The Sixth Plan. To Know Thy Enemy. (1)
Theodora’s coffin was absolutely tiny. In the coffin which was wrapped in a soft, fluffy velvet, Gellerhard soon laid the baby down ever so carefully before he straightened the shroud with his hand. As if he was just tending to his sleeping daughter’s bed, he cautiously placed a soft blanket over Theodora’s chest. Her two hands were covered with her hand wraps and drew out on the blanket while her feet that had been covered with the foot wraps were softly draped over with the blanket.
Gellerhard lowered his head to give Theodora a final kiss on her cheek.
“Ughhh—”
Gellerhard’s hands were tightly gripping onto the coffin. His back quietly arched and he sobbed as he unwittingly trembled. My tears, which I never knew when they had started flowing once again, trickled down onto the floor after wetting his back and eventually, they had dampened his shoulders as well. Our sadness soon overflowed when Theodora had softly left in vain. Together, we had buried our child in tears.
* * *
Carl had recovered safely. Baroness May should be heaving a sigh of relief by now. Theodora’s nanny was immediately disgraced for failing to look after the baby in time. On the other hand, I ate my mother’s food, walked around the room with her before I had a cup of tea with my parents and simply talked…
After hearing the news that her granddaughter had been born, my mother, who had been rushing to the Duke’s office within DeMancier itself, was regrettably unable to see her granddaughter’s face in the end. Instead, she stayed by my side all day, tended to me, fed me as well as put me to bed. Occasionally, when we had a cup of tea together, the Duchess Dowager would accompany us too. On top of that, Carl and his dog would abruptly come by as well before they started circling all around us as we slowly walked together. Gellerhard had even eaten my mother’s cooking with me. He then laughed and cried as we talked about Theodora.
Just within a few days, the knights had already determined the reason why Carl and Theodora became sick that night. The real reason for the fact that the two children had gotten ill at the same time that night was because they ate something wrong. Theodora, who could only drink milk, consumed milk solely from me and her nurse on that day. As a matter of fact, Carl also consumed some of my milk that day.
Therefore, there were the things that I ate that day as well as the people who got involved in preparing those meals. All of them were subject to interrogation. And amongst them all, there was Charlotte. Gellerhard and the Duchess Dowager had investigated everyone and the culprit was easily identified in the end.
It was Charlotte herself.
I was instantly out of breath—all choked up. Merilyn’s letters that she stole. Then, I even thought that she would take care of me. All the while I had always, always been consuming food with the utmost caution.
It reminded me of Theodora, who had been breastfed with her purple eyes opened as she made eye contact with me. As he saw that the baby was doing it, Carl wanted to do it as well. So, I decided to take Carl in my arms then. What crime did those children have that caused them to get sick like that? It was all my fault.
All because I was stupid—because I was really dumb, I, I, I—
“Haaa haaa—”
I felt all choked up from my throat right down to my chest so much so that no sound could be heard at all. Gellerhard hugged my body close as I collapsed due to my weakened legs.
“Mandy, Mandy.”
A strong pair of arms wrapped around me while supporting my weight. The scent of sadness soon wafted from his embrace.
“Mandy, please don’t cry. I don’t know what to do when you cry.”
Gellerhard picked me up and laid me on the bed. Neither the ceaseless tears nor Gellerhard’s consolation could ease the sheer pain. Then, Gellerhard’s hand softly stroked my face.
“Char, Charlotte—why, why, why?”
“Mandy, there’s actually something that I haven’t told you about.”
His hand proceeded to rub over my eyes gently. Gellerhard bit his lip as he hesitated to search for words.
“In truth, that woman, she hates me.”
“Why?”
Gellerhard heaved out a long breath. A tinge of pain flashed within his purple eyes.
“She had been in my bed before.”
“What?”
“Along with Merilyn.”
And another sigh soon flowed out.
“It was during the time I had been married to Merilyn. She and I—we never really got along. My mother had said before that she wanted to leave for the South… It was around then. I went to the bedroom to sleep and she was already on the bed.”
My head became dizzy. The Charlotte that I saw was a quiet girl who had taken great care of the Duchess Dowager. Haa—Gellerhard sighed again. The moist hand that had been rubbing my eyes began to wrap around my hand casually. I instantly took his hand in mine.
“She said that she wanted to be my mistress. I immediately retorted that I had no intention of damaging the honor of both my mother and wife… She then began to insult my mother while saying that she no longer wished to take care of her at all. In return, I started to insult her as well.”
Gellerhard’s brow twisted painfully.
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