The Duchess and the Devil - Chapter 31.2

Recovering from the dark memories, the girl looked at the demon. There was a warmth in his eyes that she had never received. Derrick listened carefully to his wife’s story and nodded.

This day may come. What happened next? The next day.

The girl did not even have to strain, she perfectly remembered every second:

“Usually I didn’t come to his bedroom, but out of excitement I went to check on how he was feeling. From that day on, Derrick’s health began to deteriorate.

The duke fell ill to such an extent that it was impossible to believe – a week ago he was firmly on his feet and did not feel any ailments. The solemn voice of the priest, speaking of a curse, echoed in his ears. Remembering those terrible days and strange sensations, Judith cringed.

“But Derrick met with a lot of people that day. How can I figure out who it was? – Judith understood that it could be anyone – any resident of the mansion or herself.

“The curse isn’t just about the meeting,” Derrick said. “As I said earlier, some kind of contact is needed.

— Contact?

– Exactly. I don’t know which one, but if it’s a curse that results in death, then it definitely must have happened in a place where other people’s gazes couldn’t reach them.

The room fell silent as Judith peered into her husband’s red eyes and tried to remember more details. And it turned out not to be as easy as expected.

Due to the huge number of cases and troubles, all the memories seem to have evaporated. But even the smallest detail could help and completely change the vision of the situation, so Judith had to clearly restore what happened. And of all the people I knew, there was one – who accompanied her husband everywhere and everywhere. In other words, he knew exactly where Derrick might have gone and who he was meeting.

This is Sir Horton.

“We need to meet him,” Judith told herself.

***

The man looked extremely stern. Judith nudged him a piece of paper. It was a document containing Derrick’s movements that day. Horton didn’t seem surprised as he had seen a similar scene in the past.

– Nothing unusual?

Horton, as before, carefully studied the entire document and nodded, showing that everything was fine. But Judith wasn’t about to give up so easily. She pointed to the last official seat, saying:

Did Derrick meet with Sylvia after that?

Sir Horton, although he reported on the Duke’s daily routine, never mentioned a mistress. Hearing such a direct question, the man tensed, but Judith sighed and added:

“I want you to be honest. It is important.

“Agreed,” Horton replied.

“Okay…” Judith considered something else. “Has he dated anyone other than Sylvia?”

– No. Only her,” Sir Horton hesitated, telling the whole truth like that, for he knew that the relationship between the Duke and Duchess had completely changed and was no longer bad as before. And he was too worried that the spouses would not quarrel again after his answers – the Lord should not interfere in the personal life of his superiors.

Judith did not think about it at all, only seriously looking at the papers, studying them. Taking a pen, she wrote the name of Derrick’s mistress at the bottom – Sylvia. But the list didn’t end there, Judith added the names of the Emperor and her brother. One of them is Hannibal.