Episode 005
Eleanor genuinely felt like she might faint.
The villain had tracked her down while she was hiding with her nephew.
She had taken every precaution when choosing this hideout.
Though she had moved in a hurry, she carefully selected a place where outsiders rarely ventured and rumors were unlikely to spread.
Yet, her location had been uncovered so easily.
And what did he say?
I’m sorry, honey?
Please forgive me?
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else,” Eleanor said, trying to deflect the situation.
“I think you’re confusing me with another person.”
“…I know I haven’t been reliable,” Matthias replied, refusing to rise from his knees.
He looked up at her with the pitiful expression of a rain-soaked puppy.
His voice trembled slightly as he whispered earnestly.
“When my mother insulted you, I should have stood up for you properly. You must have been so hurt.”
“What are you talking about…?”
“I failed to protect you because of my shortcomings. I’m truly sorry. But please, just one more chance—can’t you give me that? I can’t live without you and our child.”
“Oh my, oh my!” Sophie, who had been watching, covered her mouth with both hands.
“To think the deadbeat who abandoned Ellie and her child was our esteemed guest!”
“L-Let’s step outside,” Eleanor stammered.
The situation was spiraling into absurdity, so she decided to escape it for now.
Outside? No, the early morning air would be too cold for the baby. Upstairs, then.
She quickly moved toward the stairs.
Stopping in the hallway, she turned to face Matthias.
“What in the world is—”
“Shh.”
Matthias pressed a finger to his lips and smiled.
He nodded toward the end of the hallway.
A faint creaking sound came from downstairs.
It seemed Sophie, unable to resist her curiosity, was eavesdropping on their conversation.
“Is it okay to talk here?” Matthias asked.
Eleanor bit her lower lip.
She wanted to argue, but she couldn’t let Sophie overhear what was about to be said.
Reluctantly, she opened the door to her room.
Matthias effortlessly followed her inside.
“The rooms all seem to have the same layout,” he remarked, whistling as he looked around.
Eleanor glared at him, her eyes brimming with wariness.
“How did you find me?” she asked stiffly.
“As a husband, I had to find my wife and child when they disappeared.”
“Please stop joking, Your Grace, Duke Hilliard.”
Eleanor was the first to reveal his identity.
The fact that he had come all this way meant he already knew everything.
As the story’s villain, Matthias had his own information network.
It must have been through that network that he uncovered her carefully hidden location.
“I’m not Your Grace’s wife, am I?”
In an instant, Matthias’s demeanor changed.
The pitiful, rain-soaked puppy vibe vanished without a trace.
Gone, too, was the image of a young husband desperately trying to win back his wife.
Standing before Eleanor now was the arrogant and strikingly beautiful Duke Matthias Hilliard, a man no one could look away from.
An intrigued smile curled his lips.
“You know who I am?”
“How could I not recognize the Empire’s only duke?”
“I’m flattered that Lady Eleanor knows me.”
“I’m more surprised that Your Grace knows my name.”
“How could I not know the Empire’s treasure? They say your contributions advanced magical technology by a century.”
Matthias spoke with honeyed words.
During her academy days, Eleanor had received offers from the Magic Tower, the temple, and even the imperial palace, but never from the Hilliard Duchy.
“I had no idea you were such a beauty. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Eleanor.”
Matthias extended his hand.
But with the baby in her arms, Eleanor didn’t take it.
It was rather rude behavior toward a duke, but Matthias merely shrugged, unbothered.
“You must be here because of Charlotte’s disappearance,” Eleanor said calmly, steering the conversation.
“But I don’t know where she is either.”
“Why would Charlotte come up all of a sudden? And she’s disappeared?”
“You came all the way to find me, hiding in Piacenna. This is just a remote rural village, far from the capital.”
“Hmm?”
“With Your Grace’s information network, there’s no way you wouldn’t know that Charlotte is no longer at the Winston estate. No matter how hard my father tries to hide it.”
‘Pretending to be clueless when you know everything.’
Eleanor inwardly scoffed at Matthias’s duplicity.
In the original story, Matthias was a character who never let go of Charlotte.
His obsession began because of the demonic energy polluting his duchy.
The demonic energy didn’t just corrupt the land—it claimed the lives of his people.
The only solution was the powerful holy energy possessed by the Saintess.
Discovering that Charlotte could purify the demonic energy with a touch, Matthias became fixated on her.
That fixation twisted into a distorted love, and he tormented her throughout the story.
‘He even schemed to kidnap Charlotte when she was about to marry the male lead.’
But ultimately, his plans failed, and he met a tragic end.
‘To come all the way to this rural village because of the heroine’s whereabouts…’
Eleanor stole a glance at Matthias.
‘Even though Charlotte ended up with the sub-male lead, it seems his obsession with her is proceeding just like in the original story.’
Matthias was the kind of man who didn’t hesitate to challenge even the Crown Prince.
But now, Charlotte had run off with a mere holy knight, not the Crown Prince.
It was like going from hunting a lion to chasing a rabbit.
There was no way he’d ever give up on Charlotte, not even if his life depended on it.
“Charlotte once mentioned you in a letter,” Eleanor began, calmly weaving a lie.
“She said Your Grace was particularly attentive to her. When I read that, I thought someone truly remarkable held my sister in high regard. So, knowing Charlotte is missing now, I assumed you’d be desperately searching for her.”
“Did Charlotte say that? That I seemed interested in her?”
In truth, Charlotte had never once mentioned Matthias in her letters.
In fact, letters from her sister had stopped entirely around the time the original story was supposed to begin.
But even a villain like Matthias couldn’t possibly know every detail of their correspondence.
Eleanor gave a polite bow.
“If my assumptions were presumptuous, I apologize.”
“No, it’s fine,” Matthias replied casually.
Since he didn’t deny anything about Charlotte, it seemed her guess that he wasn’t privy to the letters was correct.
He stared at Eleanor for a moment before asking, “You must be close with your sister?”
“Could there be an older sister who doesn’t love her kind and beautiful younger sister?”
My beautiful sister.
The one I avoided out of fear of following the original story’s path.
“I’ve always felt sorry for Charlotte. I couldn’t properly look after her while I was at the academy. So when I heard someone was caring for her, it left a strong impression, and I was grateful.”
“Haha.”
An elegant smile, as if painted with a brush, spread across his face.
Eleanor couldn’t help but think he was a man who lived up to his looks.
“Since you’re being so sincere, I’ll be honest too,” Matthias said, straightening his posture.
“As you said, I’m looking for Charlotte. Do you really not know where she is?”
“I’ve been living at the academy all this time,” Eleanor replied calmly.
“And I only returned home a month ago. By then, Charlotte had already left the estate.”
“I see.”
“If you want to find Charlotte, you’d be better off commissioning a large guild in the capital rather than searching in a rural village like this…”
“Do you think I don’t know that?”
Matthias let out a dry laugh.
But his eyes weren’t smiling.
His gaze shifted to the baby in Eleanor’s arms.
“That’s a cute child. That blonde hair looks just like Charlotte’s.”
