Chapter 32
***
Blake couldn't sleep for several days after that, and he became very haggard. It looked as if he was on drugs.
His aide, IlDexter, hid like an assassin, fearing Blake would kill him. It was only natural, since the cube of things was the beginning of the conflict.
One time, while moving behind a tapestry hanging on the wall, the knights mistook him for an assassin and he almost got in trouble.
“Do something, aide!”
He was caught by Blake.
“Master, are you going to leave it like that? The air is so heavy that I can't breathe at all, breathe!"
Originally, the person they leaned on was the butler Alfred.
It was because Alfred had been taking care of Blake, who has an unruly temperament, since he was a kid. But Alfred was lying ill with a cold, and it was IIDexter who was the next closest to Blake.
It was IIDexter's side job.
In the end, he couldn’t help it and stood in front of the office.
“Sir, may I come in?”
Through the door, the only sound was the murmur of the grumpy man in his sleepiness.
Eventually, IIDexter slowly opened the door and entered.
Blake lay crouching in his chair.
“What the heck….”
A harsh grunt came from the gap between the man's dry lips.
He didn't have the strength to be angry, he was just killing time.
He hadn’t slept well for several days, but he wasn't able to sleep.
It was crazy that he could keep his eyes open even on the battlefield with roaring noises from all directions. It was the first time something like this had happened.
IIDexter first brought up everyday conversations to look normal.
“This is a story about the last agenda. I think you made a little mistake when processing the paperwork."
"Me? What mistake?"
Blake has the mouths of many duchy people.
He was always careful because even a single mistake could result in starvation in some areas, where even hard bread made of oat and barley could not be obtained.
“It is time for the knights to descend again, but the atmosphere in the mountain range is not good, so you made them stay longer in the castle for a while. As you know, the monsters are suddenly intense.”
“Yeah, that’s what we agreed.”
“For that purpose, the knights have set a budget for decorating the rooms, new bedding, and other daily necessities….”
IlDexter held out a piece of paper.
Contrary to Blake's intention, two zeros were missing.
“With this amount of money, we can buy one soap at a time.”
"Why did I do that? Fix it.”
Blake wiped his face and motioned for IIDexter to leave.
But Blake's mistakes weren't one or two.
“There is a big error in this tax case in the northeast region……”
"Really."
“And every year we buy salted sardines at the border. They want you to re-check your order. Did you really ask for a hundred tons of sardines?”
"...who eats a hundred tons?"
“But that’s what Your Excellency asked for.”
And so, the work of correcting the wrong documents continued for a long time.
Eventually things had to be said. He didn't know if he would just leave it alone and someday it might cause a big problem.
“You must not do this. You haven't been working properly for the past few days! You should get some sleep!”
“I try, but what do I do with the impossible?”
Blake was so stressed out that all sorts of thoughts would not disappear from his mind. It was an early symptom of typical insomnia.
“Go to your bedroom and lie down. Are you in the office 24 hours a day?"
“I know with my head. It was subconsciously thinking that I had to protect something in the office."
It was the letter from Count Fox. In the end, it was an incident that occurred because the letter was not kept.
IIDexter was thoughtful, but Blake didn't care.
He just kept regretting it.
I shouldn't have done this either. Why did I do what I wanted? Why did I scream? Why did I use force?
All were his problems.
Blake drank alcohol out of disgust and wanted to forget.
“I just wish I had an unfortunate accident.”
“Why don't you just apologize?"
"Apologize?"
Blake struggled to lift his messy head off the table.
A wolf, a leopard, or something like that looked like an animal that had lost all its vitality.
He held that position for a while and thought..…
Apologize?
To Lily Hedwick?
Tired eyes stared blankly into the air.
He was tempted, but his heart became cold.
“She wouldn’t even want to see me face to face.”
He muttered in a broken voice.
A few days ago, when he had an argument with Lily….he remembered the face he saw last.
She was really looking at Count Fox in him.
The memory caused Blake to hate and anger at himself. He couldn’t believe he was the same level as that kind of water garbage in her eyes.
IIDexter tried to convince him again.
"You don't know anything unless you try it."
“Apologize, It's one of the words that you can easily suggest to others, but you can’t even do your job.”
"Don't be sarcastic!"
“I don’t want to show her this broken image.”
Not long ago, Blake had spent a lot of time dressing up for the annual banquet.
He groaned and groaned.
It seemed like he really had fallen in love. He couldn’t believe he touched those useless clothes.
It's not love. No way.
“Can I drink?”
“Then, wouldn't Lily think of her ex-husband even more?”
However, IIDexter uttered Blake's thoughts exactly.
“Does Miss Lily’s ex-husband use violence whenever he drinks?”
"...how did you know that?"
Blake's voice became terrifying, as if immersed in lava.
Only he (Blake) knew exactly what misery Lily Hedwick had to run away from.
Soon he came up with a new idea.
Perhaps IIDexter was a spy sent by Lily’s ex-husband.
“Come here for a moment.”
"Hey! Sir! Can you put down the brandy bottle you're holding!"
“I won’t kill you.”
"I'm interpreting as you’re going to harm me, am I weird?"
“Can I torture you? If you confess early, I'll kill only three generations and cut you some slack.”
IlDexter was wrong.
The speculation that Lily’s ex-husband had done something bad to Miss Lily was an open secret in Winter Castle.
All the winter family members knew.
First of all, there were many maids serving Lily's bath. Wounds on top of old wounds.
“I just feel sorry for everyone. All we can do is swallow our sorrow and pretend we don't know."
“…… Alright, get out. I'm sleepy, but my ears hurt."
"I'm serious, you'd better apologize."
“I don’t want to face her. Couldn't it be transmitted telepathically? Sorcerers don't have that kind of ability?"
IlDexter responded honestly to Blake's insanity.
“I mean, is it alcohol? I will resign.”
“My dear aide wouldn’t be in a position to argue with me…”
Contrary to words, Blake had a harsh tone.
It was entirely IlDexter’s fault that Lily knew everything.
First. He mentioned the word ‘letter’ in her presence.
Second. He fell asleep while on the job. That resulted in Lily entering the office alone.
Blake couldn't stand the disgrace.
"Promotion? I’ll let you have it. Can I bury you in your grave first then give you the promotion letter?”
"I’m sorry!!"
IIDexter ran away with contemplation.
In the office where Blake was left alone, only the weighted grandfather clock made a sound.
“Tsk.”
Blake, who had no one to blame, clicked his tongue.
All this mess came from himself. It was an obvious fact.
The man scrambled to the window. The dark shadows under his eyes were very dark.
In the distance beyond the window, snowy mountains without a trace of people. Nearby, there was a wide field of snow.
Originally, it should have been filled with Lily's footprints.
The employees walked between roads for Lily, keeping the snow pristine.
'But there is no more a Lady who leaves her marks while walking happily there.'
His mouth was bitter. All of the organs in his body were rotten and he wanted to replace them with something else.
The man thought he was too lazy to sleep today.
IlDexter, who was watching through the crack in the door, slowly walked down the hallway.
“I wish Miss Lily would look at that foolish master once.”
***
Lily Hedwick stayed in her room and bed for several days.
There was only a dry sigh.
She knew that Blake was a man who was a man of his own free will.
Still, she lost her temper and raised her voice…. It was completely against the rules of etiquette.
‘I wasn’t like my usual self.’
She was always obedient to the words of others.
Was she more comfortable with Blake?
But it was because Lily had come to believe in him. She realized she had already fallen into a situation where she had been so vigilant.
'I'm already leaning on him.'
Strangely, she had only met him for a few months...
‘I shouldn’t have done that.’
Lily looked out the window with eyes full of sorrow.
It was frozen white and the outside was opaque.
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