Chapter 6 : Lockdown

The door swung open abruptly. Behind it stood an elderly man named Derrick, his face contorted in a grimace of displeasure. His expression revealed his disgust at the scene before him. His son, the future of his family, his pride, was embracing a woman of low status. The woman instinctively pushed away from the man out of embarrassment. Meanwhile, the man, Caspiel, held back his embrace.

"What's going on, father? Weren't you just chatting with Duke Ivvette about the new casino?" Caspiel taunted. How could the old man discuss a casino on the day of his wife's death?

Count Derrick's expression grew even more bad.

"You, yourself, engaged in indecent behavior with that lowly woman on the day of your mother's death!" Count Derrick scolded his son.

Caspiel snorted. He stood and walked toward his father. His eyes locked with his father's, which shared the same color. Without saying a word, Caspiel left the room, leaving the two others behind. Meanwhile, Celine, the woman, stood with her head bowed and a pale face.

'I shouldn't have done that! Now the young master has left me alone with his father who seems ready to kill me anytime!' she screamed inwardly. But to Celine's surprise, the man said nothing and followed his son out.

Anita's parents were gone, leaving only her siblings to continue the De Royyan family business. Seeing Caspiel, now healthy, they couldn't express their happiness because their eldest sibling had just passed away. As a result, they exchanged only perfunctory conversation until the guests departed, and then returned to their own business.

The Evingtons and their servants returned to their residence at night. Passing through the wilderness with only faint moonlight and starlight for illumination was terrifying for Celine. Especially since she was alone in the last horse-drawn carriage leaving the De Royyan estate.

"I mustn't dwell on strange thoughts. Strange things happen when you think about them!" she reassured herself. Not wanting to look out the window, Celine drew the curtain, leaving only the dim light from the carriage lantern to accompany her.

Her mind replayed the scene from the earlier evening. Where she and Caspiel embraced silently. It was the first time for Celine to embrace another man besides Renald, and even then, their embraces were only in childhood. Her face and ears felt hot, despite the cold weather. But her smile vanished upon seeing Count Derrick's expression and Caspiel's abandonment.

"What did I expect."

Crash!

The carriage shook violently, followed by the loud neighing of horses. Celine's heart raced. In the novels she often read, this was the scene where hired assassins would come.

"Coachman! What's happening?" Celine shouted to the silent coachman. For several minutes, there was no answer to Celine's question. Then the carriage door opened, revealing the coachman.

"Miss physician! There's a child!" the old man stammered.

"What?!" Celine tried to make sure she heard it correctly.

'A child in the middle of the woods? Isn't that a trap?'

"I, I almost hit a child! Miss, you're a physician, please check on him!" the scared old man repeated.

'Damn it! Who does he think he is ordering me like that?'

Contrary to what she thought before, Celine stepped out of the carriage. As she walked toward the front of the carriage, her eyes met those of a boy about ten years old. His body was very thin and he wore only a tattered cloak in this cold weather. His hair was silver, a color Celine had never seen in Craenitus before. Even though she had only been to the town square and the De Royyan hotel.

Her womanly instinct made her run toward the boy. His cheeks were very hollow but it didn't diminish his handsomeness. Even at his young age, he was already handsome. Celine's eyes went to the boy's hands and knees, which were bleeding.

"Hey, kid! Are you okay?" Celine checked the boy's body. There were long scratches on his hands and knees, probably from falling on the rocky road.

Without answering, the boy just bowed his head. Celine responded to the boy's reaction by lifting him into the carriage. Beneath his oversized cloak, the boy's body was very thin. After telling the coachman that she would take the child to the Evington residence, the carriage raced back very quickly, as it was already late at night.

Celine looked at the boy with sadness, somehow feeling a close connection with the boy she held. Time passed, Celine and the boy slept and leaned against each other during the journey.

.

I furrowed my brows upon seeing the bright lights of the Evington mansion. We had arrived. The boy in my lap was still asleep.

"Please fetch a guard to lift this child," I requested of Emily, the maid waiting for me at the mansion's entrance.

"I'm sorry, miss, who is this child?"

"The coachman nearly hit him while passing through the woods." I pointed to the coachman who tipped his hat and bid us farewell, smiling as he urged the horses to leave the mansion. I looked at his departure with cynicism.

'Sly old man, now passing everything onto me.'

Emily shook her head and sighed. After that, she went to call the guard on duty.

"I apologize for the trouble!" I asked Madam Lysa to prepare a change of clothes and food for the child. With a resigned look, Madam Lysa complied with my request.

After ensuring that all the child's needs were taken care of, I walked towards Count Derrick's office. Emily said that Count Derrick was talking with Caspiel in there. I felt very guilty if he was scolded because of this afternoon's incident.

As I stood before the door, I faintly heard their conversation.

"I refuse, father."

"I didn't give you a choice, Caspiel."

"No. You know yourself that the kingdom has been planning to exploit our family ever since Astarte and I got engaged."

"That's enough of your nonsense. Go back to your room now."

The door opened, and I locked eyes with Caspiel. I felt the need to avert my gaze, so I did. I didn't want to see what expression was on his face or exchange any words with him.

"Come in, Celine," Count Derrick said from across the table. After passing Caspiel, I lifted my gaze.

"I heard from Emily that you brought a vagrant."

I gripped my skirt.

"I apologize, sir. The child was hit by our carriage and was injured quite badly. I had no choice but to bring him home," I explained very carefully. On one hand, I felt angry at his arrogant tone when he emphasized the word 'vagrant,' but on the other hand, I understood Count Derrick's anger at having a stranger brought into his home by one of his subordinates. His darkened iris stared at me. I bowed my head again.

"Very well."

'Eh?'

"Make sure to take him to the orphanage after treating him. Evington is in mourning; make sure news of the child doesn't spread outside."

After thanking him and bidding farewell, I walked out of the room toward my chamber. I asked Madam Lysa to place the child in my room so I could take care of him more easily. When I arrived in my room, I saw Emily sprawled on the floor with food and plates scattered around.

"Emily!" I helped her up. Her face was red as if she had been under considerable pressure. I searched for the child, afraid that someone might dislike his presence and do something harmful to him.

"Sister?" The voice of a young boy startled me. When I turned to the sound, I saw him dressed neatly, with a clean body and neatly combed hair. The hollows on his cheeks were no longer visible, and the wounds on his body looked like minor scratches.

"W, what happened?" I asked, confused.

"I don't like that servant, sister." The boy pointed to Emily, who was holding her bruised cheek. I turned to Emily, demanding an explanation.

"Everything was going smoothly until I gave him food, miss. After seeing the food I brought, he suddenly went berserk," Emily explained.

"Is that true?" I squatted down to align myself with the boy. He nodded without guilt. I took a deep breath. After telling Emily to leave, I checked the boy's wounds. They were indeed only minor scratches, and his body even felt slightly heavier than before.

'What happened?' As I got lost in my thoughts, our eyes accidentally met. He gave me a typical innocent child's smile.

"Hehehehe." He chuckled. His response confused me even more.

"Am I going to stay here?" he asked innocently.

"If you can control your emotions and behave well, maybe."

"Are you the owner of this mansion?" he asked again, still with his innocent face. I didn't answer. Seeing me ignore him, his face turned gloomy. Without saying anything, he picked up the food scattered on the floor.

"What are you doing??"

"This is my apology for messing up your room."

'Ugh! Why is he so cute?!'

I decided to help him pick up the broken plate shards.

"What's your name?"

"Lucy."

"Yes?"

"Lucy, sister." He smiled at me.

'Isn't that a girl's name? Could it be... he's actually a girl?'

"I'm a boy, sister." As if he could read my mind, Lucy laughed. I laughed along with him, and we finished cleaning my room. I hoped Emily wouldn't tell anyone about Lucy's behavior tonight.

I talked quite a lot with Lucy, about how he got lost in the woods when forced by his friends to pick fruit for dinner, how he lived in a shack with 8 other children, how he worked as a servant for the nobles in the city, his older sisters who often came home late in tattered clothes and other sad things.

"Maybe my sister is looking for me right now," he said sadly.

"Sister, I'm very grateful for being allowed to experience this luxury. But I feel like I should go back soon."

'His wounds have healed too.'

"Let's think about it tomorrow, okay? For now, let's sleep." I pulled the blanket to cover his small body. Time passed so quickly, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

The next day, I woke up sweating profusely. Last night, I had a nightmare about Renald. I couldn't remember it clearly no matter how hard I tried. My hand groped the space beside me. Lucy was gone.

"Lucy?" I panicked and called out his name. In my panic, I looked around and found Lucy cleaning the table in my room with a cloth he found somewhere.

"Sister, are you okay?"

"Oh my, Lucy, I thought you left without saying goodbye!"

"Uh? I couldn't have done that, sis," Lucy flashed his smile at me. Feeling calmer, I went to shower and get dressed. This is one of the dresses we bought at Hemosè Boutique.

'Because at that time I didn't have time to choose, Caspiel chose all these dresses.' I brushed aside my thoughts about Caspiel. After adjusting the belt around my waist, I bid goodbye to Lucy to meet with Count Derrick. My contract was indeed to stay here for 9 months to take care of Caspiel. But Caspiel is now healthy, and last night I was even forbidden to enter his room. I have no reason to stay here anymore.

"I'm sorry, miss, Count Derrick doesn't want to see anyone right now." A guard blocked my entry into Count Derrick's room.

"In that case, can you tell Count Derrick that I would like to discuss my work contract if he has some free time?"

The guards glanced at each other.

"Sorry, miss, we can't. No one is allowed to enter Count Derrick's room, not even us guards and the servants."

"What? That's odd. What's going on?"

I decided not to prolong the issue and walked away toward Caspiel's room. I pushed my ego aside and hoped he could help me this time. But the answer I got was the same as when I wanted to see Count Derrick.

"Sorry, miss, Master Caspiel is currently unavailable."

"Josh? What's really going on?" I asked Josh, Caspiel's guard. He didn't look at me at all, as if he didn't hear the question I asked him.

Not giving up, I went down to the kitchen to find Madam Lysa.

"Madam Lysa is no longer working here," said the head chef. When I asked again what caused Madam Lysa, who had served for decades at Evington, to leave her job. Or maybe she was fired? The head chef ignored me.

'This all makes no sense!'

As I asked around to the servants, guards, and gardeners, they seemed unable to hear or see me. I couldn't even find Emily. I felt fear creeping all over my body; without Count Evington's approval as the first person on my employment contract, I couldn't leave this world.

"Miss physician, forgive us." Some guards grabbed my hands and forcibly dragged me into my room.

"Wait! What is this?! I didn't do anything!" As usual, they didn't respond and threw me into the room. I heard a 'click' sound shortly after the door closed. They locked me in this room.

"Sister!" Lucy ran towards me, who was stunned into silence on the floor.

'What just happened? What have I done with my life?!'

"If only I hadn't been tempted by the big paycheck... if only I had begged in front of that damn boss not to be fired..." I muttered quietly.

"Sis!" Lucy snapped me out of it. He stood in front of me, panicked.

"Why are they treating you like a criminal?! Is it because you brought me?!"

I shook my head.

"No, Lucy..."

My head kept thinking, how could I find a solution to the problem I was facing.

'Think, Celine! Renald said an empty mind will bring disaster!'

One thing I didn't realize at that moment, that I was so focused on thinking. Lucy grew taller and bigger, and his face looked more mature. Now his hands which is holding mine felt larger. And It only happened in one night.