Chapter 51
The Lost Necklace
“Wait, why are you—”
“Be quiet.”
Eliana covered Richard’s mouth.
Their bodies pressed together across the wall.
But Eliana, focused on Charlotte, didn’t notice.
Through the thin ceremonial clothes, she could clearly feel the soft, delicate touch of his body.
His unique scent brushed against her senses, making her head spin.
‘I’m going crazy.’
She had warned herself to be careful, yet here he was, careless.
Richard swallowed and stared into empty space.
‘Please, just go…!’
But Eliana had no concern for the man in front of her at that moment.
“Not here…?”
Charlotte, who had been searching around for a while, tilted her head when she couldn’t see Eliana, then quickly went elsewhere.
“Phew—”
Once Charlotte’s shadow disappeared, Eliana finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Duke, I guess it’s okay to leave now…”
That’s when Eliana noticed Richard’s face.
Seeing him shiver with an unusually red face jolted her back to reality.
‘Something has been…’
As she looked down, her own face, like paint spreading, turned as red as Richard’s.
“I’m sorry!”
Eliana hurriedly pulled herself away from Richard’s embrace.
“W-wait, Lady—!”
Before he could say anything, she dashed in the opposite direction of where Charlotte had disappeared.
By the time the lingering scent of her herbs floated among the dust, Richard sank to the ground.
“My dignity… ruined…”
Eliana, still feeling heat in her cheeks, fanned herself as she stepped out of the carriage.
She went straight back to the mansion after parting with Richard.
Perhaps because her face was unusually red, Emil and Helio quickly allowed her to return without question.
Though she had caused unnecessary worry, at least she escaped the awkward situation.
“My cheeks are still burning…”
She pressed her palm against her face, feeling it hot as if she had been slapped.
As the warmth slowly moved across her skin, Richard’s face suddenly came to mind.
His well-defined features flushed red, his heavy breath escaping, and… the weight she had felt near his lower body.
“Don’t think about it…!”
Eliana slapped her cheeks sharply, trying to shake off the embarrassing thoughts.
But her mind kept wandering.
She needed a cooler place to clear her head.
Following the shade of the trees, she circled around the mansion.
“Ah… hello, Lady.”
Stopping briefly under a tree, she met a knight with a cut on his lip.
The knight immediately stood straight and folded his hands politely when he saw her.
Under the dense greenery, his light brown hair shimmered faintly in the sunlight through the leaves.
His soft, round features spread shyly like a gentle puppy.
Eliana recognized him.
He was the knight who had willingly bet on her victory when she had a sparring match with Richard.
The innocent and gentle knight.
“Nice to see you again. You first saw me then, right?”
“When you say then… you mean when…?”
A strange excitement glimmered in the knight’s eyes.
“I mean when I sparred with the Duke.”
“Oh…”
The knight looked somewhat disappointed.
“Thank you for placing a bet on me. It gave me courage.”
“No, Lady! Actually, thanks to you, I won the bet…”
He trailed off awkwardly.
He seemed embarrassed to talk about that careless bet in front of her.
Eliana smiled warmly as if it was nothing.
“Luckily, you got back more than you invested, right?”
“It’s not like that…”
He stopped speaking.
Her deep, bright eyes under the sunlight were too dazzling.
The knight turned away, his face red as a radish.
‘Blood…’
Blood dripped from his torn lips.
She didn’t know if he had been hit by someone or hurt during training.
It looked pitiful as he wiped the small wound with the back of his hand without care.
Eliana took out a handkerchief and gave it to him.
“Don’t wipe it with your hands. Use this.”
“No! How could I use your handkerchief, Lady…”
“It’s just a handkerchief. You’re hurt. Here, take it.”
Shaking, the knight took it reluctantly.
“Tap lightly like this to wipe.”
Eliana demonstrated with her fingers for the knight staring blankly at the handkerchief.
Following her example, he carefully dabbed his lips.
“How did your lip get like this?”
“Ah… well…”
“If it’s difficult to say, you don’t have to.”
Eliana smiled gently.
He hesitated, so it seemed he had been treated unfairly inside.
‘I should tell Emil about this.’
No matter where she went, there were always people who couldn’t stop worrying about others.
“By the way, I don’t know your name. Could you tell me?”
She needed it to report.
“My name is Gunter, Lady!”
Gunter shouted brightly as if he had been waiting for this question.
After cooling her mind, Eliana returned to her room.
“Miss, did you take off the necklace you wore today? I can’t find it.”
Milla’s words made Eliana quickly touch around her collarbone.
Nothing.
The necklace, which had been properly around her neck before leaving the mansion, was gone.
Her hair stood on end.
“Oh, this is bad.”
It wasn’t just any necklace. Gerard had given it to her as a birthday present.
It was the first gift her brother had saved up his knight salary to buy after seven years.
Eliana’s face went pale as she searched every corner of her body.
She checked even her dress thoroughly, but the teardrop-shaped pink diamond necklace was nowhere to be found.
“What on earth was I doing?”
“Miss, calm down first.”
Milla stopped Eliana, who was struggling in self-blame, gently stroking her back.
“Try to carefully retrace your steps since leaving the mansion.”
“Steps? Steps, you say…”
Eliana recalled everything from morning to afternoon, tracing her footprints.
Mansion, carriage, temple, carriage, mansion.
No, there were small spaces in between too…
“I really don’t know where I lost it.”
“The necklace wouldn’t just break. Did you move roughly, like running or jumping?”
Come to think of it, she had run several times since meeting Charlotte.
First from the central chapel to the corridor, then back from the corridor to the chapel.
“I did run a few times, but I don’t remember when.”
“Maybe it fell in the carriage. I’ll ask the driver.”
“Thanks.”
“In the meantime, keep trying to remember if you heard anything drop.”
“I will.”
Eliana nodded weakly.
But all she could recall was running and escaping back home, and Milla had no clues either.
Eliana raised and lowered her hand in front of Richard’s door repeatedly.
Searching alone had limits.
She decided to ask people she met today to narrow the search.
Though there had been no results yet.
“Sorry, Ria. I only checked on your condition and didn’t notice anything else.”
Emil shook his head apologetically, while Helio…
“I saw it from the start. Don’t worry about what’s lost, just take care of yourself.”
They hadn’t seen it.
Now, only Richard and Gunter remained.
It would be more efficient to ask Richard, who she had met first, than Gunter, whom she had only seen after returning to the mansion.
Though seeing him again after today’s events felt a little awkward.
But what did awkwardness matter? She had lost something precious.
Eliana took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
The voice sounded a little hoarse, perhaps because it was late.
“Excuse me.”
Following Richard’s words, Eliana opened the door.
“Oh my…!”
The moment she opened the door and met Richard’s bright eyes, she screamed.
