From the moment Rastan opened the door and appeared, Gerald had been trembling violently, like a mouse that had run into a snake.
He was someone Gerald had looked up to even before, and now the gap in their status had widened far more, so it was only natural.
And above all, it was clear that while being held in the detention facility, Gerald had learned that Rastan was the Head of the Security Department.
Seeing how distinctly different his attitude was compared to when he faced me, I let out a hollow laugh.
“I was easy to deal with, but you find him frightening, is that it?”
“Oh my. Even aside from being my fiancee, you are already a noble from a distinguished House. You are not someone a pitiful commoner like that could dare treat carelessly.”
I spoke deliberately, like a thoughtless noble lady relying on her fiance, the Head of the Security Department.
“Then, would it be alright if I give him a little lesson so he comes to his senses?”
“Of course. We still have an investigation to conduct, so please just be careful not to kill him or leave him a vegetable.”
Of course, all of this was a conversation we had agreed upon in advance. Hearing it, Gerald’s face turned pale.
‘Hmph. In my previous life, you beat me like that and never once worried whether I’d end up like that.’
Another person’s major injuries mattered less than even a small wound on his own body.
Clicking my tongue inwardly, I raised my voice slightly, as if tattling.
“He is a commoner, yet he casually called a noble by name, used informal speech, and even called me ‘woman’. So please punish him for insulting a noble.”
“Gah…!”
Gerald let out a choking sound.
When Rastan nodded, the security officers who had entered behind him moved in unison, rushed forward, and dragged Gerald away.
“Let go of me! Aaah!”
Gerald struggled and flailed, squealing loudly like a pig being slaughtered.
“I’ve been wronged! This is a trap!”
I turned to the other security officers who were still there and spoke.
“You heard that just now, right? He even slandered me by saying I set a trap, so please add another charge.”
They immediately bowed their heads to me and replied.
“Understood.”
Since everyone present had heard what Gerald said, there was no need to prove anything separately.
I was a noble, and more importantly, I was someone who had entered under the escort of Duke Blake, the Head of the Security Department.
Perhaps because of that, the security officers moved very briskly in response to my words.
‘Sigh… Gerald. You really should know that I just spared your life once.’
To be honest, with Rastan’s influence, it would have been entirely possible to have Gerald, who had already committed many crimes, executed on the spot. Of course, it wasn’t because I found him endearing that I let him live.
‘It would be such a waste to send him off already. I should let him live a long life plagued by illness.’
A little while later, the sound of a flogging being carried out echoed from the rear courtyard.
Rastan and I went further inside the building and listened for a moment to the lively sounds coming through the window.
Thwack!
“Ack!”
Smack!
“Aaagh!”
The sound of a wide wooden paddle striking a buttock that had been splashed with water was remarkably crisp.
Gerald didn’t let a single blow pass without screaming, matching every strike perfectly with a shriek.
The sound of the paddle cutting through the air with a whoosh, the sharp smack as it landed on flesh, and then Gerald’s scream that followed.
At first, all those sounds rang out separately, but as I listened, they gradually began to feel like they were forming a kind of harmony.
Depending on which part of the buttocks was struck, the sound changed slightly, and it was clear that the executioner was deliberately adjusting it back and forth.
‘That person… it almost seems like he’s enjoying matching the sounds.’
Seeing how he found something to enjoy in his own profession and did his best at it, I sent him silent encouragement in my heart.
By the time those sounds started to sound like a lively beat, I turned back to Rastan and gave him a small smile.
“Shall we be going, then?”
I had come here in the first place to mock Gerald and, if possible, have him beaten once, so my objective had been neatly accomplished.
The thought that the Gerald who had beaten me for no reason time and again in my previous life could now be beaten legally by me over something so trivial made my mood feel refreshingly light.
Seeing how relieved I looked, Rastan also smiled faintly.
“A distinguished Lady has suffered in such a shabby place. Let us go.”
Leaving the continuing rhythmic sounds of the flogging behind us, we exited the detention facility in high spirits.
“Caw-caw-cawk, caaaw-!”
The crow’s cries, sounding as if it were watching the flogging and mocking him, were an extra bonus.
***
After having dinner together at a restaurant in the city and returning to the ducal estate, we were greeted by the butler, Jeff.
“Welcome back.”
“Nothing unusual?”
“Well…”
Jeff glanced slightly in my direction before speaking carefully.
“Count Krone came to visit.”
At the unexpected words, I was a little surprised.
“My father? For what reason?”
“He said to pass this on to you, my Lady, and then left right away.”
The more I listened to Jeff, the more puzzled I became.
‘No matter how poor our household is, it shouldn’t be to the point where we don’t even have a single servant to deliver a letter.’
I couldn’t understand what kind of situation would make a Count come in person just to deliver a single letter, and I tilted my head in confusion.
But Rastan, standing beside me, simply wore a calm expression.
His attitude, as if he considered all of this perfectly natural, only made me more puzzled.
Just then, Jeff took a letter out of his coat and held it out to me. The moment I saw the purple envelope, everything made sense.
‘…Ah. It’s from the Imperial Family.’
If that was the case, then it was understandable that my father had come in person instead of entrusting it to the low-quality servants of House Krone, since it absolutely couldn’t be lost during delivery.
At the same time, it was easy to understand why a letter addressed to me had gone to House Krone in the first place.
Whether the Imperial Family didn’t know that I had been engaged to Baron Lansval, or whether they already knew that the engagement had been broken off, the address to send a letter to “Evelyn Krone” would be the same either way.
Deciding to go to Rastan’s office to open the letter, I moved along with him.
The purple envelope was made of a very luxurious, thick material. As I walked, I turned it over in my hands, examining it from different angles, then spoke.
“It is strange. No matter how important a letter from the imperial family is, my father is not someone who handles matters so thoroughly and thoughtfully. Especially when it comes to me, there is no way he would step in personally and care this much.”
Rastan replied in an offhand tone.
“Actually, when I visited the Krone mansion last time, I did say a few words to him.”
So he had used his influence to do something to my father back then, after all?
“What did you say?”
“Nothing special. Just that matters related to you should be treated as the highest priority, that is all.”
At those words, the day my mother passed away came to mind for some reason.
‘As she was dying, Mother asked Father to take good care of me… worrying until the very end that a daughter whose ability had not manifested would be pointed at by others and not loved even by her own family.’
And yet, instead of honoring my mother’s wishes, the man had acted exactly as she had feared.
Because of that, I had grown up being looked down on and mistreated more by those called my family than by anyone else.
‘That kind of man actually does as he’s told just because Rastan, a complete stranger, said a single word? And so diligently, at that?’
I voiced my suspicion openly.
“…You did not happen to get hold of some weakness of my father’s, did you?”
At once, a smile spread across his face. He looked as if he’d just heard a very interesting hypothesis.
“That is not a bad method. If it becomes necessary next time, I will consider it.”
“So it isn’t that? Then… did you give him a lot of money? Or did you offer to take him in as a vassal of House Blake, or something…”
I thought up various methods that seemed plausible, but Rastan only listened as if he found it amusing.
In the end, a sulky tone slipped out of me.
“Ah, what is it, then?”
At that, he took my hand warmly, as if soothing me.
It felt as though he were saying, “Sorry for teasing you for a moment,” and my heart immediately calmed down.
“That really is all I said. I did phrase it as telling him to pour everything House Krone has into supporting you, going forward.”
As expected, wording made all the difference.
Still, it felt like the explanation was a little lacking.
“That is all?”
“…I told him to do so if he did not want House Krone to disappear.”
