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Chapter 12
“Exposed Wounds and Growing Surveillance”
“Miss?”
Beth knocked again when I didn’t answer. I flinched at the door, which didn’t lock properly, but then noticed a white barrier wrapping around the handle.
“Are you ready?”
Lafer’s emotionless voice made it clear—he already knew everything.
He knew what kind of position I held in this household, and how I was treated.
Humiliation surged through me, and I lowered my head to avoid his gaze, nodding silently.
He said nothing for a moment, then—snap—I heard his fingers click.
As if by magic, the tightly closed door opened.
“You were in your room?”
“What’s the matter?”
Beth’s eyes darted around the room. I glanced toward where Lafer stood, but she didn’t seem to notice him.
So… she couldn’t see him.
“Beth.”
“Y-yes, Miss?”
“I asked you—what’s the matter?”
Beth avoided my gaze. She looked flustered, like she hadn’t planned what to say next.
“Well, um… I was wondering about dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“Yes, today’s menu is veal tenderloin steak with fresh seasonal vegetables, and a salad—”
“Beth.”
I cut her off coldly.
She blinked rapidly in surprise.
“Y-yes, Miss!”
“You’ve never asked me about dinner before.”
“…What?”
“So if you’ve finished confirming everything, could you leave?”
“I—I didn’t mean it like that…!”
“I said, get out.”
She stammered, but I held firm. Beth flinched, then reluctantly left the room.
Click. The door shut.
Only after the footsteps faded did I feel some of the tension drain from my shoulders.
“Lafer, does Crocan Piace know about this?”
He responded casually, having heard everything.
I shrugged. “I think so. Father’s probably been turning a blind eye to some extent.”
“Even knowing, he let it happen? That man didn’t seem like someone who’d tolerate this kind of behavior.”
“Every house has its secrets. Even ones that look happy from the outside.”
Lafer narrowed his eyes at my cryptic response. Then he grinned playfully.
“You might need poison more than hair dye.”
“…”
“If you’d like, you can change your wish. I’ll allow it—just this once.”
I eyed him suspiciously, unsure of the sudden change in attitude, then shook my head.
“I’m not going to stoop to their level. Besides, I understand where they’re coming from.”
“What do you mean?”
“My mother ran away from this estate. Maybe they think I’ll do the same. Since I resemble her, I suppose I remind them.”
Lafer’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
Before he could press further, I raised the whistle he gave me and smiled.
“Shouldn’t we resolve this first? Seems like we both have things to say.”
He nodded reluctantly, like he wanted to continue but accepted the interruption.
As I faced him, my hands clenched into fists, damp with sweat from how tense I’d been.
A pitch-dark room. The soft tap-tap of fingers drumming against a desk echoed inside.
The ticking of a clock matched the rhythm, creating a chilling ambiance.
Crocan’s eyes had been fixed on the door for some time.
At a knock, he finally looked up.
“Sir, it’s Damon.”
The door opened, and Damon entered, followed by a nervous maid.
“This is Beth.”
Crocan stood up, watching her closely.
“Oh, so you’re Beth. I heard from Damon. You’ve been working hard.”
“N-not at all, sir.”
“Sit. I’ve been meaning to ask you a few things.”
Beth glanced nervously at Damon before sitting down hesitantly.
Crocan watched her with a steady gaze.
She was the maid he personally assigned to Levelia.
Something had changed in his daughter lately.
There was no clear moment it began, but—
The child who once lashed out at the maids had grown strangely calm.
She no longer raged. She simply waited—like a beast hiding its claws.
The desperation and fear once visible in her eyes were gone.
Crocan didn’t like it.
“I heard from Damon. You have many younger siblings?”
“Yes? Oh, yes! But thanks to your generosity, they’re doing well.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Crocan continued to stare, his gaze turning colder.
“Beth, you know I’m not just some kind-hearted philanthropist.”
“…”
“Do you know why I helped you and your siblings?”
Beth met his eyes, then quickly bowed her head.
After a moment of hesitation, she replied, “Y-yes, sir.”
“…”
“It was so you’d take good care of Lady Levelia.”
“She is my only daughter.”
“That’s why I must know what she’s thinking, who she meets—everything.”
“I can’t let insects gather around my precious daughter.”
The pressure in the room was suffocating. Beth’s body trembled.
Then, Crocan’s cold voice came again.
“I heard that while you were away, Levelia disappeared.”
“…”
“Damon said she went to see the plaza.”
“Y-yes! That day, she told me she’d been to the plaza and even bought me candied fruit skewers!”
Beth watched him carefully as she spoke.
Crocan stopped tapping the sofa’s armrest.
He raised his gaze.
“I couldn’t help but wonder… if the plaza was just an excuse.”
“Pardon?”
“That child takes after her mother—she hates sweets.”
Beth blinked rapidly, caught off guard.
Crocan’s sharp gaze pierced through her, and she collapsed to the floor in a panic.
“I-I’m sorry, sir! I truly believed she just went sightseeing…!”
“Beth.”
“…Yes.”
“I’m not blaming you. Just sharing my thoughts.”
“Unusual behavior from someone her age—if it only happened once, I could believe that.”
Sweat poured from Beth’s face. This man could take her life—or her siblings’—on a whim.
“What I want to know is whether Levelia’s actions were limited to that day alone.”
Beth finally understood why she’d been summoned.
Her eyes wavered, recalling the recent events.
“S-since then, she’s stayed in her room.”
“…”
“But today… something felt different!”
Crocan waited, and Beth added cautiously—
“I—I thought I heard voices coming from her room.”
“Voices?”
Beth nodded.
“I thought it was strange, so I checked. She was standing by the bookshelf, reading.”
“…And?”
“But I swear I heard a man’s voice.”
A man?
Crocan’s eyes sharpened.
Beth, still prostrated, continued.
“And when I entered… she looked at me with a flushed face.”
“Like someone who’d just been caught doing something they didn’t want seen.”
