PHATFO 23

Chapter 23

The Countess, who was making a scene in the hallway, went straight to the punishment room.

The punishment room was surrounded by cold stone walls, so it was easy to clean up any traces, but the soundproofing was not good.

Whenever I passed the punishment room,

“Speak! Tell me what else you stole and hid in your skirt!”

the Countess’s screams, and

“N-no! I didn’t steal anything. Please believe me, ma’am,”

Tana’s crying voice could be heard.

“You insolent thing, you lie every time you open your mouth! Do you think I’m easy to fool?!”

The Countess didn’t care if her victim was crying. There was even a sharp sound like something cutting through the wind.

After feeling ignored by both her husband and her maid, the Countess couldn’t hold back her anger.

“No, ma’am… I didn’t do it… I swear…”

Even as she collapsed, Tana didn’t admit to the crime.

If she was declared a maid who stole her master’s belongings, she would lose both of her hands. In the Empire, the punishment for stealing was severe.

The other maids froze and couldn’t say a word about how Tana might not be the culprit.

If they said the wrong thing, the Countess’s rage could turn on them.

I knew the truth.

I was the one who placed the Countess’s ring in Tana’s room.

On the day Lady Hilton visited the Rohiltern mansion, the Countess had been so focused on hitting me that she didn’t notice her ring slipping from her finger.

I secretly picked it up and, using the secret passage, entered Tana’s room.

Just like when I went down to the basement to see Ahfwyn, the secret passage helped me bring Tana down.

I knew the mansion’s secret passage because my father had taught it to me personally.

[Remember this well. One day, you will be the one to own this mansion.]

My father had held me when I was barely able to read and taught me where the secret passages connected. He even tested me multiple times to make sure I had memorized it.

At the time, his face was so serious that I couldn’t refuse, but now it felt strange.

It wasn’t something you’d normally teach a three-year-old.

‘What was Father thinking? Did he expect to die early and leave me alone?’

It was a question I couldn’t answer now.

What mattered was that the secret passage connected to the mansion’s main rooms.

The attic where I stayed and the servants’ quarters weren’t connected.

But Tana’s room was. She was a maid favored by Charlotte and used a room right next to her mistress. That made my plan possible.

“Such a stubborn thing.”

When the punishment room door opened, the maids tightly shut their mouths to stop themselves from gasping.

Tana, dragged out by two maids, was clearly not in normal condition.

The Countess threw the whip down on the floor.

“Lock her in the storage room and keep an eye on her. Don’t give her even a sip of water until she says she’ll tell the truth. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The maid, trembling, nodded.

Perhaps relieved of her stress, the Countess walked away briskly, and the remaining maids whispered.

“Doesn’t something feel off? Tana isn’t the type to do that.”

“But the Countess just keeps pushing her…”

“Be quiet, you idiots. What if the Countess hears you?”

They didn’t seem to notice that I was nearby.

I glanced at the open punishment room and then went down to the dining hall.

As expected, the Countess was already there.

I sat across from her as usual, then pretended to be startled and covered my mouth.

“I’m sorry, ma’am. The smell was just too strong.”

“…”

She ignored me, staring straight ahead.

‘That’s no fun.’

I raised the stakes.

“Um, ma’am. Is it true you beat a maid until she passed out?”

The Countess glared at me.

“Is that what you’re so curious about? Fine, I’ll tell you. That girl dared to covet what was not hers, so that’s why. So you too—”

“Do you think that maid knows that?”

The Countess’s mouth snapped shut.

“You might think you had a good reason for the punishment, but the person who gets beaten doesn’t understand that. All they feel is hurt and sadness.”

“So what?”

As the Countess’s eyebrows rose, my smile grew sly.

“That day.”

The day Lady Hilton had visited.

“It hurt so much I still remember it.”

It wasn’t even a lie—I’d been chewing pain-relieving herbs every day since then to endure the pain.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”

“I told the Count yesterday, and he apologized on your behalf… but an apology from someone else doesn’t mean much.”

I slowly walked up to the Countess and smiled.

“But then I realized we see each other at least once a day. Wouldn’t it be better to hear it from you directly?”

“You…!”

The Countess’s face flushed red as she stood up. I mouthed words only she could see.

‘Frustrating, isn’t it? That you can’t even touch me now.’

The moment she raised her hand—

“What is this? What are you two talking about, standing there like that?”

The Count walked in.

Unable to hit me in front of him, the Countess trembled with rage and stormed out of the dining room.

As she left, she muttered, “Unlucky brat.”

The Count was probably included in that insult too, but I pretended not to hear it.

“She just… doesn’t seem to be feeling well.”

“Is that so?”

The Count didn’t show much of a reaction.

He had always been indifferent to other people’s pain.

And as usual, he didn’t really care about the Countess.

“By the way, about the Mihilun mine… I explained it well to Lady Hilton, and she replied that there must have been a misunderstanding. She said she’ll discuss it with her advisors again, so we might get good news soon.”

At the tempting topic, he immediately forgot about what had just happened.

“Really? I’m so glad the misunderstanding has been cleared up.”

Then the Count gestured to a chair.

“Why are you standing there? Sit down. You must be hungry. Let’s eat.”

If the Count was laughing every day, the Countess’s mood got worse with each passing day.

“Ahhhh!”

Every night, unpleasant things were left on her desk.

The day before yesterday, it was a torn invitation to a tea party she had been rejected from. Yesterday, it was a dead rat. And today, it was a damaged painting returned for a refund.

The Countess watched as the maids cleaned her room, then glared at a maid standing by the wall.

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

“M-me?”

“I clearly remember. I told you to throw this painting away. So why did you bring it back to my room? Are you trying to mock me too?”

The maid quickly fell to the floor and begged.

She remembered seeing Tana being dragged away, bleeding.

“No, ma’am! I was standing in the hallway all day! I never entered your room even once!”

“Really…?”

The Countess sat on the bed and looked down at the maid.

“If you were in the hallway, then you must have seen the culprit. Tell me—who did this? Who dared to mock me by sneaking into my room?”

“T-that…”

The maid hesitated. She knew that if she said “no one,” she would face the Countess’s wrath.