Chapter 58
“What is it?”
“I want to go out in a rowboat on the sea. After the engagement, I’ll be busy, so before the ceremony. Tomorrow or the day after.”
“Then I’ll have it prepared at once.”
“No.”
At his obedient answer, Rowena whipped her head toward him and added,
“Not with you, Killian. With my son, Damian. And one person to row for us.”
Strength entered the hand holding the reins, the tendons rising on the back of it. Rowena glanced sideways at his hand and put on a dejected expression.
“I feel as though I haven’t been able to spend much time with the child because of the engagement preparations. Is that not allowed?”
“……”
After a brief silence, permission fell in a low voice.
“Do as you like. I’ll have the boat prepared in advance.”
* * *
As preparations for the engagement ceremony neared their final stage, the invited guests began filling the spacious villa one by one.
For Rowena, who was an orphan and had no relatives, the countess volunteered to play the role of her mother.
The members of her salon, too, gladly took on the minor tasks in place of Rowena, who was busy as one of the parties to the engagement.
And so, on the eve of the engagement ceremony, checking the dress and shoes she would wear on the day itself was part of that work.
“She is ready.”
Joanne came out through the adjoining door and bowed her head to the ladies who had been waiting.
The countess sprang up from her seat, her eyes sparkling.
“Hurry and show us. I’m dying of curiosity.”
“Exactly. How lovely she must look!”
Amid the expectant voices that joined in one after another, the door slowly opened. Rowena, wearing a pale apricot engagement dress, came out of the dressing room holding Melissa’s hand. When Rowena lifted her lowered head, exclamations of admiration poured out.
“My goodness, she’s an angel.”
“I know. She looks eighteen.”
“Now I understand why His Highness is so utterly smitten.”
“If she looks like this at the engagement ceremony, the gentlemen will all go blind at the wedding.”
“You flatter me.”
Smiling awkwardly at the flood of praise, enough to make her embarrassed, Rowena looked at Countess Rachel. Recognizing the look in her eyes, the countess rose and drew everyone’s attention.
“Now, now. That’s enough praise. You’re all in charge of preparing for tomorrow night’s reception, aren’t you? Please go and make one final check.”
“And you, Countess?”
“I’ll help with just a little of the finishing touches and then follow.”
At her single word, everyone streamed out of the salon. Only then did Rowena sit down, and the countess came over to sit beside her.
“You’re so beautiful, Rowena. I’m not just saying that. Truly.”
“Thank you. It’s all thanks to you, Countess.”
“Oh my. What are you saying?”
After exchanging a few light courtesies, Rowena got to the point.
“It’s nothing else, but I’m thinking of going boating tonight.”
“Oh my. When the engagement ceremony is tomorrow?”
At the unexpected words, the countess’s eyes widened.
“Yes. Once we’re engaged, we’ll have to prepare for the wedding too, so I think I’ll become busy.”
“That’s true. You’ll be even busier than you are now. You’ll have to have an audience with Her Majesty as well.”
At her easy reply, Rowena smiled.
“Would you like to come with me?”
“With you? I’d love to.”
The countess’s face brightened as she nodded.
“When are you going?”
“Around nine-thirty tonight. I heard the sea sparkling under the moonlight is that beautiful.”
“Boating on a moonlit night…… It’s a bit unusual, but it is romantic. By the way……”
“Countess?”
The countess, who had been nodding obediently, suddenly pressed her lips shut as if something had occurred to her. Rowena was about to ask why, curious about what she intended to say, when the countess silently looked back and forth between Joanne and Melissa.
“Joanne. Melissa. Would you step out for a moment?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Only after Rowena, quick to understand the countess’s intention, sent the two of them away did the countess open her mouth again.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you this many times.”
“Tell me what?”
“About the betrothed from the womb who died in an accident.”
“……”
When a figure she had forgotten for some time was brought up, Rowena froze on the spot. The countess hesitated, unsure whether she should say this or not, then confessed.
“It was swept under the rug somehow, but there were rumors that the accident eight years ago was planned by Her Majesty. I thought you didn’t seem to know.”
“She was murdered…… Is that what you mean?”
It felt as though someone had poured cold water over the crown of her head. So shocked that she could not close her open mouth, Rowena stared at her. The countess nodded and continued in a serious voice.
“As you know, Rowena, His Highness’s marriage is not simply a marriage between families, but a matter tied to the national interest. It is that important, and that many people are involved in it. That betrothed from the womb was also a case where every factor was considered and she was selected with the utmost care.”
“Then why did she have an accident?”
“They say a ship operated by her family sank, and their house effectively fell into decline. So the most likely rumor is that, because the meaning of the match disappeared, that was why.”
“……”
“The marriage afterward was arranged by Her Majesty as well. I debated whether to tell you or not, but I thought it would be better for you to know.”
Rowena lowered her eyes.
Suddenly, she remembered what the butler had said not long ago. That in his childhood, Killian had grown up without even feeling the affection others received as a matter of course. For a moment, her heart had been stirred, but she had soon forgotten it. Whatever his past had been, he was now a man who had everything. He was neither someone she dared to pity, nor someone who would welcome such pity.
But the story that he had lost his betrothed from the womb to his aunt, the queen, was more shocking than she had expected.
Rowena, who had been frozen for a moment, at a loss for words, lifted her lowered head at a sudden thought.
“Then why am I unharmed?”
“Rowena.”
“Why is Her Majesty leaving me alone? I must be not merely displeasing to her, but a shameful existence.”
Silence fell at the reasonable question. At that moment, a man cut in, though no one knew when he had entered.
“His Highness took measures.”
It was Jenok. Startled by his sudden appearance, the two women whipped around. Jenok lowered his head briefly in apology for having startled them.
“Five years ago, Lady Rowena, you were constantly exposed to danger. You were acknowledged as his mistress, but there were eyes watching for every chance to target you. And at the end of those eyes was Her Majesty.”
“I……”
At the unexpected story, Rowena blinked. Five years ago, when she had been his mistress, she had never once thought that someone was targeting her.
“I didn’t know.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. He protected you that thoroughly.”
Nodding as if it were only natural, Jenok calmly moved his lips.
“Over the past five years, His Highness built a new power base so that he would no longer be swayed by Her Majesty. He struggled fiercely, going back and forth between foreign countries and home, to the point that there was not a single day he slept properly. As a result, he was able to obtain tacit permission for this engagement as well.”
At his tone, as if he were saying a great favor had been bestowed, the countess flared up and stepped in on Rowena’s behalf.
“Surely you are not saying that His Highness deliberately married another woman in order to protect Rowena?”
It was a sharp rebuke. Jenok faltered, then slowly shook his head.
“……
No.”
At his obedient admission, the countess snapped,
“His Highness increased his power for his own sake. The fact that he left Rowena behind, married another woman, and divorced her does not disappear.”
Rowena looked at Countess Rachel with startled eyes. From the beginning, the countess had been favorable toward her, but she had also often weighed her against Veronica as if placing them on a scale. Yet now she was even criticizing the duke she had defended so fiercely, for Rowena’s sake. Her heart ached.
“I did not intend to argue with you, Countess. If I offended either of you, I apologize.”
Raising both palms, Jenok quickly backed down. Watching the battle of wills between the two, Rowena brought the situation back in order.
“Then why did you come here?”
* * *
The place Jenok brought her to was a large, desolate building. From a distance, she had thought it was an oddly shaped stone structure, but once inside, she found it very spacious and venerable.
Her first impression was that it looked like a place where some ritual might be held. At every corner stood statues of armed knights, like gatekeepers.
She realized it was a family mausoleum only when she saw the large entrance leading underground. In front of the entrance stood the statue of an angel, one hand tragically covering its eyes as it pointed below.
“This place……”
“It is the family mausoleum of the House of Duke Devonshire.”
“His Highness is here?”
Only now did she understand why the wedding had been held on this island before. At Rowena’s question, Jenok nodded and brought a lamp from the altar facing the entrance.
“You may go down below.”
“Are you not coming with me?”
“No one may enter except permitted members of the ducal family.”
It was a place even Jenok, who had served Killian loyally for so long, was forbidden to set foot in. As Rowena hesitated, wondering whether it was truly all right for her to enter, he placed the lamp in her hand.
“Just continue straight down. The stairs are not high either, so there will be no danger.”
“……
Thank you.”
Biting her lip, Rowena descended underground step by step.
When she came down the final stair, she saw a familiar back.