Chapter : 08
“Eh? You were called too?”
“You too?”
“Seriously, why did they suddenly call all of us?”
“How should I know?”
Four maids and two male servants, who looked to be in their early to mid-twenties, stood in front of the door to Camilla’s room, snickering.
“I heard things between her and the Duke have gotten a little better lately?”
“So what? Is she going to scold us or something? Now, of all times?”
“Pfft! As if!”
“Do you really think that’ll last long?”
“I’ll bet the earrings I bought this time that she’ll lose her temper again, cause a scene, and fall out of the Duke’s favor.”
“Me too, me too.”
There wasn’t even the slightest sign that they found Camilla difficult or frightening.
A few kitchen maids had recently been caught bullying Camilla and were thrown out, but those maids had simply been unlucky.
Knock, knock.
Without any hesitation, they knocked and immediately opened the door.
They hadn’t even been given permission to enter.
It was something they always did, so they had no reason to hesitate.
“Eek!”
“Gasp!”
But the next moment, they had to quickly swallow their screams.
Because Camilla was lying limply on the bed.
The sight of Camilla collapsed on the bed, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, was enough to horrify them.
Unknown medicines were scattered all around her.
Anyone could see that she appeared to have taken her own life.
“Is… is she dead?”
The voice of the person who spoke trembled violently. Her face had turned completely pale.
What on earth had happened?!
Camilla was dead?!
Faced with the sudden situation, none of them knew what to do. They didn’t even have the courage to approach her and check whether she was alive or dead.
“Th-That…!”
How much time passed like that?
They remained frozen and unable to do anything until one of the maids suddenly cried out, snapping them back to their senses.
Only then did they take their eyes off Camilla and look toward where the maid was pointing.
“Th-That, could it be…?!”
“No way!”
A white sheet of paper lay on the bed where Camilla had collapsed.
Everyone there could easily guess what it was.
A suicide note.
It had to be the final letter Camilla had left behind.
They hurriedly picked up the letter.
“…!”
As the maids and servants read its contents, their expressions changed from moment to moment.
At first, they looked confused.
Then fear began to appear on their faces.
Their names were written clearly in the letter.
Not only their names, but everything they had done to Camilla was mentioned as well.
The letter ended with words claiming that she had been treated unfairly and begging for her resentment to be avenged.
“Oh my God.”
“Wh-What do we do?”
“This is insane…!”
“I-If this gets into the Duke’s hands…”
It was difficult to ignore the power of a suicide note left behind by someone who had taken their own life.
Even if they tried to make excuses and lie as usual, it would be useless.
Everyone would surely think, How unfairly must Camilla have been treated for her to kill herself?
Even when someone was a person you disliked, hearing that they had died naturally stirred at least a little sympathy.
And lately, hadn’t Camilla been getting along fairly well with Duke Sorfel?
If this letter reached the Duke in a situation like this…
“Let’s get rid of it.”
“What?”
“Let’s get rid of the letter.”
“B-But…”
“We can’t all die together!”
The maid shouted, and before anyone could respond, she immediately grabbed the suicide note and tore it into pieces.
The others had initially been shocked, but as they watched the letter disappear, they all breathed sighs of relief.
After all, they needed to survive.
As long as the suicide note was never discovered, there was no proof that they had anything to do with Camilla’s death.
Camilla’s suicide would simply be concluded as another impulsive act by Camilla, who, as always, had been unable to control her temper—
“Wow. Aren’t you all trusting your luck a little too much?”
“…?”
That was when it happened.
“Do you think you’ll always be lucky enough to be the first ones to find my suicide note?”
“Gasp!”
“Ahhh!”
A very familiar voice came from behind them as they stood there in relief.
They quickly turned around, and without anyone needing to be the first, they all screamed.
Some of them even collapsed onto the floor.
Camilla, whom they thought was dead, was perfectly fine.
She had gotten up and was watching everything they had done.
Wiping the red stain around her mouth with a handkerchief, Camilla smiled sweetly.
“I put on a little performance of dying again.”
“A-A performance?”
Only then did they understand what had happened, and their faces immediately twisted.
Had she been playing with them?
Had they really been fooled by such a ridiculous trick?
By someone like Camilla, of all people?
Anger immediately surged inside them.
Forgetting that they had been terrified only moments ago, they all looked annoyed.
Camilla watched all of their reactions and gave a short laugh.
“It could become real, though.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
The faces of those present slowly stiffened again.
It could become real?
Was she really planning to die?
“You all know that I’ve been going to the kitchen every night lately, right?”
Recently, there wasn’t anyone in the Duke’s household who didn’t know that Camilla went to the kitchen at the same time every night to prepare a late-night snack for Duke Sorfel.
There were even rumors that the Duke secretly liked and looked forward to the snacks she made.
“What if I don’t show up in the kitchen at that time?”
“What would happen?”
“Someone would at least find it strange and come looking for me, wouldn’t they?”
Their expressions clearly showed that they still didn’t understand.
So Camilla kindly explained it in simpler terms.
“What if, right at that time, I made a small cut on my wrist and held this suicide note tightly in my hand?”
“…!”
“Or I could scatter medicines all over the floor like I did just now and collapse. You were fooled too. Do you really think other people wouldn’t be fooled?”
“M-My lady!”
Only then did their faces turn pale as they realized this wasn’t a joke.
“A-Are you threatening us right now?”
“Threatening?”
For the first time, the smile disappeared from Camilla’s lips.
Her entire atmosphere changed in an instant.
The maid standing directly in front of her involuntarily flinched.
“A threat is something…”
Camilla trailed off as she took another step closer to the maid.
“…you make to people who have something you want.”
Then she reached out toward the maid who had just spoken.
Flinch!
Thinking she was about to be slapped, the maid squeezed her eyes shut.
Camilla smiled brightly at the sight.
Tap, tap.
She lightly patted the maid’s cheek.
“Do you threaten insects?”
“…!”
“Insects…”
The hand that had been patting her cheek slowly moved down and stroked the maid’s neck.
“You just step on them and kill them. Or crush them with your hand.”
“M-My lady!”
“I just don’t do it because I don’t want to get my hands and feet dirty.”
The maid who met Camilla’s eyes directly began trembling all over.
“But you know…”
Camilla’s voice became even lower.
“Wouldn’t there be a limit to that?”
The moment they saw the coldness settle into Camilla’s eyes, they all swallowed nervously.
“I don’t think I can keep tolerating those buzzing things anymore… so what should I do?”
The maid’s neck felt cold beneath Camilla’s touch.
It felt as if Camilla could snap her neck at any moment.
“W-We were wrong, my lady!”
“Please forgive us!”
Before they knew it, all the maids and servants were kneeling on the floor.
Some of them were even pressing their foreheads to the ground.
She was different!
She wasn’t the same as before!
If Camilla had simply shouted angrily or thrown things around like usual, they would have thought nothing of it.
They might have even laughed at her.
Of course, that’s just like you.
But—
This is different…!
Right now, they could barely breathe.
They could clearly feel that Camilla was not someone they could treat carelessly anymore.
Tap, tap.
“Let’s behave from now on.”
“I’m sorry! We’re sorry!”
Unlike the others, one maid was trembling so badly that she couldn’t even kneel.
Camilla gently tapped her cheek once again.
“Find it.”
“…Excuse me?”
“The ring you stole from me. Go and find it.”
“…! Yes!”
“Understood!”
The moment Camilla finished speaking, they all rushed out of the room without caring who went first.
They were in such a hurry that one of them even tripped over their own feet.
Bang!
The door closed in an instant.
Now alone in the room, Camilla finally let out a long breath.
Ugh, I’m exhausted.
Playing a villain was truly the best way to relieve stress.
But it also consumed a lot of physical and mental energy.
After all, you had to overwhelm the other person with an even stronger presence for the performance to truly work.
[…]
[…]
Derin and Perol approached Camilla as she dropped onto the bed as if she had collapsed.
They looked as though they had a great deal to say, but neither of them could easily open their mouths.
“Why?”
Seeing them repeatedly open and close their mouths without speaking, Camilla finally spoke first.
[That really surprised us.]
[You looked like you were really going to kill them.]
Only then did the butler ghost Derin and the chef ghost Perol, who had watched everything from one side of the room, finally speak.
Their faces were still filled with shock.
[That really was acting?]
They had been warned beforehand, but Camilla’s appearance as she pressured the maids and servants earlier had looked completely genuine.
The atmosphere had been so intense that it wouldn’t have been strange if someone had actually died.
If they hadn’t known what was going on, they might have rushed out and shouted at her to stop.
“I’m someone who even won the Grand Prize for playing a villain, beating out the protagonist.”
[Grand Prize? What’s that?]
[You can win awards for acting?]
Leaving the two ghosts, who clearly had no idea what she meant, behind her, Camilla picked up the glass of water on the table and took a sip.
[But, Lady Camilla.]
“Yes, go ahead.”
Derin spoke again, as if he still had something he was curious about.
[Didn’t you already find the ring?]
She had just ordered the maids and servants to find her ring, but hadn’t she already found it herself?
“I’m naturally a very polite person.”
[Polite?]
[What are you suddenly talking about?]
“Isn’t it polite to give people back exactly what you’ve received?”
Camilla looked down at the hand holding her glass.
It was covered with scratches from rose thorns.
Anyone watching would think the rose garden was cursed.
After all, people other than Camilla had also been digging through and tearing up the rose garden.
You should all get called crazy bitches too.
Under the puzzled gazes of Derin and Perol, Camilla smiled sweetly.
