Chapter 35

The mansion during the dark evening was incomparably quiet compared to the mansion during the day.

There were no lights in several places, but there was a pressing atmosphere that couldn’t be ignored.

Rosetta walked under the covers of the shadows wearing a cloak with its hood over her head.

The place she arrived at was in front of the door leading to the dungeon.

Fortunately, Katie wasn’t the only one currently imprisoned, so security wasn’t so strict. Guards would only sometimes go on patrols.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The other servants who were under suspicion were detained and questioned in their respective quarters because their crimes have yet to be confirmed.

Still, just in case, Rosetta pressed her back against the wall and looked around, but she felt no signs of other people’s presence.

After confirming that the hallway was silent, she opened the door leading to the dungeon without hesitation.

The Valentine residence was a fairly old mansion. It was well-maintained so its age wasn’t too apparent, but inside the dungeon, the mansion’s ancientness was palpable.

In a residence laced with old history, there had been many sinners.

As she descended the stairs and opened the door of the dungeon, the metallic smell of blood reached her nose right then. The humid air that wrapped around her body was sodden and unpleasant.

It was the perfect place for sinners.

Whenever she took a step, the sound over the damp ground echoed.

Then, as that sound would reverberate over the rusty bars of empty cells, it echoed even further.

Rosetta walked leisurely as if she were admiring the space, the echoing sounds as her background music.

Right now, all cells were empty except for where Katie was staying. But soon, this place would become full.

‘Ah, I wonder which cell would suit our poor Marie.’

* * *

When Damian and Rosetta finished their conversation earlier—

He was about to leave through the door, but he stopped for a moment and looked back at her.

“Rosetta.”

“Yes…?”

The answer she gave was almost a question. Was there anything else to be said between them?

She even felt anxious for no reason.

This time, she was afraid that he would add more conditions.

Fortunately however, that wasn’t why he called her.

“Do you feel awkward with the servants in the annex?”

It was uncomfortable, but at the question, Rosetta recalled Marie, who she hadn’t seen in a while.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t just Marie.

She didn’t know all the servants of the annex, but there were some people she knew by their faces.

But all the servants she met today were strangers.

Those maids and attendants rushed to take care of me and the unconscious Cassion after we had returned.

All of them.

‘No way… Already? Did he change them?’

This situation was something she also anticipated, and it was the same ‘personnel change’ she told the coachman about.

However, she just didn’t know that it would happen so soon, in just mere days while she was away.

Ah, it would be difficult at this rate.

‘Personnel change’ season. There was also something she had to do during the recruitment announcement period for new servants.

While lost in thought, Damian added.

“All the servants of the annex are under investigation. Earlier… As you said, it’s impossible that all those people knew nothing about what was happening for all those thirteen years. I’m sure some of them were complicit in it. Or perhaps all of them.”

“Have they been imprisoned?”

“No. Unlike Katie who was caught in the act, they’re being detained in the servants quarters because their innocence or guilt needs to be determined. Right now, the servants in the annex have been sent from the central mansion to make up for the lack of personnel, but this might give you inconveniences. I’ll hire new servants within the month, so please bear with it for a while.”

Rosetta swallowed her sigh of relief. Fortunately, those who were currently working in the annex were recruited from the central mansion.

Both the central mansion and the annex couldn’t be lacking servants, so it could be expected that a large-scale job posting would soon appear, just as Rosetta had anticipated.

“Then will the innocent servants return to the annex after the investigation?”

“No. I’ll have them sent to work elsewhere with letters of recommendation. If you have to see their familiar faces arbitrarily, you may feel uncomfortable.

“Ah.”

Now that he mentioned it, Rosetta was actually fine, but Alicia might feel uncomfortable.

Even now, like a tree with thin branches, she was a child whose shoulders would tremble.

Rosetta nodded.

“Thank you for your consideration.

“…It’s not something you should be grateful about. This all happened because I hadn’t been taking care of you properly.”

The soft, weak voice sounded very bitter.

When their eyes met, it was Damian who averted his gaze first. There was a sense of bitterness and repentance in the way he avoided Rosetta’s eyes.

She stared at him for a moment, then she opened her lips to speak quietly.

“You don’t have to apologize. Rather than me, it was Alicia who suffered more.”

“What are you saying…”

At Rosetta’s calm remark, Damian looked at her with wide eyes.

She shrugged and continued to speak calmly.

“You know what I mean. For me, it’s enough that you listened to my wishes today, Brother. So you don’t have to pay any more attention to me. If you take more care of Alicia, then that would be enough.”

Right. Rosetta just wanted him to focus on Alicia instead with the time he was spending to focus on her.

All she wanted was money and a few favors.

She didn’t want any other thing.

She then curtsied towards Damian, who was frozen like a stone. Then, she passed by him and approached the door.

“Wait.”

But as soon as she was about to open the door, Damian grabbed her arm.

Both of them were stuck in front of the door now.

“Do you have something more to say?”

His lips fluttered open and close.

He wanted to say something, but it seemed like he couldn’t dare to.

The lips, which had been opening and closing for a while, ended up being drawn into a straight line.

It was a little later that his voice came out again.

After his lips closed, the emotions on his face were now hidden. Perhaps what he was saying now was not what he originally wanted to say.

However, Rosetta was not curious about what that was.

“Among the servants under suspicion, both your and Alicia’s exclusive maids insisted that they weren’t complicit. They said they didn’t know anything and that you’d vouch for their innocence. Do you know what they’re talking about?”

Rosetta recalled those two people, their eyes filled with anxiety.

Honestly, saying that they were innocent was ridiculous.

The two people who had been with Rosetta and Alicia for the longest period of time never once doubted Katie?

Who would believe that.

Damian also felt that way.

He didn’t believe in their innocence at all, but they consistently shouted precocious things like that, and it felt like they threw out Rosetta’s name just in case.

Perhaps dear Marie and Alicia’s maid who Rosetta didn’t know thought that Rosetta would actually vouch for their innocence. Like a fool.

She said she’d let Marie live, not let her avoid her sins.

And did Marie really think that Rosetta would keep a promise like that when it was the maid who had been deceiving her for seven years?

If Marie had been deceiving people like that so far, she should know that she could be deceived in return.

Whatever she and the other maid said anyway, there was no more power or credibility in their words.

There was nothing to reveal, and even if they said they were threatened into doing it, what they say would be ignored.

‘Try barking as hard as you can.’

Even so, no one would understand a beast’s roars.

Rosetta shook her head.

And she smiled.

“Well, I don’t know what they mean by those words.”

“Right, I got it. You should rest now.”

The voice that answered late was like a frosty wind in the middle of winter.

As he was deep in thought, Rosetta was reminded that he was the heir of a knight’s family, and so those thoughts must be ruthless and cold.

‘I think those empty prison cells will soon be filled with many people.’

Once again, Rosetta smiled brightly and curtsied. Then, she left the room.

* * *

Recalling what happened earlier, Rosetta looked for a suitable cell for Marie where she would stay for a long time, but she suddenly heard someone’s voice.

“Is… Is someone there?”

The voice of a woman who was about fifty years old.

However, it wasn’t difficult to figure out whose voice this was.

Well, there’s only one person imprisoned here in the first place.

Katie.

With heavier steps, Rosetta walked towards that direction.

Splash.

Hearing the loud footsteps over the sodden ground, Katie suddenly raised her voice and began to shout.

“Ahh, please… Please save me! I’m innocent! This is unfair! Please go and call Lady Rosetta! Please! The Lady, call Lady Rosetta! I’m innocent I say!”

How desperate were those pleas?

If anyone heard her, they’d think she’s really innocent.

‘Innocent? Ridiculous.’

She was shameless, too.

Why were criminals so shameless?

From the past and the present. In the future, in modern times. In internet novels, in martial arts novels, in romance fantasies.

Everywhere she went, this was an inflexible truth.

Several days had already passed, but Katie still seemed to be clamoring that she was not guilty.

However, there were still some opportunities left until the date of her execution was confirmed.

So even with those few days left, she was trying to struggle and survive.

Rosetta walked with a smile on her face, and she reached the source of the loud sound.

She turned around and crouched down, looking into the cell.

It seemed as though Katie had yet to notice that someone had arrived in front of her.

Rosetta didn’t care, but she couldn’t help but notice how she was screaming with her hands wrapped around her face, her neck torn with gashes.

She set the lamp down on the floor and tapped an iron bar with one finger.

Only then did the loud shouts in the dungeon stop.

I’m innocent… nocent… cent…

Her last cry echoed silently.

Katie lowered her hand and hurriedly raised her head.

The face Rosetta saw was terrible.

It looked like Katie suffered a lot during the few days and nights she was here, but his cheeks were gaunt and the circles underneath her eyes were deep and thick.

She had shed so much tears that the area around her eyes was all red.

Wiping her eyes as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, Katie soon realized who was in front of her. Then, she visibly brightened up.

Katie crawled on the ground as if she was a lost dog that had found its owner. She came closer to the iron bars.

Rattle, screech.

The chains attached to her limbs made a rattling sound as they grazed the floor.

“Mi…Milady!”

“You look well. I guess you’re born to be thrown into prison.”

With these twisted words uttered, the corners of her raised lips flinched. However, Katie continued to smile. Then, she spoke.

“No… No of course not, Milady. I’m so glad you’re here Milady.”

Rosetta was curious now. What big revelation was Katie going to tell?

Katie must be holding some faith in this secret, that’s why she was welcoming Rosetta like this.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have wanted to see the person who threw her into this place.

With her chin on her knee as she crouched down, Rosetta looked into Katie’s dark blue eyes.

“It’s good to hear that you’re happy. I’m glad to see you again, too. For you to look for me so desperately like this—I got curious about what you want to say.”

“It’s good that you came, Milady. You… you did well to come here.”

“Never mind that. Tell me what would make you become innocent. And stop yelling.”

With a cold smile, the atmosphere around them dropped. The corners of Rosetta’s raised lips were subtly twisted.

However, that was it.

Katie bowed even deeper and whispered to Rosetta with a voice reminiscent of a snake slithering on the ground.

“It’s… It’s just, Milady…”

As Katie looked up, Rosetta felt a strange sense of anticipation and confidence in the nanny’s gaze.