Chapter 32
30
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"Motive? Are you trying to justify violence right now?"
"No. I'm saying that without a motive, there couldn't have been any threats either. More than anything, they're just pointing me out as the culprit based on circumstantial evidence."
Flora, who had been burying her face in her maid's shoulder, suddenly raised her head.
"So, you're saying my maids are lying?!"
As Flora shouted, the maid in her arms also cried out.
"Sh-She said she didn't like my service at dinner!!"
"And for that reason, I imprisoned and assaulted you?"
A moment of silence fell, and Grace slowly looked around at the gathered noblewomen as she spoke.
"I have never imprisoned any maids. I certainly haven't assaulted anyone. I have no reason to, nor do I have the means. As you know, I came here with His Excellency yesterday. I'm just trying not to get lost in this vast castle, aren't I?"
Flora immediately exclaimed as if having a seizure.
"Marquise, my maids don't lie. Just look how terrified they are."
As Flora cried sadly, the maids also lowered their heads and began to weep. Then, one of the noblewomen sitting against the wall, who had some influence and was of considerable age, cautiously opened her mouth.
"Marquise Lincot, has anyone seen the maids being assaulted?"
As the noblewomen's attention focused, the Marquise sighed audibly.
"As the maids said, it happened in a secret place, so I couldn't find anyone. Such discord in peaceful and tranquil Richmond. And to think it's a dispute between His Excellency's lover and Flora's maids, how difficult."
She turned her gaze from the maids to Grace. Even in such a moment, she maintained her composure. She seemed more formidable than she had thought. But even so, she herself would be the victor in this fight.
The Marquise spoke sternly to the assembled noblewomen.
"As the one who is safeguarding the order of the Duke Richmond's Inner Palace on behalf of the Grand Duchess, I cannot take this matter lightly. Imprisonment, assault, and death threats are treated as serious crimes under Richmond law."
She turned her gaze to Flora.
"Flora, I believe in the innocence of your maids. But since your claims differ, there's no choice but to reveal the truth."
"Marchioness...!"
"Take the maids to the underground."
Underground.
As soon as that word came out of the Marchioness's mouth, the maids began to cry loudly. Flora hugged her terrified maids with a tear-stained face.
"Justice is on the side of the truthful. Just hold on a little longer. Sob, I'll visit you every day."
The underground of Richmond, notorious for the fact that even if you enter on your own feet, you don't come out on your own feet.
It wasn't that the Dukes of Richmond particularly enjoyed torture. The problem was that the bedrock that made up the underground of the Duke Richmond's castle had the property of absorbing sound. In the underground, where light and sound were completely blocked, people easily lost their minds.
The Marchioness ordered the maids.
"Escort her to the underground as well, just like the maids, and find the woman who came with her and bring her to me!"
As soon as the Marchioness's order was given, the waiting maids approached Grace as if they had been waiting for it.
"Get up!"
The maids grabbed Grace's arm roughly. In a fleeting moment, Grace quickly scanned the expressions of the gathered noblewomen. Some were gleeful, some were excited, and some had worried expressions.
"Can't you get up?!"
It was the moment when Flora was smirking as she watched the maids forcibly try to lift Grace.
Bang!
The wind that rushed in through the violently opened door shattered the stagnant air inside.
The angry Marchioness frowned and turned her body sharply. She had intended to issue a stern order as to who dared to open the door without permission, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
"Your Excellency...!"
Walter, standing with his back to the wind, turned his gaze to Grace, whose arms were being held. Grace, who was about to get up, also turned her head.
"!!"
The moment their eyes met, the man, as if drawn with a sharp pen, strode towards her. Then, he silently bared his fierce teeth as he stared blankly down at the maids who had stiffened while holding Grace's arms.
"Let go."
A few tens of minutes ago.
Summons were issued to the five nobles in charge of the finances of the Duke Richmond's castle. It wasn't strange. The Duke had said that he would entrust the work to Marquis Rinko for the time being, but it was only natural for the owner to want to know about the finances.
However, the strange thing was that the five nobles were called to different places.
Joseph found five empty rooms that perfectly matched the conditions Walter had mentioned, and the five nobles were somehow pushed into their assigned rooms.
In the cold, dark room, there was only a desk and two chairs.
"What on earth is this..."
It was the moment when the man, overcome with eeriness, was about to leave the room in a hurry.
"Why are you so scared?"
"!!"
"Have a seat?"
Like a beast of prey that appears without a sound and drives its prey into a corner, Walter quickly tightened his grip on the man's breath. The man, who had been so proud as if he were something when he was behind Marquis Rinko, trembled visibly and carefully sat opposite Walter.
"W-What is the reason for calling me...?"
Before he could finish speaking, a document was thrust forward.
"Explain."
"Wh-What..."
"There are many things to explain. What is the 'maintenance fee' in the statement, and what is lumped together as 'other,' and so on."
The moment a word that should never have come out of the Duke's mouth flowed out, the man's instincts screamed that he had to create a way out. But before he could open his mouth, a voice that had not even a speck of humanity on it lashed out at his lips.
"Don't even think about making excuses or evading. I only called those who can properly explain that document."
When the man looked up furtively while looking at the document, the Duke, reminiscent of a black wolf, was leaning back leisurely in his chair with his long legs crossed. The black eyes twinkling between the dark silhouettes were as eerie as the eyes of a beast hiding its body.
"Explain clearly and concisely."
"Uh..."
As the man's voice trembled slightly at the end, Walter pulled up his lips and smiled, pointing out one more despairing fact.
"Oh, don't worry about making a mistake and giving the wrong explanation."
"Yes?"
"I've called four other people in charge in preparation for such a time. I'm going to ask them the same questions."
In other words, he would cross-examine them with the same documents.
Was this like a bolt from the blue? What on earth should he explain about the results of using the Duke Richmond's money indiscriminately? Moreover, they hadn't even coordinated their stories in preparation for this.
The man's face turned ashen in an instant. He opened his mouth falteringly, thinking that the square document looked like the gate to hell.
"Um, well, that is... This first statement, that is, from above..."
"Don't drag out your words, be concise."
Surprised by the dogmatic and straightforward words, a torrent of abuse swept over him.
"You're making excuses. I told you not to even open your mouth if you're going to make excuses?!"
"If you don't know, answer that you don't know and move on! Have you forgotten that there are four more people waiting behind you?!"
"Next!"
It was the first time he had been so brutally beaten with words. Walter drove the man without giving him a chance to manipulate anything.
The Duke, with his magnificent appearance, was different from his predecessors, perhaps because he had grown up in the Wall of Death. Unlike the previous Dukes, who had a firm heart but exuded a gentle feeling, Walter was a sharp person like a sharply raised spear.
But unfortunately, it wasn't the end of being hit with abuse. As soon as all the explanations were over, a piece of paper was handed to him. On the hastily scribbled paper, the words he had uttered so far were written down without missing a single syllable.
While Joseph, who had been writing down the man's words from behind, rubbed his wrist, Walter kindly offered a quill pen.
"You have to take responsibility for the words you've uttered. Check if there is anything different from what you explained and sign it."
"......"
I'm doomed.
There was one messed-up document. There were five people in charge who wanted to avoid their responsibilities at all costs.
The man wanted to collapse and cry his eyes out. He was already afraid of the bleak future that was coming.
And Walter fairly opened the gates of hell to the remaining four people. As a result of the relentless onslaught without giving them time to think, it took less than an hour to receive statements from each of the five people. It was around the time he received the signature from the last person.
"Your Excellency, Grace's maid has come to see you."
Had she come to deliver the news that the Grand Duchess had woken up?
But Joseph's guess was neatly rejected the moment his superior's eyebrows twitched crookedly as he heard something from Jessie.
Walter gestured to the nobleman, who was blankly blinking his eyes, unable to recover his tattered mind. Joseph quickly lifted him up and led him out of the room, then reconfirmed that there were no guards around the room.
Walter made his voice heard only after confirming that there were no listening ears.
"What happened to Grace?"
"Yes. Marquise Lincot's maids have taken the young lady away. I overheard them on the way, and they said they were opening a 'room of punishment'."
