Chapter 69
“Katrina has disappeared!”
The new temporary maid noticed Katrina’s absence right away.
But no one in the mansion seemed to care in the slightest.
“Katrina? That wench disappeared? Good riddance, I was sick of seeing her.”
That was the duchess’s comment.
“Hmph. She’ll come back on her own.”
That was the Duke of Abice’s reaction.
The temporary maid was flustered.
Her mistress had vanished, yet no one was looking for her.
“Katrina is gone?”
It was then—
“M-Master Damian…”
Damian Abice.
Everyone knew he and Katrina didn’t get along.
So the maid expected him to react the same way.
“Before Katrina disappeared, where was she and what was she doing?”
But he asked something else.
The maid was briefly surprised but reported to Damian faithfully.
“She received a letter. That’s the only unusual thing.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then bring it to me.”
Damian examined the letter the maid brought.
…Silas Rockenheim.
He didn’t know everything, but Damian could roughly guess the flow of events.
He had kidnapped Katrina.
[Ticket for boarding the Edrige]
The letter came with a boarding pass enclosed.
Damian twisted his lips into a smirk.
“Track the Edrige.”
When she opened her eyes, countless shooting stars rained down across the sky.
Ah.
“You’re awake.”
Silas was looking at her.
He was sitting on a rock.
When her gaze met those bright yellow eyes, everything felt twisted.
This is bad.
That was the only thought in her head.
“…Silas.”
“Yes.”
He answered in a low, calm voice.
What the hell happened?
She had given Silas a strong sleeping drug.
Katrina soon learned the truth.
There was a deep wound across Silas’s palm.
When did he…?
Then she realized.
Silas never slept.
He had pretended to sleep—on purpose.
But one question remained.
Then the crown wasn’t the relic he was after?
Then why join the treasure hunt? Why…?
“You look pretty confused.”
Katrina hesitated, then stood up.
“You can’t run, you know.”
And he was right. There was nowhere to run.
They were on a steep mountain path. She hadn’t really thought she could outrun Silas, but here, even walking away was nearly impossible.
How did he even get us up here?
His physical strength was astonishing.
“…Why did you bring me here?”
There wasn’t a single place to escape.
“You already know.”
The casual words he dropped made her heart plummet.
“You knew, that’s why you tried to knock me out and escape the island.”
“Why are you doing this to me? Why go this far?”
Katrina knew.
She knew she had treated him cruelly.
She made Silas trust her, love her—and then she threw him into prison.
But still…
And what about you? Are you innocent?
“Stopping you from going back—that’s my revenge.”
At his words, Katrina’s face twisted.
“You were the ones who betrayed me first.”
Raymond did it for fun.
Lucife did it because she hated me.
They betrayed me for nothing more than that.
“I saw you put poison in Niel’s tea.”
That single sentence pushed Katrina to the brink.
But that wasn’t the end.
That day, she learned how far a person’s life could fall—and the whole world learned about it too.
Many called Katrina a villainess. But being called that didn’t matter.
It was her fate anyway.
But…
People were furious that Katrina had nearly killed another candidate for Saintess.
When her carriage passed, they hurled stones at it.
Crowds surged in front of the horses, and harsh hands tried to tear open the carriage door.
That day, Katrina thought her life might end there.
She trembled in the corner of the carriage, forced to look at the enraged faces twisted with hatred outside the window.
And she thought—
Why do I have to suffer like this?
“You betrayed me first, Silas.”
She still remembers.
On the day everyone betrayed her, Silas was watching her.
“Silas, did you see it too?”
The Duke of Abice asked him.
Katrina stared at him desperately.
Please. At least you—tell the truth.
Everyone betrayed me. You’re all I have left.
But Silas looked away.
“…I saw it too.”
That’s what he said.
“You have no right to do this to me! You were the one who betrayed me first!”
Katrina shouted in anger.
But Silas didn’t flinch.
He just raised an eyebrow and gave a dry laugh.
“Liar.”
“What?”
Katrina stared at him in shock.
“Do you feel better telling lies all the time?”
What did he just say?
“Katrina, I…”
Silas let out a bitter laugh.
Then, as if something choked him, he spoke with difficulty.
“I saw you put poison in Niel’s tea.”
“…What?”
“I saw you running with poison in your hand.”
“…”
Katrina couldn’t comprehend what Silas was saying.
“I was worried you’d get caught, so I even cleaned up the mess you left behind!”
Silas shouted.
His distorted face radiated fierce anger. Then he laughed again bitterly.
But he wasn’t really laughing. He was crying.
“I still loved you.”
“…”
“Damn it, I loved you.”
Katrina couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“Niel was my friend, Katrina.”
“…”
“Before you came into my life, he was all I had. When I got beaten by my uncle, Niel would come running with a medicine box.”
Katrina knew that too.
Before she ever knew Silas, those two only had each other.
Back then, Niel was so shy he rarely spoke to others.
And Silas never spoke to anyone first.
“I don’t know what kind of trouble Niel got into. Even if he did something terrible, I should have stood by him.”
“…”
“I should have. But I took your side. Instead of worrying about my friend, I worried about you—the one who tried to poison him.”
“…”
“I threw away my only friend just to protect you.”
Everything Katrina thought she knew was wrong.
“…No.”
I never poisoned Niel’s tea.
“…No.”
You never helped me.
You all betrayed me.
