# 134
134. Met the Count Again (3)
"There was another reason."
After pacing around the room once, Vincent continued speaking. I glanced at him.
"The question of why I looked for you in that way. As I kept wasting time, my thoughts gradually changed. I started thinking that the real you might look different from what you told me."
My heart sank. Even though my secret was already out, my body trembled with anxiety as if I had done something wrong. My palms felt sweaty, so I subtly wiped them on my skirt. I tried my best to act calm.
"I thought you said you weren't suspicious."
"I don't want to hear that from the person who deceived me."
At his resentful gaze, I backed down first.
"Because I couldn't find you for a long time, I even considered the worst-case scenarios. Looking back, you particularly hated having your face touched. I thought there might be a reason for that, and at the same time, I found it suspicious. When I asked what you looked like, you answered right away, didn't you? And in quite detail, too."
"……."
"So I suspected it might be someone around you."
So that's why he made appearance a condition. If it was the real me, he would find me, and even if it wasn't, I might get caught if I was nearby. It was a better bet than blindly searching for someone. And indeed, that was how I ended up here.
A sudden chill ran down my spine. He was searching for me more cunningly than I had thought. The thought crossed my mind that whether my lie was discovered or not, he would have eventually found me. I vigorously rubbed the goosebumps on my forearm.
"What else do you want to ask?"
Vincent broke the stiff atmosphere. Whether he intended to resolve all my curiosities this time, or whether he genuinely just wanted to have a conversation, Vincent was doing me a favor.
"Um, I heard that the butler left."
"Who did you hear that from?"
"Just... I happened to briefly meet someone I know here and heard about it."
"I was the only fool."
Vincent lightly mocked himself. For some reason, that reproach seemed directed at me. I flinched and readjusted my grip on the broom.
"Did you really fire the butler?"
"Yes."
"Was it because of me?"
"That was part of it, but it's because he dared to wield my authority without my permission."
The word 'dared' resonated differently.
"You said he worked for the family for a long time..."
"He crossed a line he shouldn't have. Judgments based on necessity can happen, but wielding my authority without permission under the pretext of doing it for me is a different matter. He tried to dispose of you without even giving me a single word of notice, and that means he could have committed many other acts behind my back. In my household, without my permission, and as a mere servant at that."
Vincent smiled coldly. His voice lacked any inflection, which made it sound all the more chilling. And to me, it felt like a warning, forcing me to stiffen and tense up.
The atmosphere grew even heavier. Sensing my tension, Vincent let out a deep sigh.
"What else."
I hesitated before asking another question.
"About Lady Isabella..."
"I don't know her circumstances well either. I only know that she suddenly quit. Since it was around the same time you disappeared, I wondered if it had something to do with you, but seeing your face, it seems I was right."
My worry for Isabella must have shown on my face despite my tension. At his pointing it out, I swept a hand across my cheek before moving the broom again.
If even he doesn't know, I really won't be able to find out any news about Isabella. I wanted to at least know whether she was alive or dead.
There are a few things from five years ago that I still vividly remember. One of them was my final moment with Isabella. Leaving her behind after she saved me and running away alone still lingered in my heart like leftover branches. Someone's sacrifice. The thought that I might have survived by sacrificing even Isabella made me want to know about her life or death all the more.
I stood still, recalling Isabella, when I suddenly noticed the room had gone quiet. Vincent, whom I thought would tease me about watching an entertaining spectacle again, somehow had a dazed expression on his face. He kept blinking earlier, and looking at him now, he seemed tired.
"Did you really not sleep well?"
"Yeah."
"Then go to the bed and get some shut-eye for a bit."
It was Robert's room, but since it was a guest room anyway, the bed was spacious enough for a grown man to sleep on. When I pointed toward the bed with my hand, Vincent glanced at it, slowly closed and opened his eyes once, and replied.
"I don't want to."
"I'm not going anywhere. It'll take quite a while to clean this room."
Shaking his head with a visibly drowsy face, Vincent refused. However, his body was half-lying on the sofa. His legs were sticking out of the sofa in an uncomfortable posture, but he didn't seem inclined to move. He might fall asleep like that. Thinking I should at least cover him with a sheet, I focused on cleaning again.
"Nothing else you want to ask?"
"Later."
We had been babbling on until just a moment ago, but I decided to stay quiet so he could fall asleep. I could always ask about my curiosities later. Later... I let out a soft laugh. Less than a full day had passed since our reunion last night, and I was already thinking about a 'later' with him.
The human heart is so fickle. I had been terrified and running away, yet funnily enough, as I listened to Vincent's stories, I felt inwardly relieved. I rejoiced that he recognized me. Just one thing changed, and so much became different. And I felt so ridiculous trying to get used to it.
Then, Vincent suddenly burst into laughter.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Being like this with you reminds me of the old days."
He had closed his eyes at some point. A smile spread across his face.
"Back then, you must have stayed by my side like this. Cleaning up my messy room and preparing to serve me."
His voice paused briefly, as if reminiscing about memories from five years ago. But as time passed, the smile gradually disappeared from his face, and his brow furrowed in displeasure.
"Back then, you really..."
Vincent trailed off, but I could feel the emotions he had firmly suppressed inside. Mostly on the bad side. No, why stop mid-sentence?
"You were quite... *wonderful* back then too, Master."
I barely held back from blurting out, *You were a real piece of work back then too, Master.* Vincent opened his eyes and glared at me fiercely. I didn't back down and glared back. What? Why.
"You were so audacious right from the start."
"Thanks to that, you're able to live so well now, Master."
"Are you saying you did a good job?"
"I'm saying thank you for the compliment."
"It wasn't a compliment."
"If it wasn't, then it can't be helped."
I replied shamelessly. Actually, I was afraid he might punish me even now, asking, *How dare you do that to me back then?* so I stubbornly maintained that attitude.
Vincent let out a hollow laugh.
"At first, I wondered how the hell someone like you could exist."
Now he's outright cursing. But I somewhat agreed. I also thought to myself how such an outrageous person could exist in this world.
"Not knowing fear and acting so unreasonably, while shamelessly talking back—it was absurd."
When he threw things and flipped his meals, it was beyond absurd; it was infuriating.
"Watching you secretly read the room amidst all that was funny."
When he suddenly pointed a gun at me, I was so startled.
"You even offered to read me a book, regardless of my intentions."
Um, I had nothing to say to that. Still, I tried my best to read well for him.
He carefully mulled over his past memories. I grumbled inwardly as I listened to him. Even thinking about it now, I really went through hell five years ago. I must have been destined to suffer wherever I went, as I couldn't even find peace working as a servant in a noble house. I even had gruel poured over my head. Suddenly, I wanted to pat myself on the back.
"Coming to visit me at night to suddenly comfort me, telling me to have courage. What do you even know? It's ridiculous."
"……."
His complaints continued to flow. However, contrary to his sullen tone, the corners of Vincent's lips were relaxed. A warm light settled in his emerald eyes.
"When Ethan came, you told me to try walking out of the room on my own. When Violet came, you even put on a strange play, and I listened to useless advice, and Lucas... Lucas too..."
Vincent's voice gradually faded. His face, stripped of both smile and warmth in an instant, was expressionless and still. His face, which didn't even let out a small breath, somehow seemed unsettling.
"I wonder if I should have had a proper conversation with you back then."
His low voice carried a hint of regret. The regret that if they had conversed a bit more properly five years ago, this very moment might have been different. Perhaps his sudden offer to talk stemmed from such feelings.
I had also thought about that. If I hadn't run away like that five years ago and instead returned to this mansion, if I had trusted and relied on Vincent a bit more, wouldn't the situation be different now? And Lucas too...
But I soon shook my head. No matter how much I regretted it, what had happened, had happened.
I watched him quietly before opening my mouth.
"We can still talk now."
Vincent raised his eyes.
"Now?"
"Yes, now. Even if it's just now, let's talk a lot."
What's so hard about having a conversation? Instead of needlessly regretting the past, wouldn't it be better to have a proper talk now?
In the end, I reunited with him like this, and he recognized me. The past me didn't know I would leave the mansion in such a way, and I couldn't have even imagined that I would be able to share a space with Vincent and talk again like this.
No one knows how life will turn out. Since what's done cannot be undone, rather than worrying about an unpredictable future, wouldn't it be better to be faithful to this very moment?
Vincent chuckled softly as he chewed on my words.
"Yeah. You're right."
"……."
"We can still talk now."
*That's all it takes.* As if making a vow, Vincent said those words, then sank deep into the sofa and closed his eyes. He must be trying to get some sleep. It would be better to lie comfortably on the bed, but he stubbornly insisted on the sofa.
"Don't go anywhere."
Vincent said in a voice dripping with drowsiness. I watched over him as his breathing gradually evened out and he fell asleep, then I fetched a sheet and gently draped it over his body.