The Reason Why the Forsaken Fake Returned Chapter 46

“You need to get out of the palace as soon as possible.”

 

“What?”

 

Was it because of what had just happened? But Caleb hadn’t stepped forward. Very few people knew that Baron Cal was the second prince.

 

Perhaps reading Shailoh’s confusion, Eric leaned in and whispered, “Baroness Boris is dead.”

 

“…What?”

 

Dead? Who? Olivier?

 

Shailoh could hear the words clearly, but her mind couldn’t process them. It felt as if the whole world was lying about her.

 

“There’s no time!”

 

Like a doll, Shailoh was dragged by Eric out of the palace and into a carriage.

 

Eric, who instructed the coachman to drive at full speed the moment they set off, urged her, “The last person Baroness Boris officially met was Miss Griche. There’s a time gap between her death and your meeting, so you have an alibi and won’t be suspected of murder, but you never know what might happen. We need to buy time before the security force comes for you. The townhouse is already compromised, so you’ll have to stay at a safe house His Highness prepared in advance.”

 

Just before the carriage door closed to signal their departure, Shailoh grabbed his arm. “Ca… What about His Highness?” Her eyes, wide with panic, reflected a ghostly pale face.

 

“His Highness left the palace for his own safety before Count Dwibon could step forward on behalf of the Third Prince.”

 

With that, the carriage door shut. The horses, spurred on by the coachman’s whip, didn’t even have time to paw the ground before they thundered into motion.

 

* * *

The carriage didn’t reach its destination until one and a half days after leaving the capital. It was a three-story wooden house hidden deep within a dense forest, its walls painted white and its roof the color of wood. Unless you were familiar with the area, it would be nearly impossible to find, so well was it concealed among the thick greenery.

 

“We’ve arrived.”

 

With the coachman’s help, Shailoh stumbled out of the carriage. Doris, who had been separated for a while due to the difficulty of entering the royal palace, was there to greet her.

 

“Milady!”

 

“…Doris.”

 

“You poor thing, you’re shaking. It must have been exhausting, being in the carriage for so long.”

 

“How did you get here before us?”

 

“I heard the sad news about Baroness Boris’s death a little before you did. I had to leave in such a hurry, I barely had time to pack.” Tears welled up in Doris’s eyes as she draped a blanket over Shailoh’s trembling shoulders. “Let’s go inside for now.”

 

Shailoh was too drained to reply and simply nodded. Guided by Doris’s careful hands, she entered the house. The first thing she saw was a staircase leading upstairs. Doris took her by the hand and led her into a cozy room to the left.

 

“I’ve already lit fires in all the stoves. It’s not exactly the cold season anymore, but it’s still better to be warm if you want to sleep comfortably.”

 

“It must have been hard to do all that by yourself.”

 

“I wasn’t alone. There’s a caretaker couple and two maids already here. I thought you’d be tired, so I told them to introduce themselves later.”

 

A safe house not far from the capital, but difficult for people to find. There was a caretaker couple and two maids who managed the place.

 

Shailoh glanced around, feeling a strange sense of unease. The picture frames were polished to a smooth finish from years of handling, and the interior was spacious and spotless. There wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere. Just from looking at it, she could tell this wasn’t something Caleb had prepared just a year or two ago. But why? He’d never shown much ambition for the throne or any position of power. Not long ago, hadn’t he told her that once her revenge was over, he’d give everything up and live together with her?

 

That wasn’t the only thing that felt off. Last night, not only had he reported his return to the third prince, but his fiancée had been there as well…

 

What Shailoh had seen from the terrace was real. It hadn’t been a hallucination or a delusion. She’d only had a sip or two of wine, after all. The memory of the two of them, standing so close together, sent a sharp pain through her chest.

 

Everything in her head was tangled up, a hopeless mess like a ball of knotted thread. Instead of trying to pull out a single strand at random, Shailoh decided to deal with the most pressing issue first.

 

“Baroness Boris is dead? What happened?”

 

“I don’t know all the details, but from what I’ve heard from the maids here, about three hours after you parted ways, she started complaining of chest pain and collapsed. They took her to the hospital, but right away…”

 

“I never heard of her having any health problems. She did get a bit weak after what happened with Claire, but that was all.”

 

“They said it was a heart attack. Life and death are in the hands of the heavens… Poor Baroness… Just when she’d finally managed to clear her brother’s name…”

 

Doris wiped her tears with a handkerchief, her voice catching as she struggled to speak. Shailoh also lowered her head, her eyes growing hot with unshed tears.

 

“The future hasn’t come, and the past has passed. Even if you dream of revenge, live fully in the present. The present won’t come again. Shailoh, this is advice from a friend.”

 

She was the first friend Shailoh had made since becoming Sasha Griche. Even if she hadn’t been able to trust her completely at first, she’d thought they might finally be able to open up to each other and become true friends.

 

“Milady!”

 

Shailoh couldn’t even cry anymore; her tears had all dried up. She’d thought she’d only just crossed the starting line. But the sea she’d set sail on wasn’t just a simple one that sometimes grew rough; it was a place where fierce waves crashed relentlessly.

 

Clenching her fists, Shailoh gritted her teeth. “I keep having this bad feeling. After I left, Baroness Boris must have met someone.”

 

“What… do you mean?”

 

“Isn’t it strange? Olivier, who had no health problems and had just finally achieved the thing she’d longed for, suddenly died of a heart attack, of all times, right now?”

 

“Milady…?”

 

“I keep imagining things. When the leader of the Grid Merchant Guild was tricked by Evan into drinking poison, that poison was colorless and odorless. And it didn’t kill him right away. He writhed in agony, coughed up blood, and died. Later, they disguised it as death by another poison, but I saw it with my own eyes. That was the duchess’s poison.”

 

As Shailoh continued, Doris’s face turned pale as she realized what Shailoh was implying. Shailoh, who had been staring down at her own hands, lifted her head and met Doris’s gaze, driving her point home.

 

“Olivier might have been killed by the Diponz family. Just like that man.”

 

“Isn’t that a bit of a stretch…? If she’d been poisoned, there would have been some kind of sign. You can’t just disguise poison as a heart attack that easily.”

 

“You saw what happened to me, didn’t you? Falsifying autopsy reports and causes of death isn’t that hard. Since it happened on the day of the third prince’s engagement, maybe the royal family stepped in and announced it that way to cover up the chaos.”

 

A silence born of shock, fear, and anger enveloped the two women. In the heavy air, Shailoh forced herself to stand. “…For now.” A wave of helplessness, like that of an old woman drained of all strength, washed over her. “For now, I just want to wash up.”

 

Doris nodded and led her to the bathroom, where she had already drawn water.

 

* * *

Long after sunset, another carriage pulled up in front of the safe house, now swallowed by darkness. No one came out to greet the new arrival, since no one had been told in advance. The man stepped out of the carriage nonchalantly, unlocked the front door with a key, and entered. At that moment, a cold gun was leveled at him.

 

“…”

 

As the man reached for his own gun, his vision, momentarily clouded by the darkness, cleared. Caleb, returning what he had been holding to its place, gently called out to the armed figure.

 

“Sasha.”

 

“…”

 

“It’s me.”

 

“I know.”

 

It seemed she was still upset about what had happened on the terrace. Caleb, his lips relaxed, raised both palms in a gesture of surrender.

 

“Looks like you grabbed one of the decorative guns from above the fireplace. That thing doesn’t even have any bullets.”

 

“That’s fine. If it comes down to it, this is still a weapon.”

 

Even though he’d made it clear he had no intention of attacking, she kept the object pointed at him. The cat in his hand aimed its claws at him.

 

Caleb, growing irritated, curled his lips in a mocking sneer. “Even if your opponent’s got a gun?”

 

“Are you planning to shoot me with it?”

 

“Shailoh.” Caleb, no longer using the affectionate nickname, growled a low warning. “It’s best not to say things you’ll regret.”

 

At that, Shailoh swallowed hard. The overwhelming pressure radiating from the man before her pressed down on her like a weight. Even though she was the one holding the weapon, just standing there facing him made her feel cornered. Still, she couldn’t back down now.