Chapter 124: CHAPTER 124
"Thank you for the words. Then I'd like to ask you a favor."
"That's nice to hear."
"Ca-can you give me the hot pot that Lizzy brought? It's so cold. . . . ."
Maybe because I was overwhelmed before, and now I have a runny nose. Only then, Killian seemed to have realized about my condition.
"Take off that coat! No matter how hard you try to disguise it, but somewhere like this. . . . "
Killian told me to take off my coat and then took off the fur coat he was wearing as well. And as he put it on me, he grabbed my arm to steady me as I stumbled.
"Ahhh!"
I screamed without realizing it. it was because he accidentally touched the spot where Sophia had whipped, and that was the most painful part. I was panting in pain until I broke into a cold sweat, and Killian's expression looked worse than mine.
"Go and call the congressman right now! Hurry."
Among the knights standing in the distance at his shouted, the youngest knight, rushed out. Lizzy, who was watching this, looked at Killian in confusion with a tear stained face. Well, it's self-inflicted, but she was bleeding, too.
"Lizzy, you should go and show it to the congressman, too."
Cliff wrapped his arms around her shoulder and spoke soothing words, but Lizzy's devastated expression didn't improve. But suddenly, my eyes seemed to flip over and I felt dizzy. Then Killian hugged me.
"How much did you get hurt. . . ."
I couldn't tell if his voice was complaining or worried, that was all I could hear. Because i felt like my whole body was falling to the floor and I lost consciousness again. But unlike before, I felt comfortable. Because I was sure Killian would protect me while I lost consciousness. I fell into a deep sleep with peace of mind.
* * *
Killian suffered from extreme regret and self-blame as he held the collapsed Edith out of the prison and laid her in his room.
'I was so stupid. I'm the dumbest one in duke Ludwig's family!'
I was so angry at myself for not realizing Edith's situation that I wanted to beat myself up. I was angry at Lizzy to. I don't understand why Lizzy tried to frame Edith, but if he didn't slove Edith situation at that times, she might have been taken back to the execution ground. No, Cliff, who believed that Edith almost caused something terrible happen to Lizzy, he might done anything to cut off Edith's head. As he gazed at Edith's pale face in miserable thought, one of the knights who had arrested her came in carrying a cheap leather bag.
"This is the bag that Miss Edith had when I found her at the carriage station."
"Did anyone check this?"
"No. I brought it as it is."
"Alright. Leave it there and get out."
When the knight greets him and left, the room became quiet again. Killian glanced at Edith and carefully opened the bag. And when he checked the stuff inside her beg, he spat out a loud sigh without realizing it.
"Oh, my. . . . !"
Tears dropped in his eyes. At the top of the bag, three small potatoes that had cooled off were wrapped in paper. Killian, who didn't know much about common people life style, but he knew that these were potatoes sold as a snack at the carriage station.
"Did you have this for a meal? It's just something like this. . . . ?"
I felt like my heart was being squeezed. A woman who suffered from ruthless assault and trembling in cold, couldn't even eat properly because she was afraid being thrown into the fire if she was caught.
I was suffocating to think that she carrying those cheap potatoes in paper bags that only commoners people eat it and warming her hands with the warmth of that thing.
"Damn. . . ."
When Killian saw some of her stuff neatly packed inside the bag, Killian's heart became more ached. As if to avoid being noticed, she bought some rough clothes, a clothes that only commoners people would wear it and some travel tools such as a portable lamp, flint and a utility knife. All of them are sloppy stuff, and if she had started her long distance journey only relying on stuff like this, it's clear that Edith would have suffered indescribably. Just thinking about that alone, he lost of words.
'How did Edith feel when she packed this stuff?'
I feel like I know it without having to think about it for a long time. Maybe, she was lonely enough to die. So, she must have thought of going far away from here and head to the long-distance carriage station, but chose to come back here to die. Killian squeezed his chest as he imagined Edith's in cold alone with her broken heart. His heart ached even more as if stabbed by a sharp knife.
'There's no one in this world on Edith's side. Her family members also tried to kill her, even my own family didn't care about her. Don't you want to kill me, because I'm your husband but i always rejected you and took other woman side. . . . .'
There is no need to blames the Riegelhoff family, because Ludwig's family also did something they shouldn't have done to her. When did they ever favor their daughter-in-law, Edith, more than Lizzy? No, on the contrary, they all busy doubting the incident that happened in the mansion. He also heard a report from the watchman that everyone in the mansion keeps their distance from Edith, because their owner also like that. At the time, everyone thought it was Edith's fault. So stupid. . . . .
At that moment while he thinking like that, the maid named Anna suddenly came to his mind.
". . . . .In Meanwhile, Master Cliff has interrogated all the residents of the mansion. The atmosphere was so intense that everyone had no choice but to say what Master Cliff wanted to hear or some of them answered they didn't know anything. Ah! but there is one person who defends Mrs.Edith until the end, it's her personal maid, Ms.Anna."
According to the guard's report, the first thing he heard when he brought Edith out of the prison was that Anna had been interrogated for several days because she was Edith's maid, but Anna defended Edith until the end. Anna faithfully carried out the orders he had given her before he left to the battle territory, in her own way.
"Bring Anna here."
Killian urgently ordered the servant who was waiting outside. Anna has been called by the duke at his office for several days to investigate her, and has even received a probation order because she failing to testify against Edith. He wanted to give her a break but at this moment the only person he can trust was Anna. After a while, Anna, dressed neatly in maid clothes as always, came running.
"Did you call, master?"
She may be pretending to be fine, but seeing her sunken cheeks were representative of the hardships she had endured.
"I apologize for calling you so suddenly, but once again, there's something I can only entrust to you."
"Please speak."
"Edith. . . ."
When 'Edith' name was mentioned, Anna raised her head without realizing it.
"Mrs Edith? My young lady is here?"
Looking at those anxious eyes, Killian thought that he wasn't good as Anna for Edith.
"Right, I'll have to show her to the congressman soon, she's really sick. I think we need to change her clothes and wipe her body. . . ."
"I'll be ready soon. Before that. . . . Can you allowed me to see her for a while?"
Killian nodded and allowed Anna to come close to bed. Anna approached with a nervous expression on her face and covered her mouth with her hand as she took a deep breath after seeing Edith sleeping with a pale bruised and emaciated face.
"Sophia, that woman tried to kill Edith. I should have mutilated it before throwing it away then. . . . "
Killian mumbled regretfully, and Anna gritted her teeth and held back her soaring emotions.
"I'll bring the young miss sleep gown and a towel to wipe her body."
"Yes please."
Anna rushed out, and Killian carefully stroked Edith's cheek with her eyes closed. Her body was so cold that he wanted to rub her hands all over her body. But when he remember her reaction when he accidentally grabbed her forearm, he think that there are many wounds all over her body. so he can't do that. And that prediction was unfortunately exactly right. The moment he took off Edith's clothes with Anna, his eyes and Anna's were stunned at the same time.
"I should have torn her to death! I should have torn her in to pieces, not cut her head off!"
There was a wide purple bruise on Edith's forearm and thigh. Her forearm, which has been heavily whipped, was full of unhealed wounds and her skin was crusted from the cold. Also two toenails on her foot, which had been walking in uncomfortable shoes for a long time has turned blue.
"How. . . . How could they do this. . . . Oh my young miss. . . !"
Even Anna, who was famous for not changing her expression in the mansion, was unable to touch Edith's body as she shed tears. Killian was going crazy, too. He felt like he was looking at the weight of life that Edith's slender body was holding on. He didn't know why all of this looked so clear now. Why now. . . . !
'It's was me who drove Edith to the hell. I didn't even try to find out more about her because she looked okay, so no wonder Edith didn't lean on me!'
Killian felt like his heart was being crushed. He failed to fulfill his responsibilities as her husband and hurt Edith's heart by only judging what he saw. At the same time, he thought he knew everything and was proud of the fact that he was smarter than Edith.
'I'm disgusting myself! That's terrible!'
Killian continued to curse himself inside, as he wiped Edith's body with Anna. It was an extremely cautious touch, like wiping a newborn baby, for fear that Edith would feel in pain if he wiped her a little too hard. And after barely putting Edith in bed, he heard the news that the congressman had arrived.
"Bring it here right now. Tell Cliff that if he tries to take the congressman first, I will kill him."
The servant eyes widened as Killian's mood became more bloody than ever before, and they rushed to pick up the congressman. And, when the congressman arrived there and saw Edith's condition, the congressman looked back at Killian with a shocked face.
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