COARV Chapter 40

I'm not purely kind and good-natured. But I hoped these people wouldn't die. Wasn't it rather foolish stubbornness for me to keep my mouth shut when I knew the method to save them?

It wasn't worth long deliberation. I made my decision quickly.

"Your Grace. After examining things, I think I've found a method of purification."

Lesche's movement, poking the embers with the fire iron, stopped abruptly. He turned to look at me, still holding the fire iron in that same position.

"You found a purification method?"

"Yes. Surely the saint could purify—"

"No."

"Pardon?"

"The saint won't do. What else? Can't you do it, my lady?"

I stared at him blankly, wondering if I'd misheard, then stood up abruptly a beat late.

"I can't do it, Your Grace. But..."

I swallowed hard and asked again.

"Your Grace, do you perhaps not trust me? The saint can definitely purify these shadows."

"I have no intention of bringing a woman who isn't of House Berke into Laurel Manor. And I can't exactly hire a saint as a servant."

"If Your Grace wishes, I can temporarily employ her as a Stern's escort priest. I haven't used that authority yet since I have a dedicated knight."

"I need to be more clear."

"About what?"

"I have absolutely no intention of bringing any woman other than my Grand Duchess to this manor, this estate."

"..."

I closed my mouth. Because I was confused. I hadn't known Lesche Berke was the type to remain so faithful. Moreover, when he himself said he didn't want it... could I insist further? I didn't have that confidence. As I lowered my gaze, the yarn flower Susan had brought caught my eye.

The slippers. The blankets. Even the warm milk she'd brought.

"I know it's presumptuous. I know, but I want the people here to be all right."

"So you want to bring the saint."

"Yes."

"Does Lady have no pride?"

"Pride?"

I laughed, a short exhale.

"What exactly do you want me to answer, Your Grace?"

Lesche Berke looked at me with cold eyes. Even trying to read his expression, it didn't come easily.

"You seem to be pitying the people of this estate."

His voice was somewhat rough.

"How about looking at yourself first, my lady? Aren't you afraid I'll become like Marquess Haneton?"

Aren't you afraid he'll be like Kallis?

Afraid Lesche himself might go to Lina?

Words like a knife thrust. No, was it mockery? I lifted my head and glared at Lesche.

"There's no chance of that. Marquess Kallis Haneton was a man I chose. Unlike Your Grace."

"Ah, right. I wasn't a man you chose."

"It's good to know. So, don't place such significance on me."

"You're misunderstanding that I place significance on the 'Grand Duchess.'"

I glared at Lesche.

"How presumptuous of me to mistake Your Grace's intentions."

Lesche didn't answer. I tore my glare from him and whirled around. Still gripping the yarn flower and cup of warm milk Susan and Masha had given me in both hands, I roughly shoved the Grand Duke's bedroom door open with my shoulder and walked out.

How irritating.

My mood plummeted instantly. Did he think I enjoyed summoning Lina? Would those words come easily from my mouth? When my damned fiancé had already failed to abandon Lina as in the original story, how could Lesche Berke possibly know what a wound that was to me?

This beautiful, pastoral, tranquil estate.

If I summoned Lina to this manor in the snowy field, somehow separated from the world, wouldn't this place soon become the female protagonist's world too? I'd been jealous of that, honestly. But when I knew perfectly well that these people who treated me so kindly, who breathed perfectly fine, would all die at once.

How many people could pretend not to know when they knew the method to save them? Why did he look at me with that expression when he was the one being callous and cruel?

'I have absolutely no intention of bringing any woman other than my Grand Duchess to this manor, this estate.'

Lesche Berke's explanation was unkind. But hadn't Linon told me? Why Masha was bound to this estate. When there had been a previous Grand Duke who openly favored his illegitimate child, the previous Grand Duchess who was Lesche's mother couldn't have fared well either.

So Lesche's words, unpacked, would mean this: When another woman besides the Grand Duchess was brought to Laurel Manor and things ended up like this, he had absolutely no intention of repeating history.

I understood. I understood, but that didn't justify him mocking me. In this world within the original story, I was the only one who thought of the notorious villainess Seria, so I at least had to cherish Seria.

I bit my lip hard and sipped the still-steaming milk. My throat burned. Holding the empty cup, I stared at the Grand Duchess's bedroom for a moment. If I slept here in anger, I might freeze to death in a bedroom without fire.

Would Masha, Ben, Linon, or others notice I'd fought with Lesche and left?

'I hope they pretend not to know even if they realize.'

Because of the solidified demonic energy, firewood dried and twisted quickly, so I'd heard the green estate didn't keep much firewood on hand. Therefore, after eating dinner and finishing baths, they extinguished all fires except in the bedrooms where people stayed to conserve wood. The servants' quarters were on the fourth floor, like the sorcerers.

The first floor with no one around was definitely dark and gloomy. I could barely make out objects. The only place with embers always burning was the kitchen and dining room. Thinking of the plush chairs in the dining room, I decided to sleep in front of the dining room hearth.

Walking carefully toward the dining room...

"...?"

Thud. With a dull sound, something strange caught my foot. Nearly tripping, I frowned and looked down, and what I saw in the sparse light from the wall lamps was...

"Masha...?"

Masha was collapsed on the floor.

"Masha!"

I hurriedly crouched before Masha.

"Masha! Masha! Wake up!"

Shaking her arm, something warm suddenly smeared on my hand. My eyes widened.

"Blood?"

Why was blood flowing from her abdomen? Someone must have hurt her. And the only outsiders in this estate were...!

"Les—!"

My cry didn't finish. My mouth was clamped shut. Click. My body went rigid. I tried rolling my eyes to see who had grabbed me from behind. But I didn't really need to look.

The herb that knocked out people with divine power. The scent of burned imprinting grass drifted faintly.

"Revered one. A good star to offer the gods at the final moment..."

A familiar voice. That strangely dressed, arrogant sorcerer who had demanded answers from me. He pressed a handkerchief reeking overwhelmingly of burned imprinting grass to my mouth. The moment his unpleasantly creaking laughter seeped into my ears—

"Hack!"

The sorcerer flew sideways. I pressed both hands to the floor and coughed violently.

"Miss! Miss Seria! Are you all right?"

Holding a lantern in one hand, Susan lifted me up with tremendous strength. Ben, who had run after her, immediately began examining Masha's wound, calling "Masha!"

I shifted my gaze to the sorcerer who'd been thrown against the wall.

"S-spare me... gack!"

The fleeing sorcerer's throat was caught by Susan as he struggled. I glared at him and walked closer, one step, two steps. The sorcerer trembled with an expression like he'd seen a nightmare.

"Where are you from and what do you want?"

"Guh-ghk...!..."

Blood vessels bulged on the strangled sorcerer's forehead.

"I thought it was strange. It made no sense you didn't know I was a Stern. This hair color isn't common either."

"Revered one. Who are you to—"

Seria's green hair was absolutely not common. Honestly speaking, she was also quite a beauty. More importantly, I remembered from the original story. 'Word has spread even to other continents about how vicious that green-haired Stern is.'

Of course, it might be an exaggeration. But sorcerers who feared heresy inquisitors would definitely have obtained such rumors beforehand, yet they blatantly pretended not to know I was obviously a Stern?

"Speak quickly."

I pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and stuffed it into the sorcerer's mouth while interrogating him. Susan said in an admiring voice.

"Miss, you must have practiced torture."

"No... I just saw it in a book."

An awkward answer, but not a lie. Because this vicious yet meticulous method of preventing suicide before torture was a technique Seria had actually used in the original story. Why had she used it then?

Ah, right. She used it while torturing a Berke knight who was protecting and hiding Lina...

The original Seria really wasn't in her right mind either. What disturbed me more was that each movement stuck to my body perfectly, perhaps because it was a method Seria had enjoyed using in the original. I pushed the thought away and looked at Susan instead. She was glaring at the sorcerer with a murderous expression.

I looked at Susan glaring murderously at the sorcerer.

As I thought, she was a knight. Good thing I asked her to patrol at night.

When I'd held Susan's hand earlier during the escort, I'd guessed from her Abigail-like calluses... I was suddenly frightened.

"Why didn't Joanna and Linon come together? The fourth floor is still dangerous..."

"That side should be fine too. Joanna is... My lady!"

Susan shouted, looking behind me. I turned around. My eyes widened. Taking advantage of the darkness, a sorcerer with a dagger was lunging at my back.