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Chapter 35
“W-what… what was that.”
The line I’d tossed out so casually had sounded far too cool……
When I made my eyes sparkle, Madam Odilon cleared her throat and averted her gaze.
“Anyway, you don’t need to worry too much. Thanks to this, I was able to pull it out by the roots completely as well.”
She tried to hide her reddened ears behind her hair and glanced around nervously. I gave a faint smile and pretended not to notice that cute side of her.
“Then they’re all in custody now?”
At my words, Madam Odilon nodded.
“They’re all imprisoned in the underground dungeons of the Imperial Palace right now. The interrogations are finished for the time being too. But…”
She spoke with a deeply displeased expression.
“My husband confessed to everything, but Xavier Ferscher kept his mouth shut to the very end.”
“He didn’t talk?”
“Yes. They tried torture, persuasion, and coaxing, but nothing worked.”
…Of course it wouldn’t.
‘Because Frombel is involved.’
I immediately understood why Xavier was keeping silent. The slave trader who had been holding Matthias had Grand Duke Frombel backing him.
If he sensed his tail was about to be stepped on, he would do anything to escape, even if it meant offering up a scapegoat. In the process, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill a few people either.
That was why Xavier was deliberately keeping his mouth shut.
“For now, His Majesty’s personal knight order is guarding the prison.”
Madam Odilon added that, thinking there must be another backer behind this as well, they were strictly watching so no outsiders could come and go.
After thinking it over, I asked,
“May I meet him once?”
“…You, my lady?”
For once, she hesitated.
“Since he’s under investigation, it’s difficult, right?”
“N-no. Meeting him won’t be difficult. You’re also a victim in this case, after all… But I’m a bit worried.”
In case he said something strange.
Madam Odilon voiced her concern carefully. Since I wasn’t unaware of that worry, I nodded to show it was fine.
“I just want to see him one last time.”
I was also curious about how he was rotting in there.
‘And things he didn’t say during the investigation—’
He might say them in front of me. I planned to provoke him a little and see what came out.
“…Then I’ll try to arrange it.”
Madam Odilon nodded as if she had no choice.
“By the way, you’ll be busy from now on.”
Understanding what she meant, I smiled brightly.
All the family’s debts had been transferred to that bastard, and there was no more need to deal with creditors. All that remained was to clean up and rebuild the ruined finances and the trading company.
I might become even busier from now on.
“I’m happy with that.”
Because it meant we had gotten through the crisis.
That alone was more than enough.
And not long after.
At my request that I wanted to meet him as soon as possible, Madam Odilon moved right away.
“Miss! I-it’s here!”
“!”
It hadn’t even been that long since she left. I received a letter from Sophia as soon as my wounds were disinfected.
Inside were Madam Odilon’s letter and another envelope.
Perhaps because the matter was so serious and urgent, when he heard that I wanted to meet Xavier, the Emperor had sent a personal letter telling me to come as soon as my condition allowed.
‘He replied right away.’
I looked through the letters with satisfaction.
My wounds hadn’t fully healed yet, but since this might be my last chance, I had to go even if I needed support.
“Are you really all right…?”
Sophia murmured worriedly as she checked the fresh gauze. It was like she was asking how I could go anywhere in this condition.
“Don’t you want to get one last dig in?”
“Of course I do, but… what if your wound opens?”
“That’s why Sir Enoch is coming with me.”
On top of that, the Emperor’s side was sending an escort, so the chance of any accident was extremely small.
Persuaded by my words, Sophia nodded reluctantly.
“Then, as soon as it gets light, we’ll prepare.”
Enoch was currently staying at the mansion to take care of me. I could move around inside the room without much trouble now, so going out briefly should be fine.
“Tell Sir Enoch, okay? We’ll leave as soon as everything’s ready tomorrow.”
“Yes, Miss.”
Sophia turned and left right away.
While she went to deliver the message, I looked once more at the letters still in my hand.
‘It’s about time…’
to wrap things up.
…or so I had firmly resolved, but—
“…Matthias.”
“Yeah.”
“My injury is in my abdomen.”
Not my legs, though……
I glanced up at the man who was holding me tightly in his arms.
The guy who had lightly dismissed my demand to put me down simply kept walking calmly. All the gaslighting about how I was fine had gone out the window the moment we left the carriage.
“…Who is that person?”
“Are his legs injured?”
People passing by whispered when they saw us. Even the knights were no exception.
The ones who had come on the Emperor’s orders were glancing at us out of the corners of their eyes, showing a strange curiosity.
‘Just let me walk already!’
Bipedal walking is this difficult.
Damp, dark air.
A foul stench. Moss and insects clinging to the walls.
“Damn it!”
The body that had been thrashing about collapsed onto the floor. But it couldn’t get back up. Both hands and feet were tightly bound with rope.
‘This is all because of that damn thing!’
Just thinking about it made his teeth grind.
Not only had it deceived him all this time, it even dared to ruin everything?!
He still couldn’t forget the way it had looked down on him like he was some insignificant creature.
‘If I just get out of here.’
He would pay them back several times over for what he had suffered. With that person’s help, dealing with Aria, that little bitch, would be easy.
‘Damn it. If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just sold her back then!’
He’d spared her because she seemed like she might be useful—who would have imagined she’d become a hidden dagger like this?!
‘If I can just meet that person… no, I don’t even need to meet them!’
He just wanted to beg for help, to swear that he would take responsibility and see this through to the end, and to ask them to trust him just once.
Just once.
If he could get even that single fleeting chance, he could rise again.
Xavier ground his teeth in frustration.
That was when—
step, step.
Footsteps echoed from far away. Was it those unlucky knight bastards again?
Thinking they had come to mock and toy with him again, Xavier’s face naturally darkened.
But as the sound drew closer, a light for the first time seeped into that face that had never known remorse.
Creeeak—
With a harsh sound, the iron door opened.
He didn’t know how they had gotten in, but—
‘They came to save me!’
Xavier’s eyes shone as he broke into a wide smile. Just as expected, that person hadn’t abandoned him.
Just as he had kept all of their secrets, that person had stepped forward for his sake—
“—Ghk!”
…or so he thought, in the very next moment.
His vision was dyed red.
He didn’t even feel pain. By the time he barely regained his senses,
“Tsk. How annoying.”
his head was rolling some distance away.
