The Reason Why the Forsaken Fake Returned Chapter 72

“Caleb?”

 

“…”

 

Shailoh just blinked blankly at the hand that snatched her, like someone grabbing a person about to walk away.

 

A moment later, Caleb pulled both hands back. His hand, suddenly with nowhere to go, closed around his cane and tapped the floor twice. At the signal to depart, the coachman flicked the reins.

 

As the carriage rattled into motion, Shailoh rested her elbow quietly on the window frame and looked outside. The air buzzed with excitement over the constant stream of new rumors, and as spring was gone and summer slowly arrived, people on the streets were lively and full of energy.

 

Caleb watched her with an unreadable gaze, then spoke quietly. “Just in case, make sure you always take an escort with you. Wherever you go.”

 

“Okay. I will. I was careless last time.”

 

“…I heard you came looking for me that night.”

 

It was something they had both been avoiding mentioning.

 

Shailoh met the tenacious eyes staring straight at her reflection in the windowpane. His gaze was so bright it was almost blazing, enough to give her goosebumps. It didn’t suit the man who had always been gentle, relaxed, and standing above her.

 

Lately, there was something anxious and on edge about him. Why was that? In the past, she would have been curious, restless, desperate to know. Now, she wasn’t all that interested. It felt like all the feelings that had once surged toward him had sunk to the bottom of a frozen river.

 

“Yes. I did, but I just went back.”

 

“Why?” The question in his eyes was clear. He wanted to ask if she had eavesdropped on the conversation he’d had with Eric in his office that night.

 

“I suddenly wanted to see you and came over without thinking… But then I realized it was really late, and I heard you had a guest. It didn’t seem polite, so I turned back on my way to your office.” The lie slipped out smoothly, even though she hadn’t prepared it at all. It was thanks to all the lines she’d memorized on stage.

 

“By the way, did I mention Mr. Wyson’s script this time? I thought it was pretty fun. A bit clichéd, though.” Smiling, Shailoh changed the subject.

 

Caleb crossed his long legs the other way and kept watching her reflection in the window. “What’s it about?”

 

“It’s about a woman who loves a man and is used by him, ends up betraying her own nation for him, and destroys it. A textbook tragedy.”

 

An indefinable tension pooled inside the carriage. After a brief silence, Caleb’s lips moved slowly.

 

“The public might like it, but it doesn’t really sound like the kind of story you’d be into.”

 

His remark hit the nail on the head, and Shailoh gave a faint smile.

 

“Yes. That’s why I’m thinking of changing the ending.”

 

“Change the ending?”

 

Just as he frowned at her loaded words, the carriage reached its destination.

 

“Your Highness! Milady!”

 

As the two of them opened the carriage door and stepped down, a familiar face appeared in the distance. It was the guard she’d also assigned to Doris, just in case. The guard came running in a panic, panting as he reported.

 

“Miss Doris… gasp… Miss Doris has disappeared!”

 

“What… are you talking about?” Shailoh went ashen and staggered, her face drained of color.

 

Caleb caught her and gave a cool-headed order. “Catch your breath, and report in detail.”

 

“Gasp… She said she’d get some air and buy the snacks Milady likes, so I accompanied her. Then she said she needed to attend to a private matter, so I stepped away to give her some privacy. But then…”

 

“That’s where you lost her.”

 

“I waited and waited, but she never came out, so I finally went in, and she was nowhere to be found.”

 

“So you’re saying…”

 

Caleb swallowed hard and rubbed Shailoh’s pale arm. It felt like all the blood had drained out of her, and if he didn’t at least do that, even the last of her vitality might disappear.

 

* * *

Things that should never have happened were crashing down all at once. Shailoh paced the living room without stopping, chewing her nails to the quick.

 

“I’ve checked every place she might possibly go. But no one says they’ve seen Doris.”

 

“That’s impossible…”

 

“Could it be… betrayal, by any chance?”

 

“Doris would never do that! I’ve known her for a long time. She’s the friend who knows me and understands me better than anyone.”

 

“But they say there were no signs of a struggle, and no one saw anyone fighting.”

 

“Then they must’ve knocked her out and taken her. But who?”

 

Evan Diponz was locked up in the tower, and the elderly Duke Diponz, though under house arrest, was being watched even more strictly than his son. Could it be Prince Albert? But thanks to Queen Ingrid, he’d barely been showing his face even at official functions these days. There was no way he could be the one stirring up a commotion like this.

 

Shailoh kept going through the suspects flashing through her mind, one by one. Then, all at once, one name struck her like a bolt of lightning. “No way…”

 

Even as she tried to tell herself it couldn’t be, her hand unconsciously brushed the pile of invitations that had once stopped coming and had now begun to flood in again. As she accidentally stepped on one of them and bent to pick it up, Shailoh squeezed her eyes shut. On the invitation was familiar handwriting and the family crest.

 

[Duchess Diponz.]

 

It was a new invitation, dated today.

 

Walking alone into the enemy’s camp took far more courage than she’d imagined. But the invitation had come with a strict condition: she had to come late at night, and she had to come alone. It left a bad taste in her mouth, but Doris’s safety was on the line. Besides, if they laid a hand on her now, they’d be the ones with more to lose.

 

The carriage cut through the pitch‑black streets and slowly came to a halt in front of the townhouse. She took one deep breath and was just stepping down when she froze halfway. The duchess, whom she’d assumed would be waiting inside with practiced elegance, had come out herself to receive her.

 

“It’s been a while, Shailoh. Have you been well?”

 

As if everything that had happened was nothing but a bad dream, the duchess approached her just as she had back in the days before Claire returned.

 

“I’ve been waiting a long time. Come in.”

 

Shailoh neatly avoided the hand that reached unhesitatingly for her arm. “If you’ll excuse me…”

 

The duchess glanced down at her rejected hand, then gave an awkward nod. “Very well. Come in.”

 

Shailoh followed the duchess into the townhouse, tense to the point of stiffness. The inside was dead silent. Only the flames of the candles burning here and there moved beside the two of them. After seating Shailoh on the couch, the duchess smoothed the hem of her dress with practiced grace and sat down opposite her.

 

“I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I’ve sent the servants and maids away for tonight. I don’t intend to do anything to you, so you can relax.”

 

“Of course you don’t. You’re not that foolish.”

 

As if she knew Shailoh wouldn’t touch anything in this house, the duchess, who would normally have at least brought out some refreshments for a guest, didn’t offer her a thing this time. All the better. There was no need for either of them to suffer through the pretense.

 

At Shailoh’s blunt words, the duchess blinked, looking taken aback. “You’ve changed, Shailoh… You weren’t a child who spoke so coldly.”

 

“The days when I spent every moment worrying about when I’d be thrown away are long over,” Shailoh answered coolly, looking at the duchess, who had somehow grown old while she wasn’t looking. The duchess, who had once glittered with wealth and beauty like eternal youth itself, now finally looked her age.

 

“I raised you with love. For at least eight years. Even you can’t deny that.”

 

“That’s why I came here alone. Say what you want to say.”

 

“How heartless. Once, you even called me Mother.”

 

It was shameless. Instead of answering, Shailoh let a bitter smile curl her lips. The woman she had once called Mother had conspired with her own daughter to sell Shailoh off for money to an older man with a filthy reputation. The brother had come at her, trying to kill her, and the man called Father had known all of it and looked the other way, even pinning the charge of attempted murder on her. But Shailoh didn’t argue. She had no intention of wallowing in old memories now. She had come too far for that.

 

“…Let’s leave the small talk here. What is it you want to say, Duchess?”

 

At her reaction, cold enough that not a drop of blood would come out if you pricked her with a needle, the duchess’s expression hardened. When she cast off the mask of the gentle, elegant mother, only then did she finally look natural.

 

“I’ll return your maid. In exchange, you’ll withdraw the charges.”

 

“So it was you. You’re the one who kidnapped Doris.”

 

“You should have taken better care of the item in your possession.”

 

“Doris is not a thing.”

 

At her heated reply, the duchess burst out laughing. “Not a thing? Then what, you’re saying you’re equals, that you’re friends with a mere maid? That’s exactly why you could never truly become one of us.”

 

She hadn’t wanted to talk about the past, but at those words, Shailoh let out a short, incredulous laugh before she could stop herself. “So that’s it. You picked me up from the orphanage like you were choosing an item off a shelf, used me as you pleased, and then threw me away when you were done.”

 

“Even so, you were happier than you had any right to be all that time, weren’t you? If you’d just quietly stepped aside when the real owner came back, it wouldn’t have come to this.”

 

“Where is Doris?”

 

“First, say you’ll withdraw the charges. Give me back my husband and my son.”

 

“What are you talking about? The crime of kidnapping and assaulting me has already been specially pardoned, thanks to Her Majesty.”

 

“You’re taking me for a fool.” The edge of her voice turned razor‑sharp. Fanning herself, the duchess gave a low warning. “I know you’re using Sir Roderick to make my husband and son’s lives hell. If you leave things as they are, I’ll kill your maid.”