Chapter 35
When she opened her eyes, she was met with a familiar ceiling.
Reina let out a groan at the stinging pain as she sat up in bed.
She could have sworn Kaiden had come to rescue her.
But before she knew it, she must have passed out, because now she was in her bedroom.
As Reina brushed off the covers and got up, Lily, who had been dozing off beside her, jolted awake in surprise.
“Madam! Are you alright?”
“What happened?”
“You were being chased by snowflake foxes, and the Duke came to save you. You’ve been ill for a full day!”
“I see.”
“You must have been so frightened. You can relax now.”
As Lily spoke with a tearful voice, Reina offered a faint smile.
“You seem more shaken than I am.”
“Oh dear, my heart dropped to the floor and I had to pick it back up. I swear I’ve aged ten years!”
“I’m sorry.”
“What do you have to be sorry for, Madam? If anything, I’m the one who should apologize for not serving you properly.”
Lily bowed her head with a face that looked like she might burst into tears at any moment.
Reina glanced around and asked,
“Where’s Dalia?”
She said it out of worry that the girl might have gotten hurt while fleeing, just like her.
Lily forced a smile as she replied.
“The young miss is safe.”
“That’s a relief.”
“A relief? Hardly, with you hurt like this. According to Miss Dalia, the snowflake foxes were only chasing you. Does anything come to mind about that?”
“I’m not sure.”
As Reina quietly recalled the events, Lily sighed in lament.
“Actually, the whole castle is in an uproar because of this incident.”
“Uproar?”
“It seems the Duke doesn’t think it was just an accident. And honestly, with a pack of snowflake foxes appearing inside the safe zone, it’s understandable to be suspicious.”
“…So, have they caught the culprit?”
“Not yet. Actually, Sister Rose is under suspicion…”
Lily continued, glancing at Reina’s expression.
“I swear on my life, it’s not our sister, Madam. She can be a bit prickly, but she’s not the type to harm others. She might grumble, but when it counts, she gets things done perfectly. I know it sounds like I’m saying this because she’s family, but it’s true. Please believe me.”
Her face was filled with anxiety, as if she feared Reina might think she was defending her just because they were family.
Reina gave a faint smile to reassure Lily.
“Alright, calm down for now, Lily.”
Of course, it wasn’t because she believed Rose was innocent.
‘She’s probably suspected because of the map.’
Rose had definitely been the one to prepare the map. And they had followed the directions marked on it to the escape point, but there was nothing there.
Since she’d nearly died, she couldn’t just blindly trust Rose, but she didn’t bother saying it out loud.
Moreover, the map alone didn’t fully explain the situation—there were too many suspicious aspects.
The map could be dismissed as a mistake, but the snowflake foxes invading the safe zone couldn’t be written off as mere coincidence.
It had definitely been inside the safe zone.
If the magical device had been functioning properly, such a large pack couldn’t have charged in like that.
Even if it was a coincidence, shouldn’t they have fled when Kaiden appeared?
The killing intent radiating from him was enough to make even magical beasts flinch.
But the snowflake foxes didn’t run; instead, they lunged at her even more ferociously.
Recalling how they had slavered as if possessed, the whole thing was riddled with oddities.
As Reina quietly pondered the events, she sought out Dalia.
First, she wanted to confirm the child’s safety with her own eyes.
“Could you call Dalia for me?”
“I’ll be right back. The young miss has been waiting more than anyone for you to wake up.”
Lily left, and not long after, Dalia arrived.
“Miss Reina!”
Dalia, her eyes swollen from crying, threw herself into Reina’s arms.
Her face showed she hadn’t slept a wink all night from worrying.
Dalia burrowed into her embrace and murmured.
“I’m sorry. For running away alone.”
“No, I’m the one who’s grateful, Dalia. For believing me and following along. And I’m relieved you didn’t get hurt.”
“But you got hurt, Miss Reina. I heard it’ll be hard for you to walk for a while. Because your leg was bitten…”
Dalia glanced at the bandaged foot and sniffled.
To prevent another flood of tears, Reina began to soothe her.
“I told you, I’m fine. More importantly, you must have been really scared yesterday, huh?”
“I was scared, but… having you there made it okay. More than that, it’s because I lost the gift from Uncle…”
Dalia made a tearful face. By gift, she must have meant the snowflake fox scarf.
“Ah!”
Reina suddenly remembered the scarf and felt a pang of realization.
Come to think of it, when she had waved the scarf, a strange gleam had appeared in the snowflake foxes’ eyes.
At the time, she’d thought it was lucky that it worked, but now it felt suspicious.
‘And come to think of it, Mrs. Mary had packed mine and Dalia’s scarves.’
What she’d dismissed as unimportant back then now seemed dubious in hindsight.
Especially since it involved someone she’d already found unsettling.
Reina asked Lily about the scarf’s whereabouts.
“Where’s my scarf?”
“Oh, the scarf? It was so dirty that I asked Sister Rose to take it to the laundry room. She just got back from her interrogation a little while ago.”
At the mention of the laundry room, Reina bolted upright.
What if this whole incident was because of the scarf?
If it got washed, it might lose its value as evidence.
As Reina tried to move, leaning on her crutches, Lily supported her.
“Madam, you shouldn’t be moving like this…”
“I need to go to the laundry room. Hurry.”
* * *
With Reina seriously injured, the atmosphere in the castle was in chaos.
Rose headed to the laundry room, carrying a basket containing the bloodstained scarf.
‘Even if you’re running away, doing it outside the safe zone just tires everyone out, really!’
After being interrogated all dawn for something she hadn’t done, Rose was on edge.
The trouble had started because she’d handed Reina the wrong map.
“When I checked, it was definitely the map after the revisions. I’m telling the truth!”
No matter how much she explained, no one believed her.
It was only natural, since the pre-revision map had been found in her bag.
Instead, they found her denials suspicious and interrogated her through the night.
Of course, without securing any further evidence, they’d only released her at dawn.
An all-night interrogation followed immediately by work.
Rose huffed in irritation for no particular reason.
Honestly, she found Reina annoying, but not enough to deliberately drive her into danger.
Her usual sharp tongue often led to misunderstandings, but something as humiliating as this was a first.
As she grumbled her way across the hallway, Mrs. Mary appeared from the opposite direction.
“Miss Rose, are you on your way to the laundry room?”
“Ah, yes.”
“I heard you went through a lot all night. Leave this with me and get some rest, Miss Rose.”
Mrs. Mary naturally took the basket from Rose’s hands.
Caught off guard as the basket was snatched away, Rose blinked.
Realizing a moment too late, she grabbed it back and said.
“No? This is my job. Besides, the scarf has a lot of blood on it, so it needs hand-washing. We can’t let stains set in.”
She was already under suspicion and didn’t want to add accusations of shirking work.
But Mrs. Mary was insistent. She gripped the basket firmly and said.
“Oh, come on, just give it here. Hand-washing is my specialty. You must be exhausted from the overnight interrogation— this is the time to rest. Anyway, I was heading to the laundry room myself, so don’t feel too bad about it.”
“I’m really fine…”
“I’ll tell Miss Lily that you did it.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
No longer wanting to argue, Rose expressed her thanks in a daze.
She figured it was just as well, since she hadn’t wanted to do the hand-washing anyway.
As Rose turned to head back to her room, she spotted Reina in the distance, being supported by Lily.
