The Marquis' Lost Mistress

Chapter 24

The Man’s Circumstances (1)

The first to discover that Leila had disappeared, as she had guessed, were the maids. At first they thought she’d simply have gone out.

Leila never went out in the early hours before they even went to work.

Still, they thought so, because they had no other reason to guess.

They only felt strange when they were cleaning her room after they finished preparing breakfast.

“The room is cold.”

One of the two maids, Naira, the young maid, said.

“Does it feel like something is missing?”

Within a few days, a lot of household items in the house disappeared. It happened after Leile gave them a sudden vacation.

She said the dining ware fell because her hands slipped, or she knocked it over while cleaning the house by herself, but even if those reasons were true, too many things were gone.

But that’s not what Naira was talking about now. Leila’s room itself was terrifying.

Having cleaned Leila’s room every day for years, they quickly noticed that.

“Everything is there, but the things that Miss Leila used normally are all gone.”

“Don’t say nonsense and come out when you’re done.”

Another maid, Marie, who had been working since Leila first lived here, left the room with a cold voice.

Marie, who has been working as a maid for over 30 years, from the age of her mid-teens until now, knew very well what to look out for when she worked as a maid. One needs to block their eyes and ears. Pretending not to know, just doing what you’re told. That was the most important.

Like, for example, when the items that Leila had broken or ruined were not found in any garbage heap, she kept her mouth shut.

“Do you think we should see this?”

As they started clearing the living room, Naira made the fuss again.

“What else…”

“I think Miss Leila left it!”

Marie looked into the fireplace and stood up. She shut her mouth and walked towards the table where Naira was standing.

“It’s a note written to us. Shall we read it?”

Naira handed the paper she was holding to Marie. Marie nodded her head.

“Oh… So, she’s going on a trip… with the Marquis. For one month? I think it says for one month. Also…”

Naira stuttered and read the text inside the note.

“Ah?”

Marie, who had been listening to her, frowned, and tried to take the note from her.

“You can’t read. Just let me hold it.”

Marie fixed her gaze on the note, as if she couldn’t hear Naira.

Her eyes moved in the direction of the written letter, as if reading down the text.

“Yesterday, the Marquis suddenly made a travel offer, so they say they left in a hurry.”

“Huh?”

“As you can see, it will take about a month, and in the meantime, we should rest at home.”

“So you know how to read?”

Without answering, Marie skimmed the letters once more.

“Where did you keep the cloths?”

“Yes?”

“If the house is empty for a long time, shouldn’t it be necessary to cover the furniture with a cloth to prevent dust from accumulating?” Naira rolled her eyes at Marie’s distasteful remark.

“Is this real? Maybe there’s a problem, besides, we haven’t heard from the Marquis.”

“Then what are you going to do? Are you going to tell the Marquis directly?”

Marie said as she picked up the package on the table.

“That…”

Naira was speechless.

It was impossible to go look for the Marquis directly and talk about his mistress.

In this house, they had no choice but to wait for the Marquis or the person sent by the Marquis to deliver the message, but there was no reason to even do that when they were told to rest.

“She said that the Marquis even gave us money to rest.”

Marie unpacked the envelope and poured the contents onto the table.

As someone who works in someone else’s house, Marie thought Leila was the best person to serve because she’s not annoying.

She was headstrong at times, but she was a very good person. She was gentle and kind.

Apart from that, Marie was sad that a woman of the same age as her daughter had to live as a mistress.

‘I wish you all the best!’

Marie smiled bitterly and took her feet towards her dressing room.

Naira saw that Marie was about to move the things by herself, so she came over after checking the envelope contents.

The cloths are heavier than they thought, so she had to go and help.

***

“…?”

A strange noise was heard from the room next to the dressing room. It was Leila’s room.

Why did this noise come from a place where no one has been before? Could it be that Leila was hiding? Marie hurriedly opened the door.

“… What are you doing?”

The sound came from Naira. She was lying on the floor, with a chair fell next to her, holding something in her hand.

Marie quickly looked at the side table. She had found it when she was cleaning Leila’s room before, and was only making sure that the place had not changed. The thing was the ring Leila usually wears. It was safely in place.

“Why are you here?”

Marie raised her eyes fiercely. What the hell was that kid trying to steal here?

“I was looking if there might be a cloth here, and I fell.” Naira gave a silly laugh and hid something she was holding between her clothes.

“… You should not be here if you don’t want to be misunderstood later.”

“It’s true. Oh my, I’m going to die of pain because my feet bumped the chair.”

Marie didn’t say anything. This time she pretended not to know, she pretended she didn’t see anything, and she let it pass.

She didn’t even mention the fact that the original position of the chair that Naira stumbled into was by the window, and that her position currently was right under the chandelier.

They found the cloth in the place Naira was talking about and put it on the furniture.

“What should we do?”

As they cover the living room table with the cloth, Naira asked. What she meant was what to do with Leila’s letter.

“Can we leave it like this? Or should we keep it with us just in case?”

Marie was going to leave the letter here, but Naira made her change her mind.

Later, when the Marquis found out that Leila was gone, he could have interrogated them.

Then this letter will serve as evidence.

‘Maybe it will be of some help.’

In addition, it might help Leila if the Marquis came to them and asked the whole story. While the Marquis’ feet are bound for a while, Leila will be able to go even one step further… Marie didn’t know if the Marquis would try to find Leila.

“I will take care of it.”

“Would you like to? Here.”

Naira picked up the letter and handed it to Marie. In fact, she didn’t want to meet the Marquis.

Talking face-to-face with the Marquis did not match the life of a maid she had been living. Normally, she would have left everything to Naira.

But it seemed that sooner or later, Naira would go to a place she would never see again. Perhaps for sure. With that guess, Marie took the letter and put it in her sleeve.

They covered the table with a cloth and covered the windows.

They put out all the ingredients in the kitchen and put out the fire that had been lit while preparing breakfast.

And finally locked the door with a temporary key inside the house.

***

“Here you go.”

Naira took something out of her sleeve and handed it to the guest who had visited her.

“I brought it as soon as Miss Leila left, just like you told me to.”

Naira looked at the masked man with anticipation. Not long ago, she received a request from this person.

It was a request to secretly leave something somewhere in Leila’s room.

In return for accepting the request, she received money equivalent to half a year’s salary, and in return for performing it well, he received another amount of money. Naira didn’t know what the blue, round thing was, what its purpose was, why it was put in Leila’s room, or even who this person was.

She just put it on the chandelier in Leila’s room.

And this time, as before, the same thing has been recovered safely as asked before.

‘Marie watched for a while, but it seems that she doesn’t know.’

Naira had no doubts that she would receive the same amount of money this time as well.

“That’s right.”

Said the man who was examining a round object the size of a baby’s fist.

“Good job.”

“Then… ”

“Ah. You should be paid a reasonable price.”

Naira smiled brightly at the man’s words. That was her last memory.

A few days later, the body of a young woman floated in the river.

Her face was so badly mutilated that no one ever knew what kind of person she was during her lifetime.

***

A carriage stopped in front of Leila’s house. Theon got out of the carriage that had stopped.

Exactly 47 days after Leila’s departure, Theon came to visit Leila.

The servant who was sitting in the seat next to the driver moved his body quickly. He came out of the carriage with several packages and handed it to Theon.

“Come by 7 o’clock tomorrow morning.”

Taking the packages from the servant, Theon said.

“I understand.”

Theon took the packs in both hands and walked towards the door.

Lately, Leila has been weird. She said things that she wouldn’t normally say, and did things she wouldn’t normally do, but last time she treated him with a subtle change. In fact, it has been more than a month since she said those things, but anyway, Leila’s strange attitude caught his heart.

So he took his time to buy things she might like before coming to visit Leila.

If Leila had known, she would have told him to stay by her side for a few more hours instead of buying these things.

“… …”

Theon knocked on the door. But even after a long time passed, no sound was heard.

He knocked on the door once more, but it was the same.

He lifted his wrist and checked the time. 6 o’clock in the evening. It was too early for her to fall asleep.

Even if Leila was asleep, today was the time for the maids to remain as he came here without contacting them in advance.

Still, the house was too quiet.

He lifted his head and looked at the house. Covered windows caught his gaze.

It was then that he felt something strange.