Chapter 27
Having received a report that stretched on for dozens of lines, Heinrich couldn’t help being a little surprised.
Until now, while he studied and trained in swordsmanship, he had thought the servants simply carried out their duties diligently.
But in fact, they too—each in their own way—were excessively “diligent,” exerting turf wars, playing tricks, or indulging in vanity.
Heinrich realized anew that they were each their own person and that they needed to be managed within reasonable limits.
And he also realized that a flawless human being, without a single fault, could not possibly exist.
Heinrich secretly investigated the four servants who had no faults listed in the report—including the head cook, Laura—as well as the head maid who had been the one to observe and report on them.
In doing so, he discovered that the head maid, the head cook, and the other servants regularly encountered one another.
Heinrich bided his time for when a servant and a maid would meet, caught them in the act, and discovered a note they were trying to exchange.
Today, take charge of the food waste.
Heinrich locked the servant and the maid in a secluded room and began to interrogate them.
“…Who is this note from?”
At first, they pressed their lips shut and said nothing.
But Heinrich was not without means.
He first spoke to the servant.
“I heard your younger sister is pregnant with a child whose father is unknown. You were promised she’d be taken in as a mistress if this task succeeded, weren’t you?”
“…B-but…”
The servant looked wronged, but Heinrich ignored him and turned to the maid.
“And you—you forged your work history. I don’t know when you started, but since I’ve already uncovered it, there’s no reason to keep obeying the Crimson Count.”
The servant and maid looked at one another, flustered.
“If you still don’t talk, you’ll be dismissed. Do you want to be driven out in disgrace, or would you prefer the chance to slip away in the night?”
Heinrich didn’t really know what “disgrace” in this world might entail. But as a duke, he knew well enough that this kind of threat would work on them.
In the end, the servant and maid opened their mouths.
“It’s a note from the maid Erin.”
“What does it mean—‘take charge of the food waste’?”
“Since Erin is a lady’s maid, it would look odd if she handled kitchen scraps herself, so…”
“Speak plainly.”
Heinrich, though only eight years old, was tall for his age and had striking features. Still, the servants had thought of him as just a child—a little clever perhaps, but a child nonetheless. Now they were unable to hide their dismay.
Heinrich refused to let the two wriggle free of the situation.
As they grasped the seriousness, they began trembling slightly.
“We don’t know the details. But today Erin is in charge of preparing the young madam’s tea.”
“Tea…?”
“She probably wanted us to handle the used tea leaves afterward, so nothing suspicious would be noticed. That’s what we think.”
As the maid finished speaking, the servant bobbed his head rapidly in agreement.
Heinrich sprang to his feet and checked the time.
Two in the afternoon—precisely when Rivenya always had her tea.
“Keep them locked up until I can confirm the truth.”
Heinrich ordered his guards and immediately ran toward Rivenya’s office.
His father’s advice—that a duke must never act rashly, that he must always project calm—didn’t even cross his mind.
When Heinrich burst into the office, Rivenya was just lifting her teacup.
And as expected, maid Erin stood by her side, her expression tense.
Heinrich cried out urgently.
“Madam, don’t drink that tea!”
“Your Grace? What on earth—?”
Rivenya’s eyes widened in rare surprise, while Erin’s face turned deathly pale.
But Heinrich saw nothing but the teacup in Rivenya’s hand.
He rushed forward, and Erin, just as desperate, moved to block his way.
Rivenya set the cup down, but she could not prevent Erin and Heinrich from colliding.
Crash!
The teapot in Erin’s hands fell, shattering as hot tea splashed through the air.
Shards littered the floor.
The first to act was Rivenya.
Ignoring the broken glass, she seized Heinrich’s arm where the tea had splashed.
The commotion in the office only grew afterward.
“Kyaaah!”
Erin let out a scream of terror, frantically brushing at her arms and legs.
It was far too desperate to be the mere reaction of someone scalded by hot tea.
Her arm was already swelling red.
Heinrich’s arm, also doused, began to swell as well.
He winced, intending to call for the physician.
At that moment, he caught sight of Rivenya’s ashen face.
She quickly dabbed his arm with her handkerchief, then poured fresh water from a pitcher over it.
Her every movement seemed calm—so very Rivenya.
Yet her lips and fingertips trembled like those of someone deeply unsettled.
“Your Grace, quickly—treatment…”
Seeing her trembling, Heinrich’s heart lurched.
Meanwhile, Erin clutched her arm, sobbing, babbling like a madwoman.
“They said—it wasn’t supposed to act this fast! This can’t be happening…”
Rivenya’s distress only deepened. Looking lost and desperate, she suddenly swept Heinrich into her arms.
“…We must go to the physician.”
She lifted him so easily that Heinrich’s mind went blank.
Though only eight, Heinrich was tall for his age and had rarely been carried, not even by his father, let alone his mother.
Yet here was a woman far younger than his mother, lifting him as if he weighed nothing!
Even though his arm was swelling painfully, he was too shocked to feel it.
“M-Madam, I-I can walk on my own!”
“I am faster. Endure it a little longer, Your Grace.”
Holding him tightly against her, Rivenya dashed toward the physician’s chambers.
Naturally, the entire ducal household was thrown into chaos.
The duchess carrying the duke in her arms—such a sight had never been seen nor imagined.
Regardless, Rivenya presented Heinrich’s arm to the physician and explained everything in detail.
“If this had been ingested, his organs would have swollen—leading to suffocation.”
“How dare they!”
Heinrich could not tolerate that someone had tried to harm the lady of the house.
The culprit, maid Erin, was already locked in the dungeons by Baldwin’s knights. Heinrich resolved to punish her severely.
But, never having punished anyone before, he did not know what penalty would be fitting.
So he turned to Rivenya for guidance—
—and was struck by the sight before him.
Rivenya’s face was so pale it seemed scarcely that of the living.
She no longer trembled, but she made no sound, no movement, like a sculpture of ice—cold and forlorn.
Heinrich went to her side and clasped her hand with his uninjured one.
“Madam, were you very frightened?”
He feared she might shatter into pieces before his eyes.
Fortunately, color slowly returned to her fingertips, and she drew a deep breath, like someone coming back to life.
Relieved, Heinrich smiled faintly.
“Don’t worry. For daring to harm you, I’ll see she’s punished severely. And when I grow up, I’ll protect you myself…”
“No!”
Rivenya cried out sharply.
She dropped to her knees before him, gripping his shoulders firmly.
“Your Grace, never do this again. Never. Do you understand?”
Each word was pressed with force, as though she wanted it engraved not only in his ears but in his very heart.
Heinrich’s head drooped, crestfallen.
“…Did I do wrong? I only… didn’t want you to be in danger…”
“You are eight years old! A child! The heir of House Baldwin! If you believed I was in danger, you should have sought the help of adults. Not run into danger yourself!”
“My heart—my heart was too urgent…”
“Remember this. No matter how urgent the moment, you must think first of what is most important. At times, you must even abandon what is less important. Only then can you truly seize what matters.”
Heinrich could say nothing more.
He only wanted to help his angel, Rivenya. But instead, he seemed only to have been a hindrance, and that pained him deeply.
After urging the physician repeatedly to treat Heinrich thoroughly, Rivenya departed.
Later, the butler told him Rivenya had already had Erin and all the other suspicious servants rounded up—including those Heinrich himself had suspected.
Had she already known everything? Then why hadn’t she acted sooner? Was she testing me?
As these thoughts swirled, Heinrich’s confidence ebbed away.
Perhaps I failed her test…
His late mother, the former duchess, had always said Rivenya was far more exceptional than others.
It might only be natural for her to be disappointed in an ordinary boy like him.
If only he had been more cautious—or quicker…
Even as Heinrich retired to bed that night, those thoughts gnawed at him.
