Eliza received the highest courtesy for the first time in a very long while. The etiquette flowed like water, flawless and leaving nothing to fault, and the green eyes that turned toward her with raised head seemed to carry wisdom—just as her ancestors had possessed.
They gazed at each other in silence.
Then, at that moment, Walter, who had been silent, moved toward the door as if sensing something. Outside the door stood Joseph.
“What is it?”
Joseph whispered low in a stiff voice.
“The maids have taken their own lives, leaving behind suicide notes.”
The air, which had briefly grown warm, froze abruptly. Mrs. Isaac stiffened her shoulders at the creeping dread, and Eliza’s eyebrows twitched as well.
Grace took three deep breaths to collect her thoughts, then spoke brightly to Eliza as if nothing had happened.
“Please eat even if you have no appetite. I shall take my leave now.”
Eliza neither answered nor returned the greeting, whatever she might have been thinking. Grace, who had not expected a response from her, offered another light greeting and walked toward the door.
Walter also glanced at Eliza before leaving the room with Grace.
The bright world grew dim as if dusk were falling. Amidst the corridor filled only with the sharp clack of heels, Jesse, who had been waiting at the corner of the hallway, approached and reported.
“They say Duke Taylor has signed the documents removing you from the family register. And it appears Countess Linco, who attended your wedding as a representative of House Richmond, will arrive in approximately three days.”
Walter, who had been walking with heavy steps, stopped abruptly and asked.
“Will you be able to endure?”
Grace, who had stopped a step ahead of him, turned around to Walter and answered.
“Yes.”
Grace’s gaze turned toward the window. Joseph, who looked out alongside her, spoke.
“The Countess’s maids are coming.”
The Countess’s maids wore solemn expressions, like messengers of death.
“Hunting is all about timing. Wait until they draw nearer. Now they will doubt His Excellency’s capabilities and gather the nobles of Richmond. Wait three days, and when Countess Linco arrives, prove my identity through her.”
“They will lock you in an underground solitary cell beneath Richmond.”
“They will.”
“They say most who are locked down there go mad and rampage within three days.”
Black eyes and green pupils gazed deeply at each other.
“I have the confidence to endure. But if by any chance I cannot endure, then as you said, you may cast me aside.”
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
A heavy knocking on the main gate of the annex echoed through the hallway.
“But that will not happen. I will survive to the end and return to Taylor.”
The sharpest blade hidden within a beautiful scabbard.
Walter stared at the blade she held with dark eyes, then soon spoke as cold and pitiless as metal.
“Yes. Then endure, Grace Taylor.”
The woman who seemed barely half Walter’s height showed not so much as a hint of fear. Grace nodded resolutely, as if she had been waiting for this, and the two walked toward the door as if by agreement.
＊ ＊ ＊
An underground prison where the boundary between day and night had vanished. The candles flickering at regular intervals swayed precariously in a wind that came from nowhere.
Thick pillars standing silently beneath a dome ceiling of pitch-black stone looked like gatekeepers guarding hell. The reason those pillars looked particularly ghastly was that the knights of Richmond led by Count Leuwen stood with their backs against them.
Beneath the round dome ceiling was a dais with a massive black chair. Countess Linco sat in the chair from which successive Dukes and Duchesses had interrogated criminals.
She carefully read through the maids’ suicide notes, then stopped and let out a deep sigh.
“Haah.”
White breath scattered.
“The Duke has been blinded by beauty, ignorant that he has taken in a poisonous snake.”
Her voice blended into the cold, damp underground air. Countess Leuwen flinched and whispered to her daughter standing beside her.
“Return to your room now. There is no good in witnessing such cruel sights.”
But Flora glared into the darkness and shook her head. The pink diamond earrings she had received from the Countess swayed.
“If I become a Duchess, there will come a time when I too must interrogate criminals. I must watch.”
Just then, footsteps descending the stone stairs were heard. The candles stretched even longer and swayed.
The Countess, who had been looking down at the notes, raised only her eyes toward the stairs. The noisy footsteps seemed to grow louder for a moment, and then Grace revealed herself from the pitch-black darkness.
The Countess’s eyebrows shot up.
Indeed, she was no ordinary woman. Whether guilty or not, anyone dragged to a place like this would surely be frightened, yet she maintained a composure so chilling it raised goosebumps.
But how long would that elegant mask last?
The Countess waited until Grace came to stand before her, then spoke with a grave expression.
“Two maids took their own lives, leaving behind suicide notes. And a witness has appeared. Someone saw what is said to be your maid secretly following those two.”
“…….”
“Impudent thing. You do not even look surprised. The deeds written in these notes are so vicious they are unspeakable, enough to make one’s blood run cold! How long do you think that mask of lies can be maintained? Let me ask. What is your real name?!”
The Countess’s fierce rebuke struck the walls of the round hall, reverberating wildly.
Grace felt a ghastly wind brush her cheek. At the end of that wind was a fishy smell of iron mixed in.
*Falsehood.*
Originally, the best place to hide a lie is within the truth, and an unrevealed truth confuses the enemy more than a fabricated lie.
“It is Grace.”
“Ha.”
The Countess let out a hollow laugh.
“Let me point out one thing. You may be hoping that His Excellency will save you as before, but this time it will be difficult. I ask again. For what purpose did you come to Richmond?”
“I came merely following the one I love.”
At Grace’s answer, Flora erupted.
“You murderer!! Did you think I would not know you are deceiving His Excellency?!”
“Murderer? Deceiving His Excellency? What in the world are you—”
*Slap!!*
Before she even felt pain, her body swayed to one side. While her mind clouded as if her vision had gone dark, the Countess’s maid struck her other cheek hard. Pushed by the force and falling, the maid shouted.
“How dare you raise your voice!!”
Perhaps because her ears were injured, the maid’s scream felt as if it came from afar, and perhaps because the inside of her mouth had burst, a fishy taste arose. Grace glared with wide eyes and bit her lip hard.
As she touched the floor and tried to raise herself halfway, something fell with a thud before her palm. It was the suicide note the maids had left behind. As she tried to rise from her spot holding the damp-feeling note, the maids pressed down heavily on her shoulders.
“Read it.”
In the end, Grace gave up on rising and read the note. Her expression, which had been swiftly scanning the pressed-down handwriting, hardened coldly.
[...That woman’s maid came again. Soldiers guard outside, but we hear voices in an empty room. This time, she asked where the key to the ‘Blue Room’ storing Richmond’s treasures is, and where the secret passage is. She said if we do not tell her, she will kill us horribly.......]
The Countess, who had thrown the note to Grace, rose from her chair. The disheveled blonde hair and crouched figure were quite pleasing to her.
“Flora’s maids were inside a room guarded by soldiers. Yet they say the threats continued. I know that at that time, you went with His Excellency to the Dowager Duchess’s chambers. However, your maid was not with you, was she?”
“…….”
“At that time, where was your maid?”
Grace raised her eyes.
“Do you know of the ‘Unseen Ones’?”
“…….”
“They are said to be the devil’s descendants, hiding their bodies beyond the Wall of Death. They constantly send demonic beasts even now to threaten the Dekan Empire. They wish to take the empire’s fertile land instead of the barren land filled with poisonous energy.”
The Countess approached Grace, bent her knees to lower her body, then grabbed Grace’s chin fiercely with one hand.
“The notes say your maid was unseen. She asked them where the key to the Blue Room is, where the secret passage is, and so on.”
“It is a false accusation. Surely you are not trying to associate me with the ‘Unseen Ones’ right now?”
*Slap!!*
Before Grace even finished speaking, the Countess struck her cheek.
“Mind your tongue. It is the suicide notes of the dead maids that say so; I am not the one making the connection. Where is your maid?”
“…….”
“I found you suspicious from the start. It was strange that you, who entered just yesterday, would stir up trouble enough to make a scratch fester, but the maids also had no reason to give such testimony. Yet the truth those poor children hid in their fear tells us everything.”
The Countess’s bloodshot eyes gleamed.