Chapter 5: Chapter 5

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Chapter 5

And that night, Daniel came to visit Azela’s bedroom again.

“You will know why I came to you without telling you.”

Daniel growled slightly towards Azela as if intimidating her. Now, she was like a herbivore standing in front of a beast, Azela didn’t say a word and just turned her gaze.

“You did something while I was away from the mansion for a while.”

“…… Did she say that?”

“No, Sylvia, unlike anyone else, has a good heart and she doesn’t say things that hurt others. When I came back from my business, she was still crying without a word. She said she was insulted by you.”

Daniel pressed his stinging temple together and continued speaking in a low voice that contained his anger.

“What did you say to Sylvia?”

“…….”

“It’s no use keeping your mouth shut. There are countless people who have witnessed that scene, so if I question them, they will come out quickly. Still, I asked you first to save your face.”

“She…… was just asking to call my name, so I refused.”

Daniel snorted at Azela’s trembling voice. Then he raised his fine hands to his face and said with an angry face.

“Sylvia is a woman who knows her place, unlike you. She couldn’t have said that she wanted to call your name.”

“Daniel, as you said, other people have seen it, so just ask and you will find out. Sylvia said she wanted to get to know me, and she wanted to call me ‘Azela’.”

“So you turned it down?”

“I said that you would give her a friend if she was lonely, and it is against etiquette to call a nobleman by name, so it is better not to do it…….”

Before Azela could finish speaking, Daniel raised his hand and slammed her against the wall. Startled by the sudden loud noise, Azela’s shoulders trembled and she closed her eyes tightly. A gloomy atmosphere filled the bedroom.

“If you said that in front of everyone, it could only hurt Sylvia.”

At Daniel’s next words, Azela’s heart sank again. In the end, she didn’t even have the strength to refute him who said it was her fault. Azela kept her mouth shut without saying anything, and Daniel continued his words, perhaps he had wanted to do it all at this time.

“Sylvia must have reached out to you first, obviously with a really good intention. She says she wants to be friends. You have only lived as a noble, so there’s no way you could know of such a kind heart.”

“…….”

“Besides, everyone in the mansion was watching the scene. Everyone in the mansion already knows she cries every night saying that you hate her, but seeing that scene, can her gentle heart handle it?”

Gentle heart? It didn’t look like that at all.

Azela closed her eyes as she smiled bitterly, recalling what had happened in the garden during the day. Even with the obedient Azela’s appearance, Daniel furrowed his eyebrows as if it was a look he didn’t like.

“Are you smiling in this situation?”

At his absurd question, Azela lifted her head and looked at Daniel. Then, seeing the alien gaze looking down at her, Azela lowered her head without saying a word again. When she looked at his face, she remembered the pretty faces she had loved passionately, and in the end, Azela was at a loss for words, as if she had become mute.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason. It was because Azela had lost a lot of confidence and self-esteem due to Daniel’s cold gaze that had lasted for over a year.

“I definitely warned you. I told you not to make Sylvia cry or touch her. It was you who ignored my warning. No, maybe you were ignoring me.”

Daniel spit and roared. The present appearance was more familiar to Azela these days than his friendly past appearance.

“Bring Irene.”

Daniel, who looked down at Azela with her head bowed, said to the servant standing behind him. Azela, startled by the command, raised her head. The moment she saw the unshakable cold eyes, Azela’s heart sank.

“Why, Irene……?”

Azela asked in a trembling voice. Daniel relaxedly answered with a satisfied smile, as if he was satisfied with Azela’s expression that was full of surprise along with fear.

“If the master does wrong, the lower ones should be punished instead.”

“!”

At Daniel’s words, Azela took a deep breath. Even if she trembled, his eyes were telling her that it wasn’t a lie, it was the truth.

“I, Irene has nothing to do with this case.”

“If the master did wrong, it was right to be punished, but why do you say it doesn’t matter? It’s absurd.”

“Irene stopped me, I forced myself to do it. The lower ones can’t stop the master, so in the end it’s my fault. If you’re going to punish her, you’d rather punish me.”

Azela pleaded with him in a small, trembling voice, but Daniel only snorted at her.

When did he become this person? Since meeting Sylvia? Since he loved Sylvia? No, was it because he didn’t love her?

Azela clenched her fists tightly. The fingernail marks on her palm were telling how much Azela had endured.

“When you humiliate Sylvia in front of a lot of employees, you just sit there, but you are afraid that your maid will be punished.”

“…….”

“Don’t worry, Azela. Because I was going to punish you too.”

Daniel spoke as coldly as a cold winter wind. He used to be that kind of person. He didn’t even say anything once he said no, and when he pushed someone, he didn’t even give them a chance. Azela never thought that he would turn against her. Azela spoke in a trembling voice at Daniel’s voice.

“Ple, please, Daniel. Irene is not guilty.”

Azela’s mournful cry made him cynical yet delighted. Daniel, who pretended not to hear Azela’s mournful request, sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Then he pressed Azela’s shoulder with his hand, preventing her from moving. Azela furrowed her eyebrows at the tremendous grip on her shoulder.

“So you shouldn’t have forgotten what I said.”

Daniel threatened Azela by clenching his teeth like a roaring beast. A groan seemed to come out of her as the pain gradually grew stronger on her shoulder, but Azela endured it by biting her lower lip.

And after a while, Irene was dragged into the bedroom with both hands held by the knights of County Todd. She had a bewildered expression, not knowing why she was dragged.

“Ma, Master. Madam.”

“Irene!”

Azela tried to get her body up to cover her maid, but she couldn’t shake Daniel’s grip on her shoulder. Azela bit her pitiful lower lip with an anxious expression.

“Kneel down.”

At Daniel’s brief command, the knights violently threw Irene to the floor. Then, by pressing her foot back behind her knee, Irene was forced to kneel.

“Aacck!!”

Irene’s painful scream, with her heavy feet crushed behind her knees, echoed through the bedroom. But Daniel just smiled and looked at it.

Was this man like this?

Fear and shock flashed across Azela’s face. She felt alienated from him. After Sylvia arrived, she had been cold to him, but still, the Daniel that Azela knew was someone who could understand suffering, and never killed a small animal for no reason.

But now he was different. The red lips that grinned and looked like they were stained with blood gave her goosebumps.

“Irene.”

“…… Yes.”

“You must know what happened in the garden today.”

“Yes, yes.”

To Daniel’s question, Irene barely answered, holding back her groans. She could instinctively sense that something was going wrong. Irene looked at Azela in a cold sweat. Her Madam shook her head very slightly.

It meant not to say anything.

“I heard that Sylvia was insulted by Azela today.”

“…….”

At Daniel’s words, Irene took a deep breath and lifted her head.

Was she insulted? Sylvia, not her Madam?

She tilted her head, not understanding that the subject had changed, but Daniel didn’t seem to be calling Irene here to hear her story.

“All this while, Irene, where have you been and what have you been doing?”

“Yes? I, I…….”

“If the owner did something wrong, it would be your job to stop it.”

At Daniel’s coercive voice, Irene pursed her lips and bowed her head. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand the situation at all. Daniel’s blade-like voice was heard again above Irene’s complicated thoughts.

“If the owner makes a mistake, the lower one should be punished instead.”

At the pleasant voice like a child playing with a toy, Irene raised her head with a terrible expression and looked at Daniel and Azela. She frowned under Daniel’s grip, but the worries were all over her face.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────