Deceived, Yet Drawn to You - Chapter 129

The place they arrived at after following Count Twyford was his study at the far end of the first-floor hall. It was the space where the count conducted his work, and the place Blair had first entered when she secretly read the marriage contract with Isaac Dorman. Wasn’t it also right in front of this very desk that she had first defied him?

Caught in a strange feeling, Blair turned back toward the guards who had followed her.

“Please wait here.”

“Yes, madam.”

The men nodded and stood close to the study door. Count Twyford blinked as if displeased by the sight, then slowly closed the door after looking them up and down.

“There’s no maid, so I can’t even prepare tea for you.”

“I didn’t come to drink tea. Where is the letter?”

“So impatient. Sit down first.”

Count Twyford maintained a pleasant expression and gestured toward the chair across the desk. Blair, still watching him with suspicion, had no choice but to sit. One thing was certain. There was nothing to gain from staying here long.

“Do you know why I went to Glassford?”

The count asked casually while rummaging through a cluttered drawer with his back to her. Even without her answer, he continued speaking.

“It was because I had to settle matters concerning our territory. It’s land with a long history, so I’d kept it as my final safeguard, but maintaining a noble house is no simple matter.”

He brushed dust from a file folder in his hands. Blair frowned faintly as she considered his words. Final safeguard. She wasn’t naive enough not to understand what that meant. That meant this townhouse had likely been sold as well.

“You only realize how fortunate it is to have somewhere to reach out to when you’re driven into a corner.”

Count Twyford slowly turned and looked at Blair. His gaze held a mixture of resentment and strange expectation directed at her.

“I thought that now you’ve become a duchess, you would help your family in its time of hardship. Even after your father swallowed his pride and bowed his head….”

Even the way he trailed off his words was calculated. There was no reason to continue listening.

“Where is the letter my mother left?”

When Blair asked again, unable to endure any longer, the count remained silent for a moment. Then he turned and opened a drawer beside the bookshelf. Taking out a small envelope, he murmured quietly.

“…Here it is.”

It was an old, worn envelope at a glance. Blair looked down at it stiffly. The paper was nearly falling apart, as if someone had crumpled it tightly and then smoothed it out again.

So her mother really had left behind a letter that night. Then how long had her father possessed it?

The count placed the old envelope at the edge of the desk. Blair reached out, picked it up carefully, and exhaled a trembling breath as she opened it.

The hurried, scrawled handwriting immediately caught her eye.

「Blair,

By the time you read this, your useless mother will no longer be at the Glassford estate.

It pains me deeply to leave without even saying goodbye, so I’m leaving these words behind at least in this way.

I’m not abandoning you.

It was simply too dangerous for the three of us to leave together, so there was no other choice.

You may not understand anything right now, but I’ll explain everything. If you wait just a little longer, you’ll be able to see me again.

Come to the large elm tree you know this coming Wednesday.

Alfred will come to take you.

But you must come alone and tell no one.

Remember this. You must not trust anyone in the estate.」

Blair lifted her head after reading that far. Count Twyford was watching her with an utterly indifferent expression.

“You’ve had this letter for a very long time.”

“What does that matter now?”

“When exactly, and where, did you find it?”

“I don’t see why that’s important.”

She couldn’t believe it. Her thoughts tangled uncontrollably, tearing through her mind. It had happened when she was too young to even reach adolescence, too young to judge things properly on her own. And so, Blair had always judged her mother’s disappearance from another adult’s perspective, from her father’s point of view.

Looking back, she’d never seriously considered why her mother ran away. She believed there was no need to understand a cruel woman who vanished without leaving a single word for her young daughter.

‘But what if….’

Blair’s eyes trembled as she stared at Count Twyford.

What if her mother hadn’t simply run away because she fell in love with a servant? What if that night’s escape had been a choice to flee from someone?

Blair couldn’t continue the thought. It felt as if her entire life was being shaken apart.

Bang!

At that moment, a deafening sound tore through the air outside the door.

Startled, Blair flinched and turned around. The firmly closed door didn’t move at all. Heavy silence followed, as if the loud noise moments ago had been nothing more than an illusion.

What was that sound?

“What’s happening outside?”

She called out toward the guards standing outside the door, but no answer came. Blair looked at Count Twyford with anxious eyes. Strangely, he was sitting in his chair, leaning deeply against the backrest. His calm expression suggested he had already expected this disturbance.

“Stay seated.”

The count said in a low voice.

“It’ll be over soon.”

Bang! Bang!

As if on cue, another series of deafening blasts shattered the silence. Blair covered her mouth, barely suppressing a scream. Her heart began racing violently, as if it might burst from her chest.

There was no mistake this time. It wasn’t an illusion. What she heard were gunshots.

“You shouldn’t have brought those unnecessary guards and made things bigger than they needed to be.”

Count Twyford clicked his tongue, not even blinking at the sound of gunfire. Blair, her face drained of color, shook her head while gasping for breath.

“What have you done?”

“You foolish child. Whose blood do you take after to be so slow to understand?”

Count Twyford scoffed and picked up his cigar.

“It means you made a mistake.”

Blair’s fingertips trembled uncontrollably. The instinct to flee the study immediately and the fear of stepping into a place where bullets were flying overwhelmed her at once, leaving her frozen in place.

At that moment, the study door burst open.

“Your Grace! Please come out at once!”

It was one of Blair’s guards who’d accompanied her from the mansion. He stood there, clutching his blood-soaked forearm, breathing heavily. The count, who had been sitting leisurely, flinched in shock and dropped his cigar, and Blair seized the moment to push her chair back and stand up.

Bang!

The gunshot rang out at that exact instant. The guard facing Blair seemed to stop breathing for a moment, then slowly tilted forward and collapsed heavily onto the floor.

“…!”

Frozen in place, Blair finally saw what was happening outside the door. Guards lay sprawled across the floor, and a dark figure moved between them. A stranger burst into the study.

“You damned count! Why didn’t you say the guards were armed!”

The man who shouted in a rough voice was also covered in blood. Blood streamed down between the fingers clutching his shoulder. Count Twyford opened his mouth and stared at the man, visibly startled.

“Wait, you’ve been shot too?”

“Can’t you see? My partner is dead too! This wasn’t part of the deal!”

“Calm down! How was I supposed to know the guards escorting her from the hospital would be armed!”

“Damn it… if I hadn’t ambushed them from the second floor, I’d be dead too!”

Grinding his teeth, the man added harshly, “You mad count, I should’ve known the moment you asked me to kidnap your own daughter!”

“Damn it, this isn’t the time for that. Because she sent a telegram to the duke before coming here, we don’t have much time.” Count Twyford spoke quickly, his mind racing, “Let’s move first. If things fall apart before I recover what I’m owed, then everyone loses.”

“Damn it… you! Come here!”

The man reached out his bloodstained hand and twisted Blair’s wrist. She let out a sharp scream, and Count Twyford hurriedly stopped him.

“Handle her carefully! What’s inside her is a right I intend to reclaim!”

He glared at the man with terrifying eyes.

“If you leave even a single scratch on her, you won’t get a single coin.”