Chapter 44: Running Away From Richton, Who Never Misses His Prey

“I…”

I pretended to be okay, but then closed my mouth again to catch my breath. Wilhelm, who had never seen my face under the veil, pretended to know me.

This was also a perfect proof that I was Agrane. Far from relief, my mouth began to dry up due to excessive tension. If I treated him casually here, it could be disadvantageous in many ways. Let’s pretend I don’t know anything.

“Who are you?”

Wilhelm smiled softly. “You don’t have to pretend you don’t know. Even as time passes, your face remains the same.”

“Thanks to you, I almost did something terrible… Let’s go inside. It’s quite chilly.” I was relaxed when opening the door myself and entering. I also replied, imitating his smile. “I didn’t know that the prince of the Empire would know me… I really can’t believe this reality.”

“It’s reality. I don’t know if you’re talking about the reality that I know you or the reality that you act as a maid in Ingord.”

Wilhelm’s question was quite explicit. You’re trying to scoop me out. All he knows about me now is that I’m an Ingord maid. This meant that I could have the upper hand while conversing with him.

“Is it surprising for you that I’m living in Ingord?”

“It’s very surprising.”

“You are talking incomprehensibly. The reality I was talking about was the former.”

The bookstore was dark and dry. As soon as the dry air touched my skin, the door closed. A flickering lamp, an isolated space, and Wilhelm. I caught my breath as slowly as possible. Let’s forget about Agrane. From now on, I’m Susan.

“You didn’t come all the way to Ingord because of my letter, did you?”

“I wonder why you don’t think so.”

“I don’t think the letter I sent yesterday flew to the Imperial City in less than a day.”

“Isn’t it possible that I settled down in Ingord and waited impatiently for you to call me?”

It was a calm voice. Wilhelm pushed an old wooden chair towards me, and sat on a low ladder. The Wilhelm in front of me felt like a different person.

No, better yet, it suited the Wilhelm I knew for a long time. The main character of this story. A man who would overcome numerous trials and become the final winner.

A man who would cut Richton’s neck and become the Emperor. With his attitude, expression, and tone of voice, there was no sense of oppression or cool atmosphere at all. Rather, his gentlemanly dignity and arrogance were imbued in his body as if it were natural. The boy in the dream felt like an illusion.

“Can I call you Agrane?”

“No, please call me Susan. Agrane is like someone else’s name.” I answered while sitting carefully in the chair

“Even if you are not used to it, it should be yours.” He stretched out his long arms and lit a lamp on the table.

“You told me I was your relative.”

“You remember it exactly.”

“I can’t be an imperial… Then, am I the daughter of a noble family?

I asked in a voice with subtle expectations. As if I didn’t know the disgusting past of living as a dog for Wilhelm.

“Yes. Susan, you are part of the most historic family in the Grenferg Empire, and the last successor.”

“Where is that place?”

“Karold.”

There were not many maids who knew the names of the families that died many years ago. I exclaimed with an awkward expression as if I had never heard of it.

“It got destroyed after you disappeared. Karold was a family with no common relatives.”

“Oh, my. I can’t believe such a tragic thing happened.”

His face, telling an old story, looked a little bored, that is, unless it was an illusion.

“I thought you’d be a little more surprised.”

“You might have thought so. But honestly, it feels like someone else’s story.”

“That’s strange. If you truly felt like it was someone else’s business, I wouldn’t have gotten a letter from you.” There was a long shadow over the white face of prince Wilhelm.

“You know that I lost my memory.”

“How can I not know?”

“I want to ask you this. How do you know that?”

Wilhelm stared at me in the eye with his chin on his hand. I didn’t turn my head. Susan, who didn’t know the past, had no reason to avoid his gaze.

“I knew from the beginning that you were Prince Wilhelm. Can’t you imagine that I’m pretending not to know? If that’s not the case… I guess we were quite close cousins.”

Close cousin. It came out of my mouth, but I couldn’t stop the disgusting energy from coming up from my stomach.

“Miss Susan.”

“Yes.”

Wilhelm took a long breath. “When I met you in Crohertz, how I felt then….”

A faint joy appeared on the face that had endured boredom. “Miss Susan won’t know until the day she dies.”

It was a feeling I didn’t want to know, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Because Wilhelm didn’t look away from me for a second.

“So I thought about it quite a lot after receiving the letter. It was hard to immediately understand what the help you were talking about was for.”

“I wrote it down too bluntly. I’m sorry.”

“No. Helping Miss Susan is a very pleasant thought for me.”

As if he was serious, Wilhelm smiled warmly for the first time. “Because you, who lost your memory, asked me for help when you only met me for the first time…..I thought it would be such an urgent situation.”

Without answering, I patted my collar and hesitated. I hoped that the image of me reflected in his eyes would appear as lame and shallow as possible.

“Was it Duke Richton?”, asked the Prince.

“My employer is Duke Richton.”

“Ms. Susan. The employer does not teach his maid to kill.”

“No, I’m a maid. I just move according to his orders.”

“Are you afraid of him?”

Wilhelm’s voice was very sweet. He showed a relaxed and polite attitude and encouraged me not to feel as nervous as possible. Very skillfully. If I didn’t know Wilhelm from my past, I would have confessed all my feelings without hesitation.

“Who wouldn’t be afraid of His Excellency? Every time I make eye contact, I feel an unbearable sense of murder, and my legs shake inevitably.”

“Doesn’t he treat Miss Susan like a mistress?”

At that moment, my throat was blocked as if I swallowed sand. Oh, idiot Susan. After a few seconds, I noticed that my expression collapsed. Let’s not worry too much. It might be better to show an agitated appearance.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I was too blunt.”

“What does that mean?”, I asked.

This was an opportunity. An opportunity to find out about the Richton I didn’t know. Wilhelm briefly swept his tightly closed lips. I felt like he was thinking deeply about something.

“Miss Susan, listen carefully. The reason why Duke Richton is truly scary is because he plays with people in his palms.”

“I know that much.”

“You don’t know. Do you think he was just simply there from the beginning? No, the duke is a man who crawled up from a floor lower than the gutter.”

It was a remark that gave me no choice but to ridicule the Prince. You think I don’t know that the owner of the gutter was, you, Prince Wilhelm himself ?

“The Duke knows for sure what people are attracted to and what they want. And he uses it skillfully. It would be easier if the other person was a maid. Didn’t he act as if you were special to the Duke?”

But the following words made me no longer want to ridicule him.

“One day, he showed his desire, and one day he pretended that nothing had happened. He is cruel to others, but he listens to you, or he only sways in front of you.”

Even if I didn’t want to be agitated, every word Wilhelm spit out affected me. The conversation with Richton and the expressions he showed me repeatedly came to my mind and disappeared.

‘I can’t believe I’m your owner. It’s such an undeserved dream.’

‘Lady Azmaria Will asks me for marriage, so I can’t help but ask my precious lover’s intention.’

‘I only saw you and came all the way here. You can’t see yourself comfortably, alone in this endless hell. I became like this because of someone.’

As I struggled to shake it off, Berkne’s advice, which emerged from deep within my memories, covered Richton’s voice.

‘Susan. We should not close our eyes foolishly just because His Excellency considers us special. Pride is different from Ingord’s poison. It will swallow you up and make you fall down in the end.’

Wilhelm continued to speak.

“I fully understand. The favour shown to Azmaria Will is fake, and the waves of emotion shown to Miss Susan must have been with a sincere heart. It’s easy for Duke Richton, because he has been taking away and conquering what he wants in that way.”

I can’t be swayed. But I have to look swayed.

“Don’t lie. No, Richton to me….”

I covered my face and opened my tightly clenched lips. I also acknowledged that even if I pretended not to be, I was half sincere. I didn’t know about Wilhelm, but there was a big hole in his argument.

For Richton, I’m completely different from Azmaria Will or Ariel Crohertz. Unlike them, I had nothing to lose to Richton, and we shared the past through a chain called Wilhelm.

“Do you know that the Duke and Miss Susan had a relationship in the past? It’s not exactly a relationship, it’s a bad relationship. With that hand, you completely destroyed what the Duke had valued the most.”

My heart beat fast. This was because Wilhelm’s remarks were the information I had been most curious about so far. Why did Agrane receive Richton’s hatred? There was a man in front of me who knew the truth.

“What do you mean precious?”

“I can’t tell you right now. Talking to you who doesn’t remember anything will only add to your confusion.”

“I’m already confused enough. Rather, it can help me to let me know the forgotten past.”

“Help… How does it help you? If you know why Duke Richton’s hatred is directed at you, will you kneel down and apologize? Will he ever forgive you? If he doesn’t forgive, the only thing left to do will be running away. From Richton Ingord, who never misses his prey.”