<Chapter 26>

Part 3

When I returned to my bedroom after lunch to take a short break, I was greeted by an unusual sight.

There, kneeling on the floor and rummaging under my bed, was Temenos.

“…Huh…”

What on earth is he doing?

If it had been just me who saw this, I might have pretended not to notice and moved on. However, behind me stood a line of maids, including Alice and Monica. To make matters worse, even Kei and Cesare were there.

‘They must have all seen it, right?’

The heavy silence that fell behind me confirmed it.

I hesitated, unsure of how to handle the situation, before clearing my throat lightly so that Temenos could hear.

I realized I hadn’t done it loud enough.

“Did you drop something important last night?”

I said it, trying to protect his honor.

But as soon as my words finished, I heard a gasp from behind me. Monica, who seemed to have noticed what I’d said wrong, spoke up: “Last night, there were some urgent documents that needed to be signed under the Prospective Duchess’s name, so His Excellency the Duke briefly visited. He must’ve visited quietly to avoid any misunderstanding that could damage the Prospective Duchess’s reputation.”

“Ah…”

I nodded as if I understood, then looked at the maids and two knights around me, realizing what I had done wrong.

‘Right. Even if he’s my prospective husband, saying he came to my bedroom in the middle of the night before our wedding would damage my reputation.’

I almost ruined my own reputation while trying to protect my prospective husband’s.

I hadn’t thought about it because I wasn’t alone with Temenos last night. I silently expressed my gratitude to Monica with a brief glance.

At that moment, Temenos stood up from where he was searching and walked toward me.

“I need to speak with my prospective wife. Everyone else, please leave.”

The maids had cleaned so well that there was no dust on me, but I couldn’t help but smile at the wrinkled edges of my clothes and slightly disheveled hair.

But I was the only one who smiled. Everyone else immediately bowed their heads and fled as if they had to escape.

I was a little surprised by their reaction and watched them leave.

When Monica, the last to go, opened the door wide enough to see the hallway clearly, Temenos pulled me toward the bed.

“Wha—what are you doing……?!”

“Ferry is missing.”

“What?”

I was confused by his words, but Temenos, as he searched through the canopy of the bed, looked strangely anxious and uneasy.

It seemed Ferry’s absence was something that affected him deeply.

“Ferry is gone?”

“I gave him a room yesterday, but when I checked this morning, he was completely gone. I’ve searched all the places he could have gone, and the only place left was here.”

“So you were checking under the bed?”

Thinking back to Ferry’s behavior yesterday, it wouldn’t be surprising if he suddenly popped out from under the bed and said ‘peekaboo.’

“…Did you check behind the curtains?”

“Yes.”

“And the columns? Or the partition? What about outside the window? Maybe he’s clinging to the window ledge.”

“I’ve checked all of those.”

This man must have been a pro at hide-and-seek as a child.

“Or… is there some hidden entrance, like a secret passage, here?”

“There’s nothing like that here.”

“Then where is it?”

Temenos answered matter-of-factly, “It’s in the main castle. Once we’re married, I’ll show you where all the secret passages are.”

“Wow, really?”

A secret passage at the Duke’s castle!

Just so happened, I had business in that passage.

I had planned to sneak there after the wedding, but since Temenos is going to take me there personally, it’s a good thing.

“Wait, could Ferry have accidentally entered one of those?”

“That’s impossible. The room I assigned him doesn’t have any secret passages.”

“Hmm…”

If he’s not hiding, and didn’t accidentally end up in the wrong passage…

“Hold on.”

I retrieved a whistle from the drawer of my bedside table and blew it. Strangely, no sound came out.

“Huh? Is this broken? I don’t hear anything.”

“It’s not broken. Only Ferry and I can hear its sound.”

“Is that so?”  

Is this some kind of restricted-use magical artifact?

Satisfied that it wasn’t malfunctioning, I put the whistle away. We waited for a moment, but there was no sign of Ferry.

‘Did he wander off so far that he couldn’t hear it?’

It didn’t seem likely that his desire to repay me would vanish overnight.

“Could he have gone home for a bit? Maybe to grab his belongings, since he plans to stay here.”

“Home…”

“Since Ferry can’t speak or write, he might not have been able to leave a message. That’s probably why he just left without saying anything.”

Temenos furrowed his brow in thought before nodding.

“That’s possible.”

“If he were planning to leave permanently, he wouldn’t have given me the whistle. He’ll be back soon, so don’t worry too much.”

“…You’re right.”

He nodded again, his shoulders relaxing slightly. There was something childlike about his expression, as if he had been reassured he hadn’t been abandoned.

I remembered how he had clung to Ferry last night, murmuring “Thank goodness” over and over.

‘So Ferry really is the key figure in the prophecy.’

If that were true, it explained why Ferry hadn’t appeared in the original novel—because he had died.

‘Could Ferry’s death have been what pushed Temenos into darkness?’

I had felt it for a while, but there was a significant difference between the ‘Temenos’ from the novel and the one I was speaking to now.

In the novel, Temenos had been unstable from his first appearance, and it only worsened with time.

When Beatrice made her fourth escape attempt, he lured her into a wolf’s den and watched her suffer serious injuries without stepping in to help.

Despite her healing thanks to her divine power, he watched without blinking, even as she screamed in pain.

‘That scene felt too cruel, so I skipped straight to the ending.’

Now, I couldn’t help but wonder. If Ferry’s death truly had been the catalyst for Temenos’ change, would a similar event trigger it again?

‘Wasn’t there a point in the story where he went berserk?’

I recalled that it happened during Beatrice’s second escape attempt. Fortunately, I still had time before that event.

‘I’ll think about this later.’

“When Ferry returns, he’ll come to you first. Let me know as soon as that happens.”

I nodded readily.

“But I’m curious about one thing.”

“What is it?”

I glanced toward the hallway, where the servants were still lingering.

“Why are you being so secretive about this? Is there a reason others can’t know?”

“Ferry…”

Temenos hesitated, then closed his mouth.

“Ferry?”

“…I’ll tell you later. Once Ferry is back.”

He then added nonchalantly, “For now, just know that Ferry hasn’t been officially assigned as a guard. Don’t mention him to anyone else.”

“All right. I understand.”

I nodded, then looked up at his face, puzzled.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

In the daylight, even his white half-mask didn’t seem so eerie. Perhaps it was because his exposed right side was so handsome that the mask barely caught my attention.

‘Sure, the scaled left side might be unsettling, but with the mask on, he looks fine.’  

Or maybe this well-defined half of his face only looks good to me?

Lost in thought, I found myself staring at him more intently. Suddenly, my vision went black.

“Don’t stare if there’s no reason to.”

“Huh……”

My darkened vision quickly grew warm. That’s when I realized Temenos had covered my eyes with his hand.

‘His hand is huge.’

It wasn’t just my eyes—it covered half my face, radiating a firm, almost burning warmth.

I felt a strange fluttering sensation inside my chest and hesitated. Just as I was caught in the moment, the warmth that had enveloped my eyes disappeared in an instant, as if startled.

Feeling a bit confused by that, I blinked, and as I did, my eyes met Temenos’, who seemed flustered by his own actions, awkwardly holding his clenched fist in mid-air.

‘How is this the same cold and ruthless man from the novel?’

When I deliberately stared at him even more, Temenos looked away, as if my gaze was too much for him to endure. He probably felt like he was being reprimanded.

“I’m sorry for touching you without permission. I’m not used to people’s gazes, so I ask for your understanding.”

“Then start getting used to it.”

“Pardon?”

“You’re not planning to avoid this forever, are you? If we’re getting married, you shouldn’t be pulling your fiancée into bed in broad daylight like this.”

At those words, Temenos’ face turned bright red in an instant.
 

<To be continued>

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