So the Duchess Disappeared

57. A Misunderstanding

“Ugh……”

Upon waking up in the morning, her entire body felt sluggish.

A heavy sensation, as if she had emerged from being submerged in water, pervaded her whole being.

As Psyche lay still, memories of the previous night suddenly flashed through her mind, causing her to tightly shut her eyes.

“Ha……”

The sensation persisted, as if all her senses were still enveloped in flames.

‘He really must be crazy to be obsessed like this,’ Psyche thought to herself.

Slowly, she propped herself up to glance at her side.

Fortunately, it seemed he hadn’t stayed until morning, which relieved her from the need to see Clint’s face.

‘Yesterday, I……’

Psyche first groped through her memories to recall whether she had taken her contraceptive pill.

Thankfully, she remembered taking it out of habit before meeting Clint, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

She got up groggily and absentmindedly looked at herself in the mirror, only to be startled.

The reddish marks were so prominent that she could barely open her eyes to look at them.

‘Goodness……’

She swallowed dryly as she looked at the remaining marks.

Once again, scenes from the previous night flooded her mind, confusing her thoughts. In an attempt to push them away, she vigorously shook her head.

‘He’s an unpredictable man……’

She realized there were things about Clint she hadn’t known before.

His demeanor after returning from his escape was completely different, marked by an eerie obsession.

Though there were many differences from before, from Psyche’s perspective, Clint’s behavior remained utterly inexplicable.

She couldn’t understand the reason behind his almost manic obsession with her.

‘A man gone mad with desire.’

She concluded with a certain decisiveness.

❖ ❖ ❖

Rumors quickly spread in the mansion that the Duke and Duchess had a huge fight last night.

Although it was hushed, words travel faster than anything else.

Many had seen Psyche and Clint raising their voices at each other since the Emperor’s departure, so everyone secretly worried about their future.

Looking back, it was true that the Duke and Duchess had a strained relationship.

Since Psyche returned with Shilad after being absent from her position as the Duchess for a long time, their relationship seemed even more tense. Perhaps it was a natural concern.

Alexa also heard the rumor.

While walking to perform her duties as Psyche’s escort after breakfast, she happened to overhear the servants gossiping in a corner.

“Really? Did the Duke really raise his voice like that?”

“Yeah, he did. I was so surprised I left immediately.”

“Wow. I thought he had no emotions except when the knights make mistakes.”

Clint wasn’t someone who usually revealed his emotions like an emotionally charged person.

This was also influenced by his father, the previous Duke.

He taught Clint that showing emotions was for the inadequate, especially those who would rise to the position of a duke, they shouldn’t show their emotions to others.

So it was surprising that he had fought with Psyche yesterday.

He had never explosively shown his emotions like that before.

Of course, being human, it was natural for him to get angry.

“What did the Duke usually do when he got angry?”

“In fact, we’ve never seen him like that.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“I heard that before he gets angry, he just-“

One of the servants gestured as if he were choking himself with his hand.

“Yeah, we never see him angry. You’d die before you even see him like that.”

The servants shuddered as they spoke.

“I hope our Duchess is okay.”

“Yeah, me too. I thought the mansion would be more stable with the Duchess back…”

“Still, she’s the only one who can stand up to the Duke-“

The servants’ conversation suddenly stopped.

Alexa intervened abruptly between them.

“Whoa!”

“K-Knight!”

Startled by Alexa’s sudden appearance, they stopped each other from speaking.

“What’s going on?”

“….”

“Did something happen between the Duke and the Duchess?”

The moment the Emperor left yesterday, Psyche’s escort duty was suspended for the day.

Since Clint had been with Psyche continuously after the Emperor’s departure, there was no reason for him to keep her guarded.

But there seemed to be some disturbance.

“I-I’m sorry.”

One of the servants looked embarrassed. It seemed like they were caught in a situation they shouldn’t be caught in. Alexa quickly pressed on.

“Tell me everything that happened yesterday.”

Alexa, who wished for nothing more than the reconciliation of the Duke and Duchess, felt an unpleasant chill in her heart from the servants’ conversation. It was because their relationship seemed more precarious as time went on.

The servants glanced at each other, then, seeing Alexa’s stern expression, timidly began to speak.

Alexa’s face became more serious as she listened to the roughly relayed story.

“And then? What happened after that?”

“W-Well, we’re not sure.”

Nodding at the servants’ vague response, Alexa continued.

“Yeah, it’s better not to know. Be careful about speaking out of turn elsewhere; you’re likely to have your throat slit first, just as you said.”

Hoping to suppress any rumors about the Duke and Duchess, Alexa intentionally intimidated them further.

Of course, the servants of the duke’s household had received thorough training and knew better than to gossip about their masters, but Alexa couldn’t shake off her unwarranted suspicion.

With a quick acknowledgment from the servants and a bow, they disappeared in haste from Alexa’s presence.

Seeing them leave, Alexa changed her course from heading towards Psyche.

Last time, Psyche’s words lingered in her mind.

‘Can Alexa converse with the person who tried to kill her?’

Though she hadn’t been with Psyche for a very long time, Alexa knew from her demeanor that she wasn’t someone who spoke meaninglessly.

So there must be a deeper meaning to her words.

But since Psyche wouldn’t answer if she asked, Alexa decided to find the Duke instead.

She turned on her heels and headed straight for the Duke’s study.

“Come in.”

Upon receiving permission after knocking, Alexa cautiously entered the study.

Unlike usual, the Duke’s study was very dim.

Considering it was daytime, the room was completely dark.

Even with blackout curtains drawn, not a single ray of light penetrated the interior, giving off a very somber atmosphere.

“Captain Alexa.”

Alexa noticed the faint shadow of a man sitting at the desk and respectfully stood in front of him.

“Why didn’t you go to the Duchess? Why did you come to me?”

Clint’s cold voice pierced the air.

“It’s… I have something important to discuss.”

“Is that so?”

It was Alexa, who had been assigned as Psyche’s escort.

He quickly realized that she must have something to say related to Psyche.

Raising his eyebrows, Clint looked at Alexa.

In the darkness that had become familiar to him, he could still discern her expression.

It was somewhat strained. He quietly waited for Alexa to continue.

“Did you… feel anything strange after the Duchess returned?”

Unable to get straight to the point, Alexa hinted first.

“….”

Strange, huh?

That word sparked a peculiar thought in Clint’s mind.

Psyche was just a woman who had come into his life through a contract.

He had never paid attention to any changes in her behavior or anything strange about her.

But lately, she had indeed been acting oddly.

And Clint was deeply unsettled by such changes.

Being someone who had never been swayed by others’ emotions or moods, it bothered him even more.

It seemed that Psyche lost her reason whenever it was related to her.

It wasn’t what he intended to happen last night.

But the moment Psyche mentioned Shilad, everything became unclear.

The thought of her spending time alone with another man in an unknown place made his blood boil.

“Ha.”

As Clint pondered over the events of last night, he sighed involuntarily.

“What do you think, Your Highness?”

Alexa persisted in asking. But Clint didn’t want to answer. He didn’t want to be manipulated again. It was a feeling of helplessness he had never felt before.

Everything had been under his control, except her.

As Clint remained silent, Alexa continued reluctantly.

“I think the Duchess might have some misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding?”

Only then did Clint speak up.

Alexa carefully chose her words, hoping for the reconciliation of the Duke and Duchess, but also fearing that her words might lead to further misunderstandings.

“Last time, the Duchess told me something strange.”

“….”

Clint stared at Alexa in silence. Since she had become accustomed to the darkness, she could now read Clint’s expression.

Seeing him staring quietly, she added that his expression seemed to indicate that he wanted her to continue speaking.

“If the Duchess misunderstands that the Duke tried to kill her, what would you do?”

With those words, a different kind of silence descended in an instant.

T/N: I seem have made a mistake before. Im sorry Alexa is a woman if there was a chapter of Alexa being a man. It was a mistake I just found out today that I have been calling Alexa as a man and then a woman. I thought it was someone else