One Day, I Picked Up a Mom - Chapter 56

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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One Day I Picked Up a Mother – Episode 56

“More importantly, who could she be.”

“Since she’s accompanying the Countess, I thought she might be a young lady you had your eye on, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“That’s right, judging by how unfamiliar her face is. Hmm, but why…”

Their busy eyes swept over me from head to toe.

It was a persistent and blatant gaze, like merchants at an auction house appraising value.

I looked at Jane awkwardly.

“What will you do, Jane?”

“Pardon?”

“Whether you’ll come to the gallery with me, or wait for the Countess here…”

Even at this moment, the continuous whispering made me smile awkwardly, and Jane let out a small sigh before saying she would come with me.

Thanks to this, I wouldn’t have to walk alone under those burning gazes, so I nodded happily.

However, perhaps because she stood too close to me?

“Lady Luciana, I am an employee of the family. You should walk ahead of me.”

She stopped walking and bowed her head, giving me a warning in a very small voice.

I had no choice but to walk a few steps ahead.

The attention was still intense, and though I had a companion, we weren’t walking side by side.

In the end, it didn’t help much with my peace of mind.

Forcibly holding onto my gaze that kept trying to wander, I headed toward the gallery the Countess had mentioned.

The gallery located inside the shop was quiet, as if the noise from the shopping district was completely blocked out.

Though there were a few people inside, they were all absorbed only in the paintings and had no interest in me.

Dim gaslight from the high ceiling illuminated the oil paintings in gold-leafed frames.

The walls were filled with paintings.

From seascapes depicting sailing ships on the verge of shipwreck against a stormy sea, to a girl holding flowers.

From a woman combing her hair while looking in a mirror, to people gathered in small groups on picnic blankets under warm sunlight, enjoying their leisure.

I stopped in front of a rather eerie yet intensely atmospheric painting of a naked woman stabbing a knife into a man’s heart.

The woman’s small hands gripping the knife tightly and the man’s contorted face twisted in pain.

“Hey.”

The background was so dark that its form was almost unrecognizable, but within it, only the bloodstains were vividly expressed.

“Hey.”

I turned my head at the repeated call in the quiet gallery.

Perhaps it was because the voice had gotten a bit closer.

“…”

A woman slightly smaller than me was standing a couple of steps away.

Her dark brown hair was pulled back tightly as if not allowing a single stray hair, stretching her scalp taut.

This made her eyes appear even more upturned, with dark pupils beneath them that matched her hair color.

The owner of the voice was looking at me clearly.

“Yes?”

“Huh?”

When I asked back, wondering if she had called me, the woman immediately contorted her face as if dumbfounded.

Her unusually thin and pale lips twisted instantly, and the wrinkles around her mouth deepened.

I took a step back at her incomprehensible reaction and was about to turn my gaze to look for Jane.

Plump fingers adorned with flashy rings gripped my wrist tightly.

“Ow.”

She gripped so hard that my wrist, caught by this woman who was half a span shorter than me, ached painfully.

“Shut up and follow me.”

The woman whispered quietly so only I could hear and strode forward.

She pressed hard against one of the dark mahogany panels that filled the wall. Then the panel door that had been part of the wall silently slid inward.

It all happened in an instant before I could even resist.

Very urgently, the woman who entered the dark, narrow corridor where even gaslight couldn’t reach kept pulling my wrist with force.

“Wait, what is this! What are you doing!”

I hurriedly grabbed the wall and resisted, trying to escape from that tremendous force.

Still, I had no way to overcome the rough pulling force and was helplessly being dragged into the darkness.

“Lady Luciana.”

“Ah! Help me. Jane, help me!”

Wanting to quickly shake off this crazy woman, I urgently asked Jane for help.

But even while shouting, I had this thought.

Even if I joined forces with Jane, who looked more fragile than me, could we really defeat this woman?

She possessed strength as powerful as when the angry Ludrio had tried to chase me out of the estate before.

‘Is she someone the Countess sent? Is that why she told me to go to this place? Then I am…’

Both the woman’s build and this stubborn strength.

Even with Jane’s help, it seemed it wouldn’t be easy to escape from her.

Then, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed, and the force that had been dragging me was released as easily as if it were nothing.

“Are you alright?”

I don’t know how she managed it in this narrow corridor, but Jane, who had instantly squeezed between me and the crazy woman, asked in a low voice.

I grabbed Jane’s hand without the presence of mind to answer.

“Please help me, please help me!”

And I made my way back through the corridor to return to the gallery. To a place where there might be more people who could help us.

“Please help!”

As we emerged from the entrance of the dark corridor, those who had gathered close out of curiosity about the situation hurriedly moved away.

Now there was no one left admiring paintings in the gallery.

However, none of them approached us.

I had to leave the gallery and go to a place where more people were gathered.

There might be someone willing to help us there, and even if not, with many eyes watching, that woman wouldn’t be able to act as she pleased anymore.

“Lady Luciana.”

As I hurried to go outside, Jane stopped me with a quiet voice.

I turned my head toward Jane, who stood as immovable as if her feet were planted in the ground.

“You must calm down.”

She gripped my hand firmly. It wasn’t as rough as the woman who had been twisting my wrist, but her grip was very resolute.

“Many eyes are watching.”

My twisted wrist still ached and my startled breathing was still rough, but I bit my lips, trying to calm down as Jane said.

“Today is the first day Lady Luciana enters the eyes of society. Getting involved in strange scandals due to unnecessary commotion would not be good for the Duke’s Manor’s honor either.”

For the Duke’s Manor’s honor.

Those words sounded bitter to me.

It had been a sudden ordeal. Perhaps an ordeal that the Countess had deliberately orchestrated.

Yet Jane told me to keep quiet without even trying to understand the situation.

‘Could it be that Jane shares the same intentions as the Countess?’

“…”

That can’t be right. It was Jane who had followed me into that narrow corridor to help me.

Shaking off my foolish suspicion, I hurriedly nodded.

Only then did Jane release my hand that she had been holding.

“Do you know her?”

“There’s no way I would.”

However, at the following question, my emotions surged and I snapped back.

Though I later thought she probably wasn’t trying to blame me but just wanted to understand the situation, Jane had already turned her back to me.

She strode toward that mahogany panel door again.

“Please come out now, madam.”

At Jane’s completely unexpected sudden action, I hurriedly looked around.

However, the nobles in the gallery still only whispered among themselves, and not one of them stepped forward willingly.

‘What if she gets hit doing that!’

If we both got beaten up, that wouldn’t seem good for the Duke’s Manor’s honor either.

Still, I couldn’t let Jane face that crazy woman alone.

The thought crossed my mind that it might be wiser to run outside and call for help, but instead of fleeing, as I hurried to Jane’s side.

The woman hesitantly emerged from the dark corridor.

“I am Jane, an employee of House of Roderich.”

Upon hearing Jane’s introduction, the woman moved her thin lips and averted her gaze.

Her earlier aggressive demeanor had completely disappeared without a trace.

‘What? Why…’

She even looked quite bewildered.

Suddenly, Jane’s question from earlier stuck in my mind.

‘Do you know this person?’

I thought there was no way that could be true.

But it seemed…she knew me.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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