BETRAYAL OF DIGNITY
Part 25
Secrets
After securing her brace, Chloe gently pushed open the door to her bedchamber. Sleep had eluded her as she clutched Damien's jacket, and it was now well past midnight. The castle lay silent with all lights extinguished, the worsening weather outside casting a bleak atmosphere.
Holding a lamp aglow with candlelight, she moved cautiously toward the northern corridor. As she stood before the statue of Damien astride his horse, she smiled, a sense of relief washing over her. Though it had initially filled her with revulsion, the sight of the sculpture now seemed to dispel her fear. After briefly looking the haughty statue in the eye, Chloe opened the door to Damien's study. His quarters were impeccably neat, with not a single item out of place.
Chloe hung the jacket in the dressing room before returning to the study. She could not be sure when he would don the jacket, but the thought of a tender smile gracing his stern features at the sight of it brought her joy.
Just as she was about to leave, a gust of wind slipped through the door's crack, snuffing out the candle. The weather was merciless; she hoped it would relent for Damien's return journey.
Chloe smiled briefly as she glanced at Damien's portrait. As she was about to step outside, she decided to turn back and stand before the painting. Just then, a loud clap of thunder followed a flash of lightning, startling her. After taking a deep breath to steady herself, she removed the painting from the wall.
She was aware that her actions were less than honorable, and guilt gnawed at her conscience. However, the temptation to unveil what a man like Damien considered significant enough to conceal in a secret safe proved too enticing to res-ist.
Striking a match to reignite the lamp, Chloe tentatively opened the safe. Inside, she found a collection of documents.
As she sifted through the dense text and figures related to his businesses, she sighed, chuckling softly. She had suspected he wasn't the type to hoard precious jewels or family heir-looms, but to discover that a secret safe concealed behind a wall held nothing more than business documents...
What had she been so worried about? Perhaps pregnancy naturally heightened one's sensitivity even to trivial matters.
As Chloe began to organize the papers, her hand paused.
She had found a map, one she recognized instantly. She knew the territory like the back of her hand, having visited its every corner countless times while managing the estate. Studying the map of Verdier, she noticed two locations marked in red.
One was the forest where she had first encountered the Duke, and the other, the mountain range that stretched beyond it.
Chloe flipped the document over, her brows furrowed. There was a succinct letter attached, along with a small pouch.
Following an examination of the material sent by Your Grace, it has been determined that the mineral unearthed along with the sand is gold, and it is highly likely that its source is a nearby mine.
The letter bore a date from three years prior, when the war had ended. Chloe stared at the map and the brief note, her hands shaking.
What could this mean?
The marked location in the forest corresponded to the spring where she had seen Damien. She could still vividly recall the image of the Duke standing with his feet immersed in the water.
Chloe sifted through the documents once more, her thoughts in disarray. Another sentence caught her attention.
Post-war Statistics on Sugar Demand and Distribution in the Kingdom of Swanton
