Chapter 29
Huff—what if someone’s trying to kidnap me?
This was the Duke of Ferdinand’s mansion, but that didn’t mean I could completely let my guard down. Especially now, when a strange voice was calling out to me.
‘But… I want to see Mom. What do I do?’
As I stood hesitating at the door, unable to bring myself to go in—
Fwoosh!
The corner of the room lit up in an instant. Bright light poured in, overwhelming my eyes that had adapted to the dark.
“Ah!”
I reflexively shut my eyes tight, and when I opened them again, I saw something hanging on the wall.
“…What’s that?”
It was a massive frame.
So large it occupied nearly the entire wall.
The painting was covered by a curtain, but the moment I laid eyes on the frame, I felt almost entranced. I began slowly approaching it.
I completely forgot my earlier hesitation about entering the room.
Tap, tap.
In the silent room, the sound of my footsteps echoed.
I crossed the large, expansive room and stood still in front of the huge frame that took up an entire wall.
…
This was a grand painting preserved with utmost care in the Duke of Ferdinand’s mansion.
“The face you most wish to see is in there, Eve.”
That mysterious voice had brought me here.
So maybe, just maybe…
‘It might be…’
The face I most wanted to see.
Carefully, I reached my hand toward the curtain covering the painting.
Then—
Shhhhhh—!!
Just like the lights had turned on by themselves, the curtain quietly slid open on its own.
There was no need to pull or lift it.
I calmed my startled heart and waited for the curtain to open completely.
Not long after it began to move—
Clack!
The blue curtain that had been concealing the massive frame was fully drawn back.
I raised my head and looked up at the enormous painting.
And there—
“This girl is Astrid Ferdinand.”
A beautiful woman with golden hair and blue eyes, just like mine…
“She’s your mother.”
She was smiling brightly at me.
I stared blankly at the painting.
I just knew.
Even if the voice hadn’t told me, I would have recognized her instantly.
‘Mom.’
This beautiful woman in the painting was my mother.
Because—
She really looked just like me.
Dad was right.
I really was a little girl who looked a lot like my mom.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the painting.
A ticklish, strange emotion filled my heart and made it race.
What was this feeling?
Even though I was a smart and clever eight-year-old, I didn’t really understand what this emotion was.
Maybe it was because I hadn’t lived very long yet.
Or maybe there was some kind of strange power in the painting that made my heart feel this way.
Slowly, I examined the grand portrait.
Next to my mother was “Grandfather,” painted when he was younger, with black hair instead of the gray he had now.
It must have been painted when he was young.
As I stood frozen in place, unable to move or take my eyes off the portrait, the voice spoke to me again.
“What do you think, Eve?”
The voice was so gentle and kind.
“Does she look just like how you imagined your mother?”
As if it meant me no harm.
So I nodded.
“Yeah.”
Still unable to look away from the painting, I softly added,
“She looks just like I imagined…”
✦✦✦
Neil woke up.
“Ugh, what’s with this draft?”
Cold air was flowing into the room. Neil sat up with a puzzled expression.
Did I forget to close the window?
He groped around the nightstand beside the bed, found his glasses, and slipped them on.
Then he turned toward the window. It was properly shut.
“Then where’s the breeze coming from?”
He murmured in confusion and turned his head in the direction of the draft.
The air was seeping in from—
“Huh? The door?”
It wasn’t the window—it was the door that connected to the hallway.
The door had been open all along!
‘That’s odd. I’m sure I closed it.’
Even if he hadn’t, the maids constantly patrolling the halls wouldn’t have left it open if they’d noticed.
Then why had it been open?
Neil stood up with a puzzled face. He intended to shut the door and go back to bed.
He shuffled over and gently closed it himself.
Click.
The door closed smoothly.
Then he stretched his arms high above his head and yawned.
“Whew… Should I go check if my daughter’s sleeping well?”
What if she caught a cold from the draft during the night?
Worried, Neil looked over at the bed where Eve should have been sleeping.
He planned to tuck in her blanket and give her a goodnight kiss, just in case.
But—
“…Huh?”
On the bed… Eve wasn’t there.
Neil rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses and looked again at the bed where Eve should have been.
“She’s… gone.”
Sure enough, she was gone.
He rushed over in a panic and pulled back the fluffy blanket.
Eve was smaller than most girls her age, so she’d sometimes disappear completely under the covers.
But even after he removed the blanket completely, his daughter was nowhere to be found.
“Then… don’t tell me…”
Neil slowly turned his head.
At the end of his gaze was the door that had been open moments ago.
Suddenly, Neil’s mind filled with all sorts of bad thoughts.
Did she go out of the mansion on her own?
But Eve had clearly said she would sleep here tonight.
And Eve never broke a promise. If she said she’d sleep here, she meant it.
Then where did she go?
Could it be—someone kidnapped her?
Neil clutched the blanket that had gone cold without her warmth and thought of Astrid.
He remembered the things his wife often said while she was alive.
“Neil, you don’t get it. It’s more dangerous inside a ducal mansion like this.”
“Especially for our child… she might be at even more risk.”
Astrid had lived in fear that someone might steal or take “our child” away.
She was so afraid that, in her final will, she’d insisted that Eve must be raised in hiding.
At one point, Neil had wondered if he had enemies he wasn’t even aware of during his younger days—enemies Astrid feared.
Of course, it had seemed too far-fetched back then, so he’d brushed the thought aside.
But now…
“That can’t be…”
That old, dismissed suspicion now ballooned to terrifying proportions, completely overtaking Neil’s thoughts.
‘No…’
Neil’s face turned pale as he imagined every terrible possibility.
✦✦✦
The Duke of Ferdinand’s mansion was thrown into chaos.
“L-Lady Eve is missing…!”
It all began with Neil Royce’s panicked shout.
Everyone in the mansion woke up at once.
Of course, so did Siebold Ferdinand.
“…Eve is missing? What do you mean?”
“I woke up and she was gone! The door was open, too! M-Maybe someone took her—”
“Don’t say such ominous things! That’s impossible! Who could possibly breach the security of House Ferdinand?!”
Siebold shouted sharply.
Neil, face pale, nodded silently. His eyes were red.
With an expression like he might burst into tears at any moment, he said, “I’ll go look for her again…” and quickly left.
As he walked away, he wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, as if hiding tears.
