The Damn Family Is Back Again - Chapter 308



308. As if it never happened (5)

There had been countless times when she had acted rashly.

She painfully realized what kind of snowball effect her rashness had caused.

She became fully aware of who had suffered from her wrong judgment.

So Claire waited a little longer.

But this time, she had a strange feeling.

Something was different.

This time.

“Miss Claire? You’re going back to the duchy now?”

“Yes. I left something behind.”

“Uh… should I start packing then?”

“No. I just said I left something behind. It won’t take long, so don’t worry.”

Claire waved her hand lightly as she spoke, but the servants stopped her.

“You still need to do the minimum maintenance.”

“Do I really have to?”

“Yes. If you want to take the shortest route, you have to cross the bridge over the Shas River, but it seems there is a problem with this bridge.”

“Ah, so in short, we have to take a longer route?”

“Yes. It would be best to assume it will take at least a day.”

According to Viscount Ptoa, the time to repair this bridge is quite long.

And according to Sir Carlton, even on the detour, monsters are appearing, so it will take more time to choose the safest route.

As a result, it would take a whole day to reach the Duke’s house.

“…This will take quite a while.”

Since the journey is quite long, if we only ride the carriage, our bodies will get stiff, so we had to contact places to stay along the way.

Moreover, considering other leisure activities and the route, the closest way now was to pass through Carsein’s territory.

Even worse.

-Drip. Drop.

“Ah.”

To make matters worse, it started to rain.

In this area, when it rains, the servants have a hard time, so we had to postpone today’s departure.

“Of all times to be unlucky… Alright. Pack lightly. We’ll leave tomorrow.”

Somehow, even though we were on our way back to the Duke’s house, we had to pack our bags.

Thus, a whole day passed due to the rain.

As early morning arrived, Claire dressed up and stepped out of the villa.

That sight caught the eye of the youngest, who had just woken up. “Yawn…? Little sister?”

“Oh, Flora.”

“Where are you going? So early in the morning.”

Flora asked, rubbing her eyes, still not fully awake.

She could roughly explain to the other servants, but she couldn’t say that to the youngest.

Among the family, except for Carsein, everyone knew what was being prepared.

“I couldn’t get in touch with Carsein, so I’m going to meet him in person.”

“In person?”

“Yes. I have to tell him to keep that time free. It might be free now, but when the time comes, he might be busy. I have to tell him to adjust it in advance.”

Flora nodded her head and said, “I see.”

But soon, as if she had a question, she asked again.

“If that’s the case, couldn’t you just send a letter?”

“Haha… I tried that too. It seems they are very busy.”

She didn’t bother to mention that they weren’t receiving letters.

It might cause unnecessary worry.

“Anyway. Just know that I’m going to meet Carsein for a bit, okay? You must be sleepy, so go back and get some rest.”

“Okay. But you know you have to come back quickly, right? We said we’d have a meeting together.”

As she gently patted Flora’s head, Flora yawned and went back.

In the meantime, the packing was finished, and Claire got into the carriage.

“Coachman, take me to the Duke’s residence.”

“Yes, miss.”

It was an instruction no different from usual.

Claire usually didn’t give such urgent instructions at times like this.

But today was a bit different.

“…If possible, please go a bit faster.”

*

While riding the carriage to the Duke’s residence, Claire couldn’t hide her uneasiness.

In the end, she couldn’t bear this uneasiness and asked the servants to deliver another letter to the two territories. When the time came, the communication spheres would light up, and she would receive the signal.

So even at this moment, while riding the carriage, Claire’s eyes were on the two communication spheres.

One was for Shatren.

The other was for Rusmire.

She hoped the lights would turn on anytime, anywhere.

However, even when they were close to the Duke’s residence, the two crystal spheres did not light up.

It meant that there was still no response from Carsein, no news at all.

It couldn’t possibly be this late.

“…”

No. Is that really the only problem?

Isn’t it possible that I’m missing something else?

The fact that there was no contact from Carsein, who had gone on an inspection of the territory, and that none of the other servants had noticed, didn’t make sense.

The sense of discomfort kept swelling.

“─Miss, young lady.”

“…”

“Young Lady Claire…?”

“Huh, what?”

“Young Lady Claire. We have arrived at the Duke’s residence. I called you several times, but you didn’t respond… ahem.”

He cleared his throat. It seemed she had been lost in thought.

But… as soon as Claire set foot here, she looked around and immediately sensed something strange.

‘…Was the Duke’s residence always this chaotic?’

The empty Duke’s residence was well managed by Heron, and they had even hired a skilled head maid, so it wasn’t much different from usual.

Yet, it was different.

There was definitely a different feeling.

It must just be her imagination.

Claire shook her head, thinking she was being overly sensitive about nothing.

“What is that?”

This time, something truly alarming caught her eye.

-Click.

“…”

Isabella had said to take the portraits they had taken during their spring outing and place them around the Duke’s residence in small frames.

Following her wish to have family portraits visible everywhere, they had been made into frames and distributed.

Thanks to that, Claire could see the faces of the five family members wherever she went. At first, it felt a bit awkward, but she had gotten used to it and would glance at them occasionally.

This frame contained one of those portraits.

A portrait of the five family members.

But.

Why is one person’s face cut out?

“…Hey. What is this?”

From noble mtl dot com

“Ah, young lady?”

“Who did this? Tell me right now.”

It didn’t take long for her to lose her temper.

Naturally.

This meant that the person was not recognized as a member of the Bagrande ducal family, our family.

*

To identify the culprit, Claire called the servants.

She thought it was an intention to harass Carsein, just like with Emma Urnen.

That’s why she thought so.

However, despite calling countless servants, no one knew anything.

“Who would dare to touch the portrait of the ducal family?”

“Some people who clean might occasionally do so… but they wouldn’t do such a thing for fear of their lives!”

“Moreover, this is only Carsein’s face…! There’s no way anyone would do such a terrible thing to the young master who always considers our work distribution!”

No. To be precise, there was no one who would do such a thing.

No one who had taken bribes like with Emma Urnen.

No one who engaged in dirty and petty tricks.

There was no one.

Then suddenly, a page swallowed hard and spoke.

“There, there is one person who touched the frame…”

Claire’s blue eyes blazed.

Feeling the unspoken pressure from her eyes that seemed ready to devour him, the page, already frightened, mentioned a name.

“Young master Carsein!”

“…What?”

“That is, young master Carsein himself touched the frame… before inspecting the territory.”

It was unbelievable even after hearing it.

Not anyone else. Carsein did that?

Cut out his own face from the portrait in the frame?

‘Damn. Does that even make sense!’

However, she only screamed inwardly and did not voice it.

It was the same this time.

This page did not seem to be lying.

Nor did he seem to harbor any malice towards Carsein.

The conclusion was that Carsein himself had diagonally cut out his face from the frame.

As soon as she realized that fact, a sense of incongruity began to amplify.

“Ah, Miss?”

Behind the maids who were filled with fear.

A portrait comes into view.

In the main hall of the duke’s house, there is a large portrait hanging.

The portrait was recently painted during a spring outing, and it is the original that depicts all the family members.

But now…

“Why, why is that…”

The left part of the portrait was cut off precisely at a diagonal.

As if to remove only one person’s face.

– If you want to travel, I’ll pay for it myself. As for pocket money, I don’t really need it since I’m earning money myself. A rare flower that grows in a foreign country? I’m curious about that. It would be nice to buy and grow it myself.

‘…What?’

Suddenly, Karsein’s voice echoed, making all her nerves stand on end.

At that time, she thought it was nothing special.

But… now?

– Why? It’s not strange to do it with my own money, is it?

– Besides, you need to have some sense of shame. How much damage have I caused to the duke’s house so far? Considering that, a gift is a hundred years too early.

Claire’s sense of discomfort, recalling the continuing words, endlessly swelled.

Come to think of it, the mansion is too quiet.

This place should be serving the remaining master.

It was excessively quiet.

Although the maids have their own tasks and rest time, it shouldn’t be this quiet.

Claire hastened her steps.

“Miss Claire?”

“Huh? Miss is here… Oh my.”

“What brings you here?”

The maids, who had finished their tasks for the day and were enjoying a short break, looked flustered, but that didn’t catch her eye.

Common sense told her it didn’t make sense, but the urgent task was to check if Karsein was among the remaining maids in the dining room.

‘Not here.’

-Bang!

Claire, who roughly closed the dining room door, headed next to the laundry room.

“Gasp…! L-Lady Claire!”

“Ah, Lady?! S-Sorry! It’s just…! I missed you so much because we couldn’t meet…!”

A pair of maid and knight, who were sharing a secret affection at the laundry place, were startled and stammered.

‘Not here.’

Normally, one would sternly tell them not to do such things here, but now, she just turns her head and leaves as if she doesn’t care.

Karsein used to read books often.

As much as he accumulated knowledge, he might be in a place full of all kinds of books.

-Clunk!

Ah. Right. Seeing that couple just now, he might be giving instructions to the maids.

Even though it’s late, he has quite a deep sense of principles…

-Clunk!

Maybe he told them to stop working and take a rest?

In the past, he couldn’t help the servants with their work, so he might have gone to give them some food himself, feeling bad about it…

-Clunk!

Because the weather is cold.

He might have caught a cold, and…

She searched every corner of the duke’s house, opening doors as if digging through.

But Karsein was nowhere to be seen.

There was no trace of him anywhere in the duke’s house.

As if he had disappeared.

…No.

As if he had never existed in the first place.

Denying this, Claire reached the last place.

“…”

Karsein’s room.

The room where that guy, who always spoke nonchalantly, would be.

As soon as she opens the door, she will ask why he did such a thing.

If there is any reason he can’t speak of, she will try to coax him to be honest.

Don’t think hastily. Calmly. She will gradually figure out why this happened.

But…

Why?

Why am I feeling uneasy?

‘No.’

Karsein will be here.

Whether he’s sleeping because he’s tired, or taking care of his people in his territory today.

‘Yes. Surely, he will be here.’

-Click.

The door opened.

But at that moment, Claire’s blue eyes… did not see anyone.

“What is this… exactly…”

It was a sight that couldn’t be explained.

The room was so neatly organized.

It didn’t seem like there would be a speck of dust or a single bug.

But everything else was also neatly arranged.

Like documents placed like invoices, with envelopes or money pouches corresponding to these bills.

This was a room where no trace of a person existed anymore.

Only documents and money remained in the room.

As if, it had never existed.

As if it had never existed in the first place.

“What is this. What is this… stop this prank. This is…”

-Clang!

Her legs, which had lost strength, collapsed, causing her to unintentionally hit the table.

Because of that, an object fell with a clang in front of Claire’s eyes.

It was also a frame.

Unlike the sharply cut diagonal she had seen earlier, it looked like it had been forcibly torn with strength.

At the same time, the trash can also rolled in front of her.

A small piece of paper crumpled inside the trash can fell out.

No way.

She thought.

-Drop. Drop.

The piece fit perfectly into the empty part of the frame.

This was the only remaining image of Karsein in the Duke’s house.

My heart sank.

– Yes. I was someone who should have left the Duke’s house from the beginning, right?

The words Claire had been avoiding until the end finally stabbed her in the heart.

The cold wind.

The chill that seemed to freeze her.

She was only now beginning to feel it.

“Miss! H-Hurry! You’re bleeding! You need to be treated…!”

“…I have to.”

“W-What?”

“We have to find Karsein immediately!”

Before my only younger brother.

Really leaves the Duke’s house of Bagland.

-Ding!

▶Key Memorial: The broken frame has been activated.◀