So the Duchess Disappeared

32. Lost Things

Psyche was holding the baby and crying silently, stifling her sobs.

Cloud was a bit startled by the unexpected situation, but soon he knelt down in front of her, comforting her with a gentle touch.

“…”

Whether afraid of being heard by the Duke if she cried, she had forcibly suppressed her voice so much that her lower lip was about to burst from biting it so hard.

What could have made her so melancholic? It just made his heart ache for no reason.

After Cloud turned his attention away, Psyche seemed to let out a sigh of relief, sitting down on the ground with the baby in her arms.

The baby, sucking on her finger, didn’t seem to be in the best mood.

As time passed while they were hiding, the baby seemed hungry.

So, just in case, Cloud tried to feed the baby…

“…”

The baby made a sound, indicating that she needed to be fed, and that broke the dam of tears that Psyche had been holding back.

Her body was tuned to the baby, but there was no baby.

Only the absence of the child suddenly brought a terribly sad thought to her mind.

Even after putting on her clothes again and sitting down hesitantly, the sadness didn’t dissipate.

The fact was just too heartbreaking.

However, Psyche couldn’t let herself cry freely.

In such a situation, it seemed to push her even further.

Although the baby in her arms grinned happily, it wasn’t making her feel better.

But she couldn’t let herself cry, and so she desperately held back the tears.

“Sob…”

“Oh my.”

Cloud, who discovered her in such a state, knelt down in front of her with a surprised expression.

He had thought Psyche would be pleased after barely getting rid of the Duke and his entourage, but it wasn’t the case, which surprised him.

“What happened? Seriously…”

As soon as Cloud heard Psyche’s voice, he saw her quickly wiping away the flowing tears.

It seemed like she didn’t want Cloud to know that she was crying, so she tried to hide it as much as possible.

Deciding not to pry any further for now, he chose to silently watch her until she could control her emotions.

Psyche quickly wiped away her tears and pretended to look at him as if nothing had happened, but her remorseful face couldn’t be concealed.

“…”

Cloud decided not to press her further on such behavior and stood up abruptly, showing the reins he held.

“Shall we go comfortably?”

“…” 

Psyche looked up at him while still seated.

Her pale face and moist eyes reflected in the moonlight. Cloud couldn’t help but feel a strange sensation upon seeing her somewhat exhausted face.

“Hmm.”

“Oh…”

Psyche, as if regaining her senses just then, alternated her gaze between Cloud and the baby in her arms, and slowly opened her mouth.

“The baby… We need to find the baby’s mother…”

“That might be quite difficult.”

“What?”

As Cloud shrugged, Psyche got agitated and added more to her words.

“How could the mother find the baby! So, you must help me find her!”

“Hmm… You don’t need to address me so formally. Madam.”

“Ah…”

She never imagined she would hear the term ‘madam’ again in this place. She wanted to deny it with all her heart, but there were too many things that had been exposed.

When Cloud called her ‘Psyche’ as opposed to ‘madam,’ she shut her mouth again.

“Originally, that woman probably wasn’t the baby’s mother.”

“…?”

Psyche gave Cloud a puzzled look.

“It happens around here quite often. She might have been a substitute for someone important, like a high-ranking person… or maybe just a woman hired to take care of the baby during travels. Considering the long journey, they would have chosen a woman capable of breastfeeding.”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

Psyche looked at her baby again. The fidgeting hands were adorable.

Upon closer inspection, the baby was very cute.

Round eyes were smiling gleefully.

“Gya?”

Now, she even started laughing happily as if in a good mood.

It seemed that the baby had quickly become accustomed to Psyche…

She couldn’t believe Cloud’s words. Even now, somewhere, the mother of this child might be desperately looking for her. It made her feel strangely heavy-hearted.

“When the bandits attacked, she abandoned the baby and ran. Most mothers would try to protect their babies. Rather, you seemed more motherly, milady.”

“…”

Although Psyche became more disturbed by his words, she decided not to show it openly. She couldn’t tell the story of how she lost her own child.

“But…”

Cloud stared intently at Psyche.

“Although I’ve heard stories about you marrying into the Hwangdo nobility… I never imagined you’d be a duchess.”

“…You know me?”

“Lower your voice.”

“…You know me?”

Psyche’s eyes widened like lanterns.

It felt even stranger because she had long left the territory, and she thought nobody would remember her. To encounter someone who recognized her in a place she had left, especially Cloud who knew her, was quite surprising.

What was even more astonishing was that she didn’t mind Cloud recognizing her.

“You’re familiar to me.”

“How?”

Psyche asked out of pure curiosity.

“Well… I’m from Alister, too.”

“What?”

Psyche’s eyes grew even wider.

How could such a coincidence happen? Even more astonishing was that their paths overlapped from Hwangdo, and on top of that, they were from the same place.

“Nevertheless… I usually wouldn’t have known. How could you remember me?”

“Hehe…”

Cloud scratched the back of his head.

As Psyche stood up, she said, “Let’s get going. We can’t leave the baby behind. Let’s go and try to find the mother, at least.”

“We won’t find her.”

“Still! You never know. Let’s get going.”

“Are you sure? It seems like the Duke is also heading towards Alister.”

Cloud, who had strangely blurred his words, looked embarrassed.

Even though he didn’t want to pretend to know, he felt like he had to say something. Psyche suddenly made a grim expression.

“Anyway, there’s nowhere else for me to go back to. Let’s just go. We can’t stay here with the baby like this.”

“Alright. I don’t know if I should be thankful, but since the Duke said so, it seems we can travel more comfortably.”

“…”

When Psyche glared at Cloud, who was intentionally making a scratching sound, he finally turned his gaze elsewhere, pretending nothing happened.

“First… we need to secure the baby by holding or fixing him somehow.”

“Oh, if it’s something like that, I can…”

“You can do this too?”

Cloud added an explanation, saying, “Haha. Nobles may not know, but when life gets tough, commoners sometimes abandon their babies.”

“…”

“Because they can’t afford to raise them themselves. Ironically, the place where those babies are often abandoned is the Mercenary Guild. Someone always picks them up, thinking they can raise them. So, sometimes we end up looking after babies.”

“I didn’t know that… To abandon a child. How unimaginably painful it must be.”

Psyche felt that her current situation was too agonizing. However, it seemed like there were many people in this world who suffered as much as she did. For some reason, it made her heart ache even more.

“They think they’re giving the child a better environment than they can provide.”

“…”

“Everything’s ready!”

He looked at Psyche with a satisfied expression.

The baby seemed to be in a good mood, giggling while stretching and wriggling behind her.

“Gya? Gya!”

“Hey, little one. You don’t even know your own situation!”

Again, the baby seemed cute, and Cloud lightly pressed its nose and patted its head.

Then he stood in front of Psyche again.

“Shall we go?”

“Oh, right.”

Psyche, as if she forgot something, was about to speak but stopped.

“What is it?”

“Even when we arrive in Alister, I’d prefer if only you knew that I’m a duchess.”

“Ah, please call me Claude. That’s my real name.”

Now that they thought about it, the two of them who hadn’t properly introduced themselves smiled awkwardly.

“Yeah, Cloud. I don’t want others to know that I’m a duchess. There’s no need to be called a duchess anyway…”

“Is that so…”

“I don’t think of myself as a duchess anymore. So, just talk to me comfortably. I don’t want to be suspected just because I’m called a duchess for no reason.”

At that moment, for some reason, the face of Duke Clint Valentine came to mind. His face looked strange when he was looking for Psyche, and she feared the consequences if she spoke carelessly.

“I’ll only talk formally when there are only two of us. When there are people around, let’s act accordingly.”

“Thank you…”

“No problem. Shall we go?”

“But… aren’t you going to ask?”

“What?”

Psyche, wearing a curious expression, grabbed him again.

“Why is the Duchess running away? Is there something wrong? I’m just curious… you’ve been doing everything as I say since earlier.”

“Um…”

Cloud looked a bit awkward at that.

He was indeed curious, but he felt there was no need to ask. And there was another reason.

“Ah… I didn’t want to mention it because I didn’t like this kind of thing.”

“Huh?”

“I learned to obey everything the master says.”

“What? What does that have to do with me?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Cloud looked at the sky, then at Psyche with a slightly embarrassed face, and suddenly scratched the back of his head.

Then, unexpectedly, he knelt in front of Psyche.