The Survival Strategy of the Contract Duchess - Chapter 89

Unlike Yehara’s intention to talk about Lydian’s kindness, Midienna, recalling that day, felt a lot of things boiling inside.

“Why, why not belong to no one at all?”

If that were the case, she would have at least been able to gaze at the man no one else possessed with longing, but with jealousy added to that feeling, it was too difficult to suppress.

Her lost heart, the heart that no one acknowledged as being in pain, was so sore and overwhelming.

“So, is there still no reply to what I sent? It should have arrived a few days ago.”

Midienna was now even becoming impatient. Although they didn’t exchange greetings right away that day and didn’t even make eye contact until she got on the carriage, he eventually escorted her onto the carriage, left the horse he had ridden, and rode away with her in the carriage.

What did they talk about in that carriage? What happened on the way? And back at the Duke’s residence? Did they really do everything a proper couple does?

Blinded by jealousy, the woman was burning her emotions until her mind went completely black.

Knock, knock.

“Your Majesty the Empress. It’s Millen.”

Just then, someone knocked on the door of the Empress’s reception room. Reacting to the young man’s voice and name, Midienna quickly gestured to Yehara.

She had been watching Midienna, who kept getting serious against her intentions, and after biting her lip, she approached the entrance of the reception room and opened the door as Midienna gestured.

A young man with brown hair and green eyes stood before her. For a moment, she flinched, but soon realized that he was Millen, the knight who had been secretly in charge of communication with Geranel.

He was chosen as someone with a very mid-level position among the Empress’s escort knights, who was free in terms of time and from the eyes of those around him.

Yehara felt a slight fear as Midienna, whom she had initially seen as just a modest noble lady when she first came to the Imperial Palace, began to carry out such a task in earnest.

She had a scary premonition of how far her master would take this feeling.

He came inside, walked straight to Midienna, and bowed his head.

“A message has arrived.”

“Really? The reply is faster than I thought.”

What she had been looking at earlier was the reply to the letter she had sent at first, containing her curiosity about the monsters.

And not long after, Midienna had approached again in a different direction. She had sent a letter containing the meaning of exchange by sending it through Millen. The reply had come quite quickly.

Millen gave an affirmative answer by bowing his head once more and then opened his mouth.

“He said he is grateful to see the Imperial Family’s great interest in monsters.”

He took out the letter he had been carrying in his arms and placed it on the table in front of Midienna. What words could be in that plain and ordinary envelope? There might be a promise to meet, or it might just be the basic attributes of monsters conveyed in words.

She opened the envelope, hiding her tension.

Millen and Yehara, watching her eyes as they moved down the page, read the flowing tension and watched with bated breath.

Midienna’s eyes reached the end of the letter. Under the tense gaze of the other two, the corners of her lips slowly turned upwards.

–

Kyler was on his way back from the Uhalin Forest with Dylan again today. They were returning together in a carriage today, on the road they had always traveled on their own horses.

“The number of times monsters have come down to the forest.”

“A total of five times.”

“The number of times they have attacked people.”

“Twice.”

Kyler frowned at Dylan’s answer. How should he explain this?

“Once when I went in with Sasha and once when the three of us, you and Sasha, went in.”

“That’s right.”

Dylan hesitated as he answered, as if he sympathized with Kyler’s question.

Monsters had appeared even when she hadn’t gone to the forest. There was also no regularity in such appearances. That’s why they were continuing to observe for now.

But after hearing Sasha’s story, a very small amount of regularity had emerged.

“Only twice. The sample size is too small to make such a determination.”

Dylan said that as if trying to put an end to his worries.

Dylan’s words weren’t wrong either. It was two out of only five times. Just because monsters had come down from the forest five times, they could control the forest and prevent people from coming and going, but just because monsters showed aggression when she entered the forest twice, they couldn’t blame Sasha for it.

“Still, if there’s a possibility, it’s right to investigate.”

Kyler said firmly. Because suspecting such a connection wasn’t about thinking of Sasha as a bad person or speaking badly of her.

Even if she was the mastermind who controlled the monsters, he was going to protect her. He didn’t tell others even that inner thought.

“If we include today, that’s a total of six appearances. No aggression!”

Today, he and Dylan met a monster on the way into the forest. Only one was standing there as if it had been dropped, looking around.

Having seen them for so long, he seemed to know roughly what those actions meant. And they unexpectedly didn’t attack people at all.

The monster they had seen when they went in with Sasha was exactly the behavioral characteristic of the monsters they knew well. It was common for them to scream, fall to the ground, and attack all the humans in front of them.

But the monster they met today wasn’t like that. The monster, which seemed to be looking for something while looking around, turned its eyes away after discovering Kyler and Dylan. The monster, which didn’t care what they did, seemed to be looking around for a while and then moved back towards the mountain range.

The two stood and watched the monster’s back in a daze. Both of them had a history of being attacked by monsters in the forest, so it took them a little time to accept this.

After that, the inside of the carriage was filled with silence. A lot of time passed as both of them were deep in thought, and the carriage ran as if flowing into the Duke’s residence without fail.

“Duke, have you returned? It’s still early for dinner, so shall I prepare the bathwater first?”

Pavon was standing at the entrance. And the butler was handing over the usual things that the head maid would hand over directly.

Kyler immediately noticed the strangeness. The word ‘bathwater’ heard in Pavon’s voice was extremely awkward.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Duke. Rose is currently out in the downtown area with Sasha. She said she would be back before sunset.”

Dylan, who had just gotten out of the carriage, was checking the carriage, and sending the carriage off with the coachman, also heard Pavon’s words, and he felt him glancing over here.

It must be because they were talking about the connection with Sasha. It might be because he was constantly filling his head with her.

“Pavon.”

“Yes, Duke.”

“Duke!”

Dylan called out urgently to Kyler, who immediately called the butler’s name. But because he knew what his true feelings were, he bit his lip and nodded.

“Can you tell me what days Sasha has left the mansion recently?”

While Pavon was bewildered, Dylan took out a small notebook from his waist. He had taken it out briefly earlier when he said it was the sixth time in the carriage today.

Pavon, feeling that the atmosphere between the two was unusual, moved his eyes for a moment and carefully examined the two.

“I haven’t memorized it, but I have recorded it. May I take it to your office?”

In the atmosphere surrounded by tension, the three men began to move their feet. Kyler and Dylan to the office, Pavon to his room.

“Duke, could it be.”

As the sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway, Dylan spoke urgently without even reaching the office. But he was only urgent and couldn’t finish the sentence properly.

Kyler kept his mouth shut without slowing down the pace of his feet walking to the office.

He had already made up his mind since the carriage. It wasn’t about suspecting her, but about trying to find a connection with her. If there was something, he had to know it properly to be able to protect her.

Rather, he had to know before anyone else.

The story that she might be able to communicate with monsters was something only she and I knew. If what he was thinking now was right, he shouldn’t delay.

The two had already taken their seats in the office. Dylan, who couldn’t help but be worried, was looking at him with an anxious face, but there was no wavering on Kyler’s face.

He had never been wrong. Even if he was wrong, it had never been a problem. He was a person who carefully chose the right path, and if he went down the wrong path, he would either turn back or make that path right.

‘Besides, he was really sincere with his wife.’

He could also tell because he had been watching for a long time. He had been worried that the Emperor had just brought anyone to the hastily arranged wedding, but he was currently treating Sasha with genuine sincerity.

The two looked so good together, that’s why he was more worried and more cautious.

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