Chapter 71

Then, she glanced around the mansion, where she had nothing to see anymore. Azela, who looked around the mansion, turned her body toward the front door with light, unrestrained steps.

“If you go out…”

“….”

“Where do you plan to go when you leave?”

“…Well, I’m no longer Countess Todd, so I can go anywhere.”

Now, she was really and forever separated from him. It was bitter and lamentable, and she hated him but also felt relieved. Still, at one time, he was a man she loved enough that she felt it was not wasted even if she gave her all.

Azela was relieved but sad… She uttered with a smile that was distorted by complicated emotions that she did not know herself.

“I’m fine.”

When she opened the tightly closed front door, she could see Zagnac standing with his arms crossed on the front pillar. Azela didn’t know how long he had been waiting for her though she acted casually, conscious of Daniel and Sylvia, who would be watching all this behind her.

Zagnac knelt down on one of his knees slyly, and he pressed his lips lightly to the back of her left hand.

“Welcome, my Azela.”

At his sweet voice, Azela’s heart began to beat like a person about to die. The back of her left hand, as his lips touched, was so hot that it would burn.

“Let’s go.”

Azela gently closed her trembling eyelashes and bit her lip.

…Now, she had to leave with this man and live with this man. She didn’t need a heart that beats like this and the burning feeling.

“Wa, wait.”

Daniel’s urgent voice was heard in her ears as she was about to leave. Azela turned her upper body to look at Daniel, who had a grim face.

“Why, why is the Duke here? …No. Are, are you two going to go together now?”

He looked bewildered. At the same time, Sylvia, who was next to him, had an angry face. Azela, who gazed carefully at the two of them, spoke in an indifferent tone.

“Daniel. It’s not your business anymore because you and I are strangers.”

“My, my God.”

“Please, live happily ever after with Sylvia and your child.”

As Azela took her steps, he, who had been kneeling on one knee, stood up and followed her—like a sword that guards her. When she stopped in front of the carriage, Zagnac took her hand and carefully escorted her.

Daniel’s crumpled face was the first thing that caught her eye as she got into Zagnac’s carriage.

Zagnac, who climbed into the carriage after him, glanced at him wrinkled expression and said in an excited voice.

“Let’s go, to the capital.”

With his orders, the carriage departed without any hesitation. Daniel never managed to stop her. Azela stuck her head out and looked out the window of the carriage. The Todd mansion, where she had been living, suddenly became a small dot and disappeared in the distance.

“Do you have any regrets?”

Zagnac asked cautiously when he saw Azela, who could hardly take her eyes off the window. It was a very cautious voice. Staring out the window for a long time without answering Zagnac’s question, she was only able to sit properly after Todd’s mansion was out of sight.

“…I don’t know if this is a feeling of regret, but I’d be lying if I said nothing. It’s where I dedicated my most beautiful time.”

“Don’t worry.”

He uttered lightly at her mixed tone before reaching out his hand toward her. Azela’s hair, which was disheveled by the wind blowing through the carriage’s window, was gently tucked behind her ear.

“Because you will bloom more beautifully in the future.”

Like casting a spell, Zagnac said in a seductive voice.

As if enchanted by him, Azela stared blankly at him without saying anything to the voice. She couldn’t resist the fact that he gently stroked her hair. Then, he smiled at her stillness that was still at his touch. His purple eyes were dark.

He said, stroking her hair gently and stroking her white cheek with a gentle hand.

“…Right by my side.”

It was his order.

With his short, bold words, Azela gazed at him, and she couldn’t hide her red cheeks.

In her blue eyes, Zagnac, who was all black like the night sky, was completely enveloped. Azela looked at him without averting her gaze, as she knew that she could no longer run away, entangled in his magic.

Zagnac drew a smile as he looked at Azela.

* * *

When Azela left, the Todd mansion was empty.

Even though Sylvia quickly filled the empty space, Daniel felt an emptiness that could not be filled. His acquaintances all pointed their fingers at him for the decision to make an unknown mistress as the Countess.

In particular, everyone shook their heads and clicked their tongues about throwing out the talented ‘Azela Vellista.’

It happened just a week after Azela left. At this point, after hearing the reaction of the people around him, Daniel also began to worry about whether his decision was wrong.

“Daniel, look at this. Pretty, right?”

However, Sylvia, who knew nothing, was smiling happily that Azela had disappeared from the mansion.

…Yes, she would end up living a different life from her mother. Look, her mother ended up being abandoned as a noble mistress, though she was different. She drove the Madam out, and now, she eventually took the spot as the ‘Countess.’

Sylvia was intoxicated with a victorious smile.

Daniel frowned as he looked at the dresses and jewels stacked behind her. Sylvia, not seeing his expression, sat down on the sofa with a satisfied face, rubbing her stomach and saying,

“Madam… No, she’s not Madam anymore. When Azela is gone, I can finally be at ease. My baby is also happy because it appears in my dreams every day and smiles happily. You have no idea how pretty it is.”

“…Did you go out shopping again today?”

“Yes, of course. I can’t use the clothes that Azela wore and the jewelry she wore as if I inherited her old ones. Besides, I am now the Countess, so I can’t wear shabby clothes. I need to wear pretty clothes and good things to raise Daniel’s status.”

Sylvia smiled broadly with happiness.

For some reason, that pretty smile did not come to him as beautiful today. Daniel spoke quietly, stroking his parched face with his cold palms.

“Sylvia, I told you. Our family’s financial situation right now can’t afford that much. You need to save a little more…”

“Are you telling me I was overspending just because I bought this much dress and jewelry?”

“This much? You’ve been shopping for a whole week already. You bought a lot more dresses than Azela had. Don’t you think I don’t even know that you only buy high-end limited edition products that are hard to find?”

Sylvia looked shocked at Daniel’s scolding. Soon, tears welled up in her gorgeous eyes. He sighed deeply and lowered his head down.

“Can’t I have more dresses than Azela? If she has ten dresses, do I have to have only ten?”

“…No, I mean—”

“That’s enough. I don’t want to hear it.”

Grabbing her stomach with her hands, she lifted herself up from the sofa.

By sticking out her stomach more, she was emphasizing his and her child to him. Daniel’s gaze turned to Sylvia’s stomach before turning back into the air.

Her stomach was gradually swelling. Of course, it was not yet time for the baby to be filling it yet. It was just that she was gradually gaining weight. Slyvia uttered triumphantly as she saw Daniel take one look at her stomach.

“I can’t let my baby hear that its mother is so miserable. I want to go back to my bedroom.”

“…Ha.”

“Don’t think about coming tonight.”

Sylvia spoke coldly and left the study without looking back.

Daniel, who had stared at the closed door for a long time, making a loud bang, lowered his head and muttered a little.

“I said that it is not polite to close the door of the mansion with such a loud noise, but it was never fixed.”

Gradually, Sylvia’s flaws, one by one, started to show up in his eyes.