To the Traitor in My Bed - Chapter 6
Chapter 6: An Unwelcome Guest
It was purely by chance that Deirdre witnessed the suspicious guest visiting the townhouse.
It happened the week after Parth nearly caused her to fall. That day was also when her husband, who had been away for three days, returned with an injured arm.
“Frederick! What happened to your arm?”
He gave a sheepish smile to his startled wife. “I left my cane in the carriage, and as I reached out to grab it, the door closed on me.”
“You should have been more careful.”
She snapped at him, somehow irritated by the way he grinned despite having hurt himself so foolishly.
But when she lay down that night, she thought she had been too harsh, so she decided to apologize to her husband.
Frederick wasn’t in his room. Nor was he in the game room where he usually spent his time while at home or in Sir Mark Hartley’s office. On a whim, she went to the study. Dim light seeped out from under the study door.
Frederick usually kept the room brightly lit, so she found it odd. Then she heard an unfamiliar voice from beyond the door.
A man’s voice, with a foreign accent she couldn’t place—either Freuden or Ruska.
‘It must be an urgent guest,’ she thought.
But what made her doubt it was that the two men in the study were arguing. She couldn’t make out their words, but the tone was unmistakably heated—quick and aggressive.
She had never heard her husband speak like that. He found arguments bothersome, never voiced an opinion contrary to others, and avoided conflicts with a smile if someone tried to provoke him.
Deirdre could have knocked. But she didn’t.
‘The White Rose Brigade.’
Strangely enough, the name popped into her head the moment she heard the foreign accent.
And suddenly, she felt frozen, unable to move.
She didn’t have the courage to press her ear to the door and eavesdrop. Fortunately, the argument soon ended. At least it didn’t seem like there would be a fight immediately. If a scuffle had broken out, Frederick wouldn’t have been able to protect himself.
Once she knew her husband wasn’t in immediate danger, she instinctively felt a sense of relief—but only for a moment. She fled the hallway as if running away, and from that day to the present, she hadn’t been able to shake off the questions about the guest’s identity and his relationship with her husband. The possibility that Frederick might be someone completely different from the man she knew made her so uneasy that she wanted to keep her distance from him for a while.
‘That’s why I came to Rochefolley…’
Deirdre stared at the object in her hand in shock.
The tiny portrait was undoubtedly of Lady Rosina Campbell, the marquis’s daughter. It would be even stranger if it were someone else who looked that similar.
The problem was why an item that should belong to Rosina’s lover or family was found in the drain at the Rochefolley estate. Moreover, there was slight moisture in the drain. If the water had been turned off for weeks due to the ongoing construction, it should have dried by now.
‘Someone had been there.’
Deirdre faced a conclusion she wanted to avoid. She couldn’t explain the reason or method, but she couldn’t see it any other way.
‘They must have dropped it while leaning over the sink.’
She fiddled with the broken chain, lost in thought.
If the locket’s owner hadn’t dropped it on purpose, they would surely come back for it—and soon. By now, everyone nearby must know the countess had returned.
She called for Bertha.
“Tell Rex to wait by the back door. Make sure he’s out of sight.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
When Deirdre bundled up and went outside, Rex was already waiting for her.
Like Bertha, Rex was taciturn. She instructed her attendant, who had turned his back to her, ready to carry her.
“Follow me quietly from a distance. About ten yards should be good. No matter what happens, don’t approach me until I tell you to.”
Rex nodded.
The night at Rochefolley was long and deep. In the darkness, the snow glistened white in the lamplight. Occasionally, a snow deer peeked out from beside the path, gazing at the countess with its black eyes. Deirdre regretted not bringing her cane as she trudged through the snow. Rex followed her silently, as instructed.
The annex lay shrouded in dark blue shadows.
Deirdre extinguished her lantern. She hid under the shade of the fir trees in the front yard, her eyes wide open as she watched the annex.
How long had she waited?
Even bundled up, the cold was unbearable, and she felt as though she might freeze against the tree. By now, even the ever-loyal Rex would probably want to turn back.
Then, she heard a faint sound—a door opening.
Not from the front of the annex, but from the back, the terrace.
Deirdre moved. The piled snow muffled her footsteps. She hurried around to the back of the building. Her eyes, accustomed to the darkness, recognized the large figure of a man. He was nearly as big as Rex.
The man hadn’t noticed her presence. He muttered something that sounded like a curse.
A chill ran down Deirdre’s spine.
…It was the same man who had visited Frederick in Swinton, late at night.
The man seemed irritated by something. The only words she could make out from his muttering were, ‘Why am I…’
He appeared empty-handed. It was too dark to tell if he was armed. He started walking toward the pond, as if he had no further business at the annex.
She could guess what that business was. He had surely come looking for the necklace.
‘How did he even get in here without being noticed?’
A gatekeeper was always stationed at the estate’s main gate, and Frederick’s hired guards patrolled the grounds, both inside and outside the wall, at regular intervals. The back gate was locked when not in use, and any approaching figure would set the dogs barking.
‘Maybe they brought the dogs inside because of the cold…’
But that didn’t mean the estate’s security would have been compromised. During their early days of marriage, Frederick had strengthened the estate’s security after Deirdre had nearly been lost in the snow while chasing a snow deer just three hundred yards from the mansion.
“Deirdre, I absolutely hate frozen corpses.”
Frederick’s face had turned pale when he said that, and Deirdre had simply thought the Earl of Fairchild must be quite a coward.
How would he react if he knew a stranger had sneaked in and out of his estate as they pleased?
The intruder walked across the frozen pond and climbed up the opposite bank. Despite his large build and the slope being slippery with snow, his movements were incredibly agile.
But now that his back was to her, this was her chance.
“Hey!”
Deirdre called out loudly.
Rex was behind her. She mustered her courage.
“Stop right there!”
The man bolted. He was so fast that to Deirdre, it looked as if he flew over the bank. The intruder dashed straight into the snow-covered spruce trees.
“Rex, after him!”
Rex immediately obeyed.
Though Rex was swift, he was no match for the intruder, who moved like a mountain hare, especially since Rex was from Aspen, which received much less snowfall than Rochefolley. It was impossible to catch up to the intruder.
By the time Rex reached the top of the bank, the intruder had vanished without a trace. Still, Rex thoroughly searched the spruce forest before returning to his mistress.
“I apologize, ma’am.”
Deirdre shook her head. “Which way do you think he went?”
“He must have gone over the wall. There were no dogs.”
The iron fence surrounding the estate was twice Deirdre’s height. If the man was skilled enough to scale a wall with no footholds, even if Rex had caught up to him, he would have likely escaped.
“Don’t tell anyone about this.”
Though he looked puzzled, Rex simply replied, “Understood.”
***
The Haversham family’s dinner parties were held monthly whenever the marquis was in Swinton.
The young marquis rarely attended large banquets in the capital. Nearly everyone understood that it was because of his resentment toward the royalists.
Given Christian’s vile nature, it wasn’t a wise choice, but emotionally, everyone sympathized with Marquis Haversham. After losing his father to false charges, who would want to face Leonhart or his supporters and smile?
To make up for not attending banquets, the marquis’s dinner parties were grand affairs. It was said that one had to be invited to a Haversham dinner party at least once to make it in Swinton society. Especially, the ladies and young maidens were eager for an invitation, primarily because it meant meeting the Countess of Fairchild.
“It would have been wonderful if Lady Rochefolley were here as well…”
The tactless noblewoman finally spoke the words.
Fourteen nobles, including the host, were seated around the long dining table. The butler soon brought out the wine.
The Marquis of Haversham leaned over the table. “I apologize for not meeting your expectations, Madam. Regarding that matter, perhaps Lord Rochefolley could tell us something.”
Thirteen pairs of eyes turned to the Earl of Fairchild.
The earl gracefully set down his fork. “The custard cream is excellent, Lord Aspen. Our patissier at home is simply not up to par. If there’s another patissier who can match this level of buttercream flavor, I’ll bring them on board no matter the cost.”
The Marquis of Haversham gave a faint smile.
Dorian Haversham’s eyes were the same blue as his sister’s, but his hair was a lighter shade of auburn. Everyone wondered why, despite being eight years older than his sister and so handsome, he was still unmarried.
“Lord Rochefolley, we were curious as to why the lovely countess wasn’t able to join us tonight.”
“Ah.”
The earl seemed to only just realize all eyes were on him.
“Deirdre has returned to Rochefolley. Someone needs to manage the estate during the winter.”
“Then why are you still here, Lord Rochefolley?” asked the noblewoman who had first spoken.
The earl gave a charming smile. “I have business in Swinton, of course. But Lord Aspen—”
He turned back to Dorian. “I hear you’ve been frequenting a different club lately. If it were me, I’d have stayed at the original one. The new place may have fancy facilities, but their cigars are apparently terrible.”
“I didn’t realize the earl took such an interest in my affairs.”
Dorian shrugged.