Chapter 32
“Aaagh!”
The head maid screamed, clutching the cheek Psyche had struck.
Psyche’s knuckles ached. Judging by the torn skin, she had hit her quite hard.
Since she had punched her, she had effectively returned the blow fourfold.
“Slay! You useless bastard! Are you just going to stand there?”
“A gentleman doesn’t interfere in a fight between women.”
“You crazy idiot! Stop talking nonsense and grab her!”
The head maid’s cheek was already swelling. Psyche herself was shocked she’d produced that kind of strength, but she quickly searched for a way to escape.
Still—how had the head maid ended up like this? What happened to her face? How had she come all the way here?
There was no time to think.
“Tch, I didn’t want to get involved, but… what a filthy brawl.”
The man who had been watching from a distance was now walking toward them.
If he caught her, he would surely obey the head maid’s orders.
He held a small dagger, and his hand was big enough to easily wrap around Psyche’s face and forcefully grab her.
Psyche scrambled up. The head maid let out a beast-like groan and grabbed Psyche’s ankle.
“Where do you think you’re going? Slay! Grab her and tear her apart! That’s your job!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know… but—”
The man clicked his tongue but trailed off. Then he sniffed the air.
“The air smells… bloody.”
He muttered quietly. The head maid snapped at him.
“Deal with her before the Grand Duke’s people get here!”
Psyche knew.
Even if she managed to escape, she wouldn’t get far without being caught or hurt.
But she couldn’t just give up.
I’m going to live. I’m going to survive—intact….
She would cling to life. She would not lose her purpose or her dreams.
Sir Aster must be looking for me right now.
In fact, Psyche understood why Aster had left her alone earlier.
“Be careful, Lady Psyche.”
When he whispered in her ear and looked over her shoulder with that silent warning—
Psyche had never fully trusted him, so she watched his every small action. And she realized that there was another attendant of the Grand Duke nearby, secretly guarding her.
She had never been separated from the group by accident. Aster had stepped aside to ease Psyche’s discomfort.
I have to buy time.
Psyche gathered her scattered thoughts and reached a conclusion.
Hold on.
Find a way to escape—even alone.
“…Head Maid, I’m sorry about back then. I should’ve listened to your side too.”
“…….”
“But who did this to you? If I hadn’t dismissed you, you wouldn’t have been hurt like this.”
They had never been close, despite working together for years.
The head maid snorted at Psyche’s gentle voice, then soon twisted her face into anger.
“Don’t act noble after throwing punches! Shut your mouth, miss!”
She had struck first. Psyche had only returned what she received.
Psyche spoke again, calm and steady.
“What happened that day? And how did you get all the way to the Grand Duchy?”
“Ha! Curious, are you? Then try living in fear every day. Everything will feel like a threat!”
The head maid grew angry, but she still didn’t reveal the truth Psyche wanted.
A sharp gust of cold wind sliced across Psyche’s skin.
She was freezing. Wearing only a thin slip on a below-freezing day, crawling on the floor—her hands and feet were going numb.
Every time the cold from the ground rose up, a shiver ran through her.
Her clothes had already been taken away, even searched to make sure she had no valuables.
Psyche turned toward the thin ray of light streaming between the wooden planks over the window.
Sunlight…?
Impossible.
Yet the faint line of light swirled downward—and the moment it met Psyche’s eyes, it poured in like a waterfall.
[Psyche.]
“…….”
[Psyche.]
Someone kept calling her name.
And when she turned her head—
“Psyche.”
It was him.
Aster.
“Lady Psyche, are you all right?”
Whenever she recalled her memories, he was the man who always rose in her mind, overshadowing everything else.
He dragged a cutlass that reached his waist across the floor as he walked toward her.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Dark red blood ran down his black hair, staining his pale skin.
“…Psyche.”
His frighteningly pale face tilted. His unfocused eyes settled the moment he saw her—sharply, clearly.
“Sl–Slay! Quick, that man—w-what? Where… where is he? That bastard—!”
The masked man was nowhere. As if he had never existed, he had vanished completely.
“You won’t find any of the people you hired. I killed them all on my way here.”
A deep voice sliced through the frozen air. It was rough, scraping like a blade over stone.
“That’s impossible… they wouldn’t….”
The head maid stared at him blankly, her voice dying.
“Y-you…”
She was terrified. As Aster stepped out of the shadows, his face became clearer—and the more she saw, the more her terror grew.
“You’ve seen this face before.”
Aster muttered low.
Light and shadow framed him. For a brief moment, Psyche saw his hair gleam with brilliant silver.
And his blue eyes flared—then dimmed like those of the dead.
Silver hair?
Psyche wondered, but she couldn’t continue the thought; Aster’s gaze clung to her intensely.
Leaving the trembling head maid where she was, he walked to Psyche.
He gently held her shoulders and helped her stand properly.
A strange familiarity washed over her—like she had experienced this once before.
Even so, Aster’s warmth was enough to thaw her frozen body.
He took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders. Then he slid his leather gloves onto her cold hands himself.
The fingers were far too long for her, making her look a little silly—
but she felt warm.
“Sir Aster…”
“Please stay here for a moment, Lady Psyche. I will take you safely to the Grand Duke’s castle.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“…Ah.”
He wiped the blood on his cheek with the back of his hand. Then he gave a soft, dismissive smile.
“You won’t be able to forget any of this.”
Then his large hand covered Psyche’s vision.
Darkness fell, and she fainted.
* * *
She should not have assumed Psyche was in no danger.
Or perhaps he should admire the girl’s stubborn will to survive—how she endured such a situation without breaking.
Psyche was neither fragile nor weak. She sometimes showed unexpected strength.
“So you’ve seen the child’s face.”
“Y-you… aren’t you the Grand Duke’s messenger? Why is your hair the same color as his…?”
Aster looked down at the head maid, who was groveling on the ground, and clicked his tongue.
She had once worked as a servant in the Clement estate. She had taken money to let him into the mansion and deliver the proposal letter.
Her greedy, glistening eyes had irritated him even then—and now she had caused all this, by targeting the one girl he could not touch.
“P-please spare me! After I was thrown out of the Clement estate, a man came to me—he offered revenge! I was kicked out without a coin of payment! I only did what I was told!”
Pathetic.
Aster’s expression hardened at her fluent lies. He already knew the truth.
“The carriage accident in the snowy mountains. That was you too?”
“H-he ordered me to do it—!”
“I see.”
When he answered quietly, the head maid sobbed harder. She thought maybe he would listen.
“Then I don’t need to dirty my hands. The one who hired you hates failure. He’ll take care of you himself.”
She was the kind who chased after every scrap he dropped, stuffing it into her mouth like a starving beast.
“S-spare me! Please!”
Aster rubbed his middle and index fingers together.
Once again—
so that child could follow the trail he left and come to him.
A sharp snap echoed.
And the head maid’s screams began to fade.
