Chapter 7: The Letter of Three People
‘Kishin. Kishin Hayward… the owner of that ID card!’
As soon as Classie heard the name Kishin, she immediately recalled the black-and-white photo on the ID card.
Classie cursed under her breath. She had suspected it, but that ID card wasn’t actually for the silver-haired man!
Moreover, the black-and-white photo on the ID card barely captured half of Kishin Hayward’s actual appearance. It was an utterly useless ID card.
No, this wasn’t the time for such pointless thoughts.
“I do have the ID card. But I purposely didn’t take it. That person gave it to me when he stole my carriage.”
Though a moment late, Classie hurriedly explained and pointed at the silver-haired man with her hand.
“I only borrowed the carriage. And lady, I never told you to leave with the ID card. I told you to wait because I would be back.”
The silver-haired man countered by sharply tapping the bottom of Classie’s shoe.
Classie wanted to swing her foot and throw the slipper at his face. However, her leg still wasn’t functioning well.
“Who would wait for a carriage thief to return in such a dark forest?”
Classie retorted, gritting her teeth.
Though the silver-haired man was a thief, Kishin Hayward was truly the palace guard. She didn’t want to be seen as someone who stole his ID card.
“I just want to get the ID card back.”
Luckily, Kishin seemed more concerned about the safety of the ID card than how it was taken.
“I’ll bring it to you.”
Classie whispered in a small voice.
“Lady, why does your voice change when you talk to him and then talk to me?”
Even in this situation, the silver-haired man continued to annoy her.
“I’ll go with you.”
Kishin ignored the silver-haired man and answered, lowering Classie to the ground.
The speed at which he lowered her was slow. But since Classie still had no strength in her legs, she wobbled and almost fell as soon as Kishin removed his arms.
Both Kishin and the silver-haired man grabbed Classie’s arms from either side.
Having her arms held by foreign men, especially very handsome foreign men, was like a bomb going off in Classie’s face. Her face turned bright red, and she froze.
“If you had explained it from the beginning, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Why were you on the rope?”
The silver-haired man mumbled, and that’s when Classie came to her senses.
However, mentioning the guards on the first floor and the fact that she had fallen while checking if they were around was awkward in front of them. Classie quickly made up an excuse.
“I injured my leg badly when I was a child. It’s usually fine, but sometimes my leg doesn’t move, or it wobbles on its own, causing me to lose my balance. I was trying to explain the situation and fell when I was going down to the first floor.”
“…….”
Kishin, having worked as an investigator, immediately spotted a flaw in Classie’s story.
For example, if Classie had truly intended to talk to them and had come down the central staircase in the main hall, she wouldn’t have fallen out of the window, no matter how clumsy she was on the stairs.
However, Kishin didn’t embarrass her by pointing it out. Instead, he asked bluntly.
“Is your leg still not moving well?”
“Yes, it’s not moving well right now.”
“Then, may I carry you?”
Classie hesitated, wondering if it was proper for her, an unmarried woman, to be carried by a strange man.
Should she call for Anna?
But looking at Kishin’s handsome face, Classie felt that as a patient, it would be okay for her to be carried by a stranger.
Classie shyly nodded.
As Classie appeared in the front door, carried by Kishin, Anna’s eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with both hands.
Anna seemed to want to run over, but Classie subtly shook her head, signaling her not to come closer.
Anna, looking confused, then took a proper look at Kishin’s face and suddenly realized everything. In fact, Anna had seen Kishin earlier, but in the hurry of the situation, she hadn’t noticed how handsome he was.
When Anna, stamping her feet, realized she wasn’t going to be able to approach, Classie quietly whispered to Kishin.
“Go up the central staircase over there.”
After they ascended the stairs, Classie pointed to her room.
“My room is over there.”
The silver-haired man walked ahead and opened the door, and Kishin entered the room with Classie still in his arms, moving skillfully.
“There’s an extra cane in the wardrobe. If you bring it to me, I’ll get the ID card for you.”
Classie pointed to the wardrobe and made her request.
“Why don’t you just tell me where the ID card is? Why let me rummage through the wardrobe, and then you’ll get the ID card for me?”
The silver-haired man, following orders, searched through the wardrobe for the extra cane while teasing Classie. He was the type of person who, no matter how kind his words, always seemed to add a thorn to them.
“The ID card is in my secret box.”
Classie responded sharply.
“Kishin, look. The tone of the merchant lady’s voice when she talks to me is completely different from how she talks to you.”
The silver-haired man grumbled, but he still found the cane and brought it to her.
“Classie. Your name is Classie. Is it Classie Kalashi? That’s an unusual name.”
Meanwhile, he even checked the name engraved on the end of the cane.
Classie ignored him and simply took the cane.
Kishin set her down again.
Using the cane to support herself, Classie walked into a small room inside.
Noble ladies usually stored undergarments or secret diaries in such rooms, so neither Kishin nor Dernick followed her inside. Rooms like these were typically secluded spaces where there was no place to escape to.
But even after waiting for a while, Classie did not come out.
“Did the merchant lady escape?”
After nearly 20 minutes, Dernick raised an eyebrow and muttered.
“Don’t call a lady a merchant.”
“We can’t call her a handbag, can we?”
“Call her Lady Classie.”
Kishin reprimanded Dernick. However, he himself seemed concerned and walked up to the door to knock.
“Lady Classie, are you alright?”
“I’m fine! Just a moment!”
Thankfully, there was an immediate response. Her voice sounded hurried and urgent.
About 30 seconds later, the door swung open, and Classie appeared, her face flushed with embarrassment, looking quite suspicious.
“Here.”
However, Classie handed him the black wallet, properly.
Kishin opened the wallet, and on one side, his ID card was neatly attached. He closed the wallet again, put it in his outer pocket, and bowed.
“Indeed, thank you for returning it properly.”
“It wasn’t on purpose, but I did take it…”
Classie muttered, her face turning even redder than before.
Dernick, looking at the beads of sweat on her forehead, asked the question that had been nagging him since earlier.
“How old is the merchant lady?”
There was no malice in his tone. He was just curious because Classie, who looked to be in her twenties, seemed to be around their age.
Before Classie could get angry, Kishin pushed Dernick aside and bade her farewell.
“We’ll be leaving now. Lady Merran will return soon.”
Kishin left without hesitation.
As Kishin and Dernick stepped outside, followed by the rest of the guards, the once noisy house immediately fell silent again.
Classie, standing on the stairs, sat down as her legs hurt.
Anna, who had closed the front door, quickly ran to her and asked.
“Lady, who were those men earlier? Did you have the item they were looking for?”
Classie began to tell Anna about what had happened when she returned from the party.
“Goodness! Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
Anna, hearing about the hijacking of the carriage, was horrified and scolded her.
“I didn’t want to worry you. It was resolved, so there was no need to scare you.”
“Still, please tell me about these things beforehand. You don’t know how surprised I was. If I had known earlier, Lady Merran wouldn’t have been called over.”
Classie took Anna’s hand and got up from the stairs.
Seeing that Anna’s small curls were damp with sweat, she clicked her tongue.
“Go inside. I’ll bring warm water to help you wash up. You must have had a hard time because of those men.”
“It wasn’t too hard. They didn’t follow me into my secret room, though.”
Classie’s secret room contained things she didn’t even want to show Merran, like letters exchanged with her first love.
In fact, Kishin’s wallet had been placed on top of that pile of letters.
If the two men had followed her into the secret room and seen those letters… Classie might have fainted from shame.
* * *
Meanwhile, Dernick and Kishin climbed into the palace guards’ carriage.
Dernick was still curious and asked again.
“How old is the merchant lady?”
“Why does it matter?”
“I’m just curious. Lady Merran is in her twenties, after all.”
Kishin wasn’t interested. He had forgotten about Merran, who had been mistakenly brought along, a long time ago, and soon he would forget about Classie as well. He had no interest in socializing.
“Oh, right. I should’ve tried to get closer to the merchant lady.”
On the other hand, Dernick regretted not being more polite to Classie. Thinking back, Merran was living at the merchant lady’s place, wasn’t she?
If he wanted to meet and talk to Merran, it would be difficult if the merchant lady, her guardian, interfered.
Moreover, there was something he definitely wanted to ask about Mary’s belongings, but neither the merchant lady nor Merran knew anything about it.
As he thought through these things, his attention was drawn to Kishin, who had taken out his black wallet and was staring at the inside with a strange expression.
“What’s wrong? Did you lose money?”
Dernick shifted in his seat and asked.
Kishin carefully pulled out a neatly folded pale pink letter from the wallet.
“What’s that?”
Dernick leaned forward, eager to see, and his lips curled up in a grin.
“Did the merchant lady write you a letter? How cute! What did she write? Can I see?”
Kishin pushed Dernick’s forehead away and unfolded the letter.