A Mad Lady’s Confession - Chapter 76

Following the familiar pink hair, he pushed through the crowd. Many masked guests recognized him and tried to speak to him, but they couldn’t stop the man’s fierce advance.

When the door closed, the boisterous noise subsided. Far down the deserted corridor, he saw a slender figure in a dress walking lightly away.

His long strides thudded down the corridor laid with red carpet.

Would she turn around if he called out to her? Even as the thought occurred to him, he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth. He feared that the woman who’d disappeared of her own will might run away. If she saw him and fled again for any reason, he didn’t think he could bear it.

The hem of her dress rounded the corner and disappeared. Matthias’s walk turned into something close to a run. He tried to keep his footsteps as quiet as possible, not wanting to startle the woman, and had just entered the corridor where she’d turned when….

“….”

He saw the figure he’d searched everywhere for. Vivid pink hair, a straight back beneath a light blue dress, more precisely, the same back he’d been pursuing all this time.

The woman was tilting her head far back toward the man standing before her, as though waiting for a kiss. A moment later, the man lowered his lips to hers.

Standing together in a secluded corner of the corridor where no one passed, they looked to anyone like lovers conducting a secret tryst. A sharp pain sliced through Matthias’s heart.

Perhaps sensing his gaze, the man kissing the woman looked in his direction.

When their eyes met, Crown Prince Klaus drew his lips away and said something to the woman. Slowly, she turned to look at Matthias, and her eyes widened in surprise.

“If you want to watch, you can come closer.”

Klaus addressed Matthias mischievously. Then he whispered a few words to the woman facing him, and she turned and quickly brushed past Matthias.

It wasn’t Eleanor.

That realization brought him relief and crushing disappointment at the same time.

“Why do you look like that? And why are you just standing there?”

“….”

“Why? Did you think I was having a secret tryst with the duchess, just like the Paper said?”

Klaus snickered without a trace of dignity.

The Paper. Matthias didn’t believe that rubbish. He hadn’t been deceived by words like seductress or villainess used to describe the woman.

He was the one who’d observed Eleanor Brynhill more closely than anyone.

But could he say the Eleanor he knew was all there was to her? He hadn’t even known she would disappear like this.

The emotions that had surged so violently settled in an instant. Matthias spoke coldly, “…Klaus von Bernstorff. That’s your name, isn’t it?”

“What?”

Calling him by name in private as a former friend was entirely different from carelessly uttering his noble imperial surname. Klaus’s brow furrowed at the insolence.

“Duke Nielsen. No matter how close we are, I don’t think what you’re doing now is appropriate. You shouldn’t invoke the imperial family’s name so lightly….”

“That isn’t all.”

Matthias continued as though he couldn’t even see the displeasure before him.

“Your name. Klaus ‘Iakin’ von Bernstorff. Isn’t that right?”

He couldn’t remember how many times he’d visited the red-brick house in Tollen. Giela Düsseldorf looked appalled every time he appeared, but Matthias paid it no mind.

That was how he’d spent the entire autumn. He searched places he’d already scoured, hounded people he’d already visited, and pressed them to give him anything they knew, asking whether they remembered something and ordering them to think.

He’d seen so many expressions of pity and exasperation that he’d become immune to them.

Perhaps impressed by his efforts, Giela Düsseldorf finally told him one piece of information she hadn’t previously revealed.

“…I didn’t think it had anything to do with the duchess’s disappearance. That’s the only reason I didn’t tell you. Besides… I don’t want to become involved with the crown prince in any way ever again.”

Giela shuddered as though sickened, then watched his reaction before speaking again.

“…That woman called ‘Del’ seemed to know ‘Iakin,’ that is, Crown Prince Klaus.”

“Del” didn’t exist. Only Eleanor Brynhill, that woman, existed. Then ultimately, Eleanor must be the one who knew Klaus.

His mind belatedly recalled the rumors about her. The rumors involving the crown prince. The claim that she’d caused the incident because of her unrequited love for him. That Eleanor Brynhill had been in love with Klaus Iakin von Bernstorff.

The moment that possibility occurred to him, his teeth clenched, but he refused to pursue the thought any further.

What mattered right now was discovering where the woman had disappeared to and what had made her disappear.

He’d followed that trail to the capital to tear apart this disgustingly extravagant December party.

Matthias continued addressing the man in the ornate formal attire before him.

“Answer me, Klaus. Who else did you tell about that middle name, ‘Iakin’?”

Klaus’s face stiffened with momentary alarm.

Matthias recalled the last time he’d seen that face several months ago. The man now wore much thicker, heavier makeup than he had then, and something about him seemed strangely unnatural.

Like nobles at the height of Römern’s narcissism, men sometimes wore cosmetics too, but that didn’t seem to be Klaus’s intention. Rather than making him beautiful, the makeup made him look peculiar.

After composing his expression beneath the thick makeup, Klaus feigned incomprehension.

“What are you talking about? Are there any nobles who use their middle names?”

A noble’s middle name was used only as a childhood name for a brief time. Even before reaching adulthood, it was customary to stop using it once one was old enough.

“That’s precisely why I’m asking. Why did you deliberately introduce a middle name you never use as your own?”

No one could share a name with a member of the imperial family. A name entered in the imperial register couldn’t be used by anyone else. Therefore, the only “Iakin” who existed in Römern was Klaus.

Even without Matthias explaining every step of that reasoning, Klaus “Iakin” von Bernstorff appeared to understand what he meant.

“…Listen, Matthias, I….”

“Don’t say anything pointless. I don’t have any patience left to spare, not even here.”

He’d already scraped himself to the bottom while searching for the woman. Nothing remained.

Faced with the chilling air surrounding Matthias, Klaus didn’t dare raise the matter of disloyalty to the imperial family. He’d always been a cowardly man.

“Klaus, I’ll ask you again, so answer me properly. Did you know my wife, Eleanor Brynhill?”

“…No, I didn’t.”

“Tell me the truth.”

“I swear. That woman, no, the duchess, I met her for the first time at the fishing competition that day. I swear by the Sun God!”

At a glance, it appeared to be true. A comparison would reveal it. Matthias immediately continued with his next question.

“Then what about ‘Del’?”

“….”

“Have you ever heard that name?”

Matthias didn’t miss the small flinch that ran through Klaus’s body. Perhaps realizing that his agitation had been noticed, the crown prince soon let his shoulders droop in resignation.

“…I have.”

“When, and under what circumstances?”

“…Matty, do I really have to tell you this? Why bring up something from the past now….”

“Just answer.”

The cold demand cut like a knife. Like a man realizing he had nowhere left to retreat, Klaus’s throat bobbed before he forced the words out one by one.

“…Del was the name of a woman who used to send me love letters. She said she admired me…. As you know, there was a time when I frequently attended banquets, concerts, and every kind of social gathering.”

Klaus had always enjoyed amusement, but for a time, he’d lived with considerable extravagance and recklessness. More precisely, it had begun around three years ago.

“She sent me messages whenever I attended those events.”

“…What kind of person was she?”

“I don’t know either. I never met her. She merely… said she loved me and watched me from afar. She sent me little love letters, and I exchanged notes with her a few times for amusement. Later, she became too obsessive and clingy. She even sent me strange things….”

“…Strange things?”

Klaus frowned as though he didn’t even want to remember.

“She cut off her own hair and sent it to me. She called it a token of affection and trust.”

Matthias didn’t speak for a moment. After a brief pause, he slowly opened his mouth.

“What color was the hair?”

Only then did Klaus look stunned, as though he’d finally realized the significance of it.

The answer that followed was precisely what Matthias already expected.

“…A cyclamen flower. It was exactly that color.”