A Mad Lady’s Confession - Chapter 56

If Matthias had been alone, it would have taken less than fifteen days of riding through the night, but considering Eleanor’s condition, it took them more than fifteen days and six additional days before they were able to enter Gammelstad.

Matthias looked at the woman lying asleep across from him in the carriage.

Though they had laid down a soft bed and cushions and covered her with a warm blanket, the inside of a carriage could not be a comfortable place to sleep in many ways. Even so, the woman slept fairly well even in such an inconvenient setting. Along the way, even at the hotels and inns they passed through, she fell asleep without tossing and turning. That, at least, was a relief.

It had been three weeks of travel, watching a woman who had grown noticeably weaker after her illness and often sank into absent-minded thoughts. Many found it strange that he was leaving behind the height of the capital’s social season and returning to his territory, but simply mentioning that something had come up in Gammelstad was enough.

After all, Gammelstad was a place where all kinds of incidents occurred, from large and small disputes with foreign nations across the sea to the constant flow of people coming and going through its busy port.

At the mention of suspicious movements, even the Emperor immediately granted his return. However, he had heard through Editor-in-Chief Albern that rumors were circulating about why he had brought his wife along on such an urgent journey.

“Well, there are stories going around that Your Grace has… completely fallen for your wife….”

It had come up while discussing how to proceed with the investigation report. Even Albern, who had said it, seemed curious whether it was true, but Matthias did not add anything further.

Let them think what they want. That wasn’t what mattered right now.

“About the previous Count Brynhill you asked me to look into. He passed away only a few years ago, but since he lived in seclusion for quite a long time, there were long periods where he disappeared from sight. It seems the current Count Brynhill handled matters in his place during that time. The household staff has been replaced since then, and they changed servants so frequently that it was difficult to find anyone who knew the family’s internal affairs.”

There were countless nobles in Römern. Most of them were concentrated in Belgar. So it wasn’t unusual for a single count’s family to fade from people’s memories.

“Fortunately… I managed to meet an older maid who briefly worked there after the countess passed away. She said that was around when the count started acting strangely.”

The woman had said that her mother died because she was born. That her father had come to resent her a little because of it.

Could someone lose their sanity from loving too much? Enough to resent a child?

It was something Matthias could not understand. In the first place, the idea that love could drive someone insane made no sense to him. At best, it was a fleeting emotion.

“She didn’t seem to know much since she only worked there briefly, but she remembered one thing. The previous count lived in his wife’s mausoleum.”

“From a few years before his death, he apparently shut himself inside it completely. In the end, he died there as well. They say he was found collapsed over the stone coffin where his wife’s body was laid….”

It wasn’t a particularly unusual story. There were countless kinds of death in the capital.

Perhaps the only thing that stood out was the idea of loving one person so completely that one ultimately met death at their side. And even that, from a noble of Römern.

But beyond that, it was difficult to find anything especially strange. At most, it confirmed the possibility that the woman’s unstable mind might have originated from her father.

He gave Editor-in-Chief Albern instructions once more to gather every possible piece of information. Anything related to the woman, scrape it all together without exception. He had already sent people to Stentna as well, where there had been a mental sanatorium.

What meaning could that possibly have?

Even as he gave the order, Matthias ignored the voice that kept asking him that question.

Why did he want to know about the woman now, and what would he do after finding out? He did not want to struggle to find the answer. Not right now.

At that moment, the woman wrapped in the blanket shifted slightly. He immediately poured water mixed with lemon juice from a basket set to one side and moved toward her.

He slipped one arm around the shoulders of the woman, who rubbed her eyes as if waking from a nap, lifting her up, then held the glass to her lips.

After swallowing to moisten her throat, she emptied the cup and asked, “Where… are we now?”

Clatter, clatter, the sound of the carriage rolling smoothly along the paved marble road made the woman prick up her ears.

“Did we come back to Belgar?”

At the absurd question, he let out a low laugh. After traveling for twenty days, returning to Belgar again?

But her confusion was understandable. Eleanor must have been curious about the smooth road they were traveling on, unlike the rough dirt paths or stone roads. Such well-paved roads existed only in the capital.

“No, from here on, it’s Gammelstad.”

“Really?”

Gammelstad, the place where he was lord, was a city far more prosperous and wealthy than the capital, beyond comparison. Wealthy enough to pave every road with polished marble.

“Do you want to see?”

He pulled back the carriage curtain that had been drawn to let the woman nap, and bright sunlight immediately flooded into the dim interior.

Shielding her eyes with his hand, he slowly widened the opening so she could take in the scenery outside.

“…Wow….”

A view that naturally drew out a gasp spread before her. The road climbed up land carved out of the mountains, and below it, a harbor filled with enormous ships came into view.

And beyond that, an emerald sea glittering like jewels under the summer sun stretched out before them. It shone with a brilliance like crushed gemstones scattered across the surface.

“Welcome to Gammelstad.”

As the carriage gradually slowed, he stepped down first. The scent of the sea mixed in the air reached his nose, and at the same time, a lively voice rang out.

“Your Grace!”

Here we go again. Matthias let out a small laugh.

He swept his gaze over the servants lined up to welcome their lord back to his territory. It seemed they had received instructions not to make a fuss, as there was thankfully no crowd like the one at a military send-off every year.

“Theobald.”

At Matthias’s call, a tall, well-built man in his forties, tanned dark, brightened with a wide smile.

“Your Grace, was the journey not too difficult?”

“It was. More importantly, Melissa.”

The woman standing beside Theobald stepped forward quietly and gave a respectful curtsy. Melissa, the housekeeper and Theobald’s wife, was also tanned from the sun, full of healthy vitality.

“Have you prepared everything I mentioned in advance?”

“Yes, everything has been arranged exactly as you instructed, without a single omission.”

Head Maid Melissa was meticulous and attentive, managing the household affairs of the estate flawlessly. Matthias nodded in approval.

Soon, the gazes of the two, fixed on their master, shone with anticipation.

“Ah….”

Only then did Matthias clear his throat before knocking on the carriage door. He had stepped out first to give the woman time to compose herself after waking from her nap.

At the sound of a light knock from inside the carriage as if signaling she was ready, he opened the door himself.

A slender shoe stepped onto the footboard, and a small white hand came to rest atop Matthias’s large one. She stepped down lightly onto the ground, wearing a lace bonnet that suited her delicate face.

Theobald and Melissa’s faces filled with emotion as they confirmed their new mistress.

“Madam, we greet you.”

The two immediately bowed deeply in proper form. Eleanor, flustered, straightened herself and returned the greeting.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m….”

Though no introduction was necessary, she opened her mouth out of habit, then hesitated. What should she call herself?

The resolve she once held, to do well for a year as the mistress of Nielsen, had crumbled in the events of a few nights ago. Now she stood here only by Matthias’s generosity and sense of duty, and she didn’t know when she might be told to leave. It could be in just a few days.

So after hesitating over how to introduce herself, she chose to close her mouth.

“This is Nielsen’s new mistress, and the Duchess.”

“….”

Matthias casually completed the words she could not finish. Meeting her upward gaze, he asked, “Well, do you like it? Solvikviche.”

He gestured toward the marble manor before them.

Situated at the highest point overlooking the Gammelstad estate, the residence possessed both grandeur and an elegant, tranquil atmosphere. A sense of vitality and liveliness seeped through it, something that could not be felt in the orderly, beautiful Nielsen residence in the capital.

This will probably be my last place. Eleanor thought that. It seems I still have some luck left. Even the place where I will enjoy my final happiness is beautiful.

Meanwhile, Matthias hoped he would come to understand the woman better here. More precisely, that he would come to know the secret she was hiding.

In Gammelstad, where everything flowed and breathed instead of stagnating and rotting, he hoped he would come to know her.

With entirely different thoughts, the two stepped into Solvikviche together.