The Cold-Hearted Grand Duke Obsesses Over Me After My Death - Chapter 140

Chapter 140. Irreversible (4)

“I was wrong. Please forgive me, Your Majesty.”

The next morning, Rosie, dragged into the interrogation room, trembled violently as she prostrated herself and begged. She did not know that Emilia had been imprisoned in Peric Prison or that she had died.

“Tell me everything you know about how Emilia lived at the ducal estate.”

At the Emperor’s question, Rosie hesitated. She had expected to be asked about the crimes she committed, but seemed startled that he asked about how Emilia had lived.

“I don’t know the details. When I first saw the young lady, it was shortly before the wedding. She was wearing clothes made of coarse fabric, and her body was very weak.”

“And yet you pushed such a person down the stairs.”

“H-how did you….”

Rosie’s face turned even paler.

“I heard it from Jack.”

“I was wrong, Your Majesty. I have a sick mother and younger siblings. A noble young lady offered me a large sum of money, so I… I committed something I should never have done.”

She confessed that she had failed to poison Emilia’s tea at the ducal estate and that she had not even received the money from the noble young lady who had ordered it.

“Everyone has their circumstances. If you had never seen Emilia before that day, whose room was that?”

Since he had already heard everything from Jack, Louid was not surprised. What he wanted to know was about Emilia.

“I believe that bedroom had been left empty without an owner. As for where the young lady stayed, even the other servants wouldn’t know. Perhaps the butler, Simon, would know the details best.”

Simon!

At Rosie’s answer, Louid felt a shock as if he had been struck on the head. It was not an unfamiliar name. It was the name Emilia used to call out in her sleep every night.

Why didn’t I think of that?

When he first heard Emilia talking in her sleep, he had thought Simon was a young man and paid no attention to the butler who shared the same name. The butler would know everything that happened in the ducal estate.

“Take her away.”

“Yes!”

Attempting to harm Emilia was a crime worthy of death, but he did not execute Rosie. It was because there might still be things he needed to ask her about Emilia and the ducal estate.

“When I told you to find a young man named Simon, what happened to the butler with the same name?”

After going to his office, he asked Eddie.

“Do you mean the former butler of the Berthe ducal estate? He took leave due to illness and went down to the countryside, but it is said that he disappeared while recuperating.”

“What?”

The former butler disappeared? It was highly suspicious.

“It is said that he liquidated all his assets and vanished. But what is strange is that shortly after, Duke Berthe made great efforts to find him.”

Duke Berthe tried to find him?

Could it be because he knew some secret?

There had to be a major conspiracy hidden behind it.

‘I should have summoned the butler and investigated him back then.’

He felt newly pathetic and foolish for failing to make a rational judgment out of jealousy.

“But why wasn’t this reported?”

“You told me to find a young man, so I assumed it wasn’t the same person.”

“Find Butler Simon. Immediately!”

“Yes, understood.”

“Ah, wait.”

Louid called Eddie back as he turned to leave.

“What is it, Your Majesty?”

“Is there still no news from Peric Prison?”

“According to the report sent by the warden, they still have not found the body.”

Eddie answered with a gloomy expression. By the Emperor’s order, messengers had been coming from Peric Prison once a day. But there had been no report that the former Crown Princess’s body had been found.

“I’ll go myself and find it. Prepare everything.”

“Yes, understood.”

A few days later, after finishing the investigation into the Marquess of Carrion and his associates and ordering their imprisonment, Louid departed for Peric Island with several knights. He intended to personally carry out the punishment of the criminals after returning from the island.

***

When the former Crown Princess went missing, the warden of Peric Prison mobilized all staff and thoroughly searched the area around the island, but they could not find her body.

‘This won’t do. Since we can’t find the body, I’ll have to send this at least.’

Because it would become even more troublesome if the report was delayed, he had no choice but to send the report along with the doll to the imperial palace. After that, they continued searching diligently, but found nothing. A few days after the messenger arrived at the palace, even imperial knights came to the island and were searching together.

If we can’t find the body, we’ll lose our heads. What should we do?

“Ha….”

As he sighed and worried, there was a hurried knock, and a guard ran in.

“Warden, His Majesty has arrived.”

“What? His, His Majesty came in person?”

The warden, who had not received prior notice of the Emperor’s visit, sprang to his feet and shouted.

“Why are you only telling me now?”

“I just found out as well. An unfamiliar ship came into the dock, so someone asked, and they said it was His Majesty’s party. He’s coming this way now.”

The guard, who had run at full speed to the warden’s office, caught his breath and barely managed to answer.

“Gasp.”

While the two were flustered, the door burst open, and several knights in black uniforms entered, followed by a tall, well-built young man. Anyone could tell at a glance that he was royalty, dignified and radiant from head to toe.

“Y-Your Majesty. Welcome… ah, I pay my respects to His Majesty, the Sun of the Empire.”

The warden trembled as he dropped to his knees and prostrated himself. The guard beside him followed suit. The guard in charge of Emilia also ran over after hearing the news and knelt.

“Guide me to where she was.”

The Emperor gave the order with a hardened expression.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Louid followed the warden up the stairs. The stairway was filled with the smell of mold and stale dust.

‘Emilia was in a place like this?’

When he reached the top of the tower, he was so shocked he couldn’t speak for a while.

I sent Emilia to a place like this.

His body trembled.

Emilia.

He called her name inwardly and looked around the room.

A room so small that an adult man couldn’t even stretch his legs, a tiny window, and a bathroom that was barely usable. The floor was hard stone, and the walls were frozen with dampness.

Emilia was in a place like this?

His eyes grew moist.

“How did she live here?”

“She never said much and always just sat holding her doll.”

The guard who had been in charge of Emilia answered with a tense expression.

“How did she fall into the sea from here?”

No matter how he looked at it, there was no way out, yet the person had disappeared. He had heard that the door had been firmly locked.

“It seems she threw herself out that window. The doll she always held was found floating on the seawater directly below the window.” answered the warden with a frightened expression.

Through that small window?

Louid’s red eyes wavered without focus.

The window was so small that only a child could barely squeeze through. How in the world could she….

“Ha….”

Emilia had always been thinner and more frail than an average person. And since she hadn’t been able to eat properly after coming here, she must have grown even thinner, so it seemed possible for her to get through.

Emilia….

He closed his eyes with a pained expression. The Richert Empire lay in the northern frozen lands with long winters. On the coldest day in the empire, Emilia had fallen into the freezing sea.

“Everyone, get out.”

“Yes.”

At the Emperor’s shout filled with killing intent, the warden and guard, who had been watching his mood, hurried out at once.

Approaching the small window, he looked down at the sea. It moved calmly, as if nothing had ever happened.

“I told you to stay alive. I said I would come to save you.”

Louid shouted as he slammed his fist against the wall. Blood streamed down from his hand.

“Your Majesty, please calm down.”

Alex, who had been standing by the door, tried to stop him with his sturdy body, but he couldn’t withstand Louid’s strength.

“I will find you. No matter what.”

He muttered like a man out of his mind. For several days after that, Louid searched for Emilia like a madman together with the imperial knights. But there were no results.

So Emilia was the bluebird.

As a child, he had once caught a small bluebird in the mountains himself. But one day, he found that the bluebird trapped in the cage had died.

‘The bluebird died because I locked it up. Emilia also died because I locked her up.’

Emilia was dead. And it was because of him. But he couldn’t accept that fact.

“Find my wife’s body. If you fail, I will execute you all.”

He issued a strict command to all personnel at Peric Prison.

After returning to the imperial palace, he knelt before the grave of the bluebird in the garden behind the Prince’s palace and wept.

“Emilia, I’m sorry.”

He remained there for a long time, until the tears that poured out soaked the small grave completely. That place was restricted from entry, so no one could see the Emperor like that.

***

“A resignation letter? Why all of a sudden?”

When Louid went to Peric Island, Damian submitted a resignation letter to Asher.

“I’m sorry for leaving so suddenly, Your Grace. I think raising grapes and making wine suits me better than working as an aide. And I need to take care of Martin as well. Please grant me permission.”

“It seems you were shaken by being detained in the Kingdom of Billiot.”

“There is some of that as well.”

Damian didn’t bother denying Asher’s mistaken assumption. He felt sorry toward the duke, but he was worried about Emilia. All he could think about was going to her as soon as possible.

“I understand. But I still need your help, so can’t you stay a little longer?”

“I’m afraid that will be difficult. Martin’s health isn’t good.”

Despite Asher’s request, Damian remained firm. It was unlike him.

“Then you can’t resign completely. Come and help for one week each month.”

Asher, who had been trying to persuade him, offered a compromise.

“Yes, understood.”

And so Damian decided to work as an aide for one week each month. As soon as he received Asher’s permission, he mounted a horse and headed south to where Emilia was.