Chapter 22
The head maid’s eyes turned vicious.
“No, that wench is crazy!”
The duke leaned forward slightly.
“Go on.”
“She’s a demon. A lunatic! She threatened to kill me. Told me never to show my face in front of her again…”
“And the reason?”
As she spoke, Ashley began to tremble with a mixture of rage and grief from the memory.
“What reason could there be? She’s a monster in human form. Ever since before, she’s always harassed us, threatening to kill us just because we’re of low status… Please spare me, milord, please spare me…”
Thick tears finally spilled from her eyes. Her gasping, desperate plea might have moved even the coldest of hearts.
But the duke’s demeanor did not change.
“How exactly did she harass you? Be specific.”
“Well…”
Ashley’s eyes, which had previously answered without hesitation, wavered. Her forced tears abruptly stopped.
She hesitated, then asked awkwardly.
“Milord… surely, you know already, don’t you? You’re a high noble, after all. I’ve heard the rumors… That she tormented the servants, bullied innocent Lady Helena, neglected the estate… things like that.”
Still, the duke did not nod or react in agreement, and Ashley grew anxious, hastily adding more.
“Not just the nobles! Everyone in the Empire knows she’s cursed—just like her father. She’s exactly what everyone thinks she is.”
“That’s not the kind of answer I want.”
For the first time, the duke’s displeasure was visible.
“I asked you to be specific. You said you’d confess everything. I don’t want to hear things like ‘everyone knows’ or ‘she did bad things.’ Tell me what you personally witnessed, how she treated you, what exactly she did!”
His tone shifted from respectful to cold and commanding, his oppressive authority bearing down on her.
Ashley, with her head bowed so the duke couldn’t see her face, glanced around nervously as she tried to invent a response.
What should I say? I have to think, think!
Now that she was asked to be specific, nothing came to mind.
Wait, what did she even do?
Her mind felt blank.
Ashley realized this was the first time she had ever truly thought about it.
In truth, aside from the last few days when Kalia suddenly went mad and lashed out at her and the masters, Kalia had always bowed her head and timidly obeyed every word.
Once she removed the vague statements like “just because,” “obviously,” and “she’s like her father,” there was nothing specific to say about how Kalia had mistreated her before she changed.
And if she tried to talk about what happened after the change… well, the duke had asked her to be specific.
There are things better left unsaid.
Ashley bit her lip.
Like what Kalia had said the day she was cast out… when Ashley had knelt and begged for forgiveness…
Her legs shook with anxiety.
That’s it!
Desperate for a solution, she suddenly raised her head as if struck by lightning.
I’ll pin it all on her!
“Of course, I’ll tell you everything. First… first of all, she falsely accused us. She claimed we stole things. Jewelry from the lady and the young mistress—she was the one who took them! She’s the one with sticky fingers! But she pinned the blame on us poor maids!”
In truth, the maids had framed Kalia.
She deserved it anyway.
“What else?”
“She locked us in solitary confinement when she was upset. Picked one of us at random and beat us. Sometimes we went all day without food or water.”
This, too, had been Ashley’s doing.
She’d taken great joy in beating and punishing the heir of a great count’s house—especially one who owned such vast lands.
“Go on.”
“And… yes. She humiliated us in the halls and corridors, berating us over trivial things in front of everyone.”
The mistresses did that too. I’m not in the wrong.
It was a method favored by the lady and Helena.
Perfect. It’s all perfect!
With her entire story fabricated, Ashley’s eyes sparkled with hope.
That should do it. Was that a satisfying answer?
Maybe the duke had summoned her to hear just how evil and wicked the demon’s daughter had been within the estate.
He was grilling her for every detail, beyond what the public already knew.
To condemn her! To deliver righteous punishment!
Yes, that girl had lived long enough. Just like her father, it was time for her to die. Before she grew any more. Before the seeds of evil could take root.
The golden reward and her thirst for revenge against Kalia dulled her senses and warped her judgment. Ashley’s expression turned dazed.
I’ll be rewarded… I’ll get those 500 gold coins.
“But tell me.”
The duke, who had been listening with his elbows on the desk and fingers laced, leaned forward.
Ashley snapped out of her fantasy.
Reality looked different from her dreams. The duke’s face was hard.
“Did Baron Barden do nothing to stop this?”
“Th-that’s…”
Caught off guard by the question, Ashley was at a loss. She lowered her head again to think of another lie.
A cold voice cut in sharply.
“Raise your head. Look at me when you answer.”
Pale and terrified, she lifted her head.
Meeting those cold red eyes made her feel as though every lie had been uncovered.
Her tongue felt paralyzed, as if coated in poison.
“Ugh… uhhh…”
She barely managed to utter her next lie, dragging it out like a dead weight.
“Baron and Baroness Barden… they’re so kind and gentle… they just couldn’t control her. That’s why.”
“Strange. Such kind people just stood by and let you be abused for no reason?”
“That’s…”
The illogical excuse made the duke frown with displeasure.
“What is the ‘Meal of Atonement’?”
Then, from the shaded corner behind Ashley, a man who had been silently standing stepped forward.
“M-My Lord!”
Ashley, who hadn’t noticed him enter with her eyes closed, jumped in fright. She nearly leapt from her seat.
Obed, seeing that his master’s mood had darkened, pressed her further in his place.
“I saw Miss Estelle asking you to partake in a ‘Meal of Atonement’ that day. What did she mean by that?”
No, no!
That butler had been with her that day. He’d seen her kneel before Kalia, begging for forgiveness, and her sobbing reaction to that so-called meal.
Ashley pleaded desperately.
“Milord, please… just this once…”
“She said if your children ate the ‘Meal of Atonement,’ she would forgive you. What was it, that you didn’t dare speak of it and gave up?”
“No, it’s not… it’s not that, I…”
“Stop lying, Ashley Minker. If you try to deceive His Grace, I’ll make sure you’re the one begging for death in front of your own children.”
Obed’s quiet voice was seething with rage. The calm and refined gentleman was gone, replaced by a servant ready to deliver punishment.
“It… it was all her doing!”
Ashley screamed in hysteria. Trapped and terrified, she lost control.
As she thrashed and spat from her chair, a man standing nearby stepped forward and seized her by the hair.
A sharp dagger came from behind.
“Stop struggling. Just answer.”
The blade slid slowly down her cheek. Blood traced along the edge.
Gripped by the fear of death, Ashley clung to the man’s arm, her lips moving silently. The man asked again:
“What is the ‘Meal of Atonement’?”
“Rotten food! She made us eat rotten food! To make our children pay for their father’s sins!”
Once he had his answer, the man withdrew the knife.
Ashley, who had finally screamed her secret like a thunderclap, wept loudly.
“Soup with bugs! Moldy bread! Filthy scraps no dog would touch—she made them eat only that. Baron Barden ordered all of it!”
Blood, tears, and spit splattered with every word. Her eyes bulged like a madwoman’s, darting in every direction.
“Just once, please, listen to me! My lord, Your Grace, noble one! I only did what I was told! That wretch deserves it! That girl is a cursed child!”
At her horrific confession, a chill ran down the duke’s spine. He gritted his teeth.
“…Start from the beginning. This time, speak the truth. Depending on what you say, I might spare your family.”
The gold was gone. Even the faces of her three children felt like they were fading away.
Ashley had wanted to insist that she was innocent, that she had only obeyed orders. But instinctively, she knew from the duke’s expression that such words would no longer work.
Abandoning everything, she slid off her chair and fell to the ground. She rubbed her face against the floor and sobbed unintelligibly, muttering broken words.
The duke’s expression darkened. His heart pounded uncomfortably, and his stomach felt heavy.
Perhaps he—no, the entire empire—had gravely misjudged Kalia.
