Chapter 20
And so, the incident was brought to a close for the moment.
However, the shocking news that the statue of the wolf Euryphus had been shattered struck the entire castle like a bolt of lightning.
Sonya, who had been engrossed in cleaning, came running over, the soles of her feet practically on fire.
“I’m sorry, Lacey. It’s my fault you got caught up in all this.”
Goodness, just look at that cold sweat.
Without realizing it, I fumbled in my pocket.
“The one who did the bad deed is someone else entirely. Why are you apologizing?”
“But still…”
Who could have known Sonya would end up like this? It was simply because she got entangled with me.
Still, we managed to get past the crisis thanks to that carrot maid.
“Why did you help me?”
“You would have asked for help anyway, wouldn’t you?”
At first, I couldn’t understand her meaning.
After all, the only point of contact between her and me was the exchange of a single carrot.
I kept mulling it over as I returned after parting ways with her.
And I arrived at one possibility.
The person who had twice slid notes under my door.
Simultaneously, Blake’s hidden collaborator.
If I assumed she acted preemptively because I would eventually ask Blake for help via note, the sequence of events made sense.
It was surprising that she took the risk of revealing herself, though.
Looking at it purely in terms of outcome, it meant I had received Blake’s help.
If Ash Carnis hadn’t shown up earlier, I would have been cornered and driven out without a doubt.
In moments like this, I hated my own powerlessness.
I gave up on poking the innocent pocket and wiped Sonya’s forehead with my sleeve.
“Who was the real culprit?”
If my guess is correct, the head maid is behind this incident.
Did she orchestrate such a bold act just to drive me, a single person, out of the castle?
If I had found and reported the double ledgers first, I could have stopped it. I could have even hinted at wanting to be taken to Euphorian, using the merit of exposing the corruption as leverage.
My head just shook in disappointment on its own.
“They should be caught as soon as possible. What was the culprit thinking, breaking the statue of Euryphus…”
What punishment would they receive if caught?
I gave up trying to imagine it.
Because I only know of one punishment meted out to traitors.
“I know, right. Let’s just go get some dinner for now.”
While passing through the corridor, I ran into a soldier coming from the opposite direction.
“Miss Lacey, an order has been issued prohibiting you from entering the Hall of Rites for the time being.”
He was quite good at phrasing a disciplinary action indirectly.
Still, since the scene had to be preserved as it was, it was essentially an entry ban issued to everyone.
But I couldn’t understand why he went out of his way to send a message specifically naming me.
“Furthermore, he added that you are not to pass near the Hall of Rites, or even look towards it.”
“……”
When he spoke to me earlier, his voice momentarily lost its edge, so I thought he believed me.
Either I was mistaken, or it was some sort of leading interrogation.
Like a handsome-face type of trap.
I must never fall for it again. Absolutely never.
“And how long is that for?”
Even after the statue shattered, the passage to the hidden space didn’t open.
That meant the mechanism was in the dais or the floor.
Ash Carnis headed straight for the Hall of Rites as soon as he returned from his external schedule. Just what could he have hidden there that was so important?
“I wonder? I’m also just here to relay the order as commanded.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
I glared blatantly at the soldier. His face began to turn red, seemingly flustered. As if my piercing gaze was burdensome, he soon averted his head completely.
“Alright. Then, about the culprit of this incident…”
“I, I’ve finished delivering the message. I’ll take my leave now!”
“Wait a minute, I’m not finished talking yet!”
Wouldn’t you know it, he now plugged his ears and started running at full speed.
What’s with this strange feeling of being brushed off?
“……That’s mean.”
Somehow, it feels like I’m the only one being punished.
It’s so unfair.
* * *
At the same time.
Head Maid Maita stood dumbfounded in the middle of the Hall of Rites.
Am I seeing things right now?
Isn’t the shattered, vanished statue of Euryphus visible, semi-transparent?
Yet, the sensation of fragments being crushed under her shoe soles was not an illusion.
That’s right, *that* is the illusion. Didn’t it appear just as the family head held a round orb?
But did Carnis have such an item?
At that moment, the door opened and maids rushed in. They were also semi-transparent figures.
– Wow, it’s my first time seeing Euryphus’s statue.
– Get a good look. This is the last time you’ll see it intact.
In an instant, she realized the orb’s identity.
The magical artifact of the Jännenhaft Empire that Lacey had mentioned was in the family head’s hands.
When did he acquire something like that?
– But, Annetta, are you really going to break Euryphus’s statue?
– Euryphus is Carnis’s sacred beast and symbol.
– This is just a statue. It’s not the real Euryphus, is it?
It was she who had ordered Annetta to pin a wrongdoing serious enough to expel Lacey on her.
However, she never imagined Annetta would think of breaking the sacred statue of Euryphus.
It was the fastest and most certain method, but this wasn’t what she had desired. No matter what anyone said, she was someone who had pledged loyalty to Carnis.
If things continued as they were now, she could pass the responsibility onto Annetta and slip away.
If things went on like this.
– If we don’t break this hunk of stone, Head Maid won’t leave us alone! We won’t get back the kickbacks deducted from our wages either!
Annetta!
As Maita tried to shout out her resentment, something clattered down at her feet.
“T-this is……!”
It was the fake ledger she had hidden in a secret place.
How did this get here…….
“Quite bold. To dare hide such a shoddy item in my mother’s bedroom.”
Had he known from the beginning?
Had he known and overlooked it until now?
“If a fairy hadn’t brought it, I would have been digging in the wrong place.”
“……Pardon?”
Anyone who works in Carnis Castle hears it at least once. The story that fairies occasionally visit this castle.
Was it not just a mere ghost story, then?
“No further explanation is needed. Maita. Go and reflect on your actions.”
Maita doubted her own ears.
Reflect on her actions.
That meant leaving the castle and rotting in her hometown until she died.
“You can’t do this to me. To me, who has dedicated over 30 years to Carnis Castle!”
Carnis was a family that revered wolves. Not merely in worship, but they even emulated their wild nature.
Most notably, they did not abandon members of the pack.
Thus, Maita pounded her chest and pleaded.
“I was the one who carried you, the family head, and raised you. Have you forgotten my loyalty?”
She had attended to the young family head from the moment he was born.
She had served him from the closest position, always running when her name was called.
When the young master was sick, she nursed him through the night. When he ran a high fever and was at death’s door, she went out searching for medicinal herbs.
She accumulated proof of her loyalty through large and small moments, overcoming formidable competitors to secure the position of head maid.
And now, to have it snatched away due to a single mistake…
“Loyalty. Loyalty, you say.”
Just then, the semi-transparent statue of Euryphus tilted to the side. Pitifully, by ropes and levers.
As if shattered to pieces, just like Maita’s loyalty.
“It seems you are not satisfied with my consideration of overlooking your foolishness of covering a mistake with a greater one through mere self-reflection.”
Ash brushed his chin as if in regret. When he opened his eyes after closing them briefly, his gaze was quite different from a moment ago.
It was the gaze one gives a traitor.
“Then, shall I throw you into the Forest of Wolves? According to Carnis’s principle.”
Maita fell to her knees.
* * *
It had been a tiring day.
Despite the fatigue piled high, he had ridden through the night. It was due to Fritz’s message that there had been trouble at the castle.
He thought dealing with the double ledger issue would be enough, but a bigger problem awaited him.
“I have no face left to see my ancestors.”
What should I do now?
– Hey! Ash Carnis! Is your house’s mutt doing well?
Suddenly, an unpleasant voice came through the desk drawer.
It was Blake Tawella’s communication.
Should he ignore it?
But Ash opened the drawer and placed the magical artifact on the desk.
“What business does Tawella have with the statue of Euryphus?”
– I’m not particularly interested in the dog.
The timing of the contact and the strange remarks. It was the mark of someone who already knew everything that had happened at the castle.
This confirmed it.
Tawella had a pawn.
Should he consider candidates among the outsiders?
However, learning from the Head Maid Maita incident, limiting the scope was pointless.
Everyone who came and went from the castle was a subject of investigation.
– Is Lacey doing well? Still no intention of handing her over to Tawella Trading Company?
Was this fool not even trying to hide his intentions?
To have such a person as a leader. The future of Tawella Trading Company looked bleak.
“To still say such things after seeing the lifetime contract fee, you truly have nerve.”
– That’s the mystery. A man who gets annoyed by money talk and pawns it off on his aide, paying off someone else’s debt by setting up bank guarantees—does that make any sense? What’s the reason for putting up a huge sum as collateral to keep Lacey by your side?
His actions are pathetically sigh-inducing, yet he strangely hits the nail on the head.
That’s why I dislike him even more.
– Hey, I’m saying this out of an old woman’s worry.
What other spirit-draining nonsense is he about to spout? He didn’t want to waste time on pointless conversation.
He already had more than enough to do: unjust salary acquisition, selection of a new head maid, organizing the Hall of Rites, and so on.
Without hesitation, Ash placed his hand on the device’s activation part.
– Are you, by any chance, superimposing that girl onto Lacey?
