“I ask again, Sasha. Do you really believe that the complaint was real?”
Ulrich. He was a man who always treated her as inferior even before she got married.
A wedding where he openly showed that she was not a good fit, countless affairs, and a man who was the first to laugh at herself when she was ridiculed in high society.
'But I still thought that he was my son's father.'
Shr thought that all she had after getting married was her son and the small world inside the mansion.
But the son was just like his father... and now he was trying to destroy her small, one-of-a-kind world. He was embarrassing her in front of those below her.
The Count's mocking laughter seemed to be speaking to her.
The Count has never once thought of a woman like Sasha as his wife.
'You're trying to make me a crazy woman here, aren't you?'
At that moment, her head cooled down. Extreme hatred was calming her down.
"...Haha."
The countess regained her composure.
“Yes. I framed Mrs. Becker. I wanted to frame her as a thief and get her out of the way.”
The Count sighed as if he was sorry. Sasha felt all her affection drained from the Count.
When she married that man, there was only one thing her father promised the Count.
“Promise me one thing. No matter what happens, don’t make my daughter a divorcee or a madwoman and throw her in a convent. Treat my daughter as your rightful legal wife. Then I won’t suddenly withdraw this investment.”
'Now that man thinks that I, my father, and my father's money are worthless.'
At the wedding, the Count skipped the usual formality of exchanging vows, so he took the promise he had made to his father as a substitute for the wedding vows.
The moment the Countess, no, Sasha, realized that his oath had been broken, she realized with a bitter realization that the man was not her husband.
But the fact that the only person he considered his family was himself.
“Why, how about it? She’s just a lowly maid at best. Why not choose stealing as a way to get rid of a lowly maid like Mrs. Becker?”
If she were to be locked up in a monastery as a madwoman, her reputation would be ruined. The priests of Barceha were very harsh on those who admitted to being mad, and they would easily strip all the rights of a madwoman.
Moreover, once locked in there, she could only be released by her legal guardian, her husband, or her son.
Now that she had a falling out with Ferdinand, she could have been trapped there forever and died.
“It’s such a shame I got caught. I could have just sent that damn maid away.”
She couldn't live like that. In that case, it would be better to be considered a vicious noblewoman who had framed Mrs. Becker from the beginning.
“You don’t seem to be qualified to manage the mansion. Instead of being the mistress and managing your subordinates, you’re plotting out your own personal feelings? What are you doing! Lock that woman in her room right now!”
At the count's rebuke, four men grabbed the Countess's arms and were about to drag her away.
“Count! As you commanded, I have brought the coachman!”
The servant who brought the witness in late opened the door to the main hall.
“My, my lord! I heard you were looking for me.”
The coachman was suddenly brought in without hearing any explanation.
Because of that, he made a rash judgment after seeing the magnificent sight of all the attendants of the mansion gathered together and the back of a woman with accessories dangling from her fingers being dragged away by servants.
'Ah. So Paula is being dragged away.'
He was so frightened that he ran over and bowed his head to the place where the Countess had been kneeling just a moment ago.
“Oh, you’re only just getting here? Okay. I already got Sasha’s confession-”
“I know why you have called me, Master! Is it because Paula drowned Miss Odette in the pond?”
"What?"
“I, I’m sorry I couldn’t stop that maid. I should have run over and dried her in the pond right then-”
“What did you just say? That Odette fell into the pond and died?”
But contrary to the coachman's expectations, his story was something everyone in the main hall had never heard before.
All of the Count's subordinates who filled the main hall were in an uproar at the occurrence of an incident more shocking than the one just now.
“What the hell are you talking about! What happened to Odette?”
And to make matters worse, Ferdinand returned from the palace.
“Oh. Isn’t that why you called me? At the pond in the annex, Paula beat the young lady and made her fall into the pond..."
“...”
“Oh, she must have passed away. Paula even let her smell the scent of sleep.”
Thanks to this, the color suddenly disappeared from the faces of all the maids and servants in the main hall.
It was because the incident was so big that no one there could have imagined it.
“Everyone here, find Odette and Paula! They should be around the pond!”
At the Count's command, the servants and maids formed a search party in perfect order.
Those with the quickest legs headed to the annex, while some servants sent hunting dogs to sniff out Paula or Odette.
At that moment, a dog that had smelled Paula ran towards the entrance to the annex's underground prison.
'What? Why is that dog going to the dungeon?'
The Count frowned. He never gave Paula permission to go to the annex, so why did that dog run over there?
The Count followed the hounds, thinking, “Surely not.”
“...”
But there was no one in the basement of the annex where Karl was supposed to be.
“This fucking...”
The prison doors were open, and all the restraints that prevented them from being opened were released.
The Count hurriedly searched through his coat. The key that should have been in his inside pocket was nowhere to be found.
'The restraints can only be opened with Odette's blood... Damn. It looks like he just ran off with the heavy restraints?'
It was then that the hunting dog inside the prison circled around the fallen object and barked, “King! King!”
“What is this? ...A maid’s hairpin?”
The Count picked up the hairpin. It was too fancy for a maid, and Paula's name was engraved on it.
'Now it's clear who released it.'
The Count ground his teeth.
'Actually, Sasha was against bringing that guy Karl from the beginning.'
She asked why they were making such a fuss about receiving money like that.
They should have just put them in a holding cell, with the logic that it was unclean to bring a crazy race, whether slaves or whatever, into one's mansion.
'Paula is like Sasha's hands and feet.'
The Count twisted his lips. They knew nothing.
If they had experienced the same thing as the Count, they would never have thought that way. If they had been to the Kingdom of Fenrir as an envoy of the diplomatic corps ten years ago and had witnessed even one thing like the Count had seen.
“Get out of the way, you’re bothering me.”
He will never forget that 7-year-old boy wiping out thousands of bears and wolves in the tundra. And the overwhelming sense of inferiority and fear he felt that day.
'That thing' is not human.'
Once the coachman started talking, he told the details of the conversation between Paula and the porter in the carriage. Even the mutterings that followed.
'He said that once the Count and the young master return, it will be taken away from them, so now is the time to take it away.'
Paula meant Odette, but to the Count's ears, it sounded like it was about Karl. Letting Karl go was like letting a natural disaster go.
The thought of the nightmare that had only disappeared after he got hold of Karl as a slave would start again made him feel uneasy no matter how he killed that maid, Paula.
“Even if I kill Sasha and Paula hundreds of times, this guy won’t be released.”
The Count ground his teeth and went up to the ground. Then he snatched one of the hunting guns that the servants were holding.
“Hand it over! I’ll shoot that girl, Paula!”
He wasn't going to let the maid who had squandered his chance to escape the nightmare of his life get away with it.
It was then that the hunting dogs began to bark, and yelp!
Ulrich. He was a man who always treated her as inferior even before she got married.
A wedding where he openly showed that she was not a good fit, countless affairs, and a man who was the first to laugh at herself when she was ridiculed in high society.
'But I still thought that he was my son's father.'
Shr thought that all she had after getting married was her son and the small world inside the mansion.
But the son was just like his father... and now he was trying to destroy her small, one-of-a-kind world. He was embarrassing her in front of those below her.
The Count's mocking laughter seemed to be speaking to her.
The Count has never once thought of a woman like Sasha as his wife.
'You're trying to make me a crazy woman here, aren't you?'
At that moment, her head cooled down. Extreme hatred was calming her down.
"...Haha."
The countess regained her composure.
“Yes. I framed Mrs. Becker. I wanted to frame her as a thief and get her out of the way.”
The Count sighed as if he was sorry. Sasha felt all her affection drained from the Count.
When she married that man, there was only one thing her father promised the Count.
“Promise me one thing. No matter what happens, don’t make my daughter a divorcee or a madwoman and throw her in a convent. Treat my daughter as your rightful legal wife. Then I won’t suddenly withdraw this investment.”
'Now that man thinks that I, my father, and my father's money are worthless.'
At the wedding, the Count skipped the usual formality of exchanging vows, so he took the promise he had made to his father as a substitute for the wedding vows.
The moment the Countess, no, Sasha, realized that his oath had been broken, she realized with a bitter realization that the man was not her husband.
But the fact that the only person he considered his family was himself.
“Why, how about it? She’s just a lowly maid at best. Why not choose stealing as a way to get rid of a lowly maid like Mrs. Becker?”
If she were to be locked up in a monastery as a madwoman, her reputation would be ruined. The priests of Barceha were very harsh on those who admitted to being mad, and they would easily strip all the rights of a madwoman.
Moreover, once locked in there, she could only be released by her legal guardian, her husband, or her son.
Now that she had a falling out with Ferdinand, she could have been trapped there forever and died.
“It’s such a shame I got caught. I could have just sent that damn maid away.”
She couldn't live like that. In that case, it would be better to be considered a vicious noblewoman who had framed Mrs. Becker from the beginning.
“You don’t seem to be qualified to manage the mansion. Instead of being the mistress and managing your subordinates, you’re plotting out your own personal feelings? What are you doing! Lock that woman in her room right now!”
At the count's rebuke, four men grabbed the Countess's arms and were about to drag her away.
“Count! As you commanded, I have brought the coachman!”
The servant who brought the witness in late opened the door to the main hall.
“My, my lord! I heard you were looking for me.”
The coachman was suddenly brought in without hearing any explanation.
Because of that, he made a rash judgment after seeing the magnificent sight of all the attendants of the mansion gathered together and the back of a woman with accessories dangling from her fingers being dragged away by servants.
'Ah. So Paula is being dragged away.'
He was so frightened that he ran over and bowed his head to the place where the Countess had been kneeling just a moment ago.
“Oh, you’re only just getting here? Okay. I already got Sasha’s confession-”
“I know why you have called me, Master! Is it because Paula drowned Miss Odette in the pond?”
"What?"
“I, I’m sorry I couldn’t stop that maid. I should have run over and dried her in the pond right then-”
“What did you just say? That Odette fell into the pond and died?”
But contrary to the coachman's expectations, his story was something everyone in the main hall had never heard before.
All of the Count's subordinates who filled the main hall were in an uproar at the occurrence of an incident more shocking than the one just now.
“What the hell are you talking about! What happened to Odette?”
And to make matters worse, Ferdinand returned from the palace.
“Oh. Isn’t that why you called me? At the pond in the annex, Paula beat the young lady and made her fall into the pond..."
“...”
“Oh, she must have passed away. Paula even let her smell the scent of sleep.”
Thanks to this, the color suddenly disappeared from the faces of all the maids and servants in the main hall.
It was because the incident was so big that no one there could have imagined it.
***
“Everyone here, find Odette and Paula! They should be around the pond!”
At the Count's command, the servants and maids formed a search party in perfect order.
Those with the quickest legs headed to the annex, while some servants sent hunting dogs to sniff out Paula or Odette.
At that moment, a dog that had smelled Paula ran towards the entrance to the annex's underground prison.
'What? Why is that dog going to the dungeon?'
The Count frowned. He never gave Paula permission to go to the annex, so why did that dog run over there?
The Count followed the hounds, thinking, “Surely not.”
“...”
But there was no one in the basement of the annex where Karl was supposed to be.
“This fucking...”
The prison doors were open, and all the restraints that prevented them from being opened were released.
The Count hurriedly searched through his coat. The key that should have been in his inside pocket was nowhere to be found.
'The restraints can only be opened with Odette's blood... Damn. It looks like he just ran off with the heavy restraints?'
So he made another chain to bind Karl to this place, and he made sure that only he could unlock it! Who would dare steal his key?
“What is this? ...A maid’s hairpin?”
The Count picked up the hairpin. It was too fancy for a maid, and Paula's name was engraved on it.
'Now it's clear who released it.'
The Count ground his teeth.
'Actually, Sasha was against bringing that guy Karl from the beginning.'
She asked why they were making such a fuss about receiving money like that.
They should have just put them in a holding cell, with the logic that it was unclean to bring a crazy race, whether slaves or whatever, into one's mansion.
'Paula is like Sasha's hands and feet.'
The Count twisted his lips. They knew nothing.
If they had experienced the same thing as the Count, they would never have thought that way. If they had been to the Kingdom of Fenrir as an envoy of the diplomatic corps ten years ago and had witnessed even one thing like the Count had seen.
“Get out of the way, you’re bothering me.”
He will never forget that 7-year-old boy wiping out thousands of bears and wolves in the tundra. And the overwhelming sense of inferiority and fear he felt that day.
'That thing' is not human.'
It is not simply a matter of physical ability or skill. It is not the intimidation of a human. It is human in appearance, but it is no different from a weapon for annihilating the enemy.
It was destruction and a natural disaster in itself. To 'that thing', he could only be a burrower.
From that day on, the Crown Prince of Fenrir became a nightmare and strangled the Count.
The Count vividly remembered the feeling of inferiority he felt that day when he felt like an insect.
To relieve the inferiority complex that bordered on the fear of death, he had to trample on Karl. If he didn't tie Karl down to something, if he didn't keep seeing his fall with his own eyes, the nightmare would become a reality and swallow him up.
'How dare you...How did something as insignificant as Paula get my hands on Karl!'
It was destruction and a natural disaster in itself. To 'that thing', he could only be a burrower.
From that day on, the Crown Prince of Fenrir became a nightmare and strangled the Count.
The Count vividly remembered the feeling of inferiority he felt that day when he felt like an insect.
To relieve the inferiority complex that bordered on the fear of death, he had to trample on Karl. If he didn't tie Karl down to something, if he didn't keep seeing his fall with his own eyes, the nightmare would become a reality and swallow him up.
'How dare you...How did something as insignificant as Paula get my hands on Karl!'
Once the coachman started talking, he told the details of the conversation between Paula and the porter in the carriage. Even the mutterings that followed.
'He said that once the Count and the young master return, it will be taken away from them, so now is the time to take it away.'
Paula meant Odette, but to the Count's ears, it sounded like it was about Karl. Letting Karl go was like letting a natural disaster go.
The thought of the nightmare that had only disappeared after he got hold of Karl as a slave would start again made him feel uneasy no matter how he killed that maid, Paula.
“Even if I kill Sasha and Paula hundreds of times, this guy won’t be released.”
The Count ground his teeth and went up to the ground. Then he snatched one of the hunting guns that the servants were holding.
“Hand it over! I’ll shoot that girl, Paula!”
He wasn't going to let the maid who had squandered his chance to escape the nightmare of his life get away with it.
It was then that the hunting dogs began to bark, and yelp!
Squeak!
The sound of howling could be heard from the pond.
The Count, holding a rifle, ran to where the sound came from and found Odette lying on the edge of the pond, wearing a blood-stained dress.
The Count, holding a rifle, ran to where the sound came from and found Odette lying on the edge of the pond, wearing a blood-stained dress.
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