The next day, Rastan and I headed to the detention facility attached to the headquarters of the Security Department. It was where Gerald was being held for questioning.
Coming together with Rastan, the Head of the Security Department, there was no need to explain in detail why I was here or who I wanted to see. Every checkpoint opened on its own.
‘So his face really is a free pass around here. Good thing I came with him.’
We went a bit further inside and stopped in front of a heavy iron door.
“Are you sure it is alright for me not to go in with you?”
Seeing the concern on his face, I smiled faintly at him.
“He is locked up anyway. I think he will be able to say everything he wants only if he talks to me one-on-one.”
“…Understood. I will be right outside the door, so call me anytime if you need me.”
“Thank you.”
Leaving Rastan behind, I went into the iron door alone.
Inside, several small prison cells were lined up in a row, and the one that came into view the moment I entered was the cell where Gerald was confined.
Seeing him curled up asleep on the cold stone floor, damp air rising around him, I let out a hollow laugh.
“You look comfortable. Sleeping without a care in the world.”
At that moment, a “caw, caw!” sound came from nearby.
When I looked up, I saw a purple-eyed crow perched on the frame of a small window high up on the back wall of Gerald’s cell.
I had already heard that Raven came here from time to time to mock Gerald.
‘Probably revenge for when he told people to shoot him on sight back in the Lansval estate…’
Of course, Raven didn’t think about why Gerald had ordered him killed on sight back then.
“Caw, caw!”
When Raven cried out loudly once more, Gerald stirred and opened his eyes.
“Ugh… that damn crow bastard again…”
Muttering to himself with his face scrunched up, he noticed me and hurriedly got up, rushing toward the front.
“H-how did you get here?”
Grabbing the bars with both hands, he shoved his face, now so swollen and ugly it was barely recognizable, as far forward as he could between them.
‘Ugh, I can’t even look at that.’
He must have fallen into shock and despair after everything that had happened, and there was no way he had taken care of his health in the poor conditions of the detention facility.
Of course, he was the kind of person who never did a single thing that was good for his health to begin with.
‘Is that why… they said he collapsed once in the detention facility.’
It was something I had heard from Rastan.
Judging by the paralysis on one side of his face, it was probably a mild cerebral hemorrhage.
From my perspective, it was an immense relief that it hadn’t been a severe one.
‘He still has a long way to go before paying for all his sins. He can’t just leave this world right at the start of the road of fire.’
Clicking my tongue inwardly, I looked at him with arrogant eyes and tossed out the words casually.
“Looks like you’ve been fine?”
In truth, even with commoners, if it was our first meeting or if they were older, I wasn’t someone who used completely informal speech right from the start.
I usually lowered my tone halfway, but with Gerald, I deliberately spoke to him in full casual speech. Even so, he seemed completely unfazed by it.
‘Oh?’
Had he accepted his new status as a commoner that quickly?
Or had he gotten used to being spoken to casually and verbally abused by guards and investigators here all this time?
‘Judging from his half-glazed eyes, his mental state might not be normal right now.’
Gerald’s bloodshot eyes flickered as he stammered,
“E-Evelyn, how did you get here… Ah! Y-you came to save me, right? Right?”
The left side of his face, the one struck with paralysis, didn’t move at all, while only the right side twitched, making him look grotesque. Yet even as I looked at that unfamiliar sight, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Pfft. What’s that voice?”
Right now, Gerald was making a sound like that of a eunuch I had occasionally seen in dramas back when I lived in Korea.
“I heard that’s what happened, but I guess it was true.”
I deliberately let my gaze drop toward his lower half and let out another deflated snort.
“Ah, sorry. It’s just too funny.”
The dazed look on Gerald’s face gradually flushed bright red.
“Y-you…! How dare you laugh at me?!”
With only one corner of my lips lifted, I snapped coldly,
“How dare I? Who do you think I am, and who do you think you are?”
“You’re nothing but a woman! And I! I am a Baron—”
Gerald couldn’t finish his sentence. Even in his clearly unstable state of mind, the shocking fact that his title had been revoked seemed firmly lodged in his head.
I deliberately seized on the words he had left hanging.
“What were you saying you were? A Baron’s servant?”
“I… I once led the Baronial House…”
“When was that? So what are you now, then?”
“I am…”
He fumbled, but could say no more.
“Don’t you know, or are you simply unable to say it out loud?”
“Y-you woman, to a man who was almost your husband…!”
I deliberately scoffed and mocked him.
“How is it that not a single word out of your mouth is worth listening to?”
“W-what?”
“As you know, I’m a Count’s daughter.”
In my previous life and in this one, he had always treated me with contempt and talked down to me. But the truth was—
“Someone like you doesn’t get to call me ‘woman.'”
Even after I went that far, Gerald only hesitated for a moment before spewing more nonsense.
It was clear that he wasn’t in a state where he could think properly.
“Ha, if you don’t call a woman a woman, then what should you call her…!”
I lightly ignored Gerald as he shouted and said what I had to say.
“Oh, and one more thing. Isn’t it a bit much to say ‘the man who almost became my husband’?”
“Why is that…?”
“What’s standing in front of me right now, is that a man…? I heard that’s not the case anymore.”
As I spoke, I openly flicked my gaze toward his lower half again.
Realizing what that look implied, Gerald released the bars, his face turning beet-red as if it might burst, and clutched his hands over his groin.
It seemed to be the one thing he couldn’t refute, because his mouth snapped shut like a clam.
“Shall I tell you?”
I took a step back and slowly swept my gaze over Gerald from head to toe, appraising the pitiful, ugly state he was in.
“Right now, you’re nothing more than a penniless commoner, and on top of that, a detainee with various criminal charges. And even if you serve out your full sentence and get out of prison, you won’t be able to return to the life you once had.”
I decided to kindly point out exactly what his problems were.
“You have no health, no money, and no title, but your biggest problem is that rotten mindset of yours. You’re a piece of trash who still looks down on others even after ending up like this. How do you think you could ever make a comeback?”
Gerald reflexively shot me a vicious glare, but he couldn’t immediately find a way to argue back.
“And you’re not even a complete man anymore… You won’t be able to get married either.”
I deliberately crushed whatever hope he might still have had, grinding it under my heel.
“The only thing left in your life is the road to ruin. Remember that this is the price you’re paying for all the harm you’ve inflicted on the people around you and on this society.”
In truth, when I thought of everyone who had lost their lives, their health, or their property because of Gerald, this paltry price he was paying felt far too light.
But it didn’t seem that way to him.
“You woman… You couldn’t say a single word in front of me before, and now that I’ve ended up like this, you’re getting all high and mighty! With that kind of mouth on you, do you really think a strong-willed woman like you will ever get married?”
Ah, that really didn’t hit at all. I shrugged my shoulders deliberately.
“What a shame. I’m about to get engaged to Duke Blake.”
“W-what? Where do you get off lying…!”
In a relaxed voice, I called out to the person who would be beyond the iron door behind me.
“Rastan.”
At that, Rastan immediately opened the door and came in. It seemed he had been listening to everything from outside.
He came to my side and, deliberately for Gerald to see, wrapped one arm around my shoulders. I naturally leaned my head lightly against his shoulder.
“Evelyn. Listening from outside, that ignorant commoner’s behavior was truly something to behold.”
He spoke to me in a gentle voice, while at the same time casting Gerald an icy gaze, the ease with which he did both at once was almost impressive.
