🌻 🌻 🌻
THE welcoming dinner party was rather plain and inoffensive. While the meals used ingredients from the marquess’s marches, the menu itself presented classic dishes favored by the nobles of the royal capital. They were all safe choices and nothing too daring.
Our conversations were equally innocuous. We discussed the weather of the marches along with recent trends amongst the nobles. Very lightly did we touch upon the subject of investing in the railroad and the future of the project, along with how the marches would operate in the future. In fact, we barely even discussed plans to expand the railroad, the very reason why we were here in the first place.
Lucas used the knowledge and etiquette hammered into him for the past year. He always excelled in front of others and expertly maneuvered his way around his conversation with the marquess. Still, this party was a bit too plain. Indeed, I found it rather odd that our meeting was so boring.
If I were to delve deeper, we were in the house of a noble in the faction of the first prince—our enemies who surely wanted to protect the prestige of the old nobles. We were new aristocrats in the faction of the third prince, yet we were treated so well. This was anything but natural. However, if we were to consider how openly favored Lucas was by the third prince, along with his wife being the daughter of House Karelia, it was understandable.
When desserts were being brought out, Lucas found his time to switch topics. “Commoners quite admire paintings,” Lucas said. “However, I’ve been told it’s a privilege reserved only for royalty or highly esteemed nobles. I haven’t had a chance to have a painting just yet…”
“Oh, don’t you worry,” the marquess replied. “A person of your caliber, Baron Stock, surely would be able to have a painter soon.”
“I’m simply not suitable for such a privilege. However, recently, I’ve heard of a new technological advancement known as photography making its rounds in foreign lands. It’s much cheaper and doesn’t require a painter; it’s a hobby where one could mimic a noble should they have the money.”
“And you’re planning on having fun with that, I presume?”
“It’s still but a silly dream. But a nouveau riche like myself, who’s never had an official painting, isn’t quite sure what a normal painting is supposed to look like. If you don’t mind, I’d love to see a few of yours as I learn about House Diascia’s history and traditions.”
The marquess smiled. “Is that so? In that case, I shall happily oblige. I shall show you around my gallery room tomorrow. Why don’t you tour the lounge tonight? I’ve got a few paintings there.”
Lucas kept his fake smile plastered on his face. The men decided to retire to the drawing room to speak for a bit more.
“I’ll go search for any paintings of my mother,” Lucas whispered in my ear before he left. “Be careful, Iris.”
“All right. You be careful too,” I replied.
Lucas kissed my cheek to mask the fact that he was whispering in my ear and left my side. A maid approached immediately after.
“Baroness Stock, I’m sure that the long journey here has tired you,” she said. “I have a bath prepared, so please relax and enjoy.”
“Thank you,” I said, noticing that Kiki was gone. “Where has my maid gone?”
“She left to prepare the bath for you.”
I had the marquess’s maid guide me out of the dining area.
“Canopus,” Lucas ordered his butler. “You tag along with Iris.”
“Huh?” Cano replied in shock. “To the bath?”
Lucas flashed a withering look before he feigned friendliness again. “Just be on guard outside. There’s no need for you to get in the bath.”
“You idiot,” Lucas mouthed to him before he winked at me. He left with the rest of the men of House Diascia. I exchanged short words with the other ladies before they retired for their beds, and before I knew it, I was left alone with Cano and three quiet maids. The silence reminded me of the tension within the room.
“Let’s go, Cano,” I said.
“M-Most certainly,” he replied.
With my new butler in tow, I followed the quiet maids down the silent corridor with tall ceilings. None of us made a peep, and the calm party we had moments ago vanished. The hooting of the owls outside was almost deafening as it echoed within the halls.
“This isn’t right…” Cano muttered under his breath.
“Oh?” I asked.
I turned around and saw the fierce gaze of a dog. He was glancing around the walls and ceiling, his slender frame taut with tension. I followed suit and gauged my surroundings. Indeed, something was off. A manor as splendid as this should’ve been in pristine condition. And yet, the structure looked crooked and warped ever so slightly. Where is this oddity coming from? I wondered. The walls? The floor? Or… I hadn’t a clue, but I knew my next course of action.
“Oh dear!” I gasped. “I’ve forgotten something in the dining hall. I must go back.”
I turned on my heel and locked eyes with Cano as we tried to rush back from whence we came. Just then…
“Watch out!” Cano cried, tugging on my arm.
The next moment, a wall collapsed in front of me.
“Ugh…” I murmured.
My knees started to buckle from fear, but Cano pulled me up from my elbow.
“Keep it together!” he shouted, snapping me back to my senses. “We’re going down a different hall! The blueprint of the manor we saw when we entered is still fresh in my mind, and the position of the reliefs on the wall is different!”
Cano shoved the maids aside and grabbed my hand to pull me along. As we ran down the halls, he grabbed a piece of hand armor that decorated the corridor and banged against the walls with his other hand.
“Here!” he shouted. He started punching the wall with the armor using all his might. “Madam, hit this spot with anything you can find!” he yelled. “This wall can be broken through!”
“Got it!” I replied.
I gathered the hems of my dress and took off one of my stockings. I used it to cover one of the nearby decorations, improvising a slungshot. After I swung my heavy stocking around, I slammed it against the wall. It started to break with a loud crack.
“Where in the world did you learn such a barbaric way of fighting?!” Cano cried.
“Coldola,” I replied. “The stockings of the Stock Trading Company are rather sturdy.”
“The women of that company are terrifying!”
A different corridor emerged beyond the broken wall; that was our path out. Cano and I worked together to create a larger hole to wriggle through as we heard footsteps quickly approaching us. Cano checked the hole, shoved me in first, and quickly followed. The footsteps were growing louder.
“You can’t look back, madam!” Cano shouted as he pulled me along. He mumbled to himself as he took every step precisely and without hesitation. “This leads to the garden, and this path goes north…”
Something suddenly cracked beneath my feet, causing me to almost stumble. As I gasped, I realized that one of my heels had broken off, and blood trickled down my foot.
“Argh, damn it!” Cano shouted as he clicked his tongue. He easily scooped me up and ran as fast as he could. “I’ve never guarded a woman before! Madam, hold on tight to me and think of me as your husband! Be warned, I’m not nearly as strong as Sir Leik!”
“I’m sorry for being a burden,” I apologized.
“Oh my god! I’m supposed to protect you, you know! Stop apologizing about trivial matters like being a burden or whatever! It annoys me to no end! Just stay quiet and rely on me. But again, I’m really weak!”
He ran like the wind. Despite having a smaller and slenderer frame than Lucas, he wasn’t any less reliable. As he carried me, he didn’t hesitate to jump out a nearby window. Ah, the night sky and full moon look lovely tonight…
That silly thought flashed across my mind before the unpleasant sensation of falling through the air overwhelmed me. I couldn’t even muster a scream. Just as abruptly, my drop came to a stop. Cano had tied a rope to a frame and was hanging on tight. He did a bit of a wind-up and kicked through the window of the floor below. We practically tumbled into the room, but luckily, a bed had been placed by the window, breaking our fall. I wasn’t in any pain.
“Madam, are you all right?” Cano asked.
He had hugged me tightly to protect me from the sharp shards of shattered glass. The dress had exposed much of my skin, and I was defenseless.
“Thank you, Cano,” I said. “Are you all right?”
He casually brushed away the glass shards. “I’m fine. Thank goodness that this was the bedroom. But these shards are sharp, so we should wash you off later.”
“Right.” I stood up, my attention shifting to my husband. “We should save Lucas.”
Cano nodded. “I don’t think he’ll be done in so easily, but it’s still dangerous. I assume Sir Leik’s already on the move.”
I gasped as another person crossed my mind. “Where’s Kiki?!”
Cano went wide-eyed as the door to the bedroom creaked open. A man had a knife pressed against my maid as he grinned from ear to ear. He was a noble and a relative of the marquess; he’d attended tonight’s dinner party.
“I’m sorry, Lady Iris,” Kiki apologized as she wept. She was clutching her skirt with both hands. No doubt, the man determined that a fragile lady didn’t need to be restrained.
“Kiki!” I cried, instinctively rushing forward.
“Madam, it’s dangerous!” Cano shouted, grabbing my arm and holding me back.
I bit my lip and froze in place as I glared at the man. “Let go of her!” I shouted angrily. “She is my maid!”
“You’re just a regular old lady, Iris. You’ve lost the Karelia name,” the man sneered. “In exchange for you, I don’t mind letting your little maid go.”
The knife pressed against Kiki’s throat, and she jolted in terror.
“Stop that at once!” I ordered while making a million calculations in my head. I couldn’t think of a plan to escape from this mess.
“You don’t have time to think,” the man snickered. “I can kill your maid first, then finish you off, you know. What will you choose?”
“What will you do after you kill me? Lucas is…”
“Lucas Stock is biologically related to us. We’ll annul his marriage and make him our pawn.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. Lucas only safely snuck in here because this entire arrangement was a trap. If what this man said was true, my husband would be safe, but the same couldn’t be said for us.
“Guess it’s the end of the road for us, huh?” Cano muttered behind me.
“I’ll have you disappear here, Iris Karelia,” the man growled.
I heard Kiki murmur a teary, “I’m sorry.”