Chapter 58
The hall erupted into heated debate.
“How dare they mock the Abiche family like this!”
“A spy from the temple?!”
Viscount Hoar and Berta’s faces were stiff with tension.
“Everyone, please calm down for a moment.”
Not only had they been fooled by a spy, but they had also unwittingly gifted Katrina a perfect stage.
“As angry as we are, we must turn this into an opportunity.”
There was still a critical matter left unresolved.
“Couldn’t we reopen negotiations for the first rights to the Wish Stone?”
“…What?!”
With an incident of this scale, once talks began, acquiring the Wish Stone should proceed smoothly.
“But Miss Katrina, how did you come to suspect that maid?”
Katrina had been waiting for this moment.
“Well…”
Now was the time.
“Surely everyone remembers the murder that occurred recently at the estate.”
Katrina pulled out something she had kept all this time.
It was a letter left by Luivi.
“She left it to me.”
“…”
“It was such an important matter, I wanted to be certain before making it public.”
After reading the letter, the crowd’s eyes changed.
“So now you’re saying… the temple tried to frame the Abiche family?”
Betty trembled as she collapsed to the floor.
It was over.
She had to beg—quickly.
“Pl-please… spare me…!”
“Take her away.”
Before Betty could even start begging, Damian dragged her out.
“M-my lord! Please, have mercy!”
Betty screamed desperately, but no one listened.
Katrina looked down at her coldly.
That plea for mercy sounded ironic.
Katrina couldn’t hold back and stepped closer to the maid.
Betty’s eyes went wide when Katrina approached.
“M-miss…! Please, I beg you!”
Betty clung desperately to Katrina’s legs.
Katrina gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
“If you were only a spy, I might have spared you.”
Then she whispered softly in her ear.
“Luivi must have begged for her life too.”
Betty’s face froze at Katrina’s words.
“Why didn’t you save her?”
Now you’re just receiving what you dealt out.
Katrina removed her hand from Betty’s shoulder and stepped back.
“I-I was wr—”
“Take her.”
It was too late to ask for forgiveness.
Far, far too late.
*
At first, Betty denied any ties to the temple.
But after a long interrogation, she confessed everything.
That she had grown up under the temple’s sponsorship.
That she was once a low-ranking priestess, sent to Abiche under direct orders.
However, she claimed not to know exactly who had ordered her.
Her handler always concealed their identity, so Betty never knew who they were.
The Abiche family lodged an official complaint with the temple.
“We know nothing about this!”
The temple was thrown into chaos.
They tried their best to deny involvement—but it didn’t take long before the mastermind was identified.
A damning piece of evidence was uncovered.
It was the Archbishop of one of the major cathedrals.
“I never did such a thing! I swear it!”
“Then what about this letter? It’s been confirmed to be correspondence between you and the spy. We verified the handwriting.”
“I didn’t write that!”
“The person who provided the spy with false credentials also belongs to your diocese under your direct authority.”
“This is… this is a setup! I’m being framed!”
The archbishop screamed in desperation.
But the situation was not in his favor.
“A witness has come forward as well.”
“A witness?”
Everything was turning against the archbishop.
“Archbishop, it’s come to light that you held resentment toward the Abiche family. There are statements to that effect as well.”
“That’s right! The archbishop has made numerous negative remarks about the Abiches!”
False witnesses. Fabricated testimonies.
Everything was pushing the archbishop toward ruin.
He denied it to the bitter end, but it was no use.
Even Cardinal Lucife, residing at the cathedral, personally stepped in.
“Archbishop Heil, I always suspected corruption, but I never imagined it would run this deep.”
With a deeply sorrowful tone.
“His Holiness the Pope has delivered his verdict. Archbishop Heil, you are hereby excommunicated.”
“Your Eminence…!”
“As of this moment, this cathedral and its parish are no longer under your authority.”
Cardinal Lucife gave a cold smile as he looked around.
“And by the Pope’s will, I now take charge of this place. I declare that this sacred land will henceforth be under my protection.”
Thus, Archbishop Heil was excommunicated.
And the cathedral he once governed fell under Lucife’s control.
The matter was settled.
*
Lucife and Raymond.
At some point, their visits to the Abiche mansion became more frequent.
The reason was simple.
They were close with Damian.
“Katrina, where are you going?”
And they always called for Katrina.
They insisted on including her in their gatherings, as if they couldn’t be satisfied without her presence.
Katrina found this extremely uncomfortable.
‘Damian doesn’t even like me.’
She was especially conscious of Damian’s reactions.
Though Damian showed no outward signs, Katrina always felt ill at ease around him.
The entire household made her uneasy.
She was acutely aware that she was little more than an outsider—a stone that had rolled in uninvited. It became her daily routine to monitor the mood of Damian, the firmly rooted stone.
“Katrina, are you not having fun?”
Lucife asked as he noticed her tension.
‘Obviously.’
You all get along so well—why do you have to include me?
“Hmm. What can I do to make Katrina enjoy herself?”
Please do nothing. Really.
“Ah, I know.”
“…What are you planning now?”
“Katrina, do you prefer foxes or bears?”
“…What?”
Where did that come from?
“Come on, answer!”
Lucife urged her for a reply.
“…Fox?”
She didn’t particularly like either, but if she had to choose, foxes were cuter and less intimidating.
“Alright. Then I’ll get you a fox.”
“Huh?”
“The hunting festival is coming up, right?”
Lucife beamed.
“I’ll catch a fox for you.”
Katrina blinked in disbelief.
“You’re going to catch a fox… for me?”
“You don’t want that?”
Katrina didn’t like hunting. The idea of taking a poor animal’s life for sport was distasteful.
But if there was one part of this she didn’t dislike…
…it was that the boy in front of her wanted to do something for her.
That sentiment alone was enough.
“I’ll just accept the thought, Lucife.”
“Why?”
“Hmm.”
“Is the fox too small? You don’t like it because of that?”
Lucife, flustered, tried to find something she would like more.
“There’s no animal I really want. That’s why.”
To Katrina, the gesture was more than enough.
But Lucife didn’t seem satisfied with her answer.
“Katrina, want some of this?”
Raymond offered her a delicious cookie, but even then, Lucife remained deep in thought, fretting and murmuring to himself.
Katrina sipped her tea quietly and glanced at Damian beside her.
He seemed entirely uninterested in what was happening, calmly reading a book.
Even as she laughed with Lucife, Katrina kept stealing glances at Damian.
Should I even be here, doing this?
“Ah, this is it.”
At that moment, after a long silence, Lucife finally spoke as if he had reached a conclusion.
