Just Leave Me Be

Chapter 6

When Adele walked out, Bella jumped, trembling and looking flustered.

“What are you doing here?” Adele asked.

“Oh, it... it’s time for breakfast, so I came to let you know, my lady,” Bella answered.

“Is that so?”

From the looks of it, Bella had been waiting outside for quite a while.

If I don’t attend breakfast, I’ll probably be lectured about it again. It’s way too much trouble.

Adele sighed at the thought.

“Fine,” she said. “Tell them I’ll be down soon. Oh, and that I’ll be out for the afternoon.”

She planned to take only a few bites of her meal, then come back upstairs.

Bella looked momentarily happy at Adele’s words. Then she cautiously questioned, “Is that because you will be going to the market in the afternoon, my lady?”

“That’s right,” Adele said. “I’m going to pick up a few things, and I don’t need you coming with me. By the way, I’m finished getting ready. I won’t be wearing any accessories today.”

Bella’s eyes grew wide, and she stared at Adele as if she was unable to comprehend what her lady had just said.

“Please allow me to help you next time, my lady,” she said.

Adele smiled without answering. She knew Bella had detested helping her get ready in the past. Now it seemed the maid was afraid of losing her job.

“That will be all,” Adele said. “You may leave. Just remember what I said before.”

She was planning to go straight to the market after breakfast, so she had tucked a pouch of money inside her sleeve before leisurely walking down the stairs.

Bella tried to hurry after her, but Adele stopped her with a look. Thankfully, she didn’t try to follow her after that.

Adele headed straight to the dining hall, where the rest of the family was already seated and eating. It wasn’t the first time they had started eating without her, but Adele wasn’t bothered by it.

“Good morning, Father. Mother,” she said.

“Good morning,” replied the duke.

The duchess frowned and shot a look of loathing at Adele. Adele quietly registered the look, then faced Fellis.

“Fellis,” she greeted him.

As usual, it was only Duke Viphta who returned her greeting. Again, she wasn’t surprised. Adele knew they would finish eating and leave before her.

As for herself, she was just going to pretend to eat; it wasn’t as if she was going to be able to stomach anything in front of these people anyway. She’d be lucky if she didn’t get sick.

“I think I will excuse myself first,” Fellis finally said.

“That’s fine. I believe I’m done, too,” added the duke. If the duke left, that meant the duchess would follow shortly after.

“Enjoy your breakfast, Karena,” the duke said cordially.

“Yes, Father,” Adele replied.

When the three family members had left the room, Adele stopped picking at her salad and put down her fork. It was ridiculous for her to be left all alone in such a big dining hall.

She got up from her seat and put her napkin down. Then she left the dining hall and headed to the entrance of the mansion. The guard at the gates greeted her with a bow.

“Are you going out, my lady? Shall I call a carriage for you?” he asked.

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Adele answered. “I’m going to walk. I’ll be back before dinner, so please don’t mind me.”

“In that case, I can get someone to escort you,” he offered.

Adele shook her head. “No, it’s okay. It’ll just be a quiet trip. I’ll be wearing a robe, so I’m sure no one will notice me.”

The guard bowed, his eyes gleaming inscrutably. Normally, Adele wouldn’t have refused his offer since she’d always struggled to speak in front of the knights.

The duke’s soldiers protected and patrolled the estate in shifts and security was especially tight because of the many enemies the duke’s household had made over time.

Duke Viphta himself was a master swordsman and a fervent supporter of the emperor, so it was natural that many were hostile toward him. However, he was not someone that could be easily attacked. Yet another reason Adele had died on her way to an arranged marriage.

On the surface, it had clearly been a marriage to strengthen the duke’s alliance with the emperor.

There was no mistake that it would have been beneficial for the duke. Yet, she had still died at the hands of someone who appeared to be carrying out his orders.

Why did he have me killed?

If she could have been useful in helping to strengthen the alliance with the palace, did she really have to die?

Her head was swimming with questions.

Plus, I didn’t even recognize the swordsman.

What a fate… To think you’re being sold off into a loveless marriage, only to be murdered. It was such an utterly pathetic and absurd end to her life. Even now, it felt like she was just watching a long, elaborate play.

With unhurried steps, Adele slipped out of the duke’s mansion.

* * *

Once Adele was out of the estate, her expression brightened. When she was home, her face stayed carefully blank at all times, but outside, her mood changed.

Feeling uplifted, she decided to enjoy herself.

When did the duchess learn she was pregnant again?

She recalled the duchess had been nauseous at breakfast that day—ill with morning sickness—though she couldn’t remember when exactly that had happened. When the duchess had announced that she was pregnant with Selena, Adele had been ecstatic at the thought of getting a younger sister. However, she hadn’t even been allowed to approach the duchess at all.

The duchess always looked uncomfortable when I was around.

Perhaps that was why her marriage had been so hastily arranged.

“My role had already finished by then,” Adele said to herself.

Karena Viphta was alive and well. That was all Adele had needed to prove, and she had done so constantly over the past 10 years.

I’m going to eat whatever I want and buy whatever I want using the money I never had a chance to use.

In a way, Adele felt as if she was receiving a payment, of sorts. Payment for the labor she’d done acting as Karena Viphta for the last decade. It was only fair that the money was hers, and that she could use it however she saw fit.

“I could open up a restaurant... or maybe an inn.”

Innkeepers only needed to provide rooms, so her only job would be to keep the rooms neat and tidy. It would be even better if she could run a small tavern on the first floor.

I could definitely make a living for myself doing that.

Or perhaps she could be a minstrel, wandering around from town to town. She wasn’t much of a singer, so she would have to just stick to playing instruments.

“If not that... maybe I could become a physician’s apprentice.”

Large cities and towns had apothecaries and clinics. She vaguely remembered hearing that apprentices were provided food and housing alongside their pay.

Archaeology doesn’t sound bad either.

There weren’t many who could decipher ancient languages. Maybe she could translate old scripts while exploring the world.

“That means I’d have to join up with a group of adventurers.”

These groups gathered specifically for exploration; they worked as bodyguards for scholars, hunted for monsters, and used the information they got from scholars' theses and studies to earn their money and live together. They were like a family.

Hmm. Adele kept walking with her arms crossed in front of her, looking conflicted.

“I have too many skills, and I can’t choose just one,” she said.

Fortunately, all the subjects she’d studied so intensely from a young age turned out to be things that could help support her if she were to ever live on her own. Considering how most ladies lived such sheltered lives, Adele found solace in the fact that she would at least be able to make a living for herself.

At just 10 years of age, her life had already been more wretched than most could even imagine.

The streets were full of kids like Adele—kids who didn’t know their parents and were busy every day fighting to survive. She had begged and rummaged through trash—filling her belly with rotten food—because there was nothing else to eat. Most of the time, the garbage dumps in the streets were controlled by the more powerful children, so Adele was even forced to beg there as well.

Then one rainy day, Adele was picked up by Duke Viphta.

* * *

It happened 10 years ago.

The rain was falling lightly that day making the ground muddy, and each time a carriage raced through a puddle, filthy water shot high into the air before it showered back down. As always, the girl was curled beneath a patchy straw tent to protect herself from the rain; the straw kept half the rain out, but plenty still leaked through—dripping steadily down onto her body.

I’m hungry.

It was summer, but she was still cold and hungry. Two days had already passed since she’d last eaten and it had been raining constantly since then.

She settled down in a spot near the marketplace. While visitors were usually drawn in by the delicious aromas of cooking food, none had come in that day. The rain was relentless during the wet season, and when it rained, it was especially difficult to find food. Just as rats and stray cats stayed hidden during rainstorms, people also seemed averse to going outdoors. That meant fewer scraps on the ground and in the trash for the hungry children to fight over.

The girl’s eyes glittered hungrily; her cheeks were gaunt and sunken in. As the rain picked up again, she watched as the people on the streets began rushing back to their homes.

It was around then that two knights dressed in robes approached her.