The Marquis’ Lost Mistress - Chapter 26

 

The Marquis spoke slowly.

 

“One of the maids you worked with once disappeared.”

 

It was something that Marie also remembered. One day, her colleague suddenly did not go to work.

 

She was told that she had disappeared through the guild, and exactly three days later, Naira started going to work.

 

“It was my doing back then.”

 

“… …!”

 

“I didn’t do it this time, so who did it?”

 

Marie shut her mouth tightly and bowed her head. She crouched down on her body as hard as she could.

 

“Since you were not surprised, I think you’re guessing something. Can you tell me?”

 

She desperately thought in her head. Should she tell him?

 

She wondered if she could guarantee her own safety if she told him.

 

“I’ve heard stories about human trafficking going up and down lately.”

 

Marie decided not to speak. Covering her ears, closing her eyes, shutting her mouth.

 

That’s the way she’s been living up to this point.

 

“She was young and pretty, so I thought it might be dangerous. It’s unfortunate, but it’s not surprising.”

 

Theon sighed and lifted his head.

 

Human trafficking. He knew it well these days that it’s been running rampant.

 

There were several things happening on his estate, and he had to take time to deal with it while he was already busy.

 

What the maid was aiming for was precisely to find Leila, who might have been kidnapped by traffickers at the time of his trouble.

 

It must have been said with a desire for Theon to leave, but it was also true that the rumor was a concern.

 

A human shadow appeared in Theon’s eyes as he raised his head. Someone was hiding behind the curtain and looking down from the window upstairs.

 

He was too small to be an adult, perhaps a child. Come to think of it, this house was also quite large for a commoner.

 

“You seem to have a lot of family.

 

“…Yes?”

 

“The maid named Ed lived alone.”

 

Ed. The name of the maid who disappeared about a year ago, No, the maid whom the Marquis removed.

 

Marie quickly realized what the Marquis was trying to say.

 

She did not know what Ed had done wrong, but she died alone because the maid lived alone, but Marie was different.

 

“Something…”

 

Marie said, her lips trembling.

 

If the Marquis later found out about this, she would only endanger her life if she kept her mouth shut.

 

“She brought something from Miss Leila’s room.”

 

“The maid who was missing?”

 

“Yes, her.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me right away?”

 

“It was something I hadn’t seen while working, so I thought it was the child’s thing.”

[the child here points to the young maid, Naira.]

 

“What did it look like?”

 

Marie desperately recalled her memories, something small enough that Naira could hold it in her hand.

 

However, it was a little bit protruding from her hand, and at first glance it looked like…

 

“It was like a little bluish ball.”

 

Theon’s expression hardened. He recognized the characteristic of the thing that Marie said.

 

Marie, her head bowed and her body frozen, did not notice Theon’s expression.

 

Her mind was full of thoughts to let the Marquis leave the house as soon as possible.

 

“Miss Leila’s ring was unharmed, so I thought it was not a big deal…”

 

“what?”

 

Theon grabbed Marie’s shoulders with both hands.

 

“What did you say just now!”

 

“T-That, Miss Leila’s ring…”

 

“Leila’s ring was in her room?”

 

“Yes. I saw it clearly. It was a ring with a red jewel that Miss Leila usually wore.”

 

Theon shrugged off Marie’s shoulder. Then he immediately turned around and boarded the carriage.

 

Marie clasped her hands and bowed her head as she heard the horses cry and the sound of the carriage faded away.

 

“Mother! Are you okay?”

 

By the time she lifted her head at her son’s call, the carriage had long since disappeared.

 

Her legs lost strength and she slumped to the floor. Her forehead and back were wet with cold sweat.

 

Her prediction was correct. She had thought that the Marquis would be shaken if she talked about the ring.

 

When a woman leaves without the ring her lover gave her, doesn’t it mean parting?

 

Thus, when he came to ask her, it meant that he had not found the ring.

 

She said this because she wanted the Marquis to quickly leave, but she didn’t know it would work this well.

 

“If you have any problems…”

 

“Get out of here and find a place to settle.”

 

“What?”

 

“I said to find a place for your family to live. I will take care of your inheritance in advance.”

 

“What do you mean…”

 

Marie shrugged off her son and entered her room.

 

***

 

Theon returned to Leila’s house. He headed straight to Leila’s room.

 

As soon as he entered the room and looked inside, he was able to find it.

 

It was in a conspicuous place so he wondered why he hadn’t noticed it before. It was placed on the side table next to Leila’s bed.

 

“Ha…”

 

From Theon’s mouth came a sound of unclear meaning, something like a sigh, or a controlled moan.

 

He held the ring with a red jewel in his hand.

 

How could I forget this?

 

Lapis philosophorum, aka the Wise Man’s stone, was the only ring in the world that contained his blood.

 

Theon gave this ring to Leila.

 

“I’m not so arrogant to think that I can heal all the wounds in your heart, I just want you to remember that there is someone by your side when you see this.”

 

He still vividly remembers the time when Leila, who had been staring at the ring for a long time, reached out her hand to his face.

 

This was by no means a ring that anyone could forcefully remove.

 

If Leila’s body is damaged, or if the ring judges so, it will automatically exert Theon’s power.

 

If it is forcibly removed, the ring will judge as if Leila’s been hurt, and this power will be unleashed.

 

There was only one explanation for the ring lying around here.

 

Leila took off the ring herself.

 

“… Why?”

 

There is no one anywhere in this room to answer. Still, Theon asked the pointless question.

 

His questions mingled in the air and vanished in vain, with no one listening.

 

Apparently, until 47 days ago, she was here, by his side.

 

He was happy. He vowed never to let go of this happiness as he had promised in the past. So where the hell did it go wrong?

 

***

 

When he looked back on his childhood memories, the things that remained most intense were the smell of powder and perfume.

 

His mother was a famous theater actor. Once upon a time.

 

He didn’t know if this was true or not. There was no way to prove it, as his mother had told him unilaterally. The truth is, Theon’s mother at the time was not a very good actress.

 

“Mom.”

 

His mother, who had been sitting at the dressing table, dusting her face with powder, turned her back.

 

“Where are you going?”

 

She smiled brightly. That smile helped Theon not to doubt his mother’s words that she was a famous actress.

 

His mother, with her dark brown hair and green eyes, was beautiful, but she wasn’t all that special. But when she smiles, it changes. She looked so innocent that she wouldn’t even be considered a mother with a child.

 

A smile as warm as if embracing the sunlight. That was her biggest attraction.

 

“Mom is going to play.”

 

She spoke as if singing a song. She smiled, but it wasn’t that she was innocent. She acted like that.

 

“Where are you going? I want to go with you.”

 

“Oh? You’ve been quiet for a while and you’re whining again?”

 

She pursed her lips, looking troubled, as she watched the young Theon rush to her arms.

 

“Mom goes to play, but she doesn’t just play.”

 

“Then?”

 

“Make money! Your mom makes money while playing, she’s amazing, right?”

 

She lifted Theon up.

 

“The reason we are not hungry is because Mom is working hard. So you should wait for Mom calmly, alright?”

 

As she was tidying up her dress, she didn’t listen to Theon’s answer, but went out at the ringing of the bell.

 

It was a strange chubby man with a mustache who came to pick her up. The door was shut and Theon was left alone in this house as usual.

 

His mother treated Theon moderately, but if anyone asked if she loved and cared for him, she didn’t.

 

As everyone can see now, she was always busy. In particular, you would never see her at home during the night. Theon had been spending the night alone since he was only seven years old.

 

Theon’s father ended his relationship with her as soon as the mistress gave birth to a child.

 

He paid a huge child support in exchange for hiding that Theon was his child, and Theon’s mother hired a nanny with the money.

 

She used to put her child in the hands of a nanny. The nanny took care of him and let him grow up. When Theon was seven years old, she sent off the nanny.

 

It was because his mother wondered if she needed to spend the money when Theon was at an age where he could live on his own.

 

“Aren’t you curious about your dad?”

 

His mother didn’t pay much attention to Theon, but she would sometimes say these words when she was bored.

 

“You’ll probably never see your dad. But if you happen to see him, you’ll recognize him at a glance. Something like, ‘Oh, that’s my dad’.”

 

She would often talk about Theon’s father, but she never told Theon anything he was curious about.

 

“He was a nice guy. He was good-looking and tall, he was well-mannered and had a lot of money. He was the best man I’ve ever met.”

 

She just kept saying nonsense like this.

 

Although Theon was young at the time, nevertheless, listening to his mother, he realized something vaguely.

 

That his father had left him and his mother, and that his mother did not resent him in the slightest.

 

He was ignorant and young to question these facts. So he just silently listened to his mother.

 

Perhaps it was because the child’s instinct knew that the mother he loved the most did not love him.

 

He kept his mouth shut at the question of his father, fearing that he would not be loved even more because of his mother’s feelings.

 

To his mother, Theon was no different from a passing neighbor’s child, a cat digging through garbage, or a feral dog that overturned a boat when thrown at it.

 

Neither likes nor hates. When running into each other, she can say, ‘Oh, that’s cute!’ or even pet them.

 

But she doesn’t love.

 

That was the way Theon’s mother treated Theon.

 

“Why did you give birth to me?”

 

The day Theon asked the question he had been thinking for some time but never dared to ask was the day his mother abandoned him.