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As the leader of a faction opposing the Knight Commander, Achilles, though he held the position of Deputy Knight Commander, did not have many followers.
Due to his misconduct during his time at the academy, there were quite a few who criticized him not only in high society but even within the knight department.
Just regaining their trust was a tremendous ordeal.
Still, some people who had been pushed out of the commander’s faction, and a number of his old academy peers, had gradually come over to his side.
‘Letty forgiving him probably played a big part in that…’
Ezkhiel briefly thought about Letticia but quickly shifted the topic to business.
“Today was Lady Mortimer’s interrogation, wasn’t it? Did you get any meaningful testimony?”
“I hate to say it, but no progress at all.”
Achilles sighed heavily, clearly frustrated.
“When pressed, Lady Mortimer admitted to purchasing Invidia. But now she’s insisting that it was a maid who stole it and slipped it in. It’s nonsense—there’s a limit to how far-fetched an excuse can be…”
“Are you saying a maid from Count Wallace’s estate stole the Invidia from the Mortimer household and placed it into Lady Eskis’s tea? Is that… really what she said?”
Ezkhiel asked, dumbfounded.
Achilles, clearly irritated, responded while signing papers with unnecessary force.
“That’s a common delusion among nobles her age. They think they can blame everything on the servants and get away with it. Maybe they’ve been able to pull that off within their own households, but to think such an excuse would work with the Knights… it’s maddening.”
“…She doesn’t even grasp the seriousness of the situation?”
“Not at all. She just keeps parroting the same thing—‘I didn’t do anything wrong, it was the maid’s fault.’ I mean, seriously, what kind of maid walks three hours just to steal barely a spoonful of precious tea leaves and serve them to her master’s guest?”
Even as he spoke, Achilles ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.
Ezkhiel, imagining how much of that nonsense must have been in the report Achilles had to read, couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy.
“Did the maid at least confess?”
“She admitted that Lady Mortimer gave her the tea leaves. But the problem is, neither of them mentioned the name ‘Wallace’.”
Ezkhiel sighed too.
The only link between Giselle Mortimer and the maid from the Count of Wallace's household is the Count of Wallace's family itself. The problem, however, is the lack of sufficient evidence to prove it.
“Would we make progress if we could get a testimony from Lady Eskis?”
“Significant progress, yes. Identifying who knew about her allergy would certainly narrow down the suspects. But they’re claiming she’s sick right now, so we can’t even summon her forcibly… It’s driving me crazy.”
At Achilles’s words, Ezkhiel grew anxious about how he would report this to Matthias.
Matthias’ entire plan hinged on the fall of Count Wallace.
Even if they managed to dismiss a few implicated knights, as long as Count Wallace remained, the deep-rooted corruption within the knights couldn’t be eradicated.
But since the most crucial victim was under their control, it wouldn’t be easy to resolve—not unless a direct imperial order came down.
‘An imperial decree might provoke backlash from the nobility…’
No matter the truth, dragging a noble young lady who is supposedly bedridden from illness into court would be seen as excessive.
Especially when this sort of purging effort is something the nobles are already inclined to fiercely resist—even a small flaw in justification could give them an excuse to push back.
As Ezkhiel was lost in these troubling thoughts, the communication orb on Achilles’s desk lit up brightly.
Achilles glanced at it and muttered, “Huh,” before activating it without even dismissing Ezkhiel from the room.
“Deputy-Commander Achilles Averil speaking. May I ask why Lady Sharon is calling through the direct channel?”
The moment Achilles said “Lady Sharon,” Ezkhiel turned his head in surprise.
And sure enough, the voice responding was unmistakably Letticia’s.
—Oh, are you alone right now?
“No, I’m with Chief Aide Bright.”
—Ah, that’s fine, then. So, the thing is…
Her voice cut off for a moment, and then Achilles’s eyes went wide in shock as he snatched up the video orb.
Ezkhiel tilted his head in confusion, wondering what had just happened—until Achilles silently turned the orb to show him what was on the screen.
Displayed in the crystal of the video orb was…
Seraphina Eskis.
***
“Milady, Lady Eskis has arrived.”
“What?”
Startled by the butler’s announcement, Letticia hurried to go greet her. But the butler stopped her, shaking his head.
“No, not in the drawing room. She came through the back entrance and has been guided to the annex.”
“The annex? Why would she go there?”
“She came by rental carriage, avoiding attention. She was accompanied only by an old butler and two maids.”
Just hearing that made Letticia frown—something clearly wasn’t right.
As expected, when she met Seraphina in the annex, the girl wore a grave expression and skipped formalities, speaking her mind immediately.
“I’m terribly sorry for showing up so suddenly, Lady Sharon. But to get straight to the point… I’ve escaped from Count Wallace’s estate.”
Hearing the word escaped, Letticia’s eyes instinctively swept over Seraphina’s appearance.
She wore a plain, undecorated dress one might wear only at home, her face was bare of makeup, and the only additional thing on her was a robe to obscure her face.
“Escaped? Were you… being held captive?”
“In all but name, yes. Starting the day after the concert, they told me I needed rest and wouldn't let me leave my room.”
Letticia let out a dry, incredulous laugh.
What sort of audacity did it take to confine the daughter of a great lord family? Or perhaps… they had no other choice?
“Then you didn’t receive a single one of our letters?”
“No. I managed to get away today only because they were planning to move me to another of the Count’s estates under the pretense of convalescence. I slipped away during the move, thanks to help from old household staff who had served my mother since she was young.”
It seemed Dayna’s letter had finally placed them under pressure.
Letticia had expected only small cracks to appear—but for Seraphina to escape on her own and come to her?
That was better than expected.
“Then you don’t know anything about what’s happening right now, do you?”
“No. I was so focused on escaping, I couldn’t even get hold of a newspaper.”
“To put it simply: The Knights have officially launched an investigation into your collapse, treating it as an attempted murder case. Everyone involved has been questioned, and the investigation is being led by Deputy-Commander Achilles Averil.”
“Achilles Averil? Not the Count?”
“Yes. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gave the direct order himself.”
Seraphina fell silent, her expression dark and thoughtful before she finally asked.
“So who’s being treated as the prime suspect right now?”
“Most likely Lady Mortimer, the one who handled the tea leaves. On the first day of questioning, she even tried to frame me as the culprit.”
“She did what?!”
Seraphina’s voice rose in both shock and fury—not just surprised, but genuinely enraged.
“While I was confined, everyone around me kept saying Lady Sharon was suspicious. But I never imagined they were actually trying to frame you…”
“I appreciate that you believe me… But you seem very certain it was a false accusation?”
Letticia asked, surprised by the certainty in Seraphina’s voice.
What came next was unexpected.
“The culprit is most likely either Count Wallace, the Countess, or their daughter.”
Letticia had suspected as much herself, but hearing such firm conviction from the victim was shocking.
Even more so because the people Seraphina was accusing were her own uncle, aunt, and cousin.
“When I learned that it was Invidia that caused my collapse, I figured it out right away. I suspect the daughter, but… it could’ve been the Countess too.”
“Aren’t you… shocked by that?”
Letticia asked the question delicately, unsure how to even approach it.
But Seraphina responded with a calm face.
“Of course I was shocked. I believed they’d never harm me—after all, they’re family. But the only ones who knew about my allergy to Invidia were Count Wallace, the Countess, and their daughter.”
“Not even the servants?”
“No. Besides the maid I brought from the west and the physician who sent a letter to the Wallace household, no one knew. Everyone else just thought I didn’t like floral tea. So in the capital, aside from those five people, no one could’ve known.”
And the maid and physician had both been ruled out as suspects due to having had no opportunity to commit the act at the time.
“…Then, when His Highness the Crown Prince asked you what caused you to collapse—was the reason you didn’t mention the allergy…”
“Because I didn’t want even one more person knowing about it. Even if someone found out later, it’d be easy to lie about when they learned it.”
It was clear Seraphina had been thinking carefully and strategically.
Even so, it was painful to see her having to treat her own relatives with such wariness.
“I wanted to at least finish the concert properly… So I stayed quiet at first. But then I was locked in before I could even send a letter to my father, and I couldn’t do anything after that. Just getting here today was incredibly difficult.”
Nervous and unable to hide it, Seraphina tapped her fingers on the table, then looked Letticia straight in the eyes.
“So… I know I’m asking a lot, but Lady Sharon—could you hide me? Just until this case is resolved.”
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1 Comments
SERAPHINA, YOU DESERVE THE WORLD 🙏 Love her character, seriously
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