Chapter 237. Disclosure, Part VIII

Translator: Khan Editor: Aelryinth

“I’ll reflect. I feel like I have a lot to learn.” Sir Caden apologized with the utmost sincerity. He had to change himself to enter the highest and gloomiest place in the Empire.

Adam nodded, accepting the apology, and asked, “I need to meet the person who submitted this report, and hear more about it. How should I meet him?”

“You have to go to the village. If we let him in and out of the mansion, he could become suspicious, so I have only been contacting him by letter.”

“Who should I look for?” Valerian jumped up and asked.

“Go to an inn called ‘Tilia’s Garden’ in the village just below Tilia Castle, ask the owner for the largest room, and order a dinner of grilled quail dureng. Then you’ll be able to meet the watchman. But it’s difficult for Your Excellency the Count to go. Although we’ve planted spies here, we don’t know what kind of spies they might have in the village.”

Valerian’s footsteps stopped after he began to move at Caden’s words.

“Give knights free time today. Let those who are suffering from the death of the Duke drink and soothe their sorrows. Why don’t you join them for a drink, Sir Caden? Aren’t you the one who served the Duke closest?”

Sir Caden grinned at Adam’s words.

“I should do that. I’m going to have a drink too. Your Excellency Count Valerian will leave after I return.”

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Killian stared at the maid who had been dragged out in the middle of the night.

“Save me. I’ve only done what I was told to do. Please, please show mercy.”

Until the unidentified assailants had suddenly attacked and arrested her, Jane thought she would go to Lady Anais, who had told her to put poison in the tea. She would say that she was sorry for the failure and if Lady Anais gave her another chance, she would surely succeed; she thought that she would be okay if she asked for forgiveness. But the moment she found out that she had been brought before Prince Killian in the Imperial Castle, Jane foresaw that her life would end here.

Killian saw the maid whose face was covered with tears and snot, begging desperately to such an extent that her hands became feet, and ordered them, “Bring the sword.”

Jane’s begging cry stopped at the scary voice that sounded like it came from a dark bottomless pit.

“Your Highness!”

Albert, unable to sleep until the Prince fell asleep, was about to stop him, surprised by Killian’s order.

“Bring it.”

Ian quickly brought Killian’s sword at the cold command, so he would not have to say it again.

Serung! The sword was drawn.

Jane lay with her face down on the floor again, wetting her pants with the urine at the sound of death from the sword. “Please spare me, Your Highness. Please let me live. I only did what I was told. Please spare me.”

Julietta, still disguised as a maid, stood beside the wall and watched. She didn’t want to stop him at all. She would not have been standing here now if Doctor Paulo had not discovered that the metum painkiller was an antidote.

Killian wouldn’t kill the maid, because Julietta had already said something. However, even if he did, she would be a little bit sad because she couldn’t present the maid as a witness, but she didn’t feel too guilty at the thought.

She was afraid of getting more and more numb. ‘If this kind of decision repeats itself, can I think so little of a man’s life, like Prince Francis and Christine?’

Julietta looked down at the maid crawling on the floor with emotionless eyes.

If she did something bad, she should be punished accordingly. She had to feel painfully how much she had done wrong. Because she had threatened Julietta’s life, her life should be threatened.

Killian’s angry sword fiercely splintered the wind and passed by, touching the neck of the maid.

The maid thought she was dead and couldn’t even scream… then screamed frantically when she saw her pony-tail cut and fall to the floor.

Killian put the sword in the sheath, and gave a fierce beating to the screaming maid who was crawling on the floor. Then he threw the sword he was holding toward Ian. “I want to kill you like this, but I’m saving you because I have something to use you for. If you don’t do what I tell you to do properly, I’ll send you to another world.”

Killian warned the trembling maid, grabbed the hand of Julietta where she was standing against the wall, and entered the bedroom.

Despite Jane’s sobs, Julietta felt strangely calm, and held her thoughts tightly. The position she was about to rise to in the future was one where she should not show any awkward sympathy or mercy.

She looked up at Killian, who was still furious because he could not resolve his anger, and dismissed from her thoughts the scene of the maid who had begged and crawled on the floor.

“Your Highness, are you all right?”

“I managed to put up with it when I wanted to kill her.”

“Good job. You know she’s an important witness.”

‘Do you really think he did a good job?’ Julietta asked herself silently.

“Are you all right?” Killian looked down at Julietta, who looked strange somehow.

“… I don’t know. I just thought it would be okay if you killed her…”

Killian strongly hugged Julietta as she with unfocused eyes about not feeling any emotion.

She was hurt by what had been continuously happening. She seemed to have closed off a part of her mind to protect herself.

So had Killian after he had lost his mother. He had lost something, but he had lived without knowing what he had lost. It wasn’t until he met Julietta that he got it back.

Killian hugged her in silence and swept her back relentlessly. The thin body in his embrace was quiet without any resistance.

Frightened, Killian shook her body sideways, whispering. Julietta was shaken as if she was flooded by the waves, and spoke after a long time. “I thought it was done by Prince Francis.”

But that was only half the truth. The other half was led by her half-sister Christine.

Julietta had constantly imagined revenge on Christine since the abduction.

‘Would I make her suffer the same thing, in like manner? Or do I go slap her cheeks and let her beg for her life, saying that I know all what she’s done? Or do I file a formal complaint and let her be punished?’

Sometimes the terrible memories of that day that came to her seemed like they would never go away. It was upsetting enough to wake her while she was sleeping, but it was more painful that she could not share this feeling with anyone.

Julietta could not ignore Marquis Anais. The moment she put the blade of revenge on Christine, the aftermath couldn’t help but reach the Marquis behind Christine. So, she had been pressing for revenge, but the reward was death. She was sick of Christine. She was angry that she was the only one going through this.

However, she felt uncomfortable, because the price was that she had taken another person’s seat. Did she really deserve to be angry? Her mind was so complicated that her anger was focused on Jane.

‘I wish you would be dead. Die instead of Christine. Did you try to kill someone, even though you were ordered to kill? You had no ill favor or spite with me, but you tried to kill me because you were ordered to? You’re the worst. Die! Die! Die!’

Only then did she notice that the anger which she could not bring out with any words had accumulated in her heart. She hated his cowardice.

‘Why can’t I get revenge on Christine in an imposing manner? Because of the man who is my father? Because of someone who has no connection with me?’

No, it was because she had intercepted the man Christine loved, even though she was a substitute who took another’s position. If she hadn’t shown up, Christine could have married Killian. In fact, it had been said in Bertino Castle. If she hadn’t loved Killian, she would have felt a little less guilty, if it were just a business relationship like before.

But she fell in love with this arrogant man. Then she thought that all this was done out of her own greed. She tried to make Phoebe the Duke’s illegitimate child instead of Regina, fearing Regina would threaten her position. Now she wanted Christine to die. The more she tried to have, the more she should not be swayed by compassion; she brainwashed herself.