Chapter 23
‘Father hated this place so much that it was left abandoned… and now it’s being used like this.’
The neglected annex had been untouched except for a monthly cleaning.
It was the perfect place to hide Eleanor and the baby from the people of the main estate.
“Baby’s mother will surely have many questions. About where she is, and what’s happening outside. No matter what she asks, you are to say nothing.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do not, under any circumstances, let her leave the building. And though I doubt it will come to that—if she becomes too defiant, you may use a sedative.”
“Understood.”
“But do not touch the baby. When it comes to the baby, do whatever Miss Eleanor wishes.”
Mathias remembered it clearly—
that woman in the burning inn, asking about the baby’s safety first.
Her red eyes had gleamed brighter than the flames.
Even while choking on the acrid smoke, she had clutched his wrist so tightly her knuckles went white.
‘Now that I think about it, the baby was the same.’
When Mathias had tried to abandon Eleanor in the fire, the child had started crying loudly,
as if demanding he go back and save her.
And that image had stirred something in him—memories of his own family.
‘If Miss Eleanor had only been using the child, I would never have offered her such leniency.’
He wouldn’t have shown this much concern for the baby either.
Cute or not, it was someone else’s child.
Normally, he would have left the care of the baby to his subordinates and focused on flushing out Charlotte, who had gone into hiding.
But Mathias had personally tended to the child in the village.
As long as it didn’t overstep reason, he granted Eleanor what she wanted—
almost as though he had come to feel something for her.
“……”
Realizing that, Mathias clicked his tongue in discomfort.
He had never felt this way toward a stranger before.
He had always drawn a strict line between public duty and personal feeling.
If someone wasn’t family or one of his own subjects, he rarely showed them any compassion.
Eleanor was his first exception.
‘…Baby’s mother is just a useful piece on the board, that’s all.’
She was a woman who could help him find Charlotte.
And the information she provided was already being verified in real time.
Mathias looked at the baby in his subordinate’s arms.
“Bua.”
The baby reached toward him with a chubby hand.
Mathias stroked that tiny hand and spoke.
“Make sure the baby’s mother and child are comfortable. Attend to them with utmost care.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Report to me immediately if anything unusual happens.”
After giving his orders, Mathias turned and walked back toward the main estate—
his steps hurried, almost as if he were fleeing something.
* * *
Eleanor had been weak the first day she regained consciousness, but she recovered quickly after that.
A week later, she made a decision.
“I have to find Charlotte as soon as possible.”
Until now, she had waited, hoping Charlotte would come looking for the baby first.
But after nearly dying in that fire, her thoughts changed.
She needed to reunite the baby with her mother.
She could repent for leaving the child behind anytime—but if she died, she’d lose the chance forever.
“I want to search for my sister myself.”
“Yourself?”
“Yes. I’m fine now.”
Eleanor told Mathias her plan when he came to see her three days later.
‘He should be glad,’ she thought.
If his goal was to restore the territory, which was being increasingly corrupted day by day,
then finding Charlotte quickly was in his best interest.
But Mathias gave an unexpected answer.
“That’s not possible. Baby’s mother still needs rest.”
“What?”
Eleanor blinked in surprise.
She was perfectly healthy—what was he talking about?
“I’m not sick anymore.”
“You were unconscious for ten days.”
“The doctor said it was a mental shock. Probably from the fire. I was just startled, that’s all.”
In truth, it had been the trauma of her past life surfacing again.
Mathias frowned.
“Even so, your body was weak to begin with. That’s probably why your mind gave out.”
“I’m telling you, this is normal for me.”
“When I carried you, you were so light it was worrying. …Don’t give me that look. I had to jump out of a second-story window with you in my arms when you collapsed.”
“I know. Thank you.”
“Anyway, leave finding your sister to me. My men are already tracking her based on the information you gave.”
He rejected her offer firmly, with no room for negotiation.
“But if I go myself, we could find her faster.”
“I doubt it. Didn’t you say your sister has a holy relic? If she wants to hide, she can vanish easily. What difference would your involvement make?”
No matter how many times Eleanor insisted, his answer stayed the same.
After several attempts, she couldn’t help but grow suspicious.
“Am I… being imprisoned?”
She had suspected it for a while.
Every time she mentioned wanting to go outside, the maid serving her would panic and insist she still needed rest.
Whenever she asked questions, the maid claimed she didn’t know anything.
And she could only see Mathias when he came to her—never the other way around.
“Is this even really Ruppella?”
Mathias had said it was one of his countryside villas, but she doubted that.
The tapestries decorating every room reflected the culture of the northwestern regions.
And her instincts as a possessor told her she was in the Hilliard Duchy.
“Besides, this place was mentioned in the original novel.”
The very same place where the duke imprisoned the heroine—
the annex of the ducal estate.
Eleanor jumped to her feet and hurried to the window.
When she opened it, a cool breeze carried the scent of cedarwood.
Tall cedar trees surrounded the building, obscuring her view.
It was eerily similar to what she remembered from the novel.
In that scene, Charlotte had been trapped in a secluded building hidden by trees—
a structure nearly invisible from the outside and difficult to escape from within.
When Charlotte finally attempted to flee, she became lost in the overgrown garden that was almost a forest.
Thud.
Eleanor sank onto the chair by the window.
“Imprisoned, huh…”
There were plenty of reasons Mathias would want to keep her confined.
She was his only means of finding Charlotte—he wouldn’t want to lose that leverage.
And once he found Charlotte, she would still be useful.
His ultimate goal wasn’t just finding her, but purifying his corrupted lands through her power.
If Charlotte refused to cooperate, holding Eleanor and the baby hostage would make perfect leverage.
That was exactly the kind of man Mathias was—
a ruthless schemer who would use any means to achieve his goals.
She already knew this. None of it should have surprised her.
‘But still…’
Eleanor pressed a hand to her chest.
It wasn’t just anger at being imprisoned—it was something else.
After a moment of reflection, she realized it was disappointment.
She didn’t want to believe that the man who had risked his life to save her from a burning building…
was the same one who had locked her away.
“Get a grip.”
Eleanor slapped her cheeks lightly.
She was the one who had taken the baby from the Winston Count’s estate.
That meant it was her responsibility to protect the child—
and to reunite them with Charlotte.
‘If it comes to it, I’ll escape.’
And as someone who had read the original story—
Eleanor already knew the way out.
