Chapter 7 – Part 1

If nothing else had happened, Olivia might have asked Marsden if he could play that piece.

She didn’t know if Marsden could play the piano, but if he couldn’t, she would have asked him to show her the sheet music. No matter how harsh or mean he had been to her in the past, at that moment, Olivia was genuinely happy to hear the story behind her nickname.

“You fool.”

Olivia muttered to herself as she looked down at Marsden, whom she had hurriedly brought back to the manor.

Marsden was literally bleeding. His body was covered with fresh wounds as if slashed by knives.

“If you were an ordinary person, you would have died.”

The wounds weren’t deep, but with that much blood loss, a less resilient person could have died. As Olivia looked at Marsden, who was sleeping as if dead, she felt a whirlwind of emotions. There were so many feelings that she found it overwhelming.

“Marchioness….”

Ricardo, his butler, noticed her expression and spoke gently.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything. You wouldn’t tell me the truth anyway.”

Ricardo couldn’t respond. Olivia had witnessed Marsden being helplessly attacked, as if by an invisible assailant. Despite investigating the scene and gathering testimonies, there was no evidence that any blade had struck him.

“If this isn’t magic, then what is it? If it isn’t a curse….”

She had never imagined that this towering man could disappear like dust. Even if he left her side, she thought he would live well somewhere, dragging his large frame with him.

“D*mn it.”

Olivia turned away from Ricardo. Even though the physician had assured her that his life wasn’t in danger, she couldn’t calm down. She snapped at Ricardo, who was practically a father figure to her.

But she couldn’t apologize. If she opened her mouth again, she felt she would cry. Besides, she didn’t want to argue with anyone right now.

“He’ll be fine, Marchioness. The Duke will wake up soon.”

Ricardo tried to comfort Olivia, sensing her turmoil. Olivia could only nod in response.

“I’ll go fetch some more hot water.”

Marsden was feverish due to his wounds. Ricardo frequently changed the wet clothes, but mentioning it now was clearly to give Olivia some time to think.

“Thank you.”

Olivia barely managed to express her gratitude, as if in place of an apology. Ricardo smiled and quietly left the room.

Olivia sank into the chair Ricardo had placed by the bed. She hadn’t expected to see this man in pain in this bed again so soon.

“They’re just petty tricks. Don’t worry, let’s just eat.”

How could this be considered a tricks? If it was a curse, it was a lethal magic that could have killed an ordinary person. Even Marsden seemed unprepared for this attack, as if he hadn’t anticipated its severity.

“Buddy, …get down.”

If not, there would be no reason for him to push her away so urgently, as if worried she might get hurt too. Olivia wondered who could be a sorcerer so powerful and vile that even Marsden, the man most knowledgeable about magic in the empire, hadn’t foreseen it.

“Do you really not know?”

Olivia whispered to the unconscious Marsden. He lay there, unmoving, like a dead man. Olivia felt a surge of anger.

“Who the hell cursed you like this? I want to ask you if you have any guesses, but how can you just lie there like this? How many secrets are you hiding from me?”

She let out a bitter laugh. Her smile twisted in frustration.

“I wanted to wait until you were ready to tell me the truth, even if it was about the person who killed me. Why did I do that? I acted like a fool, smiling at you while you were falling apart.”

Olivia glared at Marsden with eyes full of conflicting emotions.

“You knew.”

“….”

“You just didn’t tell me.”

As she tracked down the sorcerer Harry had dealt with, Olivia had learned much about magic from Marsden.

A man who knew so much couldn’t have failed to anticipate this. To prove it, even before this…

“This isn’t the first time, is it? You were always wrapped in bandages, weren’t you?”

When he had hurt his shoulder in her place in prison, the abnormal amount of bandages on his body had seemed suspicious. Now she understood why Ricardo had been so reluctant about the visits.

How foolish. This man, who had never shared any significant truths with her, only spoke sweet words of love.

No wonder. She felt happy for a moment, realizing how much this man meant to her, and briefly forgot that he was always surrounded by suspicion.

Thinking back, he always wore gloves except in the bedroom. She had dismissed it as peculiar. She had become too lenient around this man.

“But if it was all to protect me, I can’t blame you.”

Olivia poked Marsden’s cheek out of habit. Despite her inner voice whispering that even his words of love were lies, she knew. Even while bleeding, this man had tried to protect her.

It was just unfortunate that they kept making the same mistakes due to their lack of honesty.

“Sorry, but I can’t watch you go through this alone anymore.”

Even if she couldn’t catch the mastermind right away, she could try to lessen the curse on him. Starting with the sorcerer Harry had dealt with.

Olivia stood up. This time, she wouldn’t leave any notes for him. When he woke up, she would have already dealt with the sorcerer herself.

“I’ll be back.”

With that, Olivia left the bedroom without looking back.

* * *

Lottie had recently been in a very bad mood. There were two main reasons for this: first, Marsden had not responded to any of her letters or telegrams; and second, her sister’s condition had been strangely off.

“She’s as anxious as ever.”

While it was normal for her to be preoccupied with Gael, today her behavior seemed oddly forced. Usually, she would be on edge until she received a response, but now she remained oddly calm even when Gael didn’t immediately reply or do as she wished.

“He’ll eventually yield to me. He loves me.”

Lottie tilted her head. If she had more peace of mind, she would have inquired further, but she was too preoccupied with thoughts of Marsden.

Later, Lottie would regret this, but that was a story for another time.

“I’ve been ignored long enough; visiting once shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

She was deciding to visit the duke’s manor that afternoon when a maid knocked on her door.

“I was about to call for you. What is it?”

“My Lady, it’s…”

The maid’s pale face gave Lottie a bad feeling.

“The Duke has been attacked unexpectedly. He’s unconscious.”

“What? When? By whom?”

“We don’t know. It happened yesterday. It was as if he had been slashed by a ghost.”

There was no reason to delay. Lottie rushed out of the room.

* * *

It was the same pattern, and coming with Glenn alone reminded her of when she had visited the count’s manor without Marsden.

She later realized that it was a bad choice, but she had enjoyed the thought of teasing Marsden.

But not this time. She wasn’t thinking of teasing anyone or making anyone anxious.

“This seems to be the place, Marchioness.”

Olivia turned her gaze in the direction Glenn indicated. This time, they brought along a knight who knew some magic. They had a hard time sneaking in without the Count of Abyss’s staff noticing, but they managed to enter the forest.

“I’ll open it.”

Knight Bay tapped the ground with his sword sheath where a ‘door’ seemed to be. He nodded towards them.

“It will take some time, so please step back.”

Though most practitioners of dark magic were gone and those who remained were clumsy, they couldn’t afford to be careless. Glenn and Bay were especially cautious, as they had nearly died when the air was thick with magic before.

‘Is he awake?’

Even amidst this, Olivia thought of Marsden. Glenn and Bay might have clicked their tongues if they knew, but it was hard to get him out of her mind.

“Are you alright, Marchioness?”

Thankfully, Glenn seemed to understand Olivia’s state of mind. She nodded weakly, and he didn’t ask further.

“It’s open.”

About thirty minutes later, Bay called them softly. Glenn, escorting Olivia, approached the door. It was dark below.

“There could be traps, so stay alert. Sorcerers use all sorts of wicked tricks to protect themselves.”

Bay lit a match to a prepared torch and shone it inside. They saw only a ladder leading down.

“I’ll go first, Marchioness. Bay, guard the Marchioness.”

“Yes, understood.”

Glenn seemed uneasy about sending his subordinate first, so he took the lead.

“Be careful, Glenn.”