Chapter 45
42
===
“Why are you suddenly using honorifics with me……”
“Then Milady should use honorifics with me as well. From now on, don't call me by my name privately within the castle.”
“…Flora……?”
“Can't you understand at once? I've always had to spell things out for you.”
Flora tilted her eyebrows and held her hand tightly.
“It's going to be difficult for me to be on familiar terms with Milady now. Do you understand what I mean?”
I'm going to be the Duchess, and you're just the daughter of a Baron's family, we're not on the same level, are we?
The Milady's face, who had run over, was pale white, but Flora's expression was endlessly kind.
“Then Milady, I'll invite you to tea sometime. Come to the castle then.”
Flora felt the gazes of the noble children pouring over her and straightened her shoulders a little more. Instead of the lovely smile she always wore, she wore an indifferent and authoritative expression like the Marchioness.
Her steps were lighter than ever. This vast castle felt more comfortable than ever, and she felt like she was walking on clouds, intoxicated with elation.
Even entering the humid and cool underground prison did not bring fear. Rather, a thrilling joy arose. Because she couldn't bear to wonder how the bitch who had been fawning over the Duke was going crazy, what she would look like.
If possible, she hoped she would go really ugly crazy. Enough to make His Excellency lose interest as soon as he saw her.
But as she approached the stairs leading to the solitary cell, Flora tilted her head. It was eerily quiet. Usually, madmen would make bizarre cries and constantly mutter something. Did that woman go crazy quietly?
“Lady Lewen, please be careful of your step.”
Flora hurried down the stairs so much that the maid gave her a subtle warning.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
The soldier who had looked inside through the window unlocked the solitary cell where Grace was imprisoned. Flora's eyes sparkled in the darkness.
Her heart was pounding.
Please, please, be completely crazy.
While repeating the wish she couldn't utter out loud, the door to the solitary cell opened. But the darkness did not dissipate, so Grace's appearance was not immediately visible.
“Shine the light quickly!”
Flora, who had become unnecessarily impatient, shouted sharply, and the soldier quickly thrust the torch inside. The flame wavering in the wind melted the curtain that had been cast in black.
As the curtain melted, the solitary cell that had driven everyone imprisoned there crazy unfolded before Flora's eyes. The expression of Richmond's social princess, who had grown up seeing only beautiful things, contorted violently. It wasn't because of the bizarre energy emanating from inside the solitary cell.
The elation that had excited her so far disappeared like a mirage, and her heart felt cool as if an icy hand had caressed it.
Flora bit her molars tightly without realizing it.
Grace, leaning against the wall, was slumped as if exhausted. But there was not a trace of madness in her eyes.
“That tenacious thing……!”
The woman she had hoped would go crazy had finally endured hell.
＊ ＊ ＊
Unlike the Marquis, who had been in a good mood since early morning, the Marchioness's mood was not very good. There was no particular reason.
Was it because Flora Lewen appeared in an ill-fitting dress and said she would bring Grace, which she didn't like? Or was it the hair she had put up as if trying to imitate herself, and the chunky ring she wore to look stylish, which she didn't like?
Anyway, there was no reason to refuse, and she didn't want to go to the cold and humid underground solitary cell, so she accepted Flora's offer.
There was no need to deliberately confirm the madness of the bitch who had seduced the Duke. Because the one who handed it over was no ordinary person.
‘The person who inhales the smoke emitted by the stick will appear to be asleep all the time, but never wake them up. They may appear to be asleep on the outside, but they are going through a hell that is better to go crazy. By the time their consciousness returns, their intelligence will be gone, and only madness will remain.’
‘Such a precious thing……. Thank you, Her Majesty the Empress.’
‘I am grateful that you and your husband are governing Richmond well. Sometimes you need something like this when you govern. Oh, and. It's enough for one person, so be sure to use it when necessary.’
She didn't know exactly what the contents of the stick were, but it would be reliable since Hetbiga the Empress had given it directly.
Everything was flowing smoothly.
The Marchioness deliberately adorned her whole body in flamboyant black. She wore a dress with impressive feathers as smooth as crow's outer wings, and around her slightly exposed neck, she wore the Black Pearl necklace that Eliza Richmond especially cherished. Her elegantly styled hair was fixed with a voluminous feather pin dyed black.
In the mirror stood a ruler as flamboyant and elegant as Eliza Richmond.
“Good.”
Her low mood seemed to improve a little. But, that mood changed as easily as turning her palm over the moment she entered the hall before the Marquis.
A black tiger was dominating the huge hall. They should have been showing anxiety and unease, but the Duke, who was still young, even felt relaxed.
In addition, the knight family members who had flocked since dawn were exuding a very violent and rough energy without filtering it, giving strength to the Duke. The nobles who supported the Marquis Rinko were only watching the savage momentum.
The Marchioness was displeased with this situation. She wanted her husband to come and turn this situation around, but he appeared late and seemed to be overwhelmed rather than breaking the Duke's momentum.
She could no longer sit idly by in this situation. She jumped up from her seat and came forward to her husband, who was standing blankly.
“Your Excellency! Please forgive my rudeness. But for the past ten years, I have been protecting the Richmond Duke's Inner Palace with all my heart, on behalf of the Grand Duchess, who has been confined due to a deep mental illness. Therefore, I dare to say a word, so please listen.”
Then the Duke nodded as if to tell her to do so.
The Marchioness moistened her dry lips with her tongue and then pulled up her emotions. Today, she had to be a benevolent mistress who sincerely loved and cherished everything in Richmond.
“I cherish all the servants who work in the Richmond Duke's Castle. Among them, I especially cherished the dead maids. They were not special only to me. They were precious daughters and kind sisters. Their families are outside the castle now.”
Tears flowed down before they even formed, and her voice was choked.
“I met the bereaved families and said I would pay compensation for their deaths. But they cried and said they didn't need money. What good is money when their beloved daughter has died? Instead, they asked me to catch the culprit who killed their daughter and avenge them.”
The Marchioness wiped away the flowing tears with a handkerchief handed to her by a maid.
“I know that feeling. It was the feeling I felt in front of the tomb of the late Duchess.”
She was very satisfied with her restrained acting.
But Crimson Isaac, who witnessed the Marchioness's tears right in front of him, slyly rolled his eyes and looked at the head table. The Duke was watching the Marchioness with his eyes narrowed, covering his chin and mouth with one hand as if he were holding them.
His brothers' conversation suddenly came to mind.
‘Brother, that expression on His Excellency's face. It's like he's saying he's too bored to listen.’
‘No, Andy.’
‘Then what is it?’
‘Stop talking nonsense, he's saying. Be careful when he makes that expression, you.’
Andrew and Sirius's voices were heard in turn, and the Marquis, thinking this was the time, raised his voice.
“Your Excellency!! I will speak directly in this place where all the Richmond vassals are gathered!! Inside the Richmond Duke's Castle, there are 'Unseen Ones' who are Richmond's enemies and the Empire's enemies!!”
At the Marquis's confident declaration, the knight family nobles looked back at the Duke, and the Marquis faction nobles began to talk among themselves as if they were united. As the hall, which had been quiet, rippled like a wave, the Marquis shouted even louder as if to make up for being overwhelmed by the Duke.
“Beyond the Wall of Death, wicked people who have communicated with demons killed the poor maids who worked for Richmond and even tried to threaten Your Excellency's safety!!”
“Marquis Rinko! Who is that shameless person?!”
When one of the Marquis faction nobles asked as if to stir up the wind, the Marquis swept his face as if he was sorry and said.
“Unfortunately… it is highly likely that it is the lover Your Excellency brought with you and her maid.”
Then Count Isaac stood up from his seat and asked.
“Do you have any evidence?”
The Marquis ignored the Count's question and said to the Duke in a sorrowful tone.
“I know you may be uncomfortable in many ways, but please understand that we must reveal the truth of this incident for the sake of Richmond. Of course, Your Excellency must have had a hard time with the desire to believe in the woman you love and the suspicion…….”
“Hey, Marquis.”
The Duke, who had been silent until now, cut off the Marquis's words. His uniquely low voice seemed to scan the lower part of his heart.
He said in a very calm tone.
“One side is crying, and the other side is talking about the desire to believe and suspicion, so the words are long. The long introduction is boring, so let's skip it. Let's get straight to the point.”
The Marquis, who had prepared a long sentence, and the Marchioness, who was leaning on the maid and sobbing, blinked with a dumbfounded expression.
If you look at the content, it's no different from hitting them with words, but the expression and tone are calm, so it was not easy to judge. The couple looked at each other, rolling their eyes, and the Duke, who had plunged them into confusion, spoke again.
“Oh, and before that, let's go over the issues of this council again.”
