Chapter 10
“I’ve decided on your punishment.”
At that moment, Andrick was delivering his sentence in a solemn voice.
“You will be sent to Elingstance Monastery.”
The moment Bailey heard the words Elingstance Monastery, her face turned deathly pale.
It was a monastery established for the specific purpose of disciplining servants who had shown disrespect to nobles. It was infamous for forcing its residents to endure a lifestyle even stricter than that of ordinary nuns for ten whole years.
The place was so dreadful that people said they would rather rot in prison for the rest of their lives than spend ten years confined there.
Bailey knew just how horrible it was, too. Someone she knew had spent ten years there before finally getting out.
Only then did Bailey fully grasp the severity of her situation. She hurriedly dropped to her knees before Andrick and desperately pleaded with him.
“P-Please spare me, young masters! I’m innocent! I haven’t done anything wrong!”
“People who have committed crimes always say that.”
“But we never said we were going to kill you, did we?”
But being sent there was practically the same as being sentenced to death!
To make matters worse, no one would be willing to employ someone who had been released from Elingstance Monastery.
Simply having a record of serving time there was enough to brand someone as a servant who had defied their master.
“Judging by your reaction, you really don’t want to go there, do you?”
“Well, there is one way out of this.”
At those words, Bailey’s expression began to brighten.
Just then, Bernard noticed someone approaching and turned his head.
“You’re here, Ellie?”
Elizabeth stood before them, looking bewildered.
The moment Bailey saw her, her expression was about to turn vicious again when she heard something unbelievable.
“Now, confess your crimes. Then get on your knees and apologize.”
“That’s right. If you do that, my sweet little sister might show you some leniency.”
Unable to believe what was happening, Bailey looked to Marquis Lionette as her last hope. For some reason, however, he was glaring at her with an expression of barely contained fury.
It was only then that Bailey finally realized there wasn’t a single person here willing to take her side.
In the end, she dragged herself forward on her knees until she reached Elizabeth.
“I-I…”
She was so ashamed she wanted to die, but she had to avoid being sent to the monastery at all costs.
With great difficulty, Bailey forced her trembling lips to move and stammered out her confession.
“Yesterday… I dared to… at the young lady’s…”
“Repeat exactly what you said. Don’t leave out a single word.”
“If you lie, we’ll throw you into the wolves’ den!”
“Ellie, listen carefully and tell us whether this woman is telling the truth.”
Bailey hadn’t even managed to finish a proper sentence, yet the two brothers took turns threatening her until she was thoroughly terrified.
Judging by the atmosphere, it didn’t seem as though she would be spared even if she confessed everything honestly. But she had no other choice.
“I… told the young lady to lie at Lady Zilius’s tea party yesterday, claiming that she had to protect the family’s honor. I told her to conceal her origins from the marquis and say that she had been adopted…”
“Father!”
At that moment, Elizabeth hurriedly called out to stop Marquis Lionette.
When Bailey raised her head, she saw him drawing his sword from his waist, looking as though he were ready to cut down anyone who crossed his path.
Bailey was horrified. Her face turned white as she trembled from head to toe.
Meanwhile, Andrick, who seemed entirely unsurprised by his father’s behavior, continued speaking as casually as ever.
“Go on.”
“That’s all, Master! I’ve truly been wronged! I only acted out of loyalty to the family—!”
“Of course, I know how much affection and loyalty you have for the Lionette family.”
Elizabeth’s low voice interrupted Bailey.
Hearing what sounded like support, Bailey’s expression brightened.
“You can believe her, Father, and you too, my brothers. That much, at least, is true.”
“M-My lady! So you really do—”
“But that isn’t everything, is it?”
Elizabeth fixed Bailey with a cold stare.
“Tell them yourself. Tell them about all the things you’ve done over the past ten years that I chose to turn a blind eye to.”
“My lady, why are you doing this…?”
“If you don’t speak this instant, I’ll throw you into the wolves’ den—!”
“I-I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!”
In the end, Bailey was forced to explain in detail how Elizabeth had been mistreated by the servants of the mansion over the past ten years.
As he listened, Marquis Lionette’s face turned bright red with rage, and his entire body trembled. Although he had suspected some of what Bailey described, hearing the full extent of it still enraged him.
Andrick and Bernard, on the other hand, were stunned. They had never heard any of this before, and their faces were blank with shock.
“…Is everything she just said true, Ellie?”
When the story finally came to an end, Marquis Lionette asked Elizabeth in a voice barely restrained by anger.
Elizabeth, who had listened quietly throughout the confession, nodded.
The marquis immediately raised his voice.
“Why on earth…!”
He seemed about to demand an explanation, unable to understand why she had endured such treatment. But then he shook his head.
“No. I understand why you did it. It must have been because of that damnable fear of yours. You were afraid I might be disappointed in you and disown you because the servants were looking down on you.”
“…”
“But now that I know the truth, I must set things right.”
Marquis Lionette reached his decision.
“I will dismiss every single servant in the Lionette mansion.”
Everyone present was shocked.
Everyone except Andrick and Bernard.
As one might expect, the servants immediately erupted in protest.
“Master, this is unreasonable! It will damage your reputation!”
“People will undoubtedly gossip about the Lionette family!”
“Gossip? Ha! The Lionettes have never cared about such trivial things. Besides…”
The marquis spoke with a mocking smile.
“Wouldn’t it be far more disgraceful to tolerate servants who dare to look down on the very person they are supposed to serve?”
With that, Marquis Lionette approached Bailey.
The sight of such a tall, imposing man advancing toward her with a terrifying expression was enough to make her feel as though she might faint on the spot.
Eventually, the marquis bent down until his face was close to Bailey’s and spoke in a serious voice.
“And my smiling face isn’t frightening.”
“…Pardon?”
“It’s your mistress’s eyes that are defective.”
As he spoke, the marquis crooked the corners of his mouth into an uneven smile.
It looked so menacing that Bailey and the other servants watching the scene seemed on the verge of fainting.
The marquis abruptly turned around and ordered the knights,
“Drive them all out. Don’t give any of them a letter of recommendation, either. And send Lady Henton and the maids who brought Elizabeth her dinner earlier to Elingstance Monastery.”
“Master! This punishment is far too harsh!”
Bailey screamed, looking as though she were about to pass out.
“B-But you said that if I knelt down and told the truth, you would forgive my crimes…”
“That was only if Ellie chose to forgive you. Isn’t that right, Brother?”
“But Ellie has no intention of forgiving you, does she, Ellie?”
The two brothers turned to Elizabeth simultaneously.
Their expressions made it perfectly clear that they absolutely did not want her to forgive Bailey.
Elizabeth was in the middle of forcing an awkward smile when—
“M-My lady! I was wrong!”
Bailey grabbed the hem of Elizabeth’s dress and begged desperately.
“I-I was wrong about everything! Please, have mercy on me! Please be generous and spare me from going to the monastery!”
“I’m afraid not, Bailey.”
Elizabeth replied coldly as she pulled the hem of her dress free from Bailey’s grasp.
Bailey’s hand was left grasping at empty air, helplessly reaching for something that was no longer there.
“Ten years was far too long for you to keep doing these things. I hope you reflect on your actions while you’re at the monastery.”
“My lady, I was wrong! My lady!”
“Come along, Elizabeth.”
As though he had no intention of listening to another word, Marquis Lionette quickly linked his arm with Elizabeth’s.
“I believe we have some misunderstandings to clear up with your brothers, too.”
The four of them gathered in the mansion’s drawing room.
“By the way, what happened to the subjugation mission? Why did you all come back?”
“We finished a little early.”
Marquis Lionette answered as though it were nothing special.
“Because I received an unbelievable letter.”
“It said that your secret had been exposed. It also said that Bailey Henton had dared to make you shoulder all the blame yourself.”
“Father completely lost his mind when he read it.”
“Ha! You make it sound as though you didn’t lose yours, Bernard.”
“To be perfectly honest, all three of us did. Isn’t that right, Brother?”
“Yes. All I could think about was getting back as quickly as possible so we could comfort you.”
Hearing the three men’s answers, Elizabeth felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes.
So her father and brothers had rushed back to the mansion after completing that difficult subjugation mission ahead of schedule—all because of her.
They had hurried home for the sole purpose of comforting her.
“…When all of you care about me this much…”
Elizabeth felt deeply ashamed of the misunderstandings she had harbored about them for the past ten years.
“I think I’ve been mistaken about so many things for far too long.”
“No. After hearing what you told us earlier, I can understand why you would have thought that.”
“The truth is…”
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment before finally confessing what she truly felt.
“I honestly thought that you didn’t consider me family at all, my brothers.”
Andrick and Bernard looked utterly horrified.
Their expressions made it clear that they had never imagined she might think that way, leaving Elizabeth feeling flustered.
She hurriedly offered what she thought were perfectly reasonable grounds for her belief.
“You always avoided looking at me during meals.”
“But that was…!”
There was a reason for that.
This time, Andrick and Bernard began pounding their chests in frustration, looking as though they were about to lose their minds from sheer injustice.
