Time of the Blind Beast - Chapter 73

His return home was later than usual, as he had stopped by the detention center to visit that woman and wrap up the matter. On horseback, Ezekiel paused and looked up at the night sky scattered with faint stars.

Night was always the time Rose came to mind. For him, it didn’t matter—day or night was the same darkness—but Rose had her preferences. She used to say the daytime embarrassed her, as if someone were always watching. But when night came, she would walk in the garden in his arms, opening herself completely to him.

“Rose.”

Ezekiel called out the name that had lost its owner.

“It’s getting colder, why don’t you come back already?”

They had promised to decorate the big spruce tree together for Christmas, but she still showed no sign of returning. It was infuriating that she wasn’t keeping a promise she had made herself, and yet…

Still, he missed her.

He wanted to see her, hear her, touch her.

There was no one he could confide these frustrating feelings in. Ezekiel let out a deep sigh to quell the turmoil inside.

Aren’t you curious how I’ve been?

Or maybe, since news about the Valdemaira family spreads so quickly, you’ve secretly heard about me and are just staying hidden?

Are you really trying to drive me mad?

Whether he had lost his sight or regained it, if he still couldn’t see Rose, then what difference did it make?

“I finally found that woman.”

With Rose gone, he’d started talking to himself more. Just like when he was blind, he spoke into the darkness.

He had finally captured the woman he had been chasing for so long—shouldn’t that be enough reason for Rose to show herself?

The mere thought of Merlot hovering near Rose had been enough to enrage him and make his head throb. Yet Rose hadn’t shown a hint of jealousy. When the main house informed her that they couldn’t accept a maid as the mistress of House Valdemaira, she had simply agreed and stepped back. That alone meant she had acknowledged the possibility that he might marry another woman.

Rose, once I find you, I won’t let you go.

Ezekiel made the same vow he had repeated many times. As soon as he put a ring on her finger and brought her back, he would take a month off and shut himself in the bedroom with her. Rose was no longer a servant of the mansion—there was no need to let her go to work every morning.

If they spent day and night together for a month, good news would likely follow. Her body wouldn’t be given a moment to rest, so the odds were in their favor.

He had already declared to his father that he would never marry anyone but Rose, but unless he proved his will through visible action, his father would never acknowledge her.

“So come back, Rose. You wouldn’t want me to spend Christmas interrogating that woman, would you?”

If Rose never returned, the resentment he could find no outlet for would surely be directed at the woman now in his custody.

Ezekiel sneered coldly.

She had hidden herself so well, without leaving a single trace, that he’d wondered how far she had run. But in the end, the woman had been hiding in a city on the outskirts of the central region, not far from Claris. If well-trained soldiers rode without rest at full speed, it was a day’s ride there and back.

Hiding under the lamp.

Just like the saying, it had been right under his nose.

She must have let her guard down.

In the end, it was his victory. After leaving no trace for so long, she had finally slipped up a few times recently, allowing him to catch her trail at last.

Ezekiel recalled the woman who had scrawled his name so crookedly.

Was it just his imagination? The smell of her blood still seemed to linger.

As soon as she saw him, without a word of excuse, the woman had tried to kill herself with poison. Ezekiel had struck her in the solar plexus to force her to vomit, but even so, her insides must have already been damaged—she had coughed up more blood even after losing consciousness. She never opened her eyes once during the entire transport.

Concerned that the sight of several soldiers dragging along a blood-soaked woman might unnecessarily alarm the public, Ezekiel had simply wrapped her in an abandoned blanket and transported her that way.

“She’s not going to die on the way, right?”

Montcalm had glanced uneasily at the blood dripping from her chin.

Ezekiel gave a small nod.

“This woman probably wishes she were dead.”

“Yeah, she downed that poison without even blinking. Fierce, that one… Honestly, though, I was kind of surprised. Just from her appearance, she didn’t come off like I expected. She looked younger than I thought. Like the type who volunteers at orphanages on her days off—hard to believe she tried to assassinate the Major. Ah, I don’t mean I don’t believe it!”

It was true. If he had sensed any hostility from the woman’s expression, he wouldn’t have been caught off guard like that. She looked so delicate and pure—more likely to be hurt than to hurt someone—that he had let his guard down. By the time he regretted it after the surprise attack, it was already too late.

Ezekiel sent the woman to the detention center in Claris. Since she was involved with Akenaus, he felt it would be better to keep her confined nearby where he could check in from time to time.

And when she regained consciousness, she looked so haggard that the word “pitiful” seemed appropriate. The sharp contrast between her first appearance, dressed neatly as a maid, and her current state—curled up on the stone floor of the detention center, chest soaked in blood—left a strange afterimage.

“Welcome. A guest has been waiting in your office since earlier. Didn’t you receive the message?”

As soon as he arrived at the mansion, Ezekiel was greeted by the butler at the entrance. After Akenaus’s attack, various parts of the Valdemaira mansion were under repair, so visitors were being received in the office for the time being.

Ezekiel was about to head toward the dressing room but stopped.

“No, I didn’t. Have they been waiting long?”

“Yes, it’s quite late, and when you didn’t return, I sent someone to find you, but it seems they missed you.”

“Damn.”

He muttered a curse under his breath. Without even changing out of his uniform, he went straight to the office, his steps naturally quickening.

He swung the door open without hesitation.

He didn’t need to look around. His wide field of vision immediately picked up the red-haired woman sitting on the sofa, waiting for him.

“Rose?”

His heart began to race violently. It was a symptom that had started after losing Rose. Whenever he caught a glimpse of red hair among passersby or saw the back of a woman walking lightly, he would rush out regardless of the place and grab that person. Of course, none of them had ever been Rose.

“Major Valdemaira?”

The woman stood up from the sofa upon hearing his voice.

“I waited because I didn’t know when you’d return. When I said I came to see you, they brought me here.”

She approached him with a bright, delighted expression.

Ezekiel habitually scanned her eyes first. Hers were gray, and her gait was different from Rose’s. Her voice was a tone higher than Rose’s low voice.

He muttered under his breath, “You’re not Rose.”

The shift in atmosphere made the woman flinch.

“Ah… but if you look closely under the light, my eyes are closer to green. And my name is Rosemary.”

“I see, Miss Rosemary. It’s late, so please return home safely.”

“Wait. I graduated from a girls’ school in the North three years ago too! Though I’m from Claris…”

“I’ll skip the pleasantries. As you can see, I just returned from work and I’m tired. The butler will escort you to the door.”

“B-but, you haven’t even spoken to me properly yet!”

She grabbed the sleeve of his uniform.

Ezekiel looked at her with a blank expression.

Ever since rumors had spread that Major Ezekiel Valdemaira was searching for a red-haired, green-eyed woman, countless women claiming to be Rose had started to appear. All of them were either confident they could deceive him or believed they were better than the real Rose. Occasionally, some were sent after being vetted by his subordinates, but most came of their own accord, like today.

Despite that, he had ordered not to turn them away at the door. A faint hope remained that the real Rose might one day hear the rumors and come to him on her own. Even though he knew most visitors were impostors, every time he was told someone had come, his heart would race with empty hope and he would rush to meet them. Especially on nights like this, when he was steeped in memories of Rose.

Ezekiel coolly removed her hand. “You’ve come here under a mistaken impression. I don’t want a woman who resembles Rose. I want Rose.”

“I may not be that Rose, but I have better qualities than her. At least I’m not lacking. You just don’t know my charms yet.”

“I’m not interested.”

“……”

The woman stood dumbfounded, unable to speak, then tried to argue, but Ezekiel called the butler first.

“Please see the guest out.”

“Yes, miss, this way please.”

After the clearly upset woman was half-dragged away by the butler, Ezekiel roughly loosened the cravat of his uniform. Even with the pressure around his neck gone, he didn’t feel any relief.

Until the day Rose returned, this stifling frustration would fester into a sickness that clung to his neck and chest.

Rose, where are you and what are you doing?

Without you, I have no reason to smile, I can’t sleep, and each day feels like my blood is drying up—how are you living?

There were so many things he wanted to ask if he ever saw her again, but it was unbearable not knowing where she had gone or why no word had come.

Every night felt like a nightmare.