Marilyn, who had returned from a long trip, entered the mansion with a tired look on her face.
In front of her as if waiting, someone suddenly showed their face.
“You’re finally back!”
An excited voice greeted her.
“I have thought about sending you a letter or a telegram many times, but I have been away on important business and have no time to worry about other things, so I have waited until now.”
The doting voice as if it were done for her benefit, was irritating.
Marilyn Lehr looked straight into her father's eyes, his voice was full of anticipation and his eyes sparkling with greed.
“I’m tired. I'll go up and rest, and you can tell later.”
In normal times, it would have been right to scold her for disrespecting her father.
“Yeah, okay. You must be tired. Let’s talk after you rest.”
Today was different.
Marilyn pretended not to notice the man who was trying to imitate her generous and loving father and went straight up the stairs.
“You have brought in a truly amazing person.”
Marilyn turned her head and stared at the thick, crooked voice.
Her brother, David, who had been leaning against the door and glaring at her, slowly entered the room and looked her over.
It seemed as if he was appreciating Marilyn in her unfamiliar dress.
“It doesn’t suit you. Do you think putting a pearl necklace around a pig’s neck will make you any different?”
“It’s natural that it doesn’t suit me since it’s borrowed. I never thought that I would look different in just one dress.”
Marilyn answered calmly.
In the first place, it was not planned for her to go down to Spencer's Earldom. And with the consecutive attacks, there was no way she would have anything to wear.
The dress Valerie had lent her was certainly better quality and better designed than the dresses she usually wore, but it just didn't suit her style.
Marilyn opened her mouth again, staring at David as if she was annoyed.
“So? Just tell me what’s important. If you have nothing to say, just leave so I can rest.”
Marilyn, who would normally have cowered and bowed her head in silence, said nothing.
Even though she was standing in front of him, not only did she openly show that she was annoyed, but now she was boldly ordering him to leave.
'This damn bitch.'
Since when did it start?
Ever since she started hanging out with Lady from Marquis Highclere, David started to really get annoyed by the way she acted as if she were a high-ranking noble.
“You. Don’t be too happy just because your father treats you well. Your father just....”
“I know. He just sees me as a useful stepping stone to interacting with good families.”
Marilyn never really expected it.
David spoke as if Marilyn was running wild, relying on her father's favor.
“Yes, I won’t say anything about you chasing after the Lady Highclere like that. I’m just saying, do it in moderation.”
“Is that what you came here to say?”
"What?"
“If not, tell me what’s wrong. I’m really tired.”
Even on the way to Spencer's earldom, she had to overcome several threats to her life, and wasn't she even kidnapped on the way back home?
There, she witnessed a person die right before her eyes.
“You really don’t seem to trust your father these days!”
“Don’t you have anything else to say, brother?”
What does a father have to do with anything?
Rather, the rich were equally contemptible to her.
Marilyn realized that her brother's reason for chasing her all the way here was not all that different from her father's.
She's sure her brother likes to ask her to introduce him to some of the people so he can get to know them better.
The only difference is that he, who has always had her at his side and used her like that, probably doesn't want to cling to her and complain.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the heart to do anything you ask me to do.”
Dane was almost the only person she knew who was 'genuinely kind' to her, and most of the others were people she found difficult.
Her older brother, David, was a natural at having fun and the only person he could hang out with was the 3rd Prince Richard.
'Even the Third Prince, who likes to play, wouldn't want to hang out with my brother who is of a lower status.'
“You...!”
He was no more or less than a thug, glaring with force in his eyes.
Marilyn, who had already come back from the brink of death and had meals every day with the 7th Prince, who would even start spewing murderous intent when he was bored, stared at her brother without even blinking.
David strode over to her and immediately raised his hand high.
“You really have to get hit to come to your senses?!”
It was the moment when David shouted loudly with his face reddened.
A squirrel suddenly slid in through a crack in the window, climbed up David's leg, and crawled under his shirt.
“Huh, huh?”
Unlike David, who was confused, the squirrel began to explore every nook and cranny of his clothes with its characteristic curiosity.
The moment the squirrel that had crawled up finally popped its head over the top of David's shirt, David rolled his eyes and fainted at the feeling of its moist nose touching his neck.
Marilyn turned her head with a sigh and looked at the shadows reflected in the window, looking very depressed.
A sickly pretty girl, dressed nicely, hung on the windowsill, holding the hem of her cloak in her hand as if it were a dress, and asked politely.
“I am sorry to be so rude at this late hour, but I have to come to you due to unavoidable circumstances. As I told you before, I thought this would be better than sending you a visitor’s card and making a big fuss about coming into the mansion. May I come in, Marilyn?”
Dorothea's polite words and elegant gestures as she asked the other person's opinion were excellent beyond compare.
...Except that it’s hanging on the windowsill.
“Oh, Marilyn.”
"Yes?"
“Would it be okay if I returned to the mansion today and visited you in the evening?”
"Yes?"
“I thought about handing over the visiting card and going in through the front door, but Count Kiel, who had just walked out through the door as Marilyn had said, made my father very sad.”
“...”
“So I thought it would be a good idea to ask you this time whether I should go to the window or the door.”
“Just come to the window. Don’t let anyone see you.”
When Dorothea heard that, she smiled brightly and said that she would always put Marilyn's convenience first, so if she changed her mind, she should tell her...
Marilyn swallowed a sigh and watched with a blank expression as Dorothea came bounding in through the wide-open window with her light, graceful strides.
The fact that she was entering and exiting the noble lady's room through the window in the middle of the night was already a complete disregard for manners.
'Uselessly greeting people is polite and even polite.'
Freed, who had followed Dorothea in, quietly closed the window, picked up David, who was unconscious on the floor and quickly placed him on the bed, covering his mouth and eyes.
Marilyn's eyes grew cold at the skillful hands of the knight, who seemed to have done it more than once or twice.
Dorothea, who entered the unfamiliar yet familiar room, sat down naturally as if it were her own home and began to tidy up her clothes.
Marilyn, who had been blankly observing her, narrowed her eyebrows when she saw Dorothea's fingertips tremble slightly as she smoothed the folds of her clothes.
'I said it's always soft.'
The face that looked as if it was dying of exhaustion was filled with worry towards Dorothea as if nothing had happened.
“Your complexion is so pale, Young Lady. Shouldn’t you rest for a bit?”
“I wish I could, but that’s not possible.”
Dorothea shrugged her shoulders, her face still pale and lifeless.
Would it have been better if she had rested in her room instead of visiting the palace?
But Marilyn also needed her own determination.
Dorothea, pretending not to notice her concern, changed the subject.
“It’s not that there’s anything else, but there’s a place I’d like Marilyn to go with me tonight. I was thinking of taking Jane, but I think it would be better if Marilyn went.”
"Great."
As soon as she finished speaking, Marilyn nodded.
Dorothea blinked at the cheerfulness.
“Let’s go.”
Dorothea, who had been staring blankly at the indifferent face, slowly got up.
Marilyn shrugged with a sigh.
“Young Lady was planning on going anyway, even if I didn’t. I can’t let you go alone in that body.”
Her gaze, which had paused for a moment, turned to Freed in the corner.
“That person who is Yeong Lady’s bodyguard doesn’t seem to be involved in Yeong Lady’s self-destruction other than ‘external attacks’.”
Freed, who had been standing without a presence, silently kept his place without changing his expression even when she spoke to him.
Dorothea slowly got up and opened the window that had been closed.
With the wind blowing outside, Marilyn, with a resigned look on her face, climbed over the window of her room, tucked into Freed's side, and climbed into the carriage that had been prepared.
Marilyn turned to Dorothea curiously only after the carriage had begun to move toward its destination.
“So where are you going now?”
“I need an autopsy.”
"... Yes?"
Dorothea smiled fondly as she watched Marilyn's face turn blue in an instant.
“I feel reassured that you’re going with me, Youngady. Actually, it’s not a place I want to go alone.”
“Why are you going to a place like that!”
“Do I have to go?”
“Why do you have to go to a place like that!”
“Because I have to go.”
Marilyn, who had been quite calm until just a moment ago, began to pull out her hair again.
The carriage's journey through the dark night toward its destination was as smooth and unhurried as the conversation between the two people.
Late at night, the guards who were supposed to be guarding the building were nowhere to be seen.
Marilyn, with disheveled hair, followed behind Dorothea as she passed through the wide open door without hesitation.
She walked through the storage room where several corpses covered with cloth were piled up, then entered a separate room deep in the morgue.
“Where is this...”
Marilyn, who was asking a question, swallowed her words before finishing them.
In the place where the body was kept before the autopsy, Mrs. Jenix was seen lying with a calm expression on her face as if asleep.
“This is...”
Dorothea nodded, looking at her with a blank expression.
“You’re right. Fortunately, it looks like the order to conduct an autopsy hasn’t been given yet. It would have been a headache if the investigation had started.”
Marilyn's eyes widened.
“Investigation? We didn’t say anything. And there’s no way the Third Prince would have allowed an autopsy of the nanny’s body...”
Dorothea reached out and touched Mrs. Jennix's cheek, which was as pale as a wax doll.
In contrast to the cool texture, the corpse, which should have been hard and stiff, was extremely soft.
“It doesn’t look like a corpse.”
“Because it is a contracted body.”
Because it is a contract with the soul that you can never be free from even after death.
At Dorothea's words, Marilyn was speechless and just stared blankly at Mrs. Jenix, then soon looked back at her with dark eyes.
“Once the investigation begins, it will come to light that Mrs. Jenix cooperated with the kidnappers, right?”
Even if Mrs. Jenix had risked her life to help them in this kidnapping case, a thorough investigation might reveal everything that had happened in Spencer County.
“If that happens...”
Marilyn trailed off.
Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do.
It's not like we have the authority to stop the investigation, nor is it possible to bribe the investigators.
The voice of Mrs. Jenix, who had been telling her to shake the 'bell' with a complicated expression until the last moment, was still vivid in her ears.
It was at that moment that Dorothea gazed blankly at her.
Freed, who had been leaning against the wall, straightened his posture and stared at the entrance.
The pale face of the man who came trudging in from beyond the door filled with darkness seemed familiar.
Dorothea slowly moved to the side with a faint smile, allowing the man to check on the person lying there.
Richard's eyes turned to his nanny, who was lying there as if asleep.
“If it is the seal of subordination, it will be on her left shoulder, Your Highness the Third Prince.”
“...”
Following the gentle guidance, Richard's trembling hands unbuttoned the button that was fastened tightly up to Mrs. Jenix's neck and checked inside.
The Prince finally raised his head, but his eyes were shaking violently.
“Why is this seal on the nanny...!”
“That is evidence that she is part of some group responsible for a series of suspicious incidents in Spencer County, as well as other incidents within the Empire.”
Marilyn's eyes opened wide in surprise at Dorothea's words.
You're revealing the truth directly to the Third Prince, of all people. What on earth are you planning to do?
Richard screamed with a look of great confusion on his face, as expected.
“Why did you call me here?! What do you want me to do?!”
“You wanted to know, didn’t you? Whether she was really an accomplice in the kidnapping.”
Richard even went so far as to catch the sorcerer and interrogate him directly, but in the end, he didn't even open his mouth and ended up closing it forever.
Dorothea, who was looking at Richard with a leisurely expression, told him the facts point by point.
“Now those who have discovered the sign of her subordination will trace her movements, from the Earldom of Spencer to her death.”
Dorothea met Richard's eyes as he took a step back without realizing it, tilted her head, and asked slowly as if to give him time to think.
“In this situation, how will the people view the Prince who, to clear the nanny’s name, took out the sorcerer who had already been imprisoned and silenced his mouth with death?”
Fear slowly began to creep into the Prince's eyes as he grasped the situation.
Richard stumbled backward and shouted in a fit of convulsions.
“What are you talking about! I, I was fooled by this woman too!”
Even those feelings that were so passionate are just fleeting moments.
Marilyn's hands tightened as she watched the Prince's ugliness, which no one else knew about, until the end.
As Marilyn raised her head, which had been bowed down, the Prince's distorted face came into view.
The Prince, who was big in stature, was like a frightened child, not knowing what to do.
In front of her as if waiting, someone suddenly showed their face.
“You’re finally back!”
An excited voice greeted her.
“I have thought about sending you a letter or a telegram many times, but I have been away on important business and have no time to worry about other things, so I have waited until now.”
The doting voice as if it were done for her benefit, was irritating.
Marilyn Lehr looked straight into her father's eyes, his voice was full of anticipation and his eyes sparkling with greed.
“I’m tired. I'll go up and rest, and you can tell later.”
In normal times, it would have been right to scold her for disrespecting her father.
“Yeah, okay. You must be tired. Let’s talk after you rest.”
Today was different.
Marilyn pretended not to notice the man who was trying to imitate her generous and loving father and went straight up the stairs.
“You have brought in a truly amazing person.”
Marilyn turned her head and stared at the thick, crooked voice.
Her brother, David, who had been leaning against the door and glaring at her, slowly entered the room and looked her over.
It seemed as if he was appreciating Marilyn in her unfamiliar dress.
“It doesn’t suit you. Do you think putting a pearl necklace around a pig’s neck will make you any different?”
“It’s natural that it doesn’t suit me since it’s borrowed. I never thought that I would look different in just one dress.”
Marilyn answered calmly.
In the first place, it was not planned for her to go down to Spencer's Earldom. And with the consecutive attacks, there was no way she would have anything to wear.
The dress Valerie had lent her was certainly better quality and better designed than the dresses she usually wore, but it just didn't suit her style.
Marilyn opened her mouth again, staring at David as if she was annoyed.
“So? Just tell me what’s important. If you have nothing to say, just leave so I can rest.”
Marilyn, who would normally have cowered and bowed her head in silence, said nothing.
Even though she was standing in front of him, not only did she openly show that she was annoyed, but now she was boldly ordering him to leave.
'This damn bitch.'
Since when did it start?
Ever since she started hanging out with Lady from Marquis Highclere, David started to really get annoyed by the way she acted as if she were a high-ranking noble.
“You. Don’t be too happy just because your father treats you well. Your father just....”
“I know. He just sees me as a useful stepping stone to interacting with good families.”
Marilyn never really expected it.
David spoke as if Marilyn was running wild, relying on her father's favor.
“Yes, I won’t say anything about you chasing after the Lady Highclere like that. I’m just saying, do it in moderation.”
“Is that what you came here to say?”
"What?"
“If not, tell me what’s wrong. I’m really tired.”
Even on the way to Spencer's earldom, she had to overcome several threats to her life, and wasn't she even kidnapped on the way back home?
There, she witnessed a person die right before her eyes.
“You really don’t seem to trust your father these days!”
“Don’t you have anything else to say, brother?”
What does a father have to do with anything?
Rather, the rich were equally contemptible to her.
Marilyn realized that her brother's reason for chasing her all the way here was not all that different from her father's.
She's sure her brother likes to ask her to introduce him to some of the people so he can get to know them better.
The only difference is that he, who has always had her at his side and used her like that, probably doesn't want to cling to her and complain.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the heart to do anything you ask me to do.”
Dane was almost the only person she knew who was 'genuinely kind' to her, and most of the others were people she found difficult.
Her older brother, David, was a natural at having fun and the only person he could hang out with was the 3rd Prince Richard.
'Even the Third Prince, who likes to play, wouldn't want to hang out with my brother who is of a lower status.'
“You...!”
He was no more or less than a thug, glaring with force in his eyes.
Marilyn, who had already come back from the brink of death and had meals every day with the 7th Prince, who would even start spewing murderous intent when he was bored, stared at her brother without even blinking.
David strode over to her and immediately raised his hand high.
“You really have to get hit to come to your senses?!”
It was the moment when David shouted loudly with his face reddened.
A squirrel suddenly slid in through a crack in the window, climbed up David's leg, and crawled under his shirt.
“Huh, huh?”
Unlike David, who was confused, the squirrel began to explore every nook and cranny of his clothes with its characteristic curiosity.
The moment the squirrel that had crawled up finally popped its head over the top of David's shirt, David rolled his eyes and fainted at the feeling of its moist nose touching his neck.
Marilyn turned her head with a sigh and looked at the shadows reflected in the window, looking very depressed.
A sickly pretty girl, dressed nicely, hung on the windowsill, holding the hem of her cloak in her hand as if it were a dress, and asked politely.
“I am sorry to be so rude at this late hour, but I have to come to you due to unavoidable circumstances. As I told you before, I thought this would be better than sending you a visitor’s card and making a big fuss about coming into the mansion. May I come in, Marilyn?”
Dorothea's polite words and elegant gestures as she asked the other person's opinion were excellent beyond compare.
...Except that it’s hanging on the windowsill.
“Oh, Marilyn.”
"Yes?"
“Would it be okay if I returned to the mansion today and visited you in the evening?”
"Yes?"
“I thought about handing over the visiting card and going in through the front door, but Count Kiel, who had just walked out through the door as Marilyn had said, made my father very sad.”
“...”
“So I thought it would be a good idea to ask you this time whether I should go to the window or the door.”
“Just come to the window. Don’t let anyone see you.”
When Dorothea heard that, she smiled brightly and said that she would always put Marilyn's convenience first, so if she changed her mind, she should tell her...
Marilyn swallowed a sigh and watched with a blank expression as Dorothea came bounding in through the wide-open window with her light, graceful strides.
The fact that she was entering and exiting the noble lady's room through the window in the middle of the night was already a complete disregard for manners.
'Uselessly greeting people is polite and even polite.'
Freed, who had followed Dorothea in, quietly closed the window, picked up David, who was unconscious on the floor and quickly placed him on the bed, covering his mouth and eyes.
Marilyn's eyes grew cold at the skillful hands of the knight, who seemed to have done it more than once or twice.
***
Dorothea, who entered the unfamiliar yet familiar room, sat down naturally as if it were her own home and began to tidy up her clothes.
Marilyn, who had been blankly observing her, narrowed her eyebrows when she saw Dorothea's fingertips tremble slightly as she smoothed the folds of her clothes.
'I said it's always soft.'
The face that looked as if it was dying of exhaustion was filled with worry towards Dorothea as if nothing had happened.
“Your complexion is so pale, Young Lady. Shouldn’t you rest for a bit?”
“I wish I could, but that’s not possible.”
Dorothea shrugged her shoulders, her face still pale and lifeless.
Would it have been better if she had rested in her room instead of visiting the palace?
But Marilyn also needed her own determination.
Dorothea, pretending not to notice her concern, changed the subject.
“It’s not that there’s anything else, but there’s a place I’d like Marilyn to go with me tonight. I was thinking of taking Jane, but I think it would be better if Marilyn went.”
"Great."
As soon as she finished speaking, Marilyn nodded.
Dorothea blinked at the cheerfulness.
“Let’s go.”
Dorothea, who had been staring blankly at the indifferent face, slowly got up.
Marilyn shrugged with a sigh.
“Young Lady was planning on going anyway, even if I didn’t. I can’t let you go alone in that body.”
Her gaze, which had paused for a moment, turned to Freed in the corner.
“That person who is Yeong Lady’s bodyguard doesn’t seem to be involved in Yeong Lady’s self-destruction other than ‘external attacks’.”
Freed, who had been standing without a presence, silently kept his place without changing his expression even when she spoke to him.
Dorothea slowly got up and opened the window that had been closed.
With the wind blowing outside, Marilyn, with a resigned look on her face, climbed over the window of her room, tucked into Freed's side, and climbed into the carriage that had been prepared.
Marilyn turned to Dorothea curiously only after the carriage had begun to move toward its destination.
“So where are you going now?”
“I need an autopsy.”
"... Yes?"
Dorothea smiled fondly as she watched Marilyn's face turn blue in an instant.
“I feel reassured that you’re going with me, Youngady. Actually, it’s not a place I want to go alone.”
“Why are you going to a place like that!”
“Do I have to go?”
“Why do you have to go to a place like that!”
“Because I have to go.”
Marilyn, who had been quite calm until just a moment ago, began to pull out her hair again.
The carriage's journey through the dark night toward its destination was as smooth and unhurried as the conversation between the two people.
***
Late at night, the guards who were supposed to be guarding the building were nowhere to be seen.
Marilyn, with disheveled hair, followed behind Dorothea as she passed through the wide open door without hesitation.
She walked through the storage room where several corpses covered with cloth were piled up, then entered a separate room deep in the morgue.
“Where is this...”
Marilyn, who was asking a question, swallowed her words before finishing them.
In the place where the body was kept before the autopsy, Mrs. Jenix was seen lying with a calm expression on her face as if asleep.
“This is...”
Dorothea nodded, looking at her with a blank expression.
“You’re right. Fortunately, it looks like the order to conduct an autopsy hasn’t been given yet. It would have been a headache if the investigation had started.”
Marilyn's eyes widened.
“Investigation? We didn’t say anything. And there’s no way the Third Prince would have allowed an autopsy of the nanny’s body...”
Dorothea reached out and touched Mrs. Jennix's cheek, which was as pale as a wax doll.
In contrast to the cool texture, the corpse, which should have been hard and stiff, was extremely soft.
“It doesn’t look like a corpse.”
“Because it is a contracted body.”
Because it is a contract with the soul that you can never be free from even after death.
At Dorothea's words, Marilyn was speechless and just stared blankly at Mrs. Jenix, then soon looked back at her with dark eyes.
“Once the investigation begins, it will come to light that Mrs. Jenix cooperated with the kidnappers, right?”
Even if Mrs. Jenix had risked her life to help them in this kidnapping case, a thorough investigation might reveal everything that had happened in Spencer County.
“If that happens...”
Marilyn trailed off.
Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do.
It's not like we have the authority to stop the investigation, nor is it possible to bribe the investigators.
The voice of Mrs. Jenix, who had been telling her to shake the 'bell' with a complicated expression until the last moment, was still vivid in her ears.
It was at that moment that Dorothea gazed blankly at her.
Freed, who had been leaning against the wall, straightened his posture and stared at the entrance.
The pale face of the man who came trudging in from beyond the door filled with darkness seemed familiar.
Dorothea slowly moved to the side with a faint smile, allowing the man to check on the person lying there.
Richard's eyes turned to his nanny, who was lying there as if asleep.
“If it is the seal of subordination, it will be on her left shoulder, Your Highness the Third Prince.”
“...”
Following the gentle guidance, Richard's trembling hands unbuttoned the button that was fastened tightly up to Mrs. Jenix's neck and checked inside.
The Prince finally raised his head, but his eyes were shaking violently.
“Why is this seal on the nanny...!”
“That is evidence that she is part of some group responsible for a series of suspicious incidents in Spencer County, as well as other incidents within the Empire.”
Marilyn's eyes opened wide in surprise at Dorothea's words.
You're revealing the truth directly to the Third Prince, of all people. What on earth are you planning to do?
Richard screamed with a look of great confusion on his face, as expected.
“Why did you call me here?! What do you want me to do?!”
“You wanted to know, didn’t you? Whether she was really an accomplice in the kidnapping.”
Richard even went so far as to catch the sorcerer and interrogate him directly, but in the end, he didn't even open his mouth and ended up closing it forever.
Dorothea, who was looking at Richard with a leisurely expression, told him the facts point by point.
“Now those who have discovered the sign of her subordination will trace her movements, from the Earldom of Spencer to her death.”
Dorothea met Richard's eyes as he took a step back without realizing it, tilted her head, and asked slowly as if to give him time to think.
“In this situation, how will the people view the Prince who, to clear the nanny’s name, took out the sorcerer who had already been imprisoned and silenced his mouth with death?”
Fear slowly began to creep into the Prince's eyes as he grasped the situation.
Richard stumbled backward and shouted in a fit of convulsions.
“What are you talking about! I, I was fooled by this woman too!”
Even those feelings that were so passionate are just fleeting moments.
Marilyn's hands tightened as she watched the Prince's ugliness, which no one else knew about, until the end.
As Marilyn raised her head, which had been bowed down, the Prince's distorted face came into view.
The Prince, who was big in stature, was like a frightened child, not knowing what to do.
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