Duke and Duchess Reunion - Chapter 81

Chapter 81

A blonde noblewoman stepped down from a carriage adorned with the crest of the Marquis of Adenauer. The significance was obvious. The guards at the front of the guild quickly bowed and spoke in unison.

“Glory to the Empire!”

Aneta frowned at the unnecessarily loud voices as she surveyed the men before her. Their tense demeanor contrasted sharply with the idle, yawning expressions they had worn moments before.

It wasn’t hard to discern their intentions as they glanced toward the door. Aneta realized they intended to inform the guild of her arrival.

A loud crash sounded from beyond the closed door as if to confirm her suspicions. Soon after, hurried footsteps approached, and the door was flung open.

“Oh my! Welcome, Your Ladyship, the Marquis!”

The one who rushed out was none other than the guild master himself. His surprise at Aneta’s visit was brief. Bowing deeply, he quickly led her inside.

Aneta glanced around the interior as she entered. The person she had expected to see, the guild’s secretary, was nowhere in sight.

“We have a distinguished guest! Quickly, serve the tea! Yes, the one we purchased for guests!”

No sooner had Aneta sat down than the guild master began bustling about, urging his subordinates to serve her. But she was not naive enough to accept something offered by another so easily.

“No, the tea won’t be necessary.”

“It’s a pity. The new tea is truly exquisite. But what brings someone as esteemed as Your Ladyship to such a humble place?”

He wrung his hands together like a fly, his tone verging on obsequiousness.

Aneta could see the unease in the guild master’s eyes. The way he rolled his eyes, unable to meet her gaze, was a sign of someone who had something on his mind.

Aneta clicked her tongue subtly, frustrated by the guild master’s inability to mask his emotions. The urge to sigh was strong, but she suppressed it, maintaining her composed demeanor as she spoke.

“I’ve come to ask you a question, and I hope you can answer it for me.”

“Yes, yes. Ask whatever you wish. I will answer to the best of my knowledge.”

The guild master swallowed hard. He knew just as well that the only matter Aneta would inquire about was related to a specific request. Seeing the evident tension in the guild master’s expression, Aneta’s suspicions deepened.

“I’m not asking anything difficult. You just need to tell me where and how you found Ellen. By the way, it would be wise to abandon any thoughts of deceit. You know better than anyone what the consequences of lying could be.”

Aneta was certain he was hiding something. Convinced of this, she deliberately gave the impression that she already knew everything. Fortunately, the guild master, burdened by his guilt, fell for her ruse.

The moment Aneta planted the idea, the guild master shot up from his seat and dropped to his knees, his face drained of color.

Thud.

The sound of his knees hitting the floor was quite loud, but the guild master was too busy frantically bowing his head.

“I’ve committed a grave sin! The truth is, we did not find the artist ourselves!”

Aneta struggled to hide her agitation, maintaining a facade of calm. If the guild master’s words were true, then Ellen’s claim of having learned about Aneta’s proposal from a guild member would be a lie. After all, this was the only guild she had hired.

“Then who found Ellen?”

“That… we don’t know either.”

“It doesn’t make sense to say you don’t know. If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t have received a confirmation of the request through your secretary, confirming that you had completed the task.”

Moreover, the secretary had come the day after Ellen arrived at the capital. When Aneta pointed this out, the guild master, who had been bowing so low that his forehead nearly touched the ground, lifted his head.

“Pardon? Secretary? What are you talking about?”

The guild master looked genuinely bewildered by Aneta’s words.

“Our guild doesn’t have a secretary. And it was Your Ladyship who sent us the confirmation letter through your servant, wasn’t it?”

“What are you saying? Are you telling me that I sent a confirmation letter through a servant?”

“Yes. And you sent the additional payment the day after we received the confirmation.”

The guild leader still looked bewildered. Aneta felt the same sensation she had when Madam Lefevra mentioned Ellen’s name. It felt like all the blood had drained from her body.

“Then who was it that came to the mansion? I’m sure I confirmed the seal made by this guild.”

“Are you referring to this seal?”

As Aneta couldn’t easily shake off her suspicions, the guild master pulled out the guild’s seal from his pocket. Holding up the silver medal on a string, he now trembled not out of fear but out of frustration.

“That’s right. That was it.”

“This is the only one I have, and I’ve never given it to anyone! I swear on my life!”

The conversation shifted to the additional payment. The reason the guild members had been so tense upon seeing Aneta was that they knew she had mistakenly credited the wrong person for completing the task, yet they hadn’t corrected her.

Desperate to save his own life, the guild master offered to return the unjustly received payment.

Aneta didn’t think the guild master was lying. While she didn’t understand how the situation had unfolded, she could at least grasp that much.

Aneta felt as if someone had messed up her thoughts completely. It was starting to give her chills. However, there was still something she needed to confirm.

Gathering her thoughts, Aneta raised her head.

“You can keep the money. Instead, go to the post office of the Matemon Kingdom right now and check if there are any records of a letter sent to me under the name ‘Ellen.'”

“Are you assigning a new request?”

“Yes. This is your first and last chance to make up for everything. If you fail again or misuse the seal I gave you from the Marquisate, there won’t be another opportunity. So, bring the fastest and most reliable person you can find.”

“Yes, yes! Understood!”

There was no reason to hesitate. The guild master hurriedly left through the door, aiming to find someone who met Aneta’s conditions.

In the meantime, Aneta borrowed paper and a quill from the guild to draft a letter for the post office in Matemón.

If she sent a clear seal along with her signature, even if sending something was impossible, she would at least have the right to access her records. Records from the past ten years were kept meticulously, so they wouldn’t have been discarded yet.

The person the guild master brought back was a small-framed man.

He had been mulling over his lunch options when the guild master abruptly dragged him to Aneta.

After Aneta finished explaining, she gave the man six hours to complete the task. Even though the Kingdom of Matemón was a neighboring country, it was still a tight schedule, but he would be riding a horse instead of a carriage, making it a feasible mission.

As the man set off, Aneta chose to remain at the guild instead of returning to the mansion. She sat still in her seat, not moving until he returned from Matemon.

Seeing her unwavering posture, the guild master clicked his tongue, but Aneta’s mind was still in a tangle.

“Your Ladyship, Osel, has returned!”

How much time has passed? Aneta stepped out of the reception room at the guild upon hearing the guild master’s announcement that the man had returned.

Having been stationary for so long, her legs felt numb, but that was no hindrance.

As Aneta appeared, those in the guild subtly stepped back. Uninterested in them, Aneta searched for the man who had returned within the time she had set.

He rushed to her like someone crossing a desert in desperate need of water, handing her the records he had obtained along with the Marquisate’s seal.

“Here are the records you requested.”

The envelope he handed over was sealed with green wax. The stamp on it was indeed from the Matemon Kingdom post office.

Aneta hurriedly tore open the envelope.

As she unfolded the contents, an unbelievable result caught her eye.

“This can’t be.”

No matter how many times she checked, the result remained the same. Her grip tightened on the paper, crumpling it without her even noticing as she absorbed the information.

According to the records from the Matemon Kingdom’s post office, there was not a single letter sent under her name or any addressed to her estate.

Aneta recalled the letter she had received and the post office stamp she had verified. How could this be possible?

Snapping back to her senses, Aneta immediately left the guild, forgetting to even express her gratitude.

As Aneta hurried out, Clop, the coachman who had been waiting with the carriage, quickly caught on and asked,

“Where to this time, Your Ladyship?”

“Take me to Ellen’s house.”

Understanding that something serious must have happened, the coachman skillfully drove the carriage to Ellen’s residence.

Aneta stood in front of the house where she had rescued Ellen and knocked on the door. She felt no remorse for her sudden visit.

However, no matter how much she knocked or called out, there was no response from inside.

Just in case, Aneta tried the door handle. It wasn’t locked, and the door opened easily.

Swallowing hard, Aneta stepped inside through the open door.

There was no need to turn on the lights, as the sun had not yet set, allowing her to see the interior.

‘I thought nothing could surprise me anymore.’

It seemed she had been gravely mistaken, Aneta thought as she clenched her fist. Her well-manicured nails left crescent-shaped marks on her palm.

Even as her fist turned pale, Aneta did not relax her grip. If she didn’t do this, she felt she wouldn’t be able to distinguish between a dream and reality. Her sense of reality was profoundly absent.

Aneta recalled the brief visit she had made to Ellen’s house with Isabel. The space, full of signs of life as if someone lived there, now felt cold and empty, as if it had been untouched for ages.

There were no traces of anyone having lived there.

Everything was just as it had been before.

Aneta turned her head to gaze at the spot where Ellen had hung up a picture frame. There were no signs of nails anywhere.

It felt as if she were possessed by a ghost.

Now it was no longer a matter of trust.