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Chapter 10
From the night Zeppelin had rushed into the study, Rebecca could not shake her suspicions about Alice.
Zeppelin had arrived at the mansion faster than Alicia and the luggage wagon.
And without the slightest hesitation, he had darted straight into the study.
Zeppelin never hurried in such a desperate manner.
Yet when he embraced Rebecca, his shirt had been soaked with sweat.
What could possibly have driven him to rush into the study?
The only variable in the mansion had been Rebecca herself.
And the only person who knew that was Alice.
“M-Milady… I-I can’t breathe….”
Rebecca’s grip tightened.
Alice struggled frantically, trying to pry away her hand.
Thinking about it, it was strange that she had never suspected Alice until now.
Rebecca’s maids were replaced almost every six months.
Whenever she grew even slightly attached, Zeppelin would dismiss the maids or send them elsewhere—
as if he refused to let her have even a single ally.
But Alice was different.
Alice had been with her from the very first day she entered the Count’s house.
That would have been impossible unless she was one of Zeppelin’s people.
Her judgment had been clouded for a while by the fact that Alice had once risked her life for her.
But now, even that sacrifice’s true purpose was unknowable.
Only when Alice’s eyes began to roll back did Rebecca finally release her grip.
She looked down coldly at Alice, who was gasping and coughing for breath.
“Run away.”
Alice, trembling as she clutched her throat, looked at Rebecca in shock.
A wave of betrayal hit so hard Rebecca wanted to tear her apart on the spot.
But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Memories of the days spent together with Alice stubbornly surfaced.
Every scrap of happiness she had known in the Count’s house had been with Alice by her side.
“M-Milady, w-what do you mean…?”
“You’ve already lost my trust. You know better than anyone how Zeppelin deals with that. I’ll give you one last chance. Tomorrow morning, I’ll tell him to dismiss you. So escape before dawn.”
Alice stared at Rebecca’s face, colder than frost.
She had been beside her for years, but this was the first time she had ever seen such an expression.
‘So she’s found me out.’
Alice clenched her fists.
She silently counted the payments she had yet to collect from Zeppelin.
After nights like this, he usually gave her even more than usual.
But Rebecca’s words weren’t wrong either.
She had seen many hunting dogs discarded once they lost their use.
There was no need to risk her neck for just a few more coins.
A thin smile slipped from Alice’s lips.
What a naïve, foolish woman.
Not even the courage to take revenge on a traitor.
She had never liked her—not once.
“You won’t even ask me why?”
“Knowing why won’t change anything. Just go quickly.”
“Rebecca, you’ve always been that way.”
Rebecca stared at Alice’s lips in silence.
Each word stabbed into her like a dagger.
Alice raised her eyes, wild with madness, and shouted at her:
“You had everything, yet you never knew how to enjoy it! Do you think anyone chooses to be born to poor parents? Wasn’t your family insignificant too? You should’ve been thankful when the Count took you in!”
“Alice… you say that even after seeing what I’ve suffered?”
Rebecca wanted to cover her ears.
It terrified her to hear such words coming from Alice—the one she had thought was on her side, the last one left.
Alice wiped the blood from her face and stood up, screaming as if possessed.
“Suffered? What the hell are you dissatisfied with? He cherished you, didn’t he? Showered you with jewels, dressed you up pretty! Do you know how many times a day I wished I could be you? That’s why even a mistress outshines you!”
“Alice. Watch your tongue. I could kill you right here.”
“Kill me! You can’t. You never could. You’ll always be the naïve, gentle Countess. Enough with the hypocrisy—”
Clang!
The door slammed open, and a maid smashed a washbasin over Alice’s head.
It was the maid who had been with Zeppelin just moments ago.
With a sharp metallic ring, Alice collapsed on the spot.
Without a flicker of expression, the maid bowed politely to Rebecca.
“Lady Rebecca, your bathwater is ready.”
Rebecca, eyes wide, stared at the maid who had appeared so suddenly.
The maid grabbed Alice by the hair.
“I will dispose of this filth.”
Holding the dented basin in her other hand, she dragged Alice out of the room.
The door closed quietly.
Rebecca sank to the floor as if collapsing.
“I gave her a chance…”
That maid must have been one of Zeppelin’s people.
After all, with such a commotion, it would have been strange if no one knew.
What would become of Alice now?
Horrible images passed through her mind, and a hollow laugh escaped her lips.
Even now, she was worrying about Alice. How laughable.
Rebecca recalled Alice’s cruel words, and tears she had held back streamed down.
‘Now I’m truly alone.’
Rebecca wept like a beast.
It hadn’t been unexpected. But expecting pain didn’t make it hurt less.
The crushing weight of having no one left on her side bore down on her.
She hugged her knees.
The loneliness was unbearable. Her sobs wouldn’t stop.
It felt like being back in that cage, relying helplessly on the scraps Zeppelin fed her.
Who knew how long she wept?
The maid who said the bath was ready never returned.
And Rebecca eventually stopped crying.
Even the moonlight was hidden by clouds. In the dark room, she blinked quietly, her eyes like the deep sea.
She patted her own shoulders as if soothing her newborn child.
“Hush… stop crying and grow strong…”
Rebecca lifted her head, rose to her feet, and picked up the vase filled with rapeseed flowers.
They shone a brilliant gold, just like Julian’s gaze upon her.
Rebecca set the vase on the windowsill.
At that moment, the clouds parted. The full moon shone brightly.
Moonlight spilled over every inch of her body.
Something long dormant within her began to awaken.
Rebecca whispered, her eyes steady:
“I’ll grow strong. Rebecca, you’ll become strong. Strong enough to shatter stone.”
The cold brilliance of the moon hurt her eyes.
But the fact that she held nothing in her hands comforted her.
She had nothing left to lose.
Which meant she could do anything.
Kanna, gripping Alice’s hair, stopped at the stairs.
Clicking her tongue, she hoisted Alice over her shoulder and descended.
‘So that’s how she’s been treated all this time.’
Her steps were heavy, her vision blurred.
‘Are you nothing but an errand girl who’ll do anything for money?’
When Zeppelin’s men had approached her, Kanna had nearly leapt for joy.
Her efforts hadn’t been in vain.
The money he promised her was more than she had ever held in her life.
But even for far less, she would have gladly accepted.
Entering this mansion had been her lifelong wish.
“Wh-what are you?! Let me go! Put me down! Lady Rebecca! Please save me!”
Alice, regaining consciousness, screamed and thrashed.
Kanna only tightened her grip. Alice shrieked at the force.
“Don’t you dare soil her name with your filthy mouth.”
“What…?”
Alice stared at her in shock.
Kanna strode across the garden and stopped before the Hall of Light.
The knights at the entrance opened the doors.
“The Count awaits.”
At the center stood a statue of the goddess Dephria, eyes covered with silk, her grandeur looming.
In her hands she held a massive sixteen-sided die.
Her gaze lifted skyward, indifferent to all that happened below.
Seeing the statue, Alice turned pale. She knew all too well what awaited her here.
Kanna threw her onto the cold marble floor.
Alice clutched at Kanna’s feet, begging.
“I’m sorry! Please, don’t take me to the underground. What do you want? I’ll give you anything, just please…”
“You’re noisy to the very end. Silence her.”
From the shadows, Zeppelin’s low voice.
Kanna glanced at him, then struck the back of Alice’s neck hard.
Fear flickered in Alice’s eyes as consciousness slipped away.
Zeppelin smiled with satisfaction.
“That’s why I tell you not to do things I didn’t order. You… Kanna, was it?”
“Yes.”
“Better than expected. Do well, and you’ll have everything you desire. But you know what happens if you overstep, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I like that you don’t add unnecessary words. This time, Octavio found me a good dog. Excellent. Starting tomorrow, you’ll serve as Rebecca’s maid in Alice’s place. Every thought, every gesture, every word, every glance of hers—you will report to me.”
Kanna bowed her head.
At Zeppelin’s clap, a burly man lifted Alice and carried her away.
Kanna’s eyes gleamed as she watched Zeppelin’s figure descend into the underground.
The day was overcast, and Rebecca overslept. A gloomy morning, like her mood.
“You’re awake, my lady. I’m Kanna, and from today, I will be serving you.”
Rebecca quietly studied her. The maid who had smashed Alice’s head with a basin last night.
How quick. Alice’s replacement already found.
Black hair, brown eyes.
Aside from a mole on her nose bridge, there was nothing remarkable about her—just an ordinary woman.
Rebecca searched her memory.
But there had never been a maid named Kanna.
‘The future has changed again.’
She let Kanna attend to her in silence. The girl’s skill was flawless.
‘Alice was clumsy in many ways.’
As memories surfaced, Rebecca’s vision blurred.
‘What became of Alice? Is she dead? Surely she must be. Did this Kanna tell them that I had discovered Alice’s true nature? That would be troublesome…’
Her worries spiraled.
There was still no reply from Duke Johannes. She had told him she would wait a few days, but the anxiety gnawed at her.
Rebecca clenched her fists out of habit.
Kanna, watching silently, finally spoke:
“Alice is dead.”
