Chapter 20: Choosing for Herself
Beyond the path they hurried along exactly as Cleil had described stood a slightly old manor.
The garden was maintained to a certain degree, so it was likely still inhabitable.
However, for a manor of this size, there should have been far more signs of life.
Instead, it was unnervingly quiet.
“What is this… it’s too quiet.”
There was no sign of servants or maids at all.
Had this manor already been abandoned?
Thinking that, Noah quickly searched for an entrance and spotted a plain carriage stopped by the gate.
The carriage bore no family crest or markings.
As Noah hid himself and observed the carriage, a man’s voice rang out from the manor.
“Hurry up, come on, move!”
The person being forcibly dragged by the arm was Dorothy.
“Let me go!”
“Shut up and be quiet.”
The man struck Dorothy with his free hand.
Seeing Dorothy go limp after being hit, Noah took a deep breath to suppress the urge to rush out in blind rage.
He then walked slowly toward the gate.
The driver noticed Noah approaching, climbed down, and glared at him.
“What do you want?”
Judging from Noah’s appearance that he was a noble, the man asked while still glaring.
“I have no business with you.”
“The one I want is that man.”
Realizing Noah was watching, the man dragging Dorothy made an annoyed face.
“Release that woman.”
“Huh?”
“What are you talking about?”
“She’s my daughter.”
“I’m just re-disciplining a daughter who lacks proper upbringing.”
It seemed the man was Dorothy’s father.
“Then you are Count Cotevar.”
“If you understand that, don’t interfere.”
“I refuse.”
“I was ordered by His Majesty to protect that woman.”
“What did you say!”
“His Majesty?”
“This woman?”
“That’s absurd!”
Count Cotevar’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“It is the truth.”
“Dorothy-dono is a lady-in-waiting trusted by His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress.”
“She is not a woman you can treat however you like.”
“A lady-in-waiting?”
“This one?”
“Wasn’t she just some lowly servant!”
“Did you not know?”
“She is far more capable than you.”
Count Cotevar did not serve at the Imperial Palace.
In fact, he did not even manage his own domain properly.
After investigating thoroughly, largely because of Dorothy, the situation had deteriorated to the point where confiscation of his territory was being considered.
Noah had even felt a strange sense of admiration that a woman like Dorothy had come from such a household.
“Hah!”
“Capable?”
“This one?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“She’s been useless ever since she was little.”
“I see.”
“So you people knew nothing about Dorothy-dono at all.”
At Noah’s words, the limp Dorothy slowly raised her face.
“…Noah-sama?”
“Dorothy-dono, are you all right?”
Ignoring the driver and Count Cotevar entirely, Noah moved closer to Dorothy.
That naturally put him right in front of Count Cotevar, who was gripping her arm.
Noah casually pried Count Cotevar’s hand off Dorothy.
“Hey!”
“You bastard!”
“How many times do I have to say it’s His Majesty’s order?”
“Or is your so-called cult leader’s command more important to you than His Majesty’s?”
“W-What…!”
Ignoring the visibly shaken Count Cotevar, Noah pulled Dorothy into his arms.
“Noah-sama, you’ll get dirty.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Dorothy-dono, I’m sorry I was late.”
Looking closely, her lip was split and her cheek was swollen.
Those injuries were not from the strike just now, but from earlier.
The pain would likely linger for a while.
“When we return to the palace, you’ll get treatment right away.”
“The doctors there are used to treating knights, so they have effective medicine.”
“…Yes…”
Holding Dorothy tightly, Noah glared at Count Cotevar.
“Count Cotevar, where were you planning to go?”
“To that group seeking blood and pleasure?”
“You will tell us everything about your connections to them.”
“Shut up!”
“One man like you is nothing!”
“Try it.”
“And this manor has almost no signs of life.”
“Where did the rest of your family and the servants go?”
“You think I’d tell you?”
“If so, you’re incredibly naive.”
“You should have spoken willingly here.”
“But it can’t be helped.”
“We can have specialists ask you properly in a special room instead.”
Anyone could easily imagine what a ‘special room’ and ‘specialists’ meant in this situation.
“E-Even if I told you—”
“It’s already too late, is it?”
“You sold everyone to the cult, didn’t you?”
Reports had already come in that Count Cotevar’s finances were suspicious.
This man had likely sold his own family and servants to the cult.
Whether they became sacrifices or not didn’t matter to him, as long as he could take the money and escape.
“Shut up!”
“Noah-dono!”
At the same time as Count Cotevar’s shout, Lucien arrived with the knights.
“Lucien-dono, that man sold his household to the cult.”
“Oh my.”
“Well, well.”
“The members of the Cotevar household were not well regarded, so should we be glad fewer problems remain, or lament that an Imperial noble head sold his family to a cult?”
“Either way, he will not escape the ultimate punishment.”
As the knights easily restrained Count Cotevar and the driver who tried to flee, Noah tightened his hold on Dorothy.
“Do you have any lingering feelings for that man?”
“No.”
“And your family?”
“In that house, I was someone who could be treated however they pleased.”
“I have no attachment to them.”
“I see.”
Some might call it cold, but to Dorothy, her blood relatives were no longer necessary.
She had always been sacrificed for their happiness.
They found satisfaction in directing their negative emotions toward the weakest child in the house, Dorothy.
Now that they stood in the same position, they never once thought about how they had treated her.
“…Noah-sama, is it foolish to dream of having a family?”
“No.”
“You couldn’t choose the family you were born into, or your first marriage.”
“But this time, you can choose for yourself.”
“People can’t live alone, but now you can choose who you live with.”
“…I choose?”
“Yes.”
“You worked diligently, and because of that, you gained His Majesty’s and Her Majesty’s backing.”
“That is something you obtained yourself.”
“I only did what His Majesty and Her Majesty instructed me to do…”
“You never cut corners.”
“The Empress herself said she could entrust work to you with peace of mind.”
“That trust is something you earned.”
“It is one of your assets.”
At Noah’s words, calling the Empress’s trust Dorothy’s asset, tears overflowed from her eyes.
Ah, so I can still cry.
Dorothy, who had never cried no matter how much abuse or even violence she endured from her family, was surprised that she still possessed the ability to cry.
She had thought it was never there to begin with, or that it had broken long ago.
Yet Noah’s words awakened it.
“Let’s go home.”
“…Yes.”
Only now did the pain in her struck cheek register.
Even so, Dorothy felt that the pain in her heart had eased, if only a little.