MHLM 25

Chapter : 25

There were two main halls in the Valentino residence’s main mansion. The one directly connected to the central entrance was the Avoridge hall, and it was after passing through the Avoridge Hall that you’d reach the Grand Hall.

The Grand Hall was mainly used for large banquets and balls, while the Avoridge Hall played an auxiliary role between them. Of course, this meant that the former was wider than the latter.

Apart from that, the Avoridge Hall was used for the purpose of gathering the servants, where Missus Seymour or the chamberlain would reprimand them.

“Do you happen to know why Missus Seymour is interrogating Charlotte?”

“No… I only saw it happen from afar, so I didn’t hear.”

As she answered, Jenna shook her head. For a moment, I thought about why Jenna’s suddenly helping me and Charlotte.

It was only an inkling, but it seemed like Jenna was under the impression that my position in this residence would rise because Theodore’s attitude towards me had changed.

‘It’s enough for her to risk Missus Seymour targeting her just for letting me know about this.’

But she was mistaken. Contrary to Jenna’s expectations, my position in this household would not improve. No one knew that once Theodore’s memories would come back, everything would go back to the way things were.

It was foolish to start being optimistic here. I won’t expect anything more than this. I will just do what I’m able to do with the position I have now.

“…you think you can do whatever you want, Charlotte Brandon?!”

“That’s right. You’re the only one who entered the knight commander’s room, so who else here stole it if not you?”

As we came closer to the Avoridge Hall, I heard the shrill voices of Missus Seymour and another lady-in-waiting. I stopped at the entrance of the hall and gauged the situation for a moment.

“I wasn’t the one who stole it. I serve the Madam closely as her lady-in-waiting, so why should there be a reason for me to be greedy for the knight commander’s gold brooch?”

It was Charlotte’s voice. Even in the midst of all injustice, she answered back calmly.

I hid behind a column and observed the crowd ganging up on Charlotte. It was Missus Seymour, who had a harsh expression on her face, two ladies-in-waiting and three maids. For some unknown reason, the victim himself, the knight commander, was nowhere to be seen.

Charlotte had been caught up in this situation as she visited the knight commander’s room under my order. I don’t know what exactly happened that it had to come to this point, but…

For now, there were two things I’m certain about.

First, the gold brooch hadn’t been pilfered by Charlotte. This much was obvious.

Second, apart from Missus Seymour, two out of those five people were capable of stealing that item.

I watched the reactions of those two closely. One of them looked very nervous, while the other was expressionless.

After taking a very close look at those two, from their faces to the way they carried themselves, I glanced back at Jenna.

As I was about to tell Jenna to do something, it was at that moment.

“Go and—”

“Charlotte Brandon, to get the truth out of you, you should be lashed. Get up on that chair and show your calves!”

‘What?’

Hearing the unbelievable words that came out, my eyes widened. Without even any decisive evidence that Charlotte stole it, you’re going straight ahead with punishing her? Are you out of your mind?

‘Why is she doing this?’

I unconsciously asked, but I didn’t have to think about it too deeply to find the answer.

Charlotte was my personal lady-in-waiting, and she was also the person I was closest to in this place.

If Charlotte would be asked to leave this estate, even if it was under false accusations, I would be completely ostracized. Without anyone to act as my hands and feet, my movements would naturally be limited.

This was what Missus Seymour was aiming for.

For the past year and a half, she’s been pretending to be the righteous, yet secretly ostracizing me—lying in wait for an opportunity. She did it in a clever manner so that Theodore wouldn’t notice at all.

Well, it wouldn’t have made any difference if Theodore did notice… In any case, this time, Missus Seymour must have made up her mind to do something significant.

‘It’s either she really thinks that Charlotte’s guilty, or she’s behind this from the very start.’

“Get on the chair!”

Raising a cane, Missus Seymour shouted at the hesitating Charlotte. I turned to Jenna and ordered her in a hurry.

“Go and call the knight commander here.”

“But the knight commander, right now—”

Jenna tried to say something, but there’s no time to listen. I’ll have to see later whether she will heed my words or not.

From here, Jenna was walking on a tightrope between me and Missus Seymour.

But without further delay, I entered the Avoridge Hall.

“What are you doing right now, Missus Seymour.”

As I raised my voice, my words echoed throughout the hall.

Everyone inside halted, and when they turned around, a moment of silence passed.

After a while, Missus Seymour answered my question.

“Lily, you’re just in time. Your lady-in-waiting stole the knight commander’s gold brooch, but she keeps denying it. That’s why I’m interrogating her now.”

“I didn’t steal it, Madam!”

Charlotte cut in and shouted. Her eyes told me exactly how wronged she felt. At this, I nodded at her, wordlessly telling her that I knew she didn’t do it.

“……!”

Charlotte’s eyes watered as she clenched her lips and clasped her hands together.

I walked towards Charlotte slowly. Then, I stood in front of her as though to protect her.

I turned to Missus Seymour.

“Is there evidence that Charlotte stole it?”

“There is a witness. Serena? Will you tell Her Grace what you saw?”

A maid named Serena hesitated, but she soon stepped forward at Missus Seymour’s call. Even though she took only three steps forward, her gait was incredibly awkward.

Serena glanced up at me, but the moment her eyes met mine, her mouth opened in horror.

Serena was one of the two people I was observing earlier. She still looked extremely nervous.

As I stared back at her indifferently, Serena moistened her dry lips before she spoke.

“I-I am the maid in charge of the upkeep of the knight commander’s room, and I was on my way there to clean, but I saw Lady-in-Waiting Charlotte go inside.”

“I thought it was suspicious, so I decided to inform the knight commander about it first. He was getting ready to go out but he came back for a while, and I was about to tell him about Miss Charlotte when he entered the room, but then the commander was very flustered when he noticed that his gold brooch had disappeared. It looks like it’s very precious to the commander because he usually pins it on his overcoat…”

“……”

“After seeing what I saw, I think it was Miss Charlotte who took it. I saw Miss Charlotte enter the knight commander’s room before it disappeared, that’s why…! Miss Charlotte isn’t acquainted with the commander and she’s not assigned to the knights’ quarters, yet she entered the commander’s room… T-That’s why I thought she was suspicious.”

After prattling out her explanation while she continued to look visibly nervous, Serena hurriedly lowered her head the moment her gaze met mine.

Anyone who had eyes could see that she seemed to have no talent for lying.

With a sharp tone, I asked Serena directly.

“So you’re saying that you’re the only witness, but who’s to say that you aren’t the thief here? It looks terribly like you’re falsely accusing Charlotte to cover up your own tracks. How can I believe your words?”

“B-But, I’m—”

“In the first place, Charlotte is a lady-in-waiting, and compared to a maid like you, she has a higher wage. Tell me, who between the two of you is the more likely to be tempted by the commander’s brooch? If you do just a bit of critical thinking, you’d be able to guess the answer, yes?”

“No, Madam! I didn’t steal it! R-Really, I…!”

“If you really didn’t steal it, then it’s fine if we conduct a search, right?”

“B-But…”

“Lily, that’s enough. Serena is—”

When I cornered Serena, just as expected, Missus Seymour stepped in. But I cut her off and asked back.

“Missus Seymour, have you tried searching these people? Shouldn’t that be done first?”

Missus Seymour’s expression slipped for a moment as she pretended to be unaffected, but she immediately answered calmly.

“…I didn’t think that there was a need to cause such a commotion. There’s a witness here, so that should be enough.”

“I don’t know about that. Isn’t it very possible for anyone to claim and pretend they’re a witness? Let’s start with the people who are already here. Except for Charlotte, you’re all assigned to the knights’ quarters, correct?”

To answer my question, one lady-in-waiting and two maids nodded blankly in surprise. They had never seen me act like this before.

I looked elsewhere—towards Serena, who had turned as white as a sheet, and the other maid, who continued to stand still while expressionless this whole time.

At first glance, that maid looked like she was entirely calm. But once I looked at her closely, I could see how she kept picking at the sides of one fingernail, blood slowly trickling out from the fresh wound.

I approached that maid and asked her.

“Why is your hand like that?”

“……!”

The maid flinched noticeably, as if she didn’t expect me to ask that question at all.

She looked at me with eyes that went as wide as saucers, hurriedly hiding both hands behind her as she stammered.

“I-It’s, just, it’s… a habit…”

“You’ll have to correct all your bad habits before you can become a lady-in-waiting later, won’t you?”

And right on cue, Missus Seymour interfered once again.

“Lily, I don’t think this child’s habits matter at the moment.”

“Yes, Missus Seymour, you’re right. So let’s hurry up and do a body search for all the people here.”

“Do we really need to do that? I’m more curious about why Charlotte Brandon entered the knight commander’s room.”

“Actually, Missus Seymour, she did that because I told her to.”

When Missus Seymour spoke, she had a smile on her lips. But now, as she heard my answer, her eyebrows wriggled.

“Don’t you think it’s strange for Charlotte to steal a gold brooch like that when she went to the knight commander’s room under my order? It’s not just anyone else’s order—it’s mine, the Duchess’. By chance, will you say that I ordered her to steal that brooch? Or perhaps, do you think that she impulsively pocketed it in there? She didn’t exactly enter that room without anyone knowing. She went there because I gave her an order to do so, didn’t she?”

“……”

Missus Seymour’s eyes were blazing with fury. But regardless of that, I turned to the three maids and two ladies-in-waiting.

“Now, come forward, let’s search you one by one. Or whoever did it, just come forward and confess before the search. If you do that, I’ll spare you from any corporeal punishment.”

However, no one admitted anything, so the search eventually commenced.

The search was conducted by Charlotte. Missus Seymour glared at me with blazing eyes, but at that moment, Charlotte paused when she took off one of Serena’s socks.

“Oh, this…”

As her left foot was raised, Serena remained frozen and speechless. Her face was completely pale.

The gold brooch slipped out the sock.

She was walking so strangely because the brooch was hidden in her sock.

Serena stumbled back and soon collapsed to the floor. I already expected it, but her conviction really was weak.

And I already knew the answer, but I still asked.

“Serena, did you steal it?”

“N-No…”

Her shoulders shook as her lips opened and closed. Tears welled up in Serena’s eyes as she shook her head vigorously, as if she really was innocent.

When she was about to say something, the unmannered lady-in-waiting stepped forward and shouted.

“You! You’re the one who stole it, but you tried to pin it on someone else?! You also stole Lucy’s silver earrings last time, too, didn’t you? Your younger siblings must be so proud of how you’re making a living!”

The situation started irrationally, and this time, too, it would end irrationally. And it seemed like the most irrational person here was the one who characteristically had no self-awareness.

As that lady-in-waiting pointed at Serena, her finger was shaking.

I grasped that hand and held it still. Shocked by this, the lady-in-waiting turned to me.

With a somewhat bored tone, I said,

“Stop it, Ayla. It’s no use. Unfortunately for you, even if you sell the knight commander’s gold brooch… No. Actually, no matter what else you steal, you won’t be able to settle all of your lover’s debts.”

“What, w-what are you…”

This lady-in-waiting’s name was Ayla.

I had quite the laundry list of the disgraces of each and every servant working in this household.

And of course, this included Ayla.