, the one who seemed most normal and easy to approach was Hena.
"Are you leaving now?"
She happened to run into Hena. Her gloomy face asked quietly.
No. She had left the room before Doline, so she should have already gone downstairs, but seeing her on the same floor meant she had waited for Doline.
"You need to stop by the butler's office, right? Would you like to go together?"
Doline was about to shake her head but remembered the holy water and answered, "Sure." It was a good opportunity to gather information.
While working as a tutor, Doline had recorded in detail everything she saw and experienced at the Rohanson mansion for Javaniya. Her impressions of Lady Rohanson, her close maids, the mansion staff who were quiet as if dead. She would write all these things in a letter after leaving the mansion.
But no reply came back. Was he telling her to keep watching Lady Evangeline at the Rohanson mansion?
It seemed the information was just too poor for him to respond. He probably needed more important information. In that case, she wished he would at least tell her to continue.
If she kept staying like this, she really might end up licking even the soles of Evangeline Rohanson's feet.
"You should praise her."
"What?"
"You're the only one remaining, Doline. The other tutors quit quickly, so the young lady was regretful."
"Is that so? The young lady is truly kind."
"That's right."
Doline continued praising Evangeline to curry favor with Hena, but Hena didn't seem particularly pleased. Praise for the young lady worked very well with Kanna, but she didn't know why the sisters were so different.
When she stopped by the butler's office, the butler handed her a generous bonus. She could have a happy week with this. With sincere gratitude, Doline took the money.
"And Doline, are you keeping the confidentiality clause well?"
"Of course. There's no one for me to tell to anyway."
"Then please continue to keep it well in the future."
At the butler's request, Doline made a promise she wouldn't keep. She planned to write to Bishop Javaniya as soon as she left the mansion. She had learned quite a bit today.
"I'll be going now."
After saying goodbye to the butler, Doline tried to leave the mansion. As she was about to step through the door, her clothes were grabbed from behind and she was pulled back. Momentarily strangled, she fell to the floor and coughed.
"Hck, keck. Cough. W-what... are... you...!"
The person who had choked Doline was none other than Hena. Through Doline's fallen vision, she saw Hena's shoes. Why suddenly? Had she been discovered as a spy? Was the butler's words just now a warning?
"Prove your devotion by dying."
Die? I see. She's trying to kill me. She would definitely be charged with murder. The other tutors hadn't quit, they were murdered. That damn old man Javaniya, he drove me into a death trap!
'She's going to... kill me...!'
Doline gasped for breath and crawled toward the door again. But no matter how desperately she crawled, Hena caught up in just two steps.
A shadow fell behind her. It was over. She couldn't escape. Hena spoke with what sounded like regret toward Doline who had fallen into despair.
"Doline, that's the window."
Doline raised her head at those words.
"Huh?"
There had definitely been a door, but in its place was only a wide-open window. This was the second floor. Even if she fell, she wouldn't die, but she didn't know why she had mistaken this height for a door.
Her withdrawal symptoms must have gotten severe. Doline needed drugs. Or at least holy water to treat her addiction. Right now! Doline took out the drugs she always carried while her hands trembled. She had been saving and saving because she had no money to buy more. She inhaled through her nose.
Hoo- haa-.
Her mind went distant. The world swirled as if mixed with paint. Hena's face distorted. It split in two, then decomposed into ten, then merged back into thirty.
Another mass appeared on the spinning palette. A blob of black paint dropped. The ink spread rapidly.
"Oh my, I made a mistake. I was told to keep her alive for two weeks."
Something black and distorted spoke. Thirteen eyes looked at Doline, and four mouths wriggled.
"But in this state, it seems there's no need to do anything?"
The distorted thing left while humming. The world remained twisted. Someone lifted Doline up. When she kicked her legs in fear, the other person identified themselves as 'Hena.' A name she had heard somewhere.
Hena, who had three circles attached to her, gripped Doline's shoulder painfully tight.
"Doline, I'll say it again. Please keep my words in mind. If you want to live, never go against the young lady. Just submit to her. The young lady is kind, so she won't question the sins you've committed."