Episode 17
“Why are you so stiff? Come on, let’s go inside my daughter’s house.”
Duke La Rose smiled gently and stepped into the house.
But Layla still stood frozen in place.
Her eyes slowly turned to Mabrin, who was getting off the carriage behind him. Mabrin gave her a sorry look and gently held her shoulders.
“Let’s go in, miss…”
Layla was a bother to her, but Mabrin knew better than anyone how much Layla feared the Duke.
What kind of pain must she have suffered that a five-year-old girl had nightmares every night?
Mabrin wasn’t really sorry, but she still had to look sorry. She needed to keep this job to keep earning gold.
“Haah…”
Layla, breathing heavily, tightly held Mabrin’s hand and followed her inside.
It had been 12 years. Why had he suddenly come now, after throwing her away?
Her pink eyes turned toward the Duke, who was comfortably sitting on the sofa like it was his own house.
“Why… why are you here…?”
The moment she spoke, the Duke’s face turned cold.
“Didn’t you say she doesn’t stutter anymore, Mabrin?”
“Y-yes. That’s right…”
Mabrin quickly signaled Layla with her eyes.
Layla’s shoulder flinched. She suddenly remembered how a servant named Prinel had her hair pulled for stuttering 12 years ago.
She swallowed hard. Mabrin squeezed her hand tighter, and from that warmth, a bit of courage slowly rose inside her.
Layla took a deep breath and then spoke calmly.
“I… don’t stutter anymore.”
“Hmm.”
“Mabrin helped me a lot. She… raised me well.”
She tried to speak slowly and calmly. Thankfully, she didn’t stutter.
Even so, her face was still full of nervousness.
“You’ve grown well.”
Finally, the Duke smiled again.
He looked around the house.
His wife had sent a lot of gold through Mabrin, yet the house looked quite poor.
Still, he didn’t care.
“But why… are you here?”
“So that’s what you’re most curious about. I see you’ve been asking that since earlier.”
“Well… it’s natural to ask. It’s been 12 years.”
“Right.”
The Duke gave a sharp smile.
“I came because I have a favor to ask you.”
“A favor…?”
Layla didn’t think it was a real favor.
Even though she hadn’t seen him since she was five, her instincts warned her.
Her delicate eyes trembled with worry.
The Duke stared at her and spoke.
“I hear you have good luck. And that you’re interested in medicinal herbs?”
Layla didn’t answer.
So he spoke again.
“There’s something I need you to find.”
“Something to find…?”
“Deploreo.”
Layla’s eyes widened in shock.
“Th-that’s an extremely poisonous plant! Why would you need that…?”
“You don’t need to know the reason. So—”
He locked eyes with her.
“Will you do it, or not?”
His red eyes gleamed like a beast’s.
Layla trembled slightly.
‘Deploreo’ was a powerful poison.
Unless you had the exact, rare antidote to counter it, it couldn’t be cured.
And worse, it didn’t kill quickly—it made people suffer in horrible pain.
“Answer me, Layla.”
“Haa…”
She let out a deep sigh.
The Duke was still a terrifying figure to her.
But even so, she couldn’t help someone do something that might hurt others.
“…Maybe if it were for a healing herb. But I can’t help with this…”
Her voice was soft like a mosquito’s, but it was clearly a refusal.
She felt proud—like she had broken a glass wall that trapped her for years.
“Hmmm, what should I do, then…”
But then…
“I can’t hurt my precious product… so…”
Only then did Layla realize—there wasn’t just a glass wall. There was an iron cage above it.
“I’ll just have to hurt what you care about.”
He smiled in a creepy, twisted way.
Then he drew his sword.
The blade was pointed straight at Mabrin.
“D-Duke…!”
Mabrin’s voice trembled with fear.
Was this the moment he meant earlier?
She realized too late—she had only been brought here for this reason from the beginning.
She bit her lip hard.
“N-no…!”
“Will you do it?”
“But…!”
“Then I have no choice!”
Just as his sword was about to strike Mabrin—
“I’ll do it!”
Layla shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks, and hugged Mabrin tightly.
“I’ll do it! Just please don’t hurt her…”
“Alright. You have one day.”
“What?”
Layla looked shocked.
“What do you mean?! ‘Deploreo’ isn’t something you can just find in a day…!”
“That’s fine too, Layla.”
The Duke gently patted her shoulder, smiling calmly.
“If you can’t find it, Mabrin will die. I would never kill my own blood, after all.”
“Huh…!”
“Now, go along. I’ll stay here and have some tea—just in case she tries to run away.”
He leaned back on the sofa, completely relaxed.
Layla stared at him with disbelief, then quickly turned and ran out.
She didn’t stop.
She had to find Deploreo.
Even if that poisonous plant would bring someone pain…
Less than half a day later, Layla returned to the orange-roofed cottage.
Her pale hand held out the poisonous herb to the Duke.
“Here…”
She spoke with a tired voice.
“Now please… go away.”
“Alright. But you know, Layla…”
He smiled as he took the herb.
His words weren’t finished.
“I didn’t expect you to resist me.”
“Resist? But I did what you asked…”
“No.”
His cold voice cut her off.
“You didn’t obey right away. That’s resistance.”
“But—!”
“So you must be punished.”
Before Layla could say anything more, he drew his sword again.
And this time, he stabbed Mabrin in the chest.
“Aaah!”
“Mabrin!”
Red blood splashed on the clean wooden floor Layla had scrubbed herself.
Her world turned red—then white.
Time seemed to slow down.
Still, Layla quickly ran to Mabrin and caught her in her arms.
But blood was still pouring from the wound.
“How could you… how could you do this?!”
Even after giving him the poisonous plant, this happened.
Layla, filled with rage and shock, looked up at him.
“This is your warning, Layla.”
“Hhh… sob…”
“This whole village is your weakness, isn’t it? Don’t ever talk back to me again.”
The Duke smiled gently.
“You’ll be a good girl now, won’t you?”
Layla, crying hard, nodded.
If she didn’t answer right away, he would probably burn the whole village next.
“Good. I’ll put this poison to good use.”
He laughed loudly and walked out.
As soon as he left, Layla broke down in tears and tried to stop Mabrin’s bleeding.
Maybe—just maybe—she could still save her.
She looked around quickly, searching for any herbs she had that could help with a wound like this.
“It’s… okay, miss…”
“I-I’ll fix it, I promise…”
“You… trying to be noble, huh…?”
Mabrin tightly held Layla’s hand and forced out her words.
“Acting all righteous…?”
