“Motive? Are you trying to justify violence right now?”
“No. I was saying that because there is no motive, there was no threat either. Above all, they are pointing to me as the culprit based on nothing but circumstances.”
Flora, who had buried her face in the maid’s shoulder, jerked her head up.
“Then my maids are lying?!”
When Flora shouted, the maid nestled in her embrace also cried out.
“Y-you said you didn’t like my evening service!!”
“And for that reason, I imprisoned and assaulted you?”
As a brief silence fell, Grace slowly looked around at the gathered noblewomen and spoke.
“I have never imprisoned any maids. I have never assaulted them, even less so. I have neither reason nor means to do so. As you know, I only arrived here yesterday with His Grace. In this vast castle, isn’t it fortunate enough simply not to lose my way?”
Flora immediately cried out as if having a fit.
“Countess, my maids do not lie. Just look at how frightened they are.”
When Flora wept sorrowfully, the maids also lowered their heads and began to cry. Then, among the ladies seated along the wall, one who possessed considerable influence and was of advanced years cautiously opened her mouth.
“Countess Rinco. Is there anyone who witnessed the maids being assaulted?”
As the ladies’ attention focused, the Countess let out an audible sigh.
“As the maids said, it happened in a secluded place, so I could not find anyone. Such discord in peaceful and tranquil Richmond. And of all things, a dispute between His Grace’s lover and Flora’s maids—this is difficult.”
She turned her gaze from the maids to Grace. To think she was maintaining her composure even in such a moment. She seemed to be no ordinary person after all. But even so, the victor of this fight would be herself.
The Countess spoke sternly to the gathered noblewomen.
“As the one safeguarding the order of Richmond Ducal House’s inner castle in the Duchess’s stead, I cannot take this matter lightly. Imprisonment, assault, and death threats are treated as felonies under Richmond law.”
She turned her gaze to Flora.
“Flora. I believe in your maids’ innocence. But since the claims differ, there is no choice if we are to uncover the truth.”
“Countess……!”
“Take the maids to the underground.”
Underground.
The moment that word left the Countess’s mouth, the maids began to wail loudly. Flora embraced the terrified maids with a tear-stained face.
“Justice is on the side of the truthful. Hang in there just a little longer. *Sob* I’ll visit you every day.”
Richmond’s underground was notorious for being a place one entered on one’s own two feet but could not leave the same way.
It was not that the Dukes of Richmond particularly enjoyed torture. The problem was that the bedrock layer comprising the underground of Richmond Ducal Castle had the property of absorbing sound. In the underground, where light and sound were perfectly blocked, people easily lost their minds.
The Countess commanded her attendants.
“Guide 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 Countess’s command fell, the waiting attendants approached Grace as if they had been waiting for this.
“Get up!”
The attendants roughly grabbed Grace’s forearms. In that fleeting instant, Grace quickly swept over the expressions of the gathered ladies. Some were exhilarated, some were excited, and some wore expressions mixed with worry.
“Can’t you get up?!”
It was the moment Flora watched the scene of the attendants trying to force Grace to her feet, a sneer upon her lips.
*Boom!*
Wind rushing through the roughly opened door gap shattered the stagnant indoor air into pieces.
The furious Countess furrowed her brow and whirled around. She had intended to bark an order at whoever dared open the door without permission, but she could not bring herself to do so.
“Your Grace……!”
Walter’s gaze, standing with his back to the wind, reached Grace, whose arms were seized. Grace, who had just been about to rise, also turned her head.
“!!”
The instant their eyes met, a man who seemed drawn with a sharp pen strode briskly toward her. Then he stared down at the attendants who had frozen while gripping Grace’s arms and quietly bared his savage teeth.
“Let go.”
* * *
Several dozen minutes earlier.
A summons had been issued to the five nobles in charge of Richmond Ducal Castle’s finances. It was not a strange thing. The Duke had said he would entrust his duties to Count Rinco for the time being, but it was only natural for the master to want to know about the finances.
But the strange thing was that the five nobles were called to different places.
Joseph had secured five empty rooms that perfectly matched the conditions Walter had mentioned, and the five nobles were more or less shoved into their assigned rooms in a daze.
In the dark room devoid of warmth, one desk and two chairs sat awkwardly.
“What on earth is this……?”
It was the moment a man, overcome by eeriness, tried to hurriedly leave the room.
“What are you so afraid of?”
“!!”
“Sit?”
Appearing without a sound like a predator herding prey into a corner, Walter instantly went for the man’s throat. The man, who had been strutting pompously behind Count Rinco as if he were someone of importance, sat down carefully across from Walter, his hands trembling visibly.
“Wh-why have you called me……?”
Before he could even finish speaking, a document was pushed in front of him.
“Explain.”
“Wh-what…….”
“There is much to explain. What is the ‘Dignity Maintenance Fee’ among the entries, what has been lumped together as ‘Miscellaneous,’ and so on.”
The moment a word that should never have come from a Duke’s mouth spilled out, the man’s instincts screamed that he had to find a way out. But before he could even open his mouth, a voice utterly devoid of humanity lashed against his lips.
“Excuses, evasion—don’t even bring them up. I only called those who should be able to explain that document properly.”
When the man, who had been looking at the document, quietly raised his eyes, the Duke—who evoked the image of a pitch-black wolf—was leaning back comfortably in his chair, his long legs crossed. Within the dark silhouette, his gleaming black eyes were as eerie as those of a hidden beast.
“Explain clearly and concisely.”
“Uh…….”
As the end of the man’s voice trembled slightly, Walter tugged his lips into a smile and pointed out one more despairing fact.
“Oh, and don’t worry about making a mistake and giving the wrong explanation.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve called four other supervisors in preparation for that. I will ask them the same questions.”
In other words, he would cross-verify using the same document.
Could a bolt from the blue on a clear day be anything like this? How on earth was he to explain the results of having squandered the Richmond Ducal House’s money recklessly? They hadn’t even coordinated their stories in preparation for this.
The man’s face turned ashen in an instant. Thinking that the rectangular document looked like the gates of hell, he stammered and opened his mouth.
“Well, you see……. This first entry, that is, the one at the top…….”
“Don’t drag it out. Be concise.”
Surprised for but a moment by the arrogant and direct remark, a storm of verbal abuse crashed down upon him.
“You’re making excuses. Didn’t I tell you not to open your mouth if you were going to make excuses?!”
“If you don’t know, say you don’t know and move on! Have you forgotten there are four more people waiting behind you?!”
“Next!”
It was the first time he had been so horribly beaten down with words. Walter pressed the man as if he would not give him a single moment to fabricate anything.
The imposing Duke was of a different fiber from his predecessors, perhaps because he had grown up with his back against a wall of death. Unlike the previous Duke, who had been steadfast yet exuded a gentle air, Walter was as sharp as jagged spears.
But alas, being struck by the verbal abuse was not the end. The moment all explanations were finished, a sheet of paper was held out to him. On the hastily scribbled paper, every word he had uttered was recorded without missing a single syllable.
While Joseph, who had been writing the man’s words down from behind, rubbed his wrist, Walter personally held out a quill pen.
“You must take responsibility for the words you’ve spoken. Check that there is nothing different from what you explained and sign.”
“…….”
*I’m doomed.*
There was only one sloppily prepared document. There were five supervisors who wanted to avoid taking responsibility at all costs.
The man wanted to collapse on the spot and bawl. Because the bleak future approaching was already terrifying.
And Walter, quite fairly, personally opened the gates of hell for the remaining four as well. Since he attacked without giving them time to think, it took less than an hour to obtain statements from each of the five. It was around the time he received the signature from the last person.
“Your Grace. Miss Grace’s maid has come.”
Had she come to deliver the news that the Duchess had awoken?
But Joseph’s guess was cleanly shattered the moment his superior’s eyebrow shot up crookedly as he heard something from Jessie.
Walter gestured with his eyes toward the nobleman whose mind had been reduced to tatters and was dazedly blinking.
Joseph quickly got him up and sent him out of the room, then checked again that there was no one watching near the room.
Only after confirming that there were no listening ears did Walter speak.
“What happened to Grace?”
“Yes. Countess Rinco’s attendants took the young lady. I overheard on the way that they are opening something called the ‘punishment room.’”