Duchess Mecklen’s Elegant Revolt - Chapter 34 Part 2

Ernst appeared the same as always on the surface.

However, if one looked closely, they would notice that his eyes were fixed vacantly on nothing.

A dazed expression.

While Childe and the others might not have noticed, Lennoch clearly saw the change.

Eleanor almost turned her head to respond but stopped abruptly.

She was so close to Lennoch that if she moved any further, their lips might touch.

“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”

She tried her best to ignore the breath brushing against her neck.

“There’s the matter of Caroline… and perhaps he’s struggling with how to accept Vito.”

She couldn’t bring herself to say that she had coldly rejected Ernst.

It wasn’t about hiding her relationship with him but rather considering his position.

Wouldn’t it be best to keep quiet until Ernst brought it up himself?

“……”

But Lennoch was quick to catch on in matters like these.

Eleanor wasn’t meeting his gaze.

Yet she wasn’t looking toward Ernst either.

Resting his chin on her shoulder, Lennoch narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Is that all?”

His warm breath brushed against her skin again.

The strange sensation kept touching her nerves, and without realizing it, Eleanor instinctively covered the spot where his breath landed.

“Oh, about Vito.”

Eleanor deliberately brightened her tone.

“Could you arrange for him and the child to stay in the palace? Until everything is settled, they need a safe place to stay.”

“Of course.”

Although he readily agreed, Lennoch’s gaze remained sharp and unwavering.

Eleanor couldn’t tear her eyes away from him, feeling as though she could guess exactly what he was thinking.

Lennoch asked, “Are you uncomfortable?”

“No, not at all.”

‘It’s just a little contact.’

If she reacted to every little thing, she’d run out of energy.

Yet, unlike with others, Lennoch’s actions sometimes made her heart race in an inexplicable way.

To calm her pounding heart, she took a deep breath.

As if he wasn’t going to let her be, Lennoch then leaned his forehead against hers.

“Lennoch, people are watching.”

“No, they’re not.”

Lennoch’s composure was unshaken.

It was as if, in this place, only the two of them existed.

Only then did Eleanor finally take a look around.

‘Since when?’

Before she knew it, all the knights surrounding them had turned their heads to the side, deliberately looking away.

As if they were wary of the emperor’s mood.

At that moment, Childe, who had been walking ahead, instinctively glanced back—only to meet Eleanor’s eyes. His ears turned red in an instant, and he quickly looked away.

Seeing that, Eleanor let out a quiet laugh. “No wonder Lord Eger always complains.”

If anyone could master the art of mischief, Lennoch would surely be the empire’s greatest.

How had he set up such an atmosphere so effortlessly?

But compared to making eye contact with Childe and experiencing secondhand embarrassment, this was much better.

With no other choice, Eleanor half-resigned herself and let go of the hand that had been blocking Lennoch.

“…I’ll explain in more detail once we reach our lodging.”

Lennoch often said that he couldn’t handle her.

But perhaps it was she who couldn’t handle him.

Shaking her head, Eleanor sighed in surrender.

Seeing this, Lennoch let out a low chuckle, his gaze filled with amusement.

***

The group secured several lodging buildings in a nearby town and split into smaller groups.

The crippled old man they had captured was placed in a room with two knights assigned to guard him.

Late at night, a doctor from the town was summoned by the emperor’s order to examine the injured captives before tending to Vito and the child.

Eleanor, Lennoch, and Childe were also present in the room.

“Hmm.”

The doctor carefully examined Vito’s throat. Other than the scrapes from rolling down the mountain path, the child had no serious injuries.

After a thorough examination, the doctor looked up and asked, “He has never been able to speak?”

“Yes. The village chief said so.”

The child relayed what he had been told.

When he first met Vito, the village chief had claimed that his inability to speak was congenital.

Hearing this, the doctor tilted his head in confusion. “This is not a birth defect. His vocal cords were damaged later in life. Do you see this scar? It’s a cut wound.”

The doctor pointed to a faint scar.

“It’s an old injury. If a scar forms before reaching adulthood, it stretches and becomes more pronounced over time. This one must have occurred when he was still a child. Given the depth of the wound… he must have barely survived. Though he escaped death, the damage to his vocal cords was irreversible.”

“Oh my.”

Childe let out a soft gasp of surprise.

Clicking his tongue, the doctor continued, “Do you remember how you got this injury?”

“……”

With downcast eyes, Vito shook his head slowly.

Watching his gestures, the child quickly interpreted for him. “He says he has no memories before the age of ten.”

“Hmm, then he must have suffered a traumatic event during that period. Severe shock can sometimes cause partial memory loss.”

“Then what was he doing before he arrived at the plantation?”

Childe voiced the question everyone had been wondering.

After a moment’s hesitation, Vito began signing again.

“The same work as on the plantation. He was on a farm in Bahama. Huh? Brother, did you know Lady Caroline back then too?”

“……”

“She helped him a lot. She taught him to read, bought him clothes… Oh, and he knew the village chief from a young age?”

To summarize briefly, Vito had been with the village chief since childhood.

And Caroline had occasionally supported him, providing him with an education and various forms of aid.

The child, who had been interpreting Vito’s sign language for those around him, suddenly tilted his head.

“Brother, but didn’t you ever find it suspicious that such a shady person would help you without expecting anything in return? No one helps for no reason.”

It was a surprisingly realistic observation for a child.

Eleanor, who had been listening to the conversation, widened her eyes in surprise.

‘For him to think like this…’

When they first met in the Hadum slums, he had not been this perceptive.

Had his experiences changed him over time?

As she felt both pride and sorrow at the thought, she heard the child click his tongue again.

“You just believed them? Sigh, Brother, you’re really naïve.”

“……”

At that, Vito lowered his gaze as if feeling wronged.

Watching him, Lennoch found something unsettling about the scene.

Seeing someone with a face so similar to Ernst’s making such an expression felt oddly mismatched.

At that moment, Eleanor asked the doctor, “Then, is there no way to recover his voice?”

The doctor hesitated. “I’m afraid it’s impossible. Unless a miracle happens, there’s nothing that can be done.”

Though the news was grim, Vito merely scratched his head sheepishly.

He had lived this way for so long that it no longer felt like a pressing issue to him.

But the others could not think of it as so easily accepted.

As he finished treating Vito, the doctor added a final note.

“This is just a word of caution. If you are satisfied with your current life, it might be best not to forcefully dig up forgotten memories. In some cases, memory loss serves as a defense mechanism to protect oneself. I advise you to consider carefully.”

***

After the doctor left, everyone returned to their respective places.

Childe, seemingly more intrigued by Vito after the doctor’s words, volunteered to share a room with him, lightening the burden on the knights.

Eleanor and Lennoch went up to a room on the top floor of the lodging facility.

Knights blocked the corridor leading to their room, ensuring no one could enter or leave without permission.

Instead of going to bed immediately, they sat together on the sofa in the living area.

“It’s quite spacious.”

Eleanor, looking around the room, took a sip of the wine prepared by the staff.

Though called a lodging room, it was well-equipped.

There was a living room, a reception area, and even a large bedroom with an attached bath, making it no less luxurious than the home of a wealthy noble.

As she admired the expensive wooden furniture crafted from fragrant timber, her gaze eventually landed on Lennoch, who sat across from her.

Since entering the room, he had been lost in deep thought.

“Lennoch?”

She set her wine glass on the table and moved closer to him.

At the sound of her voice, Lennoch lifted his head slightly, but his hardened expression did not change.

Eleanor intended to sit beside him on the sofa.

However, Lennoch’s hand moved faster.

“Wouldn’t this be better?”

“…I was worried because you looked serious, but was that all an act?”

Before she could react, Eleanor found herself seated on his firm thighs, her face heating up slightly.

At that, Lennoch’s expression softened just a bit.

Eleanor placed her hand on his cheek as if to soothe him.

Perhaps comforted by the warmth of her touch, Lennoch slowly began to speak.

“It’s about Vito.”

“Vito?”

“Doesn’t it strike you as strange that Caroline kept him alive?”

Eleanor hesitated at his words.

“He resembles not only Ernst but also the late Duke of Mecklen.”

“Did you know the former Duke of Mecklen well?”

“When he was alive, he was always with my father. A DNA test would be necessary to confirm a blood relationship, but just by appearance, there’s a strong possibility that they’re brothers.”

“……”

“This is just my speculation.”

Lennoch took her hand and placed it on his shoulder.

Their upper bodies naturally leaned closer together.

“Because he resembles Ernst.”

Perhaps that was why Caroline kept him alive.

“If another tragedy like that of the late Duke of Mecklen were to occur, she needed a contingency plan. Maybe she educated and controlled Vito as an alternative, in case Ernst were to meet an untimely ‘accident.’”

“……!”

“That thought just crossed my mind.”

“Then, are you saying she was considering him as a successor?”

“Since Ernst is not particularly enthusiastic about marriage and has no heir, Caroline may have needed a backup plan.”

Given Caroline’s strong attachment to Mecklen, it was a highly plausible theory.

“If that was her intention, it also explains why she brought Vito to Baden.”

“If she only wanted to keep him as a pure slave, she wouldn’t have bothered to teach him how to read.”

Suddenly, Ernst came to mind.

He had refused to use the room provided by the emperor and had disappeared somewhere.

He was probably lost in deep thought by now.

Eleanor’s expression darkened slightly.

Noticing this, Lennoch gently patted her back, just as she had done to comfort him earlier.

“Are you that concerned about him?”

“No, it’s fine now.”

It seemed that Ernst had finally given up completely.

There was no longer any reason for them to be entangled.

Eleanor shook her head. “If we’re to return to the palace tomorrow, we should sleep early. Once I wake up, I’ll have forgotten all about it.”

“……”

Huh.

The moment she mentioned sleeping early, Lennoch’s expression changed subtly.