Chapter 27 - 27

The knight quickly knelt down and, sweating profusely, confessed.

"Th-that is... I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry, Countess. The truth is, you threw it away recently, and I, feeling it was a waste... I dared to pick it up and give it to my lover! It's my fault! I'm truly sorry!"

Hearing that, I fiddled with the hairpin. It was so ridiculous I almost laughed out loud.

I was dumbfounded. What do you mean 'pick it up'?

Charlize had a tendency to get bored with things as easily as she spent lavishly, and as the knight said, she would throw away things she didn't like.

Probably, if it were the real Charlize, she would have let it slide. If it weren't me inside.

At his blatant lie, my eyes grew dark and deep.

I felt like I could hear strange whispers from somewhere inside my body, telling me to 'Just kill him', 'Should I cut his tendons?'

But just because I'm angry, I can't act rashly.

Because my grandfather's near-coercive order to show I've changed came to mind.

I'll have to commit atrocities at the banquet inevitably, so do I really need to get angry before the banquet?

Just as I was about to suppress my anger, I met eyes with my brother.

Roxidian, who was watching, smirked and made a money sign with his fingers. A circle, a gold coin.

'Earn your keep.'

He even mouthed the words mockingly. Because of him, the anger I was barely holding back burst out.

Thud!

It wasn't a slap, but a thud. My tightly clenched fist struck the knight's cheek.

My wrist hurt like it was sprained, but that aside.

Did that bastard steal the hairpin I gave as a gift to a child?

Because of that, one child cried and searched for it all night and ended up sick.

Worker Yoon Ji-hoo was an ordinary person who didn't know how to get properly angry, but strangely, I clearly knew exactly what I had to do right now.

"This is a one-of-a-kind pin in the Empire. Did you think I wouldn't recognize it?"

"C-Countess..."

"I remember throwing this to a poor child in the Lemut territory recently. Are you treating me like a fool?"

I ignored the pain in my wrist and struck the knight's cheek again hard.

Charlize really must have hit people before. The swing my body remembered was excellent. Seeing the knight look at me, I hit him again.

Only then did the knight tremble, adjust his kneeling position, and beg.

The knight's action seemed less about fear of the pain I inflicted and more about fear of the punishment to come.

"Ah, ah, I-I'm sorry. Please, just spare my life, Countess! The truth is... that woman made me steal it!"

What standards did Grandfather use to pick knights?

When faced with a crisis, the knight's action was to blame his lover.

"Huh? Martin, what are you saying!"

The maid shouted, forgetting the place.

Anyone could see she was pale and filled with injustice.

I narrowed my eyes at the two.

"Let's hear it."

* * *

Rivela, a maid of the Imperial Palace, was a veteran maid with over 4 years of experience.

A daughter of a baronial family, she had barely passed the Imperial maid examination and considered her career her proudest achievement.

Since being a maid was also a good job for making a marriage, she wanted to enjoy dating to the fullest before marriage, and that's how she met Martin.

He was similarly the second son of a baronial family and, moreover, a knight belonging to Altsbeit.

A man with a bright future and decent looks.

"I really hate that woman's guts! Ha, if it weren't for her looks, the Duke of Altsbeit would have surely discarded her by now!"

If there was one flaw, it was that he viciously cursed his master.

But since the target was the famously wicked Countess Altsbeit, it was understandable.

"...She is really pretty, though. Empty-headed. Ha, if only she'd been born into an ordinary noble or commoner family, I swear..."

Sometimes he made me uncomfortable with his unpleasant curses, but I let it slide.

Anyway, one day, her faithful lover gave her a very expensive-looking hairpin.

A truly astonishingly pretty and valuable-looking object.

Rivela, also a daughter of a noble family, immediately recognized the gems. 'He got something with rubies like this?'

"Where did you get this? It looks incredibly expensive."

"I saved up to buy it for my Rivela. Do you like it?"

"Martin, do you take me for a fool? Cut the nonsense and be honest. Surely you... didn't steal it from the Countess's room?"

Even for an Altsbeit knight, it was an impossible hairpin to buy on a knight's salary. Rivela's suspicion was reasonable, and Martin jumped.

"Are you crazy? Me, a thief? Things like this have rightful owners. I just brought it. Just take it!"

But Rivela, unable to shake her suspicion, pressed further, and eventually, Martin grumbled but confessed the truth.

"That woman went and gave things like this to some poor kids, so since those kids don't need it anyway, I took it. There, happy?"

"...You're crazy. What if the Countess finds out?"

"Don't you know that woman? She has stuff like this lying around, she won't even remember. She only knows how to be extravagant and is pretty but completely empty-headed."

Rivela remembered that day's conversation clearly.

Unable to resist greed, there was definitely her own fault in accepting the hairpin even after knowing the circumstances.

Rather than thinking the Countess was stupid like Martin said, she thought that for that wealthy Countess, things like this were as common as grains of sand, so she probably wouldn't notice.

From a greedy thought that 'it might be okay to take it', she pretended not to know.

And the price for pretending not to know back then was too steep.

Currently, Rivela, trembling, glared at Martin with a gaze filled with injustice and resentment, as if she could kill him.

"I-It's true. That woman threatened me, begging me to steal just one of the Countess's possessions, so I had no choice..."

She definitely had her own fault in accepting it.

But to pin all the blame on her! She couldn't stand it.

"Countess, it's unfair."

Her brilliant career was already ruined.

But she couldn't bear all the blame unjustly!

Rivela straightened her back.

"Countess!"

Facing a crisis, the neatness ingrained in her body from years of serving as a maid showed.

"I am merely a woman betrayed by the man I loved as my lover. Of course, it was my fault for accepting this hairpin even knowing the circumstances. It's my fault... If I may dare to excuse myself, I thought the Countess has so many precious items that she wouldn't miss one."

Finally, Rivela clasped her hands and pleaded. It was an unavoidable instinct.

She knew very well of Charlize's cruelty, and she didn't want to die like this even if she lost her position as a maid.

"..."

At this moment, Rivela knew that everything Martin had said was wrong.

Martin's words, habitually grumbling that she was stupid and couldn't do anything except be pretty, were all nonsense.

Because at this moment, looking down at her, an overwhelming pressure emanated.

Truly, it sent chills down her spine, making it clear they were siblings when compared to her brother, Emperor Roxidian.

Her unearthly, captivating beauty and her cold, expressionless face added to the effect.

"So there was trash under my command."

Charlize slightly frowned. The sight of her clenching and unclenching her hand made Martin and Rivela hold their breath. How many lives had been lost to that hand...

"Rivela, is it?"

"Y-yes... Countess...!"

"I'll give you a chance to dispose of that trash."

Rivela slowly raised her head in surprise.

At that moment, a captivating smile graced Charlize's previously blank expression.

It was a smile filled with irresistible temptation, like that of a demon risen from hell, and a gentle voice.

"Try disposing of him however you want."

"..."

"But the result has to please me."

Rivela, who had been looking back and forth between Charlize and the hairpin in her hand, quickly turned around. Her hand moved before she could think.

Smack!

Martin, his cheek slapped, looked at Rivela in bewilderment. He tried to move, but he couldn't.

'Y-Your Majesty?'

Because the tyrant, who had only been watching, emanated a killing intent.

The control was so fine that only Martin could feel it, but for Martin, it was a deadly terror. Gritting her teeth, Rivela swung her hand, containing her anger and resentment for her ruined life at this moment.

The sound of slapping echoed.

After a while, Rivela was gasping for breath when a bewitching voice came from above.

"That's enough, both of you get lost."

Charlize turned away, covering her mouth slightly. Rivela was dragged away by the maids who were once her colleagues, closing her eyes tightly.

After Martin and Rivela were dragged off, the fitting room was eerily quiet.

The remaining designers, assistants, and maids bowed their heads, not knowing what to do.

Clap, clap, clap.

Applause echoed in the fitting room.

It was Roxidian, who had been watching all along.

He got up and, with a satisfied expression, patted his sister on the shoulder.

"A person's nature doesn't change, you know? Live as you want, just like that."

Hurry up and commit atrocities so you get kicked out of Altsbeit, little sister. I'll come pick you up quickly.

Roxidian swallowed his inner thoughts and turned away.

Charlize just stood there.

'...The rumors will spread again. I'm screwed.'