Missing Cinderella

Chapter 5

Siella indifferently looked behind her as she slowly lowered the raised corners of her mouth.

"What on earth are you doing here?"

Then Eschert's cold gaze fell upon her, who was approaching her as if waiting for the right moment. It was an all-too familiar gaze. Siella quietly raised her head and faced Eschert. She could in his blue eyes her flat expression.

"I just came here for some business and was just about to go back."

"Haa...." A heavy sigh escaped from Eschert at Siella's insipid reply. "Did you know how surprised I was when you suddenly contacted me?"

She didn't know what he meant. Siella kept her silence and listened to Eschert as he continued talking.

"You have never contacted me first for the past five years. But...." Eschert said as he ran his hand through his disheveled hair, frustrated. "You weren't at the mansion, and no one really knows where you've been."

"..."

"There wasn't even one who knows."

Only then did she realize what Eschert was asking about. However, it still won't change anything. Though she still had no idea what to say to Eschert.

Should I consider it fortunate that he misunderstood what was going on with me and Camellia and wasn't trying to question it? Siella suddenly thought of that as she stared thoughtlessly at Eschert who ran his hand through his hair and placed his hand on his waist.

'Did he look for me as soon as he arrived at the mansion?'

She told him in the letter that there was a woman who apparently brought a child with the locket necklace. Contrary to her expectations, Eschert seemed to want to look for her first than Camellia.

In this unexpected situation, Siella looked at the uncharacteristic Eschert and blinked her bewildered eyes. To tell the truth, Eschert hadn't spared Camellia a glance. He just continued to stare right at Siella, as if she was the only person he could see.

"It's really strange. The people who serve you really don't have any interest in your actions."

"..."

"Siella."

Siella came back to her senses when Eschert called her. As she lifted her gaze from his big hands, she saw the slight irritation on Eschert's stiff face.

"... I was thinking about something else for a moment."

"You are thinking about something else in front of someone talking to you?"

Haa, she could feel Eschert's frustration from the sound of his low sigh. However, Siella only thought that the Eschert who had many things to say today was unfamiliar.

Eschert stared at Siella, who showed no reaction at all, and was about to open his mouth again.

"Ex, excuse me.... Are you... are you His Grace... the Duke?"

But it was Camellia's delicate voice that resonated in the quiet hallway. When Camellia, who had been silently standing in her place until now, intervened between Eschert and Siella, they turned to look at her at the same time. Camellia's skinny body shrank even more as if two pairs of gazes directed on her body felt burdensome.

"Who are you?"

"... Yes?"

Eschert raised one eyebrow and stared at Camellia before asking again, "I asked who you are."

"Ah...."

"You must not be a maid here judging by your clothes."

"..."