"Why? You shouldn't be friends with her. You must show her that this place is yours. You can't be kind-hearted with her."
Listening to her talking, Henry simply ignored her. Her words substantiated that Henry was right. She must have played some role in the procedure of his blackening.
Henry had no idea why she would feel hostility toward Ricarda so much. More than that, what bothered him was why Mira was very apprehensive about Henry losing attention. He felt something was fishy.
"Let's go."
Henry opened the door and walked the hallway to reach Ricarda's room. Mira also followed him closely and very proudly. She must have been showing off that she was the new personal maid of the young master of the Bryxton mansion.
As they arrived at Ricarda's room, Henry started to feel nervous again. After he saw Ricarda before, the fear in his heart faded a little. It was because Ricarda looked very innocent and adorable at that time.
But what about this time? He had no idea. After taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.
"Ricarda, I am Henry."
There was no response from the other side.
"Cough...Is anyone there?"
It was embarrassing. Thankfully, Martha quickly opened the door.
"Ah...Young master. Come in. Ricarda just woke up."
As Martha said apologetically, Mira started gloating.
"Who sleeps until this late? Isn't she a girl? She should wake up early. What does she think? Does she think she is a princess, so our master has to wait for him?"
Her words were extremely rude. Even though she was a maid, her words didn't sound like that.
"She is! Is there any problem? How can a lowly thing like you judge us?"
Suddenly a shiver ran through their spine when they heard the furious voice. It was the duke. Seemed like he had heard everything.
Of course, even before Henry made clear what happened, he had to become the culprit.
It was all thanks to Mira.
"Forgive me, master. It- it was the young master who asked me to yell at them. I don't know anything. How dare I talk badly? Forgive this lowly thing, duke!"
She was trembling, yet she had the gut to frame Henry in order to save her neck.
But Henry didn't know what happened next. Suddenly Mira started screaming in pain. As she screamed she looked at Henry with her teary eyes.
"It was you! Why do I have to die?"
Henry couldn't believe his ears. Even when she was about to die, she must have thought of dragging Henry down with her.
"Merlin! Put her in prison. Torture her so she would not run her mouth like that again."
The guard next to him grabbed her and dragged her away while she was still cursing Henry.
"Henry, do you have anything to say?"
Thankfully, he had already thought of an answer. He had to keep it cool. At the same time, he understood encounters like that must have made the duke's and Henry's relationship even worse.
"If I ever wanted to do as she said, why would I even choose such an unloyal servant? I am not that foolish. And I came here to talk with her, not to cause trouble."
He said, staring into the duke's stabbing eyes. He was not scared of the duke.
"Mmm...I hope something like this will never happen again."
The duke walked past the room. After he disappeared, Henry noticed Martha who was slightly trembling in the corner.
"Martha, can you bring me to her?"
Martha looked at the innocent child and said okay.
When Henry entered the room, he didn't see Ricarda anywhere. So he looked at Martha in confusion. She also looked confused. She was sure Ricarda was there a moment ago.
When they were about to search for her Henry took a glimpse of the bulge on the bed sheet. She was under the blanket. What was she doing?
Henry showed her to Martha. Instead of going by himself, he asked Martha to check on her. He was terrified that she might suddenly jump on him with a knife. It gave him chills every time.
When Martha removed the blanket, it was Ricarda. Henry was right.
Henry saw her covering her face with her trembling hands. But Henry was sure he saw it.
Those red eyes!
Henry was sure he didn't make a mistake. He suddenly became pale thinking something bad might happen. But he had to calm down. He took a deep breath and decided to talk to her. Putting his fear aside, he walked to the bed.
"Martha, call father. Tell him she is not feeling okay."
As soon as he said that, Martha ran to meet the duke. Henry slowly turned to Ricarda and gulped.
'Please, I don't want to die again!'
He parted his lips to talk to her. His voice was hoarse and full of tension.
"Ricarda?"
"Ricarda? Are you okay?"
Seeing her stop trembling, Henry slowly placed his hand on her shoulder. She was already curled up into a ball. But when Henry touched her, she jerked and moved away as something vicious touched her.
"I am sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I-"
Henry didn't have anything else to say. Suddenly he gulped his words back to his stomach seeing the blood-red eyes staring at him. It reminded him of that moment. But he acted like he didn't notice any difference. He acted as casual as he could be.
"I wanted to have breakfast with you. But I didn't expect Mira would suddenly be like that. I didn't ask her to do that. I don't think of you as she thinks. I wanted to talk with you. But..."
He saw her eyes change back to normal. As the eye color changed, she looked like that adorable doll again.
"I am sorry. I was a little upset. Shall we have breakfast then?"
She got off the bed as if nothing happened. When she got off the bed she accidentally slipped her foot and fell. Luckily, Henry caught him right in time.
Even though he caught her at the right time, the timing was not right. She suddenly fainted and at that moment Henry was grabbing her hand.
"Henry! What are you doing?"
The duke misunderstood again.
'Fuck!'