Chapter 38
36
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The Marchioness took a deep breath and exhaled, speaking with a frosty edge.
“You wench! Isn’t that maid you’re dragging around a descendant of the devil? You, conspiring with wicked factions, clouding His Grace’s eyes, and trying to seize Richmond, weren’t you?! That’s why you intimidated the maids as soon as you arrived, using them to pry into Richmond’s internal affairs, isn’t it?!”
“No. Neither I nor my maid can ever be the Unseen Ones.”
At Grace’s words, Flora cried out.
“You killed my maids, and that’s all you have to say?! How will you prove you’re not one of the Unseen Ones?!”
The Marchioness released Grace’s chin as if dusting it off and rose from her seat.
“Her Majesty Hetbiga, the Regent Empress, has officially acknowledged the existence of the Unseen Ones and deems them traitors. Decades ago, they assassinated His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Ares and the late Duke and Duchess of Richmond, as well as the late Duke and Duchess Taylor.”
Grace’s eyes sank deeply. She spoke in a tight, choked voice, as if spitting out the words.
“I could not have killed His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Ares, the late Duke and Duchess of Richmond, and the late Duke and Duchess Taylor.”
The Marchioness sighed deeply and shook her head.
“It seems you have no way to prove it, other than empty words.”
“……”
“Considering His Grace’s reputation, I will give you time to think.”
The Marchioness turned and commanded the maids.
“Lock her in the solitary confinement. And find the maid who came with her.”
“Yes, Marchioness.”
The maids forcefully lifted Grace. Then, they dragged her down a corridor connected to the hall, one that felt particularly dark. After descending a long, slippery stone staircase covered in moss, a black door appeared.
The knight who had come down with them opened the door. A damp chill rushed in, far more intense than anything she had felt before.
Grace instinctively hesitated, but the maid pushed her back with a rough hand. The pitch-black room, devoid of even a sliver of light, was impossible to gauge in width or depth.
The door slammed shut. When she turned around, even the door was lost in the darkness. Only a faint candlelight flickered through a narrow crack, no wider than the span of a hand. A cold voice seeped through the gap.
“No one who’s been locked in that room has ever come out sane. In just three days, you’ll lose your mind and babble out everything.”
“Shouldn’t have been so greedy, should you? This is what happens when you covet a position beyond your station.”
The maids threw their taunts and turned away.
The sound of boots climbing the damp stairs faded into the distance. As even the faint light, which had served as a guiding star, disappeared, perfect darkness descended.
The solitary confinement, devoid of light and sound, became an abyss.
Time and space shattered, and the boundaries between heaven and earth vanished.
Grace took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and sat down on the floor. As her body instinctively trembled and her heart raced, she closed her eyes and desperately recalled her teacher’s words.
‘The beast you seek to capture is larger than you, Lady. You must always be prepared to give up an arm.’
At the same time, a low, cool voice seemed to echo in her ears.
‘Then endure, Grace Taylor.’
Strangely, the cool voice seemed to calm her fluttering heart more than her teacher’s words.
That day, when she first experienced the abyss where time and space shattered. That day, when she stood before the charred corpses of her parents. She had clung to the illusion of a boy she didn’t even know and endured. So this was nothing.
“Endure.”
Grace clenched her teeth, bracing her core.
＊ ＊ ＊
Richmond Duke’s Castle was like a beehive that had been poked.
“Search!”
Knights and soldiers under Count Lewen moved in perfect order, searching for someone from the secluded parts of the garden to the interior of the building.
Walter crossed the rear garden like someone swimming against the tide. Soldiers who had been searching through the bushes quickly snapped to attention when they saw him. The Duke passed them indifferently. As the wind he stirred passed, the soldiers slyly raised their heads and stole glances at the Duke.
The man, who resembled a black fortress wall or a giant shadow, walked away at a pace that was neither slow nor fast. The expression he wore in passing was indifferent, making it impossible to gauge his emotions.
One of the soldiers blinked uneasily and muttered.
“This… His Grace must have permitted it, right?”
“I don’t know. It seemed like the Marquis’s order……”
Joseph, who was following Walter, clenched his teeth tightly and glared. There was no place from his throat to his heart that wasn’t burning as if he had swallowed lava.
However, the soldiers searching the garden was nothing compared to what was happening elsewhere. When he reached the corridor leading to the Chandelier Room, Joseph couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh. Knights wearing the Richmond insignia on their chests were searching the Chandelier Room and using force without the Richmond Duke’s orders.
The dog bit the owner.
Walter quietly approached the Chandelier Room like the encroaching darkness. He felt the knights guarding the outside of the room quickly salute him, but Walter did not return their greetings.
The room was in disarray, as if it had been ransacked by thieves. Those who had been examining Grace’s belongings scattered on the floor quickly stood up and snapped to attention.
Without revealing any emotion, Walter designated the knight with the highest rank and ordered.
“Lead me to where the maids’ bodies are.”
The knight led Walter to the underground morgue. Nobles who had been summoned by the Marchioness were already there.
They were gathered in a circle around the two corpses placed on a rectangular stone platform. Some were standing far away, conversing quietly, some were examining the corpses closely, and some were covering their mouths and noses with handkerchiefs, wearing unpleasant expressions.
As Walter entered, the nobles simultaneously took two steps back and bowed their heads to him. The Marquis, who had been standing at the head of the corpses, rushed to Walter with a worried expression.
“Your Grace! Are you alright?”
Walter, who had stopped abruptly, only rolled his eyes and looked down at him.
“How shocked you must have been! Don’t worry about anything now, Your Grace.”
The dog that bit the owner was now worrying about the owner.
Walter passed him and approached the corpses. The Marquis quickly followed him, chattering.
“How frightened these poor things must have been, they even left suicide notes……”
The Marquis’s words trailed off. It was because Walter had begun to examine the corpses himself. Joseph also approached and examined the corpses. The gazes of the two men examining the corpses were so cold that he couldn’t even bring himself to stop them.
At that moment, Walter, who had been staring silently at the nape of the corpse’s neck, asked.
“Suicide?”
“Yes. The soldiers said that when they found them, they were both hanged to death.”
When a knight answered, Joseph raised his head and spoke directly.
“It wasn’t suicide, though?”
At that, the Marquis frowned deeply.
“There were five soldiers who found them hanged!”
As the Marquis became angry, Walter pointed out.
“They didn’t commit suicide by hanging, they were strangled to death. The distinctive marks of a strangled person remain on their necks. Summon a professional coroner to clearly determine the cause of death.”
“……”
The Marquis was silent for a moment. He clearly felt the gazes of the nobles pouring down on him from behind. A place where all the nobles except for the knight families who would unconditionally side with the Duke were gathered. Among them were neutral nobles who could potentially side with the Duke at any time. The Marquis strained his neck and wore a sad expression.
“Your Grace. The youthful affections are like a flame. Beautiful and splendid, but they fade in the blink of an eye.”
Eyes as black as the darkness of the underground pierced the Marquis’s eyes as if to penetrate them. Instinctively, his heart tightened, but the Marquis endured. He raised his voice as if for everyone to hear.
“These maids claimed that the maid who came with Your Grace’s lover was one of the Unseen Ones!”
At that moment, the nobles gathered in the morgue stirred all at once.
“The Unseen Ones?”
“Have those bastards reappeared?!”
The Marquis felt the tide flowing towards him and continued.
“What’s more important than the cause of death of these maids is that this happened as soon as Your Grace’s lover came to the castle, and that she may be involved in this death. It is time to exclude emotions and look at the situation clearly!”
Walter quietly watched the nobles who were fluctuating wildly, then slowly ran his hand over his face. It was a very light action, but the noisy nobles closed their mouths one by one.
The Duke was like a black sea whose depth could not be fathomed. For some reason, just looking at him caused a precarious fear.
“The Unseen Ones?”
“That’s what was written in the maids’ suicide notes. The very ones who assassinated His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Ares, the late Duke and Duchess Taylor, and Your Grace’s mother and father decades ago and disappeared without a trace!”
“Grace is one of them?”
“Unfortunately, you must prepare for that possibility, Your Grace.”
Marquis Rinko spoke like a loyal knight.
A thorny silence pricked everyone’s necks. Walter, who had been sparing his words for a long time, closed his eyes and commanded.
“Stop the interrogation and search of Grace, and find those who last contacted the dead maids and find out the detailed circumstances.”
