"Did she faint?
She's unresponsive."
But only for a moment, Madeleine soon felt disappointed.
Oh, how cool would it be if that chandelier fell on that crow's head?
The crystal jewelry store chandelier was not large, but it weighed a lot, and if it had fallen on someone, they would have died instantly.
To narrowly avoid such a disaster, luck must have been on her side.
Although our jewelry store's reputation will be tarnished a little by the chandelier, well...
Madeleine's gaze turned to the fallen Cornelia.
If she had fainted from shock, the baby certainly wasn't healthy.
'I blew my nose without using my hands**—what a relief!'
『Translator's Note: **A figurative expression meaning that something is accomplished easily or without effort.』
However, since her cousin had collapsed, she couldn't stand idly by and do nothing.
Madeleine was about to approach Cornelia, feigning surprise, when someone grabbed her by the hand.
She was the grande dame Brant.
“Medellin, what happened?
Why did that girl...!”
Her face was as pale as death, as if she was truly a worried mother-in-law.
Oh, my future mother-in-law is really obnoxious.
She couldn't lose either.
With tears in her eyes, she replied, “I don’t know why this happened.”
As people gradually began to gather, Madeleine tried to get closer to Cornelia.
But then the door opened, and someone rushed in.
He was Sardine, Cornelia's slave.
"my lady!"
As the knights followed her, Sardine spoke urgently, “We must see a doctor immediately!”
Chester, the knight leader, nodded sternly in response.
“Understood.
To the nearest doctor...”
But before he could finish, “Wait a minute!”
At Madeleine's words, not only the knights but the people frowned as well.
“What's wrong?”
At Chester's ominous tone, Madeline gritted her teeth.
How dare this impudent knight!?
How dare a mere knight show such disrespect to me, the future Duchess!
However, the situation required her to direct them to the doctor she had bribed, rather than to the nearest one.
Madeleine spoke, “Rush to the nearest place, an incompetent quack doctor might make a wrong diagnosis!
If my cousin gets any harm, can we hold the knight accountable?”
Unable to refute it, Chester closed his mouth.
Seeing this, Madeline almost lowered the corners of her mouth that were about to rise and laughed inwardly.
Yes, I knew threatening him with responsibility would make him back down.
Madeline quickly recited the address of the doctor she had sprayed, "Fortunately, there is a doctor I know nearby.
If you go to 4 Bronze Road…"
But then, someone interrupted her, “Then it would be best to see the Duchess’s personal doctor.”
Madeleine frowned at Sardine's intervention.
That vile slave!
Madeleine hastened to refute this, but the knights intervened as if they were waiting.
“Then we will accompany her to the palace.”
Before Madeleine could protest further, Sardine picked up Cornelia and left the jewelry store.
Madeleine stared at his retreating back, clenching her fists violently as the grande dame approached.
"Don't worry."
Close, she whispered low enough for only Medellin to hear.
“Since they said the shock absorber was damaged properly this time, if you take the shortcut with the stroller, the baby will definitely not remain intact.”
The road to the Duchy Headquarters was well paved, but the shortcut was different.
They had to cross the nearby mountains.
The mountains were not very high, but the roads were quite dangerous, with cliffs on both sides.
I hope that this damned crow will be misfortune this time.
Medellin thought as she was about to leave the store when someone grabbed her.
“Umm, Madeleine!”
She turned and saw Giselle Schultz.
What?
Why is this traitor...?
Giselle Schulz was the beloved daughter of Count Schulz, who controlled all the medicinal herbs in the duchy.
Her family was wealthy, and she was reasonably pretty, so Madeleine thought she was a friend with whom it would not be embarrassing to be seen.
Moreover, this girl's father had groveled to my father previously.
But a while ago, Madeleine felt deeply insulted when she saw Giselle flirting with Cornelia at a tea party.
Hmph, what are you trying to say now...
Giselle then pleaded with a fervent voice, “If it's convenient, can I go with you too?
Our family distributes medicinal herbs, so I might be able to help!”
Madeleine thought Giselle was begging to be accepted as a friend again, but she was only clinging to her out of concern for Cornelia.
For a moment, Madeline felt a huge wave of discomfort.
However…
If I refused to accept it, the image I had barely managed to salvage would collapse again.
Madeline nodded reluctantly and spoke sternly, “Okay, follow me.
Time is ticking.”
Madeleine sighed, counting the benefits of taking Giselle with her.
Yes, having an additional witness wouldn't hurt.
I would need someone to attest to how much I cared for Cornelia if she had a miscarriage.
As they walked out of the jewelry store, Cornelia's slave was just getting into the cart.
"faster!"
At the slave's call, the driver nodded and broke the reins.
"Let's go!"
As Cornelia's carriage set off, the knights followed behind.
Soon the grande dame's carriage arrived, and Madeleine approached it with Giselle.
“Ma’am, this is Giselle Schulz.
She is worried about Cornelia, so I agreed to let her come.”
The Grand Madame frowned for a moment, but then, as if sharing Madeleine's thoughts, she spoke.
“Okay, let's go.”
Crack-!
The shortcut was predictably dangerous.
Even the carriages that had no shock absorber problems were shaking violently, one could only imagine what Cornelia's car was like.
She must be suffering now.
Curious, Madeleine wanted to open the window and look outside, but she restrained herself.
Then a scream rang out.
"Yes!"
The driver seemed to have seen something, and was terrified.
“Ha!”
The cart shook and shuddered violently.
Knock-!
In the end, the cart hit something and suddenly stopped.
The grand lady regained her composure and shouted to the driver, “What on earth is going on?”
The driver responded in panic, “Oh no, something terrible has happened!
The vehicle in front of us collided with a large rock...
The driver was thrown, and collided with us.”
"What?
So what happened to the car in front of us?"
“That...”
Sitting next to the door, Giselle quickly opened the lock and opened it, only to receive a huge shock.
Cornelia's carriage, missing one of its wheels, was teetering on the edge of the cliff, about to fall.
“Hurry, attach the hook to the cart!”
The knights, who were riding alongside it, desperately tried to attach a hook to a rope to stop the carriage.
Normally, five of them wouldn't be enough, but they were exerting all their strength.
“We must protect the lady at all costs!”
The carriage then stopped suddenly after it became dangerously hanging on the edge of the cliff.
squeak-!
The problem, however, was momentum.
Knock-!
The carriage barely stopped due to the force pulling from the other side, but the two people inside were thrown towards the cliff along with the door.
Chuck-!
"no!"
"my lady!"
They shouted together, without one getting ahead of the other.
This was because the Grand Lady did not intend to kill Cornelia; The knights failed to properly protect the Duchess; Giselle, who happened to witness the scene, was terrified by it all.
But even at that moment, Madeleine was smiling brightly.
Eric covered the distance that would normally take days on horseback to reach the capital in less than a day.
“I have finally arrived.”
Throughout the trip to the capital, he kept feeling the urge to check on Cornelia's condition.
That was part of the reason he had rushed here.
But the report comes first.
Eric quickly went to the palace and reported what he found to the Emperor.
Instead of his usual annoying “I see” response and dismissal, the Emperor spoke kindly, “Duke, I would like you to discuss the matter with the Commander of the Knights of the Middle and the Crythian spy.”
To fulfill the Emperor's mission, he went to Marquis Philippe, commander of the Knights of the Middle.
“Duke, if it suits you, I would like to go to Brant’s headquarters to investigate further the recent battle with the Krythans in the north.”
Although it was annoying, there was no reason to refuse.
Eric could not bear to delay his return any longer.
“I will accept.”
Eric, returning to the headquarters of the Duchy of Brant with Marquis Philippe, first looked out the window of Cornelia's room.
“The light is off.”
Seeing Eric and his guest arriving in the carriage, the servant Landon was confused and asked, “Sir, why did you come back so early?”
“There has been an unexpected development.
But where is she?”
“Ah, the lady went out earlier today with the Grand Lady and Miss Marquis Arjen...”
The unusual combination puzzled Eric.
“They went out together, the three of them?”
At that moment, a knight came running quickly to the palace.
“What's wrong?”
“It's about the lady...”
The knight couldn't finish his sentence, panting heavily, and when he saw Eric, he was completely shocked.
“Your Highness!”
“What happened to her?”
With the knight unable to answer, tightening his lips, he made Eric clench his fists.
He had an ominous feeling, like the day he lost his brother.
Eric drew his sword, pointing it at the knight's neck.
"Answer me at once!
Where is Cornelia?"