🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 14
Fwaaash, patter!
Sheets of white paper scattered through the air like snow.
Through them, I could see Jonas’s dumbfounded face.
“W-What is the meaning of this…?”
I curled my lips into a mocking smile.
“Hmph. Did you really think no one would ever find out?”
“Y-Young Lady…? I-I don’t understand what you’re talking about…”
Click.
My red heel pressed down firmly on one of the papers lying on the floor. Among the scattered documents, it was the cover page with the large title written across it.
Jonas’s eyes slowly widened as she looked down.
“This is…!”
“If you’ve got eyes, then read it. Isn’t that right?”
That’s right—these were the real documents you’d been hiding.
Watching her face grow paler by the second, I let out a small laugh.
“W-What… what is this? I-I-I don’t know anything about this, Young Lady! Are you saying I deceived the Duke?!”
“Oh? So you do recognize what it is?”
“Gasp!”
She hurriedly clamped both hands over her mouth.
There was no way she could have read all those tiny letters in that short amount of time…
That reaction alone was proof enough she was guilty.
“T-This is a misunderstanding! I-I…”
“A misunderstanding?”
I grinned and tapped one of the fallen documents with the tip of my shoe.
“This signature here—it’s yours, isn’t it?”
“T-That’s…”
“Or did a ghost sign it for you?!”
I deliberately raised my voice. The sharp sound echoed through the hallway, but nobody dared intervene.
Jonas’s face turned deathly pale.
“Y-Young Lady…! No, that’s not true! Please, just once…!”
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear your voice, so keep your mouth closed!”
I waved my hand irritably.
Just how much information had she leaked all this time?
And to the Crown Prince of all people—the person I hated most.
“Young Lady! Please… it’s all a misunderstanding! If you’d just listen to me once…”
Jonas crawled forward on her knees and clutched the hem of my dress.
“Let go!”
I kicked her hand away, but she stubbornly clung on.
No, seriously—why are you doing this? It’s not like I’m going to forgive you!
“Please! Just hear me out once! This is a setup! I’m innocent!”
“Ah, let go already! Do you have a death wish?!”
Hey, aren’t you idiots going to help?
I glared at the knights, and only then did they awkwardly begin moving.
Just as they were about to pry Jonas away from my dress—
“That’s enough.”
A low, cold voice echoed from the end of the hallway.
Everyone’s gaze turned toward the source of the voice as Duke Rosenthal strode down the corridor with a chilling expression.
The knights immediately bowed their heads.
“Y-Your Grace!”
The moment Jonas spotted him, she shoved me aside and collapsed to the floor before him. I staggered back a couple of steps and glared at her with raised brows.
“Your Grace! I truly did nothing wrong! This is someone else’s trap! Please, please believe me!”
As if he would.
Apparently the Duke thought the same thing, because he didn’t even spare her a glance.
Instead, he slowly bent down and picked up one of the scattered papers. After briefly scanning its contents, a cold smile spread across his lips.
“…Jonas Kramer.”
“Y-Yes! Your Grace!”
“You still don’t realize that everything you’ve done has already been exposed.”
“……!”
All color drained from Jonas’s face in an instant.
I crossed my arms and watched the scene with amusement.
“N-No…”
“It’s been ten years, hasn’t it? Ten years since you swore loyalty and served by my side.”
He dropped the document in front of her. The paper rolled limply across the floor.
“Do you know how much money you embezzled during those ten years?”
“……”
“Over five hundred thousand gold. Enough to cover an entire year of expenses for the ducal household.”
Oh, that’s even more than I expected.
And that was probably only the amount they could directly calculate. The future value of things like the Conrad Mine probably wasn’t even included.
Tsk. She really milked them dry.
No wonder the duchy’s finances had been declining even though nothing major had happened.
The lost five hundred thousand gold was unfortunate, but…
What’s done is done. At least we uncovered the spy now.
Does that mean the Blue Diamond has been preserved?
That alone was a huge success.
Now then, next up…
“Take her to the underground prison. I will interrogate her personally.”
…Would be gathering information about the Crown Prince, I suppose.
“……! Y-Your Grace! Please, no! Do you truly not trust me?!”
Jonas cried out in horror and clung desperately to the Duke’s leg.
The underground prison of House Rosenthal was infamous.
Once someone entered, they never came out again. Even in death, they remained there forever.
So her reaction wasn’t anything unusual. Everyone reacted that way.
The knights grabbed Jonas by the arms and began dragging her away. She resisted, but it was useless.
“Ugh… Y-Your Grace! I’ve been wronged…! Let go of me! You fools, do you not fear me?! Your Grace!”
“……”
“Your Grace! Your Grace!”
Jonas’s screams faded into the distance down the corridor.
Hmph. It’s finally quiet.
For a side character who disappears halfway through the story, she sure talked a lot.
I dusted off my hands with a satisfied smile when the Duke, who had remained silent until now, turned to look at me.
“……?”
The strange look in his eyes—without him saying a word—made me tilt my head.
It was almost as if…
He were observing someone he’d never seen before.
“Father?”
“…Where did these documents come from?”
He gestured toward the papers scattered across the floor—the ones I’d shown Jonas earlier.
Since I’d already prepared for this question, I answered immediately with a shameless grin.
Questions like this were all about speed.
“You remember how I said I wanted the Blue Diamond? Then I suddenly remembered something Jonas once mentioned… so I went into her room!”
“…Jonas’s room?”
“Yes! I thought maybe she’d hidden one there without telling me. Hmph, but there were only useless papers everywhere and no jewels at all. Father, when will you be able to get the Blue Diamond?”
I clasped my hands together and spoke dreamily, acting like someone truly obsessed with diamonds.
“Ah, if I had that, I could totally crush that awful Lady Bella Meyer! And His Highness the Crown Prince would look at me again too!”
The Duke stared silently at me for a moment before sighing deeply.
His expression practically screamed, So she’s still the same after all.
“…Do you still like His Highness the Crown Prince?”
“Of course! Just wait and see—soon His Highness will come to his senses and start pursuing me.”
This might actually be the first time I’ve wanted to slap my own mouth.
…Okay, that was a lie. It’s probably happened a thousand times already.
Anyway, after watching me, the Duke let out several more sighs and turned away.
I stared at his back, eyes gleaming.
Now then… where exactly is the underground prison?
I searched through my memories, but Evelyn had never known the location of the prison.
…Well, finding a prison isn’t exactly difficult. Guess I’ll move around a little more.
The easiest way to locate the underground prison was to monitor the movements of the knights.
Especially because whenever someone was imprisoned there, separate guards would always be assigned to the entrance.
Which meant…
So you’re the assigned guard.
The moment I spotted a shaggy-haired knight with brown hair, I quietly followed behind him.
Thankfully, the mansion was large enough that me wearing a maid’s robe didn’t attract much attention.
I pulled up my silver hair beneath the hood and kept my head lowered as I tailed the knight.
He seemed to be heading toward the western annex to change shifts.
Hmm. The western annex is practically sealed off… so it really was there.
Thinking about it, that was the perfect location. They couldn’t exactly place a prison somewhere guests and servants constantly passed through.
The knight stopped in front of a door inside the annex, where two other knights were already standing guard.
“Shift change.”
“Good work.”
After the brief exchange, one of the knights left his post. However, the brown-haired knight and the remaining guard still stayed stationed at the door.
From what I overheard, another guard who was supposed to rotate in had been unable to come because of an urgent matter.
Tsk. So even during shift changes, two guards remain posted.
Hidden behind a nearby pillar, I quietly observed the situation.
What should I do?
A frontal approach was impossible. Even dressed as a maid, I couldn’t go downstairs without a proper reason.
That brown-haired knight looks a little dumb… If only I could distract the other one somehow…
Just then, one of the guards spoke up with an uncomfortable expression.
“Hey, mind if I step away to the restroom for a moment?”
The brown-haired knight tilted his head.
“Right now?”
“My stomach’s killing me. I haven’t left this post once since earlier. I seriously can’t hold it anymore.”
“…Tsk. Fine, hurry back.”
“Thanks!”
The knight hurried off.
…Now’s my chance!
I quickly scanned the surroundings. In the corner of the hallway, I spotted a pile of cleaning supplies.
Bingo.
I swiftly approached and grabbed an empty bucket. Carefully moving to the opposite end of the hallway, I checked to make sure no one was around.
Then I hurled it as hard as I could into the distance.
CRASH! SPLASH!
Startled by the loud noise, the knight whipped his head around.
“W-Who goes there?!”
His hand flew to the sword at his waist as he headed toward the source of the sound.
Right now!
I darted out from behind the pillar and sprinted toward the door. The moment my hand grasped the handle, I pulled it open without hesitation.
