I Married the Mad Duke Who Killed My Husband - Chapter 7.2
“Um… Madam, a gardener applicant has arrived. Should we send him away?”
“Huh?”
But just as I thought about resting, work came up. Usually, applicants come right after noon and line up, did he come thinking this was his chance after seeing no line?
“You should have told him we were done for today. Send away anyone else who comes. It’s almost dinner time, no one in their right mind would come now.”
“No, I’ll meet this last one. We really need a gardener urgently.”
Cassion frowned, but I stood up, smoothing out my crumpled dress. For him, who hasn’t received any territory yet and only has this grand ducal residence, nothing is better for showing off power than the mansion.
Before formally inviting other nobles, we need to quickly tend to the garden, but progress has been slow because we haven’t been able to hire help for the experienced existing gardener.
“Tell him to wait at the garden entrance, not to come up. I’ll go down since we need to test his skills anyway.”
The butler bowed and left, and Cassion, though seemingly reluctant, didn’t stop me, perhaps because of what he had said earlier. He just clicked his tongue.
“Don’t be late for dinner.”
“Have you ever seen me late for a meal? I’m sure today will be a feast too.”
I smiled at him, thinking I shouldn’t have let my hair down. If there’s one area in this mansion that doesn’t need to be touched among the numerous staff we need to hire, it’s the kitchen.
The kitchen staff was already perfect, so I had no intention of dragging out this interview, as I’ve been enjoying satisfying meals every day since the wedding.
Thinking no one would see me anyway, I quickly ran down the stairs as I left the room. Only when I reached the garden entrance did I slow down, pretending to be graceful, and looked for the person.
I can see the already employed gardener and a young man who seems to be the applicant. With his back to the setting sun and wearing a large straw hat, his face wasn’t clearly visible.
Even though I’m an employer with quite modern, open-minded thinking, isn’t it too much to not even take off your hat at an interview? That’s a minus point to start with.
“Hello, Madam. I’m Hawkins, applying for the apprentice gardener position.”
Another minus. Why is he speaking in such a small voice?
“I see. How are your skills?”
“Um… Madam. Actually, when I asked him to demonstrate his skills, he said he was afraid of cutting good flowering trees and wanted to go to the back garden, so we haven’t tested him yet.”
The gardener explained with a bewildered expression, looking at me. His face said this novice absolutely won’t do. I had come despite Cassion’s disgruntled face, but it seemed this person was quite unsuitable, so I thought I should end the interview quickly.
“Then follow me this way.”
I can’t just tell him to leave without giving him a chance. I led them to the overgrown garden located at the back of the mansion, as he had requested.
The vines growing messily along the walls wouldn’t even show if they were cut a bit wrongly.
“Hawkins, was it? Over here…”
Thud-
As I turned around, I saw the gardener already collapsed and the man holding up a large gardening tool behind his back.
Along with the realization that I had been tricked, I felt a sharp pain in my temple. For a moment, a red sunset seemed to blur my vision, and darkness fell.
***
“Ugh…”
A familiar ceiling. Literally, not unfamiliar, a ceiling I’ve seen for over a decade. It was the old ceiling of my room where I stayed before marrying Cassion.
“…Should I say this is fortunate?”
As I put my hand to my throbbing temple and forehead, dried blood comes off. The last thing I thought before collapsing was that it must be an assassin from the First Prince’s faction targeting Cassion.
But it seems my own family has kidnapped me.
“Is it because of money?”
I thought they might come to confront me at some point. But I never imagined they would actually kidnap me. Even though I’m their daughter, to use such a violent method.
“The time… doesn’t seem to have passed much.”
“Since it’s a storage-like room without even a small window, I can’t gauge the time. It feels like less than a day has passed, and I seem to have just woken up after fainting briefly, but I couldn’t be certain without being able to see outside.
Instead, I rolled off the bed and pressed my ear to the door. My hands were tied behind my back, but my feet weren’t restrained, and they hadn’t confined me in a particularly heavily guarded place, so it was a somewhat hopeful situation.
‘The Duke… now…’
‘Don’t know… for now…’
Indeed, familiar voices could be heard through the thin door. They were all talking excitedly without even lowering their voices.
Would they have caused this trouble for nothing? Right now, our house, that is, the Viscount’s family, is on the brink of financial collapse. They probably scraped together the last of their budget to kidnap me.
“Hah… I’m not the Asilia of the past.”
It’s understandable because before I realized my past life, I was extremely timid. They probably thought everything would be okay once they caught me since I had spent 19 years without ever properly rebelling against them.
Thinking about the past days makes my indignation rise.
“They should have been grateful that I tried to end our relationship simply by leaving without giving them money.”
I looked around the dark but familiar room.
Next to the bed, around here…
“Ouch.”
Found it. The torn wooden floorboard where I used to cut my feet every time. Removing the dirty cloth that had been carelessly covering it, I felt the floor, and a stinging sensation touched my fingertips.
“Ah, ouch, it stings.”
My wrists were loosely tied with something like hemp rope. At first, I kept pricking odd parts of my palm or wrist, but once I got the hang of it, I soon heard the sound of the rope snapping.
“Good.”
It didn’t take long for me to cut through the rope. Rotating my stiff shoulders forward, I checked my body condition and the room once more.
Was there anything here that could be used as a weapon? It doesn’t seem like they cleaned the room, but there were hardly any personal items.
“Come on, give me something…”
I searched the room, being careful not to make any noise. A short, messy dress, a headscarf and string, a semicircular wooden comb, a tin case filled with odds and ends… Ah, isn’t there even something like a brooch with a sharp end?
“I really did grow up poor, huh.”
I finally gave up on finding anything usable as a weapon and decided to pry up that wooden floor from earlier instead. It might make some noise, but it’s the only option.
Creeak–crack…
Of course, I could pretend to be unconscious and then headbutt my family members when they come in, but even though I’m weak, I couldn’t give up on having a weapon against three people.
I pried up the floor, still paying attention to the sound of my family’s conversation coming from outside. It’s harder than I thought.
“Huff.”
I wrapped one partially lifted floor piece with the dirty cloth that had been covering it, gripped it, braced with both legs, and pulled up with all my strength.
I could feel blood dripping from my injured palm as I applied force, but it was clear that if I let go now, the board would snap back into place with a loud bang.
Riiip-
“…!”
When I applied force one more time, the floor cracked and came off. However, it made a loud noise at the end, causing me to unconsciously grab the torn piece and step back, holding my breath.
‘Didn’t you hear a sound from Asilia’s room?’
‘What?’
‘No… I’m sure I heard something…’
Damn it. It seems it was heard outside. The voices became clearer, and I could sense movement approaching the door.
Well, now that I’ve got a weapon, I might as well prepare for battle.
Click.
The latch on the door was being unlocked. I stood right behind the door, gripping the base wrapped in cloth, and took a deep breath.
Bam-
“Are you awa… Ugh!”
The first one to enter was my half-brother, Parmenion. I had always wanted to hit that smirking face of his.
I struck his head with the wooden board using all my strength, then pushed past my mother who was following behind, and dashed out.
“Kyaaah! That, that girl!”
As expected. There were no mercenaries or other personnel guarding outside. They probably didn’t have much money to hire mercenaries, so the person who kidnapped me must have already left. At this rate, I could escape smoothly…
“Ack!”
Just as I thought it was easier than expected, my father grabbed my hair. Ah, I should have tied it up before coming out.
Thud-
“You ungrateful girl, causing a riot after we raised you?!”
