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Chapter 17
The first to regain composure was Theodore.
“Th-Those ears… what are they?”
As if she couldn’t even hear him, Claire stared at her own ears in disbelief and rubbed them frantically.
“Why are these out?”
In a hurry, she pressed them down firmly with both hands, but the ears refused to disappear.
‘It’s been since childhood since I couldn’t hide my ears at will.’
Her beastfolk blood had been exposed.
Covering the ears as best she could, Claire cautiously watched Theodore’s reaction. Hiding her race was obvious employment fraud. If she were thrown out immediately, she would have no excuse.
However, although Theodore initially looked startled, he calmed down surprisingly quickly and asked in an even tone,
“Were you beastfolk?”
Claire awkwardly scratched her cheek. With the ears standing out so openly, there was no point hiding it anymore.
“Yes. Only a quarter, though.”
“A quarter?”
“Yes.”
At that, Theodore paused as though deep in thought, then slowly nodded as if something finally made sense.
“So that’s why you were able to restrain me even when I went berserk.”
It was an unexpectedly simple response. Claire’s eyes widened. She had assumed Theodore would resent her for deceiving him.
“You’re not shocked?”
“I was. But I never thought you were an ordinary person to begin with. I had vaguely guessed you were hiding something.”
Claire’s ears twitched at his words.
“Why?”
“Hm?”
“Didn’t I… seem normal enough?”
“Huh?”
Claire stared at Theodore in devastation. For months, she had worked hard to appear like an ordinary maid.
‘Wasn’t this normal enough?’
She hadn’t punched anyone or fought wild beasts. By Claire’s standards, that counted as an exceptionally quiet life.
Carefully, Theodore explained to the visibly disheartened Claire,
“Ordinary maids don’t casually deflect flying punches or single-handedly capture and tie up rampaging people.”
At that moment, Claire realized her mistake.
‘The problem was using Mother and Angela as the standard.’
The only women around her growing up had been powerful mercenaries. Somehow feeling empty inside, Claire lowered her head. Her round ears drooped limply with her mood, drawing Theodore’s gaze.
‘They oddly suit her.’
Even after learning Claire was beastfolk, Theodore felt no discomfort whatsoever. He had already suspected something, and more importantly, someone capable of effortlessly subduing a violent madman being an ordinary human would have been stranger.
‘Still, I wonder what kind of beastfolk she is. A weasel? A marten? No, Claire is strong… maybe a predator type like a lion.’
While Theodore pondered, Claire decided to take comfort in the fact that she apparently wasn’t getting fired.
“Thank you for understanding.”
“No need to thank me. I’ve received a lot from you too. But… I think it would be better if you hid those ears. Can you?”
“Well…”
Claire was just about to confess that it wasn’t working properly—
“Theodore? Are you alright?”
A knock sounded alongside Gregory’s voice.
“I heard you skipped both lunch and dinner. Are you feeling alright?”
The two exchanged startled glances. It seemed suspicious that Claire, who had always retrieved meals with perfect punctuality, hadn’t appeared at the dining hall all day.
“I’m fine! Things are a little hectic right now, so I’ll greet you properly later!”
Theodore hurriedly made excuses, but Gregory still spoke in a worried voice.
“It’s alright, just open the door. I brought medicine that’s supposed to help calm you.”
That gentle voice felt like a noose tightening around their necks. Claire focused desperately on retracting her ears again, but nothing happened.
Finally cornered, Claire leaned close to Theodore’s ear and whispered,
“I’ll jump out the window, so just open the door.”
“This is the third floor!”
“It’s only the third floor.”
At this point, with her beastfolk identity already exposed, there was little left to hide. Claire fully intended to leave openly.
After inhaling sharply, Theodore hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Then be careful—”
“Yes.”
Watching Theodore approach the door, Claire stepped toward the window. Just before the doorknob turned, she slipped smoothly out the window.
‘Still, after sleeping, I feel much better.’
Landing safely on the ground, she checked her condition. Aside from being unable to undo her partial transformation, she felt fine.
‘First I’ll return to the dormitory. Once the ears disappear, I’ll go back to the young master.’
Claire lazily stretched and began walking—
“Y-You! You!”
A shrill voice like a scream pierced her ears. Turning around, she found Bender staring at her in horror.
“To think you were a filthy beastfolk!”
‘This is probably the normal reaction.’
Claire clicked her tongue as she compared his reaction to Theodore’s completely different response.
The entire Voltaire Count’s estate descended into chaos.
A maid who had hidden the fact that she was beastfolk. The servants all added fuel to the fire as they criticized Claire.
“I knew it! There was something wrong with her eyes from the start!”
“How dare a beastfolk sneak in here? What if she was targeting Lord Gregory’s life?”
“She should be thrown out immediately! No—she deceived nobles, so she shouldn’t get off lightly!”
With her senses sharpened by her partial transformation, every word reached Claire’s ears clearly.
‘They’re noisy.’
Ignoring the unpleasant buzzing that sounded like mosquito wings, Claire obediently entered the underground prison. Despite all the vicious accusations flying around outside, her expression remained completely calm.
‘These handcuffs and bars… I could break them easily enough.’
The sturdy metal cuffs felt as light as toys to her. Claire looked up at the tiny window positioned high on the prison wall.
‘If I smash the wall beside the bars, I could escape easily.’
As she habitually analyzed escape routes and nearly completed a plan in her head—
A tiny hand suddenly slipped through the window bars.
“Claire!”
“Lady Bella?”
Isabella had tears streaming down her bright red face as she clung tightly to the iron bars.
“Claire, are you okay?”
Claire’s indifferent expression immediately crumbled. The crying little raccoon-like child looked so heartbroken that Claire hurried to comfort her awkwardly.
“Please don’t cry. I’m perfectly fine.”
“But those heavy handcuffs…”
Isabella’s eyes drifted toward the thick metal restraints binding Claire’s wrists. Seeing the child trembling as if the sky itself had collapsed, Claire immediately exerted force and snapped the cuffs apart.
“See? These are basically just bracelets.”
The broken cuffs now hung around her wrists like accessories. Claire even swung her arms around as though the weight meant nothing.
“U-Uh…”
Looking slightly dazed, Isabella finally stopped crying and sniffled as she wiped her nose.
“But how did you come here alone?”
“Inside, everyone kept shouting that you were beastfolk and that you should be thrown out. That’s how I found out you were here. Ah! I don’t think you’re strange!”
Isabella desperately shoved her face between the bars as she shouted,
“I-I don’t think you’re strange at all. It’s okay even if you’re beastfolk.”
Her cheeks reddened where the rough iron scraped against them. Claire nodded quickly.
“I know. I know, my lady. So don’t apologize. See? I’m right here.”
At those words, some of the tension drained from Isabella’s body. The child spoke again in a trembling, tearful voice.
“Claire… if people find out you’re beastfolk, do you really have to leave?”
Isabella was terrified. Everyone in the mansion was saying Claire needed to be punished, while Gregory and Theodore remained shut inside a room discussing something she couldn’t hear.
‘If I just quietly wait in my room… Claire might really get kicked out.’
It was already late evening. Leaving the building alone was frightening.
But losing Claire was far more terrifying.
‘Claire must be scared too, being alone in prison. I was terrified when I was alone in the annex too.’
Now, the only person who hugged Isabella anymore was Claire.
To hold onto the last remaining warmth in her life, Isabella gathered all her courage.
“My lady…”
Claire silently looked into the child’s trembling eyes filled with desperation. But she couldn’t answer carelessly. Without knowing how things would unfold, it was impossible to make promises.
“I…”
Trying, however clumsily, to comfort Isabella, Claire stepped closer to the window.
But before her words could fully reach the child, Isabella’s body was suddenly yanked backward violently.
“Ahh!”
Isabella screamed in surprise. The head maid, her face twisted in anger, shouted sharply,
“Lady Isabella! What do you think you’re doing?!”
