IPPCB 10

Chapter 10

Judith calmly sipped her tea in front of the Master and spoke in a slow, composed voice.

“So that’s how it was. You lied to me.”

By now, the Master was pressing a hand to his forehead with a deep sigh. Speaking as though he were in a difficult position, he replied slowly,

“Please try to understand. No one can go through life telling nothing but the truth.”

“Of course. I understand that. But I’ve always been truthful with you.”

“Well, that is… in the information business, certain matters are naturally sensitive.”

“That’s understandable. But I told you something far more sensitive than that—I even told you about my pregnancy.”

“Ha… Judith. From my perspective, I can’t reveal everything to my clients.”

“Of course not. But I wasn’t just any client. I was the client who saved your life.”

When Judith answered so matter-of-factly, the Master let out an even more troubled sigh.

Lowering her eyes, she continued elegantly,

“If you simply didn’t want to tell me, you could have said so. There was no need to fabricate such a detailed lie about not having an informant there…”

“That wasn’t a lie.”

The Master responded immediately.

“There truly is no informant there. That’s the truth.”

“But you knew all about it anyway.”

At her words, the Master clicked his tongue and let out a dry chuckle. Shaking his head, he smiled helplessly.

“Honestly, I rarely lose my composure…”

Rubbing his chin, he muttered,

“Judith, talking to you makes me feel like I’ve become a different person.”

“Really?”

Judith nodded gloomily.

“But don’t think you can use compliments like that to gloss over the fact that you lied earlier.”

“Ha…”

Crossing his arms, the Master fell silent. His mask concealed his expression.

As always, Judith simply gazed out the window or sipped her tea while waiting patiently.

It had already been three years since she first began visiting this place. The stage where silences between them felt awkward had long since passed.

Only after a considerable amount of time had passed did he finally speak again.

“I know of a secret passage.”

“Hm?”

“A secret passage inside the ducal estate. I came across it in the past. Which means… I can help prevent whatever danger may be approaching the young lord.”

This was information Judith had never known.

Her eyes shifted thoughtfully as she sank into contemplation.

The second son of House Mayeus—the younger brother of Ekyan—was named Karl.

Karl had been extremely close to his older brother. Since there was a large age gap between them, Ekyan had always doted on him. After Ekyan disappeared, Karl had become a deeply withdrawn child.

Karl Mayeus… was actually one of the villains of the novel.

He had once been a kind and innocent boy, but his environment had ruined him.

The happy household he grew up in fell apart after Ekyan ran away, and later even his parents died.

Suddenly becoming the head of the family, Karl grew into someone twisted and unstable, eventually developing an unhealthy obsession with the bright and cheerful heroine.

The heroine had merely treated him kindly, seeing him as a younger boy she felt fond of. Yet she ended up suffering because of it.

In the original story, the Duke and Duchess died together in an accident. They weren’t bad parents. But there was someone who influenced Karl even more than they did…

That person was Sarah, the maid who stayed close to him.

The very same maid who, in the original story, pretended to be carrying Ekyan’s child.

Even before that, Sarah had held considerable influence over Karl. Once she gained the Mayeus name, her abuse of him only intensified.

Judith might be able to stop the worst of it by taking the position of Ekyan’s temporary bride, but Sarah was undoubtedly still mistreating Karl even now.

The Duke and Duchess probably have no idea. She must be exploiting the child’s immaturity in an incredibly subtle way…

If Judith waited until she officially entered the estate as a daughter-in-law, it would already be too late.

The servants would never side with a woman who had only just arrived.

Naturally, they would trust Sarah, who had served there for years.

Everyone would likely view Judith as suspicious, and with so many eyes watching her, any movement she made would immediately be reported back to Sarah.

“A secret passage?”

Judith’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the Master.

“Good. I think I know what to do now. You can help me.”

The information in the original novel was limited.

All she had were fragments of Karl’s childhood memories.

There’s nothing about when or where the abuse happened!

To stop it, she first needed to know the time and place.

Originally, she had intended to ask the information guild:

“I want to know when and where Karl and Sarah are usually together.”

Even then, she had not expected much.

Information that even the ducal household didn’t know would be difficult for outsiders to obtain.

Sarah was no fool.

She manipulated Karl psychologically with great subtlety.

The abuse likely didn’t even occur in Karl’s room, where too many people might notice.

Judith had raised the question with only half-hearted expectations.

Instead, she had unexpectedly received a far better opportunity.

Actually, knowing about a secret passage is much better!

After the Master revealed that he knew of a hidden route into the estate, Judith chose a simple solution:

Stakeout.

If she secretly waited near Karl’s room and eavesdropped on his conversations with Sarah, wouldn’t she eventually hear Sarah tell him where and when to meet her?

According to the Master, the secret passage allowed people to hear conversations through a wall.

Both delighted and surprised, Judith asked,

“But Master, how did you learn something like this?”

“Well… circumstances.”

“Right. Asking the Master of an information guild something like that was probably foolish of me.”

If he knew the estate’s secret passages in such detail, it was easy to understand why he didn’t need informants there.

He could simply infiltrate the estate himself and gather information whenever necessary.

The Master spoke in a firm voice.

“Please keep this secret from the Duke and Duchess.”

“But isn’t that worrying? The estate’s security must be terrible if outsiders can come and go so easily.”

“It’s not terrible. I swear this passage is known only to me, and I never had any intention of using it.”

“But someone must have taught you about it.”

“They’re dead now.”

“Oh my.”

Judith vaguely assumed it had been a descendant of the architect who designed the estate.

Since no such passage was ever mentioned in the original novel, it probably wasn’t important.

In any case, according to the Master, the passage was far too complicated to be mapped.

His proposed solution was simple.

“You’ll have to come with me.”

Judith wasn’t eager to infiltrate an unfamiliar mansion by herself anyway.

And since the Master—someone she had dealt with for three years—was willing to accompany her, she felt reassured.

It would be the first time they had done something together outside of business, but surely he wouldn’t harm the woman who had saved his life.

“We only need to hide near Young Master Karl’s room, correct?”

“For now, yes.”

And so they decided to leave immediately for the secret passage leading into the ducal estate.

Strangely enough, the Master seemed even more eager than Judith.

“Then let’s depart at once.”

“Right now?”

“Do you have something else to do?”

“Well, not exactly, but…”

“You said a child is being abused in secret. Isn’t that urgent?”

Judith simply assumed that the Master must have a soft spot for children.

Or perhaps he himself had suffered abuse when he was young.

His expression remained hidden behind the mask, but he clearly seemed to regard the matter as extremely important.

Thus, the two of them entered a secret passage connected to the basement of a crumbling old cottage.

Wait a second.

It was incredibly dark.

As Judith began to lose her bearings, the Master whispered,

“Excuse me.”

Then he took her hand.

It was the first time she had ever held his hand.

It was remarkably large—and surprisingly warm.

This…

To make matters worse, the passage was so narrow that it barely allowed a single person to pass through.

Before she realized it, Judith was practically pressed against him.

The difference in their sizes was considerable, making it look as though she were being held in his arms as they moved forward.

Yet she was too frightened to step away from him in the darkness, leaving her no choice but to stay close.

Trying desperately to calm the erratic beating of her heart, she inwardly groaned.

Why are we so close?