To The Traitor in My Bed - Chapter 32

“Oh, is Knox that boring? I had planned to visit sometime, but if that’s the case, I guess there’s no need to waste time.”

The captain slyly accepted the jab.

“Well, Lord Rochepolie, you’ve been busy growing the family wealth. It seems like Lady Rochepolie is the only one who’s bored.”

“Deirdre, why don’t you tell him how busy you are?”

She said it without a smile.

“As he said, I’m preoccupied with serving and taking care of the military police who had served the community.”

Now, Captain Cottenham didn’t even try to hide his mocking expression.

“A wonderful act of selflessness. But surely, aside from providing food and entertainment for people like us, there’s more the Countess could do for the community and your family.”

The captain winked at Frederick.

“The winter nights in Rochepolie are much longer than in Knox.”

Frederick, who had been silently listening, suddenly spoke up.

“What does that mean, Captain?”

Deirdre noticed the curious faces around them. Nobles couldn’t resist gossip. Whether people were watching or not, Frederick persisted and asked Captain Cottenham.

“I asked what that means.”

It was unusual to see Frederick, who usually avoided arguments with a smile, press someone so relentlessly.

“Did you just insult me?”

Across the ballroom, an officer’s wife was watching them. She was the wife of the colonel who oversaw the northern military police. Realizing this, Captain Cottenham gave Frederick an awkward smile.

“…I see, I may have gone too far with my joke, Lord Rochepolie.”

“Was that a joke?”

“I tend to go too far when I get carried away.”

“Then I should laugh.”

At that, Frederick truly burst into laughter. In an instant, the tension lifted, and relieved smiles appeared on the faces of the gathered guests.

Frederick reached out and patted the captain’s shoulder.

“The Captain is quite the entertaining fellow. I might even ask His Majesty to transfer your posting to Rochepolie, so I can meet you more often.”

Only Deirdre noticed Captain Cottenham’s lips stiffening.

The authority to transfer a military police rests only with their superiors or the King. What Frederick was subtly implying was that with one word, he could be relocated at any time. Moreover, a transfer from the main military police in Swinton to the northern division was clearly a demotion.

“If that happens, could you start by getting those damn reindeer out of my garden? They keep dirtying the yard, and it’s becoming quite troublesome.”

Deirdre had never been more thankful for her husband’s obliviousness. If she were to hire him as a tutor for debutantes, teaching them to ‘feed while pretending not to know’ might be something he could excel at.

* * *

Darnell changed sleds near Edelweiss Heights. The Countess’s attendant silently nodded and disappeared beyond the snow-covered landscape.

Roger Blanc, a fellow companion, was driving the new sled. Darnell settled deeply into his seat. The warmth from the sled, thanks to some trickery by Count Fairchild, made him feel as if his buttocks were seated directly on a hearth.

Blanc glanced at Darnell’s face.

“Did you meet your lover?”

“I did.”

“So?”

“So what?”

“Well, no elopement or anything?”

Darnell gave a bitter smile.

“No.”

“Dammit.”

Blanc sounded disappointed.

“I made a bet with Sir Mark Hartley. I bet that you’d end up crying and running away into that lady’s skirts.”

“And Sir Mark Hartley?”

“He bet that she’d slap you across the face.”

“Neither of those happened.”

Darnell muttered, thinking that if only Rosina had kicked him, it wouldn’t have hurt as much.

Blanc pulled a small bottle from his coat and handed it to Darnell. It was Luska’s vodka. The fire-like liquid scorched down Darnell’s throat.

While Darnell drank, neither of the two men spoke. Darnell tried to stop thinking about Rosina, but in the moving sled, that was the only thing he could focus on.

The game with fire should’ve ended with the fire.

But he didn’t end it, and in the end, he hurt her.

Tears-filled, pale green eyes. Yet, she was beautiful, like spring sunshine.

[Will you not even ask me to wait for you?]

Darnell couldn’t promise anything. It wasn’t just his life on the line but also Roger Blanc’s, Sir Mark Hartley’s, and even the lives of the comrades Count Fairchild had gathered, including the Count himself.

He couldn’t let everything the Count had planned for so long be ruined because of him.

Moreover, it was not an exaggeration to say that Antwerp’s fate hung in the balance.

[Just say one word, Ian. Just one word.]

To the desperately pleading Rosina, he didn’t respond with words but handed her the locket. Inside were new locks of hair braided with hers and his.

Blanc interrupted Darnell’s thoughts.

“We’ll pass through a small town before we reach the border. Sir Mark Hartley has prepared everything there.”