Interest Compounds on Revenge - Chapter 55

Every time the woman swung her knife, the wind split with a whoosh.

Lea tried to dodge the knife, but with one hand gripping the woman’s clothes, it was difficult to move nimbly.

“Get lost before your pretty face gets ruined!”

“Who ordered you to do this? Tell me quickly!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think I’d tell you?”

The woman swung her knife with all her might to stab Lea. As Lea ducked to avoid it, the woman lost her balance from the strong recoil and her body tilted out the window.

“Eek!”

Lea, who had been holding the woman’s clothes, was also swept along and her body went out the window.

Grip—

Fortunately, in the moment of losing balance, Lea firmly grasped the windowsill with both hands. But the woman was hanging in midair, clutching Lea’s ankle.

“Let go of this!”

No matter how much Lea shook her foot, the woman held onto her ankle tightly like a lifeline.

“I won’t die alone!”

The woman clung to Lea desperately. Being on the top floor of a 5-story building, and with the building’s floors being wide, the actual height was much higher than 5 stories. Falling from here would result in at least severe injuries.

“He-help me!”

Lea shouted with all her might. However, her grip strength was weak, making it difficult to hold onto the windowsill for long.

Moreover, with the woman hanging onto her body, she had to bear more than twice the weight.

At that moment, lights began to turn on one by one in the dark duke’s mansion. Lea’s hands gripping the windowsill turned pale and trembled.

Now she wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold on. At most, it would be about a minute.

“Is, is anyone there?”

Though she knew that shouting would drain her strength more and make her body shake more, it was impossible to endure this alone.

The woman must have found it hard to hold on too, as Lea’s shoe came off and plummeted down.

“Ahhh!”

Thud—!

The woman’s desperate scream and the sound of a body crashing split the quiet night air. Just then, the employees rushed out and murmured among themselves.

“Look, someone is hanging there.”

“Who is it?”

“Looks like a woman?”

“Wait! Isn’t that Miss Grace?”

The employees were shocked to see the woman who had fallen to the ground, and even more astonished to see Grace hanging from the windowsill. Soon, the male employees began to move busily.

“Bring something to catch her!”

“Go get a mattress or something!”

While there was busy movement below, it was too much for Lea. Her arms were losing strength and she was about to let go at any moment.

‘I can’t… hold on anymore!’

Finally, as Lea lost grip with one hand, screams were heard from below.

The employees watched the precarious situation, not knowing what to do.

“Ugh…!”

With even the last of her strength depleted, only a few seconds remained now.

‘I don’t want to die like this.’

There was still so much to do. To face death before even getting started.

Such rotten luck. Though it was just a moment, memories of the past flashed through Lea’s mind like a kaleidoscope. After being swept up by waves of trials to come this far, to die so emptily.

“Ter…ran.”

Lea called his name and helplessly let go of her other hand. She could no longer hear the voices of people below.

The moment her body fell downwards seemed to happen in slow motion to Lea.

Before letting go, she heard a familiar voice shouting something, but couldn’t understand what was said.

‘This is the end.’

Just as she resigned herself to everything and left her body to the empty air, a strong force grabbed Lea and stopped her fall.

She quickly looked up.

“Terran!”

He was breathing heavily, having run here in haste. He immediately grabbed Lea’s wrist with one hand and pulled her into the window in one motion.

With a thud, Lea fell down together with Terran. More precisely, she fell on top of him, using his body as a cushion.

Huff huff, the sound of their heavy breathing echoed in the dark room. In that moment, Lea sensed something was wrong.

Terran’s white shirt was soaked with blood.

“Terran, you’re bleeding!”

She cried out with a trembling voice.

“It’s not me, it’s you.”

“What?”

Only then did Lea see that her arm was covered in blood. It must have been grazed when the woman swung her knife.

Being in the urgent situation of falling together, she hadn’t realized she was injured.

Just then, people came rushing into the room. That was the last thing Lea remembered.

“Grace!”

All she could hear was Terran’s voice desperately calling her name.

* * *

Lea quickly regained consciousness. But the reality before her eyes was very miserable.

Even before waking up, she could hear Chainer and Pauline crying, and the serious conversation between Terran, James, and Luke.

“What happened?”

Lea suddenly sat up in bed and asked about the situation. Then she winced, feeling a stinging pain in her arm.

“Sis, are you oka—!”

Before Chainer could finish speaking, she was dragged out by Pauline, and James and Luke also left the room with gloomy faces.

“Terran.”

When she called his name, Terran quietly embraced Grace. She could feel a cold anger from him.

“From now on, I won’t let you out of my sight for even 1 second.”

Though she understood Terran’s distressed feelings, that wasn’t what she wanted to hear right now. But Lea kept stroking his trembling back to comfort him.

Terran thought he was having a nightmare. Grace’s voice coming from somewhere. Her voice crying out for help, begging to be saved – he thought it was a dream.

But when he opened his eyes and could still hear it vividly, he instinctively knew something had happened.

He searched the entire duke’s mansion, following Grace’s faint voice. Then a thin thread of her tiny voice came down from the upper floor and entered his ears.

He ran non-stop to the 5th floor. Even as he ran with all his might, he felt suffocated by the fear that Grace may have already fallen.

He had vowed never again to let a precious person die before his eyes. But what if something happened to Grace too?

When he arrived at the room and saw only the curtains fluttering in the wide open window, everything went dark before his eyes.

Fortunately, when he saw Grace hanging from the narrow windowsill, he thanked every god that existed in the world.

“If I had been a little later, I could have lost you.”

If that had happened, it would have been the end of the world for him.

“Thank you for saving me.”

“I don’t want to hear that kind of talk.”

It wasn’t meant as an empty compliment.

Of course, Lea also understood Terran’s feelings. This man who appeared like a savior every time she was in danger.

She could only express that gratitude in a single phrase, which felt inadequate.

Truly, she could no longer imagine her life without Terran.

After a long while, Terran released Grace from his arms and brought water and medicine.

“It’s a sedative.”

The two shared the medicine. Not only would it be difficult for Lea, the person directly involved, to sleep, but Terran was also unable to calm down.

Terran laid Grace down beside him and gave her a deep kiss. He caressed her face and said,

“Sleep tonight. You need to.”

Facing the remaining pain would be too cruel a punishment. The two needed at least a few hours of respite before confronting reality.

“Alright.”

Though she knew too well what had happened to her, she wanted to find comfort in his arms tonight.

She nestled into Terran’s broad chest like a feather.

As their rapid breathing gradually slowed and stabilized, sleep came.

Throughout the night, Terran never once let Grace out of his arms.

* * *

The reality that hit the duke’s mansion was cruel. Sonya and Adolf collapsed on the spot and wailed upon seeing the torn riding outfit.

“Who was that employee?”

“Her name is Anna, a newly hired employee. She’s in the hospital now, but in a coma.”

James’ voice was low.

“Don’t let her die. Have someone watch her and interrogate her as soon as she wakes up. And…”

Terran’s voice was as cold as ice. His dark eyes, clouded with anger, were unfocused.

“Please continue.”

“When that woman wakes up, cut her right arm with a knife for 10cm, just like she did to Grace.”

“Pardon?”

James and Luke were shocked. No matter how angry one was, that was beyond human decency.

“I understand your feelings, Your Grace, but I’m against inflicting such cruelty on a patient.”

“Against it? Did you just say it’s cruel to me? Really? Have you forgotten that Grace almost died?”

When Terran shouted loud enough to shake the room, everyone flinched in surprise.

Lea was at a loss for words, as if seeing a different personality, while Chainer and Pauline hugged each other in fear and backed away.

“I want to wring that wench’s neck right now, but I’m using every last bit of patience I have left. If you can’t do it, I’ll stab the knife into her heart myself!”

“Pl-please calm down, we’ll take care of it.”

James tried to pacify the enraged Terran.

“If you don’t catch the remaining spies in the duke’s mansion, I’ll fire both you and Luke.”

“We will follow your orders, Your Grace.”

The two men responded in tense voices.

Terran was furious to discover there were more spies in the duke’s mansion than he had anticipated. Though he had no evidence yet, he had a rough idea of who was behind this.

But hasty conclusions often lead to trouble. He had to hear it from Anna’s own mouth.

“It’s all ruined. The Empress and ladies-in-waiting’s riding outfits are finished.”

Sonya and Adolf gave up everything in despair. Lea silently stared at the riding outfit that had been torn to shreds like a rag.

Now only three days remained, or two days including travel time to Bellis.

They had to somehow resolve this situation in that time.

Lea mobilized all the information resources she knew. What was the fastest way to restore the clothes?

Even if Sonya and Adolf started making them now, it would be impossible to complete them in two days.

Then she remembered an item that a merchant had brought from the New World long ago.

The Hamilton Trading Company had bought a few of those machines, but they were so expensive that they didn’t sell well, so they stopped dealing with them.

“I’m not giving up.”

As Lea murmured to herself while looking at the torn riding outfit, everyone’s gaze turned to her.

“It’s possible if we have a sewing machine.”