PRKE 72

CHAPTER 72…………………………………………………….

In fact, Hubert was in her room. She had held him there, saying she had had a nightmare.

Their relationship had grown awkward compared to before, and she had expected him to refuse her request—but unexpectedly, he stayed in the room without protest.

“What’s gotten into her all of a sudden? My head’s already aching because of Hubert!”

Hubert, Hubert, Hubert.

Beloved Hubert.

Sometimes she wondered, confusingly, whether he truly saw her as a younger sister—but there was absolutely no way that was the case.

The way Hubert looked at her was not with familial affection, but with the gaze of a man seeing a woman capable of causing trouble at any moment.

Of course, compared to other passionate young noblemen who had praised her, his gaze was subtly cooler—but given his calm temperament, like the surface of a lake, even that was no small matter.

In any case, his gaze was a man’s gaze.

Some said he was projecting the sister he lost to illness when he was young onto her, but Aris only scoffed.

“As if. How dare he compare me to anyone else.”

Recently, she hadn’t been spending time with Egrain, and Hubert had been doing everything she asked, which had somewhat eased her anger.

As for her lost abilities, she decided she could just claim her body wasn’t well enough to use them for now—a sufficient conclusion.

She was also considering bringing in an inexperienced young cleric and using him as needed.

Until she became the countess.

“After that… I can just say the divine powers naturally weakened.”

She felt pleased that a rough plan was taking shape. The problem was that Jacques, who had been a delightful playmate, had gradually begun to feel burdensome.

It had been reckless to fall asleep out of loneliness.

What if Hubert suspected on the first night that there was no blood?

Still, she had felt relieved that at least Egrain, her thorn in the side, would be dealt with.

“Even that failed.”

She had no idea how shocked she was when she saw her passing through the mansion like a wet mouse.

Her chest tightened. The first thought that struck her was: what happened to Princess Laratou?

The danger of her actions hit her all at once, and she wished she could turn back time.

When she secretly went out and saw Jacques hiding in the darkness, the anxiety she had been suppressing ignited into a burst of anger.

“What’s with that attitude? Are you jealous? Right now, in this situation?”

Still thinking Jacques was deeply infatuated with her, Aris felt a sense of foreboding at his cold reaction, but she snorted.

“My companion’s been captured. He’ll probably be tortured.”

Jacques muttered gloomily, ignoring her words.

“And?”

“The target’s reaction was different from what I expected. How could she have prepared so well?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s odd. Wait—are you suspecting me?”

“……”

“This is ridiculous. Who’s blaming whom here?”

Jacques stared at her, reacting as if he were about to fly into a rage.

“You’re saying you didn’t tell anyone about this operation?”

“Of course not! Why would I do that? I’m involved in this too!”

Lowering her voice, Aris rebuked him, and Jacques immediately asked,

“You weren’t caught either?”

Aris hesitated just as she was about to answer “of course not.”

“Was I… caught?”

Impossible.

All she had done was send a letter to the princess, making Egrain seem suspicious—a letter she had even prepared to blame Jacques if necessary.

Glancing at Jacques, she nodded firmly.

“Of course not.”

“Then why…?”

Rustle.

Her ears, sharpened in the darkness, twitched.

The frozen gazes of the two met in midair.

Jacques moved his lips.

Who?

Who would come here at this hour? A fleeting thought brightened Aris’s face.

“Oh, it must be Jenny. Egrain’s maid.”

“Why are you here? I thought no one comes in at night?”

A smirk passed across Aris’s lips.

“I sent her to gather moonflowers.”

“Moonflowers?”

“They bloom only at night. Lady Emerne cherishes them, so if she got caught, she’d be chased away. Foolish girl, coming to pick them at night.”

“She’s hiding behind the wall. Looks like she wants to eavesdrop.”

“Hah! What could she possibly find out?”

“What should we do?”

“You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”

Her pretty blue eyes glimmered cruelly.

“Catch her.”

As expected, Jacques moved before she even finished speaking.

Pat-tat-tat!

Perhaps sensing something suspicious, the sound of someone fleeing came from beyond the wall. Aris’s heart raced.

She wasn’t sure if the maid had overheard their conversation, but it was clear she had seen them—two people together in the middle of the night.

“If Egrain tells Hubert, he’ll find out too!”

Then it would be the end.

“Don’t let her escape! Kill her if you have to!”

“Our hearts are in sync. I was going to do that anyway.”

Jacques drew a dagger from his chest and threw it.

Why would a merchant carry a weapon like that?

Just as that thought crossed her mind,

“Ugh!”

A scream drew all her attention.

Aris dashed, clutching her dress, and stood beside Jacques, who was frozen in place.

“Dead?”

“Of course. But… is this really a maid?”

“What? What do you mean?”

Aris looked down at the floor in confusion, her eyes widening slowly.

A person lay collapsed forward. The hem of her dress was long—she was a woman. That wasn’t the problem.

Aris’s gaze moved further down.

The skirt nearly reached the floor. Maid uniforms weren’t this long.

A dress with heavy lace, clearly extravagant.

Pointed heels, dangling jewelry on her wrists and neck, a fan fallen from her hand…

Shock washed over Aris’s face.

She pushed the woman to the side with trembling hands, and her body spun around.

The rough handle of a dagger protruded from her chest.

Around it, blood spread!

“Ah!”

Aris fell back, covering her mouth.

“L-Lady Emerne…”

“Damn. Nothing’s going right.”

The muttered words snapped Aris to attention. She turned sharply and grabbed Jacques’s leg.

“What… what should we do? Lady Emerne… d-dead…?”

“Calm down. It’s nothing serious.”

“Nothing serious?”

Aris looked up at Jacques like he was a monster. He grabbed her shoulders, forced her to stand, and leaned close.

Even though someone had died.

“It’s nothing serious.”

She faintly sensed he was not an ordinary man, but the fact that Lady Emerne was dead left her staring helplessly into his dark eyes as if they were a lifeline.

“Now, let’s think about how to deal with this fat corpse.”

“B-But how?”

“Probably the least problematic way…”

Jacques’s gaze fell on the fallen Lady Emerne.

The seemingly sudden reaper’s blade left her eyes wide in injustice. Pale moonlight settled above her.

Even while looking at the person he had killed, Jacques remained calm and cold.

“Good. That’s what we should do.”

“Rosalina Emerne Lorenst. Lady Emerne always led her family with beauty and resolve. Under Martha’s bow, her soul will sail toward the blue sea…”

The day was clear.

She looked up at the sky through her black veil. Even partially covered, the bright sky was fully visible.

It was perfect weather for a final farewell, but the funeral’s atmosphere was grim.

The sudden death of the household’s elder made that inevitable.

The maids wept in fear.

Lady Emerne had not treated them kindly in life, so their distress was simply due to the misfortune.

Unlike them, Aris felt relieved.

“Miss, isn’t the sun too hot?”

Jenny asked with concern. She remained calm, unaffected by gloom.

“I’m fine.”

“Oh, it’s getting hotter. Fine? You can’t be serious.”

Then she opened her parasol over Aris’s head.

She felt even more at ease.

“Jenny survived.”

In her previous life, Jenny had been discovered watching Jacques and Aris’s secret meeting and was killed.

Her body had been found in the morning when the servants began their duties; her estimated time of death was midnight.

“Since returning, I never let Jenny go out at night.”

[Where have you been going at dawn recently?]

[Miss Aris said she needed moonflowers.]

[The ones Lady Emerne grows?]

[Yes. She asked me to bring some.]

[Did you get Lady Emerne’s permission?]

[…]

[Jenny.]

[I can’t just ignore an order.]

[…]

[Miss Aris has been acting strangely. If I don’t run errands, I might be dismissed…]

[What right does she have?]

[Miss?]

[Don’t listen to Aris, Jenny. Especially don’t go out at dawn.]

[Miss?]

“I’ll get the moonflowers. Understand? Don’t go out at dawn.”

[But moonflowers are very expensive!]

[I have enough money for that.]

[I can’t spend your precious money like that…]

[You must. Money should be spent without hesitation. No more talk—just do as I say.]

Still uneasy, she had watched over Jenny in her own bed at night.

Then came the misfortune of Lady Emerne.

“Jenny’s death and Lady Emerne’s death are different cases.”

Jenny had apparently committed suicide in despair on the terrace, while Lady Emerne was found in her bathtub filled with water.

Her heart had been stabbed.

It looked like suicide to anyone, but to Aris, it seemed staged.

“Could someone like Lady Emerne really make such an extreme choice as stabbing her own heart? Unless it was poison, maybe.”

“Lady! Why were you so sad and troubled? Why didn’t you tell me?”

In a voice full of sorrow, Aris turned, wailing and twisting a handkerchief in Hubert’s arms.