Chapter 114. You knew everything from the beginning!
“You knew everything, didn’t you?!”
In a secluded corner where no one’s footsteps reached, an unexpected voice rang out.
The person shouting in great agitation was none other than Greta.
Standing opposite her was Ludmilla.
Ludmilla shot a glare at Greta, who was fiercely gripping her arm, then irritably shook her arm free.
“What’s wrong with you, kid.”
“Why didn’t you tell me! You knew everything from the start and still did it!”
“Knew what?”
Greta barely suppressed the urge to slap that shameless, innocent-looking face.
It wasn’t just that the other had leverage over her; more importantly, she could deal with that later after assessing the full situation.
Greta took slow, deep breaths to suppress the boiling anger.
“Deborah—you knew she was involved with the duke like that. You knew everything, so don’t even try to deny it!”
At the stern questioning, Ludmilla’s lips twitched once.
“Ahh, that? I thought it was something else.”
“……Ahh…… that?!”
Greta once again forcibly held back the urge to leave long nail marks across that nonchalant face.
“Of course I knew. That’s exactly why I made you do it, isn’t it?”
“You—you!!”
For the first time in her life, Greta realized that when a person becomes extremely furious, every muscle in their body trembles uncontrollably.
Last evening, Greta had gone up to the third-floor attic to carry out the second task Ludmilla had assigned her.
To tell Deborah that Madam Charlotte was calling her and to come to the smoking room.
The first task had been to discreetly spread a rumor to her friend, who was the personal maid of Countess Lyster.
To convey something completely different: that not long ago, a maid named Deborah had secretly slipped into the count’s bedroom, causing a huge commotion.
Both tasks had been distasteful, but she had no choice if she wanted to keep her relationship with the footman Jeremy hidden.
She had known that the ill-tempered Ludmilla harbored ill will toward Deborah, but she had never imagined it would lead to something like this.
When Greta heard the enormous rumor that spread rapidly through the mansion last night, she was utterly shocked.
It was surprising enough that the duke had stepped in to protect Deborah from the count and countess’s harassment, but hearing that the two of them were in that kind of relationship nearly made her faint on the spot.
If all of that was true, then it was only a matter of time before the duke learned that the person who had lured Deborah to the smoking room was her.
Whether she got caught for her affair with Jeremy and was thrown out, or got caught for what she did to Deborah and was thrown out—it was the same either way, so there was no reason to let herself be manipulated like this anymore.
While Greta glared with murderous eyes, ready to tear every hair out of Ludmilla’s head for knowingly putting her in such a predicament—
“Did you really think I would make you do it without considering that?”
At those meaningful words, Greta’s fierce expression flinched for a moment.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Ludmilla looked at Greta—who was adding that she would scratch up her entire face if she didn’t speak plainly—with pitying eyes.
“If they catch you, they’ll come straight for me too—why would I dig my own grave, you idiot.”
She kept pouring out stomach-churning remarks like “Don’t you even get that?” and “What do you even carry that heavy head around for?”—but right now none of it properly reached Greta’s ears.
Now that she thought about it, it really was true.
If she went all out and claimed that everything was done at Ludmilla’s direction, then not only she but Ludmilla too would inevitably be expelled.
No matter how blinded by revenge that fox-like Ludmilla might be, it was only natural that she would never take such a risk……
Having grasped the situation, Greta cleared her throat awkwardly.
“S-so, you had it all planned out?”
That Deborah would never mention who had lured her to the smoking room last night.
That was the only thing that mattered to Greta.
At that cautious question, Ludmilla gave a slight nod.
“Yes. So just do one last thing I tell you.”
“……Last?”
Seeing the slightly furrowed expression, Ludmilla’s lips soon curved meaningfully.
And shortly after, secretive words slipped from between her teeth.
“Yes. After that, your name will never come out of Deborah’s mouth again.”
* * *
“Haa…….”
A long sigh echoed inside the bedroom.
The owner of the sound was Deborah, and the place where the sigh came from was none other than the duke’s bedroom she had left this morning.
—For now, there is an instruction to stay inside the duke’s bedroom for the entire day today. In this chaotic situation, wandering around could only make things worse…… so it would be best to do as the duke said. In any case, the grand duchess now knows everything as well.
A few hours earlier, when she had finally gathered herself and gone downstairs to the servants’ hall, she had been met with hundreds of stinging gazes.
Her mind had been completely blank, unsure what to do, but it seemed right to follow that direction for the time being.
Whatever the reason, she still had duties to fulfill.
While enduring the pouring stares as she entered, it was Madam Charlotte who called out to stop her.
She left the rest to the head maid beside her and took Deborah to her private quarters.
And what she heard was exactly that.
To stay put in his bedroom and not leave for the day.
It was probably said with Deborah in mind.
Since he must be fully occupied attending to the crown prince who had come to Elfen Green, he had likely asked Madam Charlotte to convey this request.
Though it had merely changed from a cramped attic to a luxurious bedroom, being confined like this was hardly pleasant.
But just moments ago—
The moment she recalled the gazes that had pierced her far more coldly than she had expected, she felt grateful for this consideration of his.
She could not even endure a single day, yet she had somehow thought she could accept this relationship from the beginning—how pathetic her own weakness seemed.
She had thought the grand duchess might summon her as soon as it was daylight, but since both the grand duchess and the young lady of Cheister had remained quiet so far, it was likely because they were mindful of the crown prince’s presence.
They could not afford to show any more such behavior while the crown prince was in the mansion.
“…….”
When Hanna’s words about moving rooms echoed in her ears, Deborah’s complexion darkened once again.
She wanted to beg for forgiveness until the hurt was soothed, but she felt utterly helpless, not knowing how to change the mind of someone who refused even to listen.
Should she have been honest with Hanna—at least with her?
But even if she could go back to the beginning, she felt she would make the same choice.
Because she had wanted to keep her relationship with him hidden from everyone until the very end.
“Haa…….”
Another long sigh burst out from the unrelieved frustration—
Knock knock.
At the sudden knock, Deborah’s body flinched.
‘……Who could it be?’
Tension instantly gripped her entire body.
At this hour, there was no one who would knock on the door of the duke’s unoccupied bedroom.
As her mouth dried up from the burning tension, the knock sounded once more.
Knock knock.
The sound rang out even more clearly than before.
In the end, Deborah rose from the chair she had been sitting in and slowly walked toward the door.
With a hand slick with sweat, she cautiously pushed the handle, and through the gap appeared someone’s face.
The moment she confirmed that face, Deborah’s gaze shook violently.
“……Just give me a moment. I have something to say.”
It was that woman.
The maid who had come to her last night, lied that Madam Charlotte was looking for her, and told her to go to the smoking room.
For no reason at all, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
An ominous premonition that something unpleasant was about to happen.
At Deborah’s silent reaction while holding the handle, the other woman’s anxiety was plainly evident.
“It’ll just take a moment…… It’s something very important that you absolutely need to hear, just a moment.”
“…….”
She could not immediately decide whether to trust those words and let the woman in.
How could she readily believe the person who had put her in such a predicament?
Yet the woman’s words sounded profoundly meaningful.
Something very important that Deborah absolutely needed to hear.
After hesitating briefly, Deborah stepped back slightly.
Taking it as permission to enter, the woman quickly glanced around and finally stepped inside.
Click.
The door closed, and Deborah took one step back.
“Say it here.”
Though she was staying temporarily as he had instructed, this bedroom’s owner was clearly not her.
Moreover, she could not allow this suspicious woman—who had lied to her—to go any deeper into his bedroom, so Deborah demanded she speak right at the entrance.
The other woman, apparently not intending to drag it out, immediately nodded.
“It’s about what happened yesterday…….”
“Yesterday?”
She was so brazen—bringing up yesterday’s events before even being asked—that Deborah was dumbfounded.
But the woman nodded with a grave, determined expression, as if she had come prepared.
“What I did yesterday—going to find you—if anyone else asks…… I came to tell you to keep your mouth shut.”
Ha—a laugh burst out at the audacity of telling her to cover up yesterday’s events when an apology would not even be enough.
“Yesterday…… why did you do that?”
Before questioning how absurd it was, she first wanted to know the reason.
Why on earth had this woman—who barely knew her—done something so strange?
Ever since yesterday, no matter how many dozens of times she thought about it, she could not understand.
At the direct question, the woman’s gaze wavered minutely for a moment.
But only briefly—soon her face hardened fiercely again, and she shot back coldly.
“You don’t need to know that. It’s better for you to just do as I say.”
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