Chapter 47
The maid who followed in was fidgeting, but Mel’s curiosity couldn’t be suppressed. She started to lift the covers off the items one by one.
The first thing that caught her eye was a cold-looking portrait of a lady. The dress that reached up to her neck seemed to be from a time more than 50 years ago.
Mel carelessly covered the portrait and pushed it aside, then faced the next frame.
This tall, vertical frame contained three people. The icy lady from earlier was sitting in an antique chair, and beside her was a boy with a mischievous grin.
Behind them stood a man who looked just like Walter, affectionately placing his hands on the shoulders of his wife and son. It was a warm family portrait that seemed very harmonious.
“Is this Walter’s grandfather?”
The man in the old uniform looked about ten years older than Walter now, but he was unmistakably similar.
With his black hair neatly combed back, thick and straight eyebrows, and olive-colored eyes with tightly closed lips, he was the spitting image of Walter.
“Yes, that’s right. He is Lord Leonard Rockford. The lady sitting is Lady Vivian Rockford, and the boy is Lieutenant Harry Rockford. At that time, he would have been Young Master Harry.”
The boy in the painting, who was Walter’s father, was clearly a troublemaker, smiling confidently despite missing a front tooth and standing with his chin up.
“He really doesn’t look like his father, but he looks just like his grandfather. Walter always seemed a bit like an adult even when he was young.”
“Lieutenant Harry resembles Lady Vivian more.”
The maid, who had forgotten to scold Mel, became excited and rushed to the wall.
“There’s a joke we share among ourselves because our lord looks so much like his predecessor.”
As the maid struggled to pull out a frame from the back, Mel quickly went to help her.
“What’s the joke?”
“Oh, you’re stronger than you look! Anyway, our lord doesn’t need to have his portrait painted because… well, you see…”
The frame they pulled out was much larger than the others, almost as tall as a person, and was also covered with cloth. The maid grasped it with both hands.
“Ta-da! If we hang Lord Leonard’s portrait and say it’s our master, it’ll be fine!”
With anticipation, Mel quickly pulled off the cloth, and behind the fluttering white fabric, a powerful scene unfolded, captivating her attention.
Against a backdrop of blazing wasteland, an elderly Lord Leonard in military uniform sat on a horse, holding the reins in one hand and a gun in the other. The painting was so detailed that you could almost feel the horse’s mane.
Mel’s gaze moved from the dynamic horse, which had its front legs raised, to the person riding it. As she closely examined Lord Leonard’s face, with its white hair and every wrinkle vividly depicted, a thunderous sound rang in her ears.
Startled, Mel sat down abruptly and stared intensely at the old man in the painting. It was clearly a sunny day, yet the sound of rain began to echo from somewhere.
A heavy downpour was falling in the world within the frame. The military uniform had transformed into a black robe, and the gun in his hand had become a long sword.
Lord Leonard, with his hood up, stared at her through the rain.
“Go to heaven, child. Hell is where I’ll go instead.”
As he spoke, Mel’s world changed. She found herself transformed into a young girl shivering in the rain.
The blood flowing from Lord Leonard’s sword was washed away by the raindrops, falling to the ground. Even at her young age, Mel knew it was her parents’ blood.
Her mother and father were already gone, killed by Walter’s grandfather.
The young Mel stood frozen in terror. Then, a figure in a black robe stepped in front of her, shielding her from view. The woman’s urgent voice rang out.
“Not the child, my lord!”
It was an older woman’s voice.
“Step aside, Margaux. Your role ends here.”
“I won’t let you. You promised me, didn’t you? You said you wouldn’t harm her.”
The woman stretched her hand backward, hiding herself behind the robe, and a faint scent of perfume wafted from her.
“The child is innocent. I can erase her memories. I can do it!”
“Of course, you can. I don’t doubt your abilities. I just don’t trust you, Margaux.”
“You must trust me. If you kill this child, the curse will fall upon your last remaining kin.”
The woman’s words made Lord Leonard immediately raise his sword in anger, his voice as formidable as ever.
“How dare you betray me, Margaux! You think you can deceive me?”
“I’m not betraying you! I’m just saying don’t kill her. Wait until she’s an adult.”
As Lord Leonard hesitated for a moment, the woman added with conviction.
“I swear on everything I have that if you wait until she’s an adult, there will be no consequences.”
Just then, the sound of a horn began to echo from afar, and the shadows around them stirred. Only Lord Leonard and the woman locked eyes, ready to kill each other.
“If she remembers even a fragment of this, I will burn the entire village to the ground. You dare utter my grandson’s name, you heathen witch?”
“My lord! Please, we must go now! The crash was too loud—someone will come!”
Someone cried out urgently, and Lord Leonard turned his horse’s head.
“Don’t forget, Margaux. The fate of the clan rests in my hands. Never forget that.”
“I will never forget. So, please believe me.”
After Lord Leonard hurled a coarse insult, he rode off on his horse, and everyone followed him. As they disappeared, the woman quickly bent down.
“If you don’t want to die, drink this right now.”
Mel trembled with fear but took what the woman offered and drank it. Despite her young and immature thinking, she understood that the woman had saved her life from Lord Leonard.
She swallowed something with a metallic taste and immediately lost consciousness. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself at Greenwood Orphanage in the countryside.
She had no memory of who she was or how she ended up there.
“Poor child. When you grow up, you’ll leave here and go to the Vansen family. If you stay here, that person will find you. Go home; that’s the only way you’ll survive.”
Occasionally, she heard the woman’s voice in her dreams, but as she grew up, even that faded away.
From that day on, Melissa Vansen became Mel Greenwood. Without any memories, she returned home as a maid.
She never imagined that seeing Lord Leonard’s portrait would bring back her lost memories.
Mel clutched her head in agony and rolled on the floor, but suddenly sat up.
If she stayed here, she would die. That was all she remembered.
Lord Leonard was dead now, but what if Walter followed in his footsteps? Maybe that’s why she was brought here?
Mel didn’t know why Lord Leonard killed her parents, but one thing was certain: he had tried to kill her when she was just a child.
The will was just a trap to find her once she was an adult.
“When your memories return, come find me, poor child. I’ll tell you all the secrets. That will be my final redemption. Please, find Margaux…”
* * *
“That’s why I ran away from the Duke’s estate!”
Mel’s face was streaked with tears as she spoke, and her words became incoherent.
Hermia took deep breaths several times, then rubbed her face vigorously. After a while, she composed herself.
“So, you’re saying the Duke… Walter might kill you, so you secretly ran away?”
“Yes. The will and ‘The Stolen Lady’ were all just tricks to find me!”
Hermia tried not to look skeptical in front of Mel, who was so serious. It was hard to believe that someone who had been complaining about headaches until recently now claimed to have regained all her memories.
“Mel, think about it. We’re under the author’s curse. Walter is too. If he wrote the book, would he curse himself?”
“He could be pretending to be cursed.”
“If he was faking it, he would have chosen a more decent curse, wouldn’t he?”
A curse that completely undermines social dignity and reputation was unlikely to be something he would deliberately inflict on himself. And most importantly:
“If he wanted to kill you, he would have done it already.”
“Huh?”
Hermia sat on the sofa with her knees up and shrugged nonchalantly.
“Remember my engagement ceremony? When you caused a scene and were taken away. He could have easily framed you as a spy and killed you then.”
“Huh?”
“You were fed well and slept well after being taken away, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I was.”
“So, he didn’t take you to torment you, did he?”
“Hmm… I guess not.”
Hermia concluded that Mel had a vivid imagination, watching her sit there with her mouth open in thought.
“Whoever your parents’ enemy is, Walter doesn’t seem to want to kill you. That’s probably certain.”
“But what if…?”
Hermia sighed as Mel hesitated.
“Mel, you knocked that person out earlier. Even if the late Duke came back, you wouldn’t be easy to kill now.”
Mel stood up, looking indignant.
“I can still die if I get shot!”
As she stood up, the floor beneath her made a creaking sound and gave way.
“…”
Hermia glanced outside, wondering if the people fixing the door had already left. Then she worried about Walter, who had been carried away by his men.
“I hope he wasn’t hurt too badly…”
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
