Night of the Abandoned Duchess - Chapter 20

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Chapter 20

“If you are looking for someone… a few other ships left earlier. This is the last ship, I think she might have been on one of the earlier ones.”

“Where did the first ship go?”

“It’s going all over the place, so it’s hard to pinpoint…”

Hearing the words of the sailor, who was a bit flustered, Kyle left the pier with a thank you as a courtesy. Unlike the past, which seemed urgent and not fast, his footsteps were noticeably slowing down.

As he rode across the forest, the thought of whether Rosalind had “really” disappeared floated around like impurities.

He thought it was annoying. He didn’t want to see a face that looked like she was about to cry at any moment. It was difficult to understand why it was so futile and empty when he thought she was gone.

Kyle headed back to Rosalind’s home.

He had to know where she went.

Despite Kyle’s repeated questions, Helen just shook her head.

“…We don’t even know where she went because I told her to leave without telling me.”

Her voice was calm and clear.

Whether that was true, Baron didn’t say anything and was just guzzling alcohol. When she demanded that no one really knew where Rosalind had gone, he changed his demeanor and spoke in a distinct voice.

“As for the divorce, nothing has been agreed with me.”

“Is that so? We just decided to respect Rosalind’s will, no matter what.”

It was not known whether the ‘we’ would include her husband, Marquis Baron. Nevertheless, finding Rosalind was a top priority, so he decided to leave for now.

“Then, I’ll go back now.”

His steps out of the Castle were slower than usual. Neither the pier nor the marquisate bears any result.

Where the hell did she go…?

To be honest, it didn’t feel real.

The fact that the woman who had always worked so hard to be by his side all of a sudden disappeared, didn’t come to him at once. Not knowing where to head like that, he walked recklessly, but an old woman on the street caught his footsteps.

“…Give flowers to your wife or lover! It is a very beautiful and fresh flower.”

The appearance of the old woman shouting in all directions was not necessarily aimed at him, although Kyle stopped at the old, powerless voice.

An old woman selling flowers filling a rustic porcelain bowl with water with various flowers in it. The price was much lower than that of flower shops that officially sold flowers.

“Would you like to give flowers?”

The old woman noticed that he was interested in flowers and asked quickly. Nevertheless, his gaze was fixed only on the various kinds of flowers—a rich and beautiful flower with colorful and bright colors.

‘…As to what kind of flowers I like, you don’t even know.’

“What flowers do women usually like?”

“All women like roses. The flower language of the red rose is affection and passion.”

Red rose…

He muttered quietly in his mouth and returned to the marquisate again as if he had been possessed. Kyle, who came to visit again, made the Marchioness wonder what was going on.

He then asked the question that had been stuck in his mind.

“Can I ask you one more question?”

As he was looking at the flowers that the old woman was selling, he didn’t know why the question suddenly came to mind.

“…What kind of flower did my wife, Rosalind, like the most?”

Helen had a face that she couldn’t understand the unexpected question. However, she looked into Kyle’s serious eyes, and in a bewildered voice, calmly spat out an answer.

“…Rosalind doesn’t like flowers that much. She likes trees with large branches. She especially likes the green leaves on a summer day.”

His face turned white as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have heard.

When Kyle returned to the Castle, he began frantically rummaging through Rosalind’s chest of drawers with angry hands.

There were mostly meaningless miscellaneous items and jewels that she wore often, though he persisted as if he was looking for something in particular.

Then, as he shoved his hand deep into the last, bottom compartment of the chest of drawers, something hard was touched. When he took it out immediately, it was a small, colorful box.

He stared at the box tightly packed with jewels, and with a hopeful mind, he took his hand to the lid of the box.

The tightly locked box did not open easily. He started rummaging through the chest of drawers again.

“…Where the hell are you?”

He was at a loss to find the box, although the key was small, so he was even more at a loss.

In the first place, she wasn’t quite materialistic, so she didn’t have much furniture, and this chest of drawers was something she used every day, so he thought there must be something there.

Nevertheless, that was only an uncertain prediction.

‘You don’t know anything about who I am .’

“That wasn’t wrong.”

He muttered to himself.

One year had passed since she lived with her, but he didn’t even know what and how she spent his time often in this small room.

A bitter smile appeared on his lips. At the same time, he found a small gold key deep inside the drawer. As soon as he put it in the box, the box opened with a clicking sound. There was only one golden mask inside…

A party mask that covers from the eyes to the top of the nose.

‘…Actually, I’ve seen you before, and I’m not sure if you’ll remember it. A long time ago in the party’s garden…‘

When he remembered that voice, Kyle unknowingly dropped the box he was holding onto the floor.

Bang! The box was completely shattered with a loud, dull sound.

Fragments of the box smashed to the floor, splattered and scattered around.

‘…Your eyes are as pretty as a leaf on a summer day. I like trees more than flowers.’

He stood there, not paying attention to the fragments rubbing past him. He stood still as though time had stopped, very helplessly. As if a wave came crashing down on him, emotions he couldn’t put into words rushed in endlessly. So, without making a sound, he swallowed only her name.

Rosalind. Rosalind…

Did she really… really left me…?’

“…Rosalind.”

He called out Rosalind’s name like gasping, but there was no answer.

‘It’s been a while, but I’m thankful for it.’

Before she left the convent, Rosalind stopped by the Priests’ room to say her last goodbye. She turned to the priests and nuns, and as she bowed her head politely, they smiled softly as though in response.

‘No. We were lucky enough to have been with you for a while. May God’s blessing be with Sister always.’

Rosalind smiled softly at the friendly voice.

Although she did not stay long, she was grateful to the people of the convent and the children for their warm welcome. And, the first place she stopped after leaving the church was her own home.

She hesitated all this time because she was afraid and scared, though now, she knew it was time for her to really speak up.

Right away, she got to divorce him.

‘Because I need a woman to raise my child. So don’t make me get tired of nothing.’

‘Isn’t it better to ask for me to hold you at a time like this? If you want a child like that.’

To him, she was just a woman who would raise a child, and a tiring existence…

Even though the word divorce was very barely and painfully spoken by her, he, too, easily ignored and ridiculed her. In the meantime, the time she has suffered from the word divorce in her heart feels futile.

For a year, she struggled to be loved by him, although in the end, all that was left was a wounded heart.

So, now was the time to give up all of this.

“I…I’m thinking of getting a divorce from the Duke.”

Helen’s hand gestures stopped as she savored the tea at Rosalind’s declaration. She lifted her head and looked carefully at Rosalind.

“What do you mean…?”

“Literally. I want a divorce.”

“Crazy?”

Then, right next to her, her father’s voice resounded wildly.

Even though his voice was loud and harsh, piercing into her ears, Rosalind didn’t waver. Instead, she brought out the words she had been thinking about, and she slowly began to unravel it.

Contrary to the harsh wave of the word divorce, the voice she spit out was calm.

“In over a year of marriage, I have never been loved…”

She could feel her father’s and her mother’s eyes glaring at me, although she could only stare intently at the tea in front of her.

“I felt like a sunflower. A sunflower that only looks at the sun until it withers. Even in the scorching heat, I have to stare at the sun helplessly even though I know that it will never reach me.”

Baron furrowed his brows as if in absurdity.

“Did you come here to be such a fool? I don’t know if it was a couple fight, but marriage is not that easy. A married couple is one that has a child and lives. Whether you like it or not, you are bound to live somehow…”

“I can’t have children. I am infertile.”

“What…?”

The Marquis, who had passed her words casually, froze in an instant and stopped his words. What, what are you talking about? He barely spoke his words, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“The doctor said that there is a high probability of infertility. So, I told the Duke about it and asked for a divorce…“

Slap!

In an instant, a sharp hand flew away.

In an instant, her cheek turned to the left, but he was still huffing, raising his hand high as if his anger was not yet settled.

“What did you say? You can’t say that! Crazy girl!”

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────