Chapter 14

At those words, Varkan looked at the maids standing beside Bianca.

Diena was nowhere to be seen.

There wasn’t even time to clear up Bianca’s misunderstanding.

A sudden sense of urgency gripped him.

“Where is she right now?”

The maid hesitated and avoided his gaze.

But she couldn’t withstand Varkan’s icy stare and finally spoke.

“…L-Lady Matilda locked her in the isolation cell.”

“What?”

Bianca raised her voice in shock.

Varkan’s expression instantly turned cold as he headed toward the isolation cell.

As he walked down the corridor and approached it, he saw Matilda standing in front of the door, shouting.

“Nobles aren’t punished for killing commoners.”

It was an outrageously arrogant statement.

Then Diena’s next words made him freeze in place.

“Then what if they find out you tried to kill Lady Bianca?”

“What?”

“You’ve been trying to starve her to death just like you’re trying to do to me.”

Had he heard that correctly?

Kill Diena?

Starve someone?

Who?

Bianca?

“How exactly am I supposed to understand this?”

Unable to hold back any longer, Varkan finally spoke.

* * *

“Answer me, Matilda. What exactly did you mean by that?”

Startled, Matilda staggered backward.

‘How is he already back? Don’t tell me he heard that conversation?’

Traveling from the Imperial Capital to the Kardian estate took a long time.

She had planned everything with that timing in mind.

Yet Varkan had returned much sooner than expected.

After darting her eyes around for a moment, she spoke.

“I-I was merely disciplining an insolent commoner maid, Lord Varkan.”

“A commoner maid?”

“Yes, a commoner maid. She didn’t know her place and was having a bad influence on Lady Bianca. I couldn’t ignore it any longer, so I punished her.”

Though her voice trembled, her mind raced.

‘Disciplining commoner servants is common in noble society.’

There were plenty of ways out of this.

‘House Kardian hasn’t been a noble family for very long. That means they’ll care about their reputation.’

She was confident.

There was no way Varkan could punish her over something as trivial as disciplining a maid.

But Varkan’s expression only grew colder.

Then he smiled.

“Really? Then that’s an even bigger problem. Because she isn’t a commoner.”

“…What?”

“The Diena you claimed to discipline and punish is a noble.”

Matilda’s face turned white.

“T-That’s impossible. No noble would work as a maid.”

“What about what you said regarding Bianca?”

Ignoring her words completely, Varkan stepped closer.

His overwhelming presence made her shrink back.

“You said Bianca was being starved.”

“That’s completely unfair! The young lady chose not to eat herself. You know how obsessed she is with controlling her weight.”

“Ah. I see.”

“Y-Yes. Exactly! So I…!”

“Enough. It doesn’t matter.”

“W-What?”

“I’m tired of talking. I already knew reasoning with you would be pointless.”

Matilda opened and closed her mouth helplessly.

“But that’s…”

“I’ll handle the punishment myself. Stay quiet and keep your mouth shut.”

Varkan cut her off firmly.

Matilda couldn’t bring herself to argue any further.

She had already realized that one more word might push him past his limit.

Ignoring her completely, Varkan walked forward.

Then he ripped the padlock off the door.

Crunch!

Before the strength of a top-tier combat Ability User, a padlock was meaningless.

Watching that, Matilda’s face grew even paler.

The broken lock felt like a reflection of herself.

The door slowly opened.

Varkan lowered his gaze.

The moment he saw Diena, his expression hardened.

Turning toward Matilda with a dangerous look in his eyes, he spoke.

“Hey.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Why does she look like this? What did you do?”

It was hardly the way a noble spoke.

But Matilda was too shocked to care.

She quickly craned her neck over his shoulder to look at Diena.

Her face was deathly pale.

Cold sweat trickled down her bloodless cheeks.

She couldn’t even open her eyes.

Only shallow breaths escaped her lips.

Diena had been perfectly fine when Matilda locked her inside.

How had she ended up like this in such a short time?

“W-What? Why is she like this?”

“Why are you asking me? You’re the one who must’ve done something.”

“T-This is unfair! She was perfectly fine when I locked her up!”

“Shut up.”

“…!”

This really was unfair.

He asked the question himself and then wouldn’t even let her explain.

But Matilda immediately snapped her mouth shut.

Pale as a sheet, she remained silent.

Varkan turned toward the knights standing behind him.

“Throw that thing into the underground prison immediately.”

The knights dragged Matilda away.

Varkan slowly approached Diena.

Placing a hand against her forehead, he frowned deeply.

Her skin was burning hot.

When he turned around, he saw several maids standing frozen in place, trembling.

“Where is Diena’s room?”

“W-Well…”

“I asked where it is.”

His low voice made the maids swallow their screams as they hurriedly led the way.

The moment he arrived at Diena’s room, an irritated sigh escaped him.

His gaze settled on the maids, who stood with their heads lowered, nervously watching each other.

None of them dared meet his eyes.

“What is this room supposed to be?”

“T-That is… Lady Matilda…”

It was a remote room that had long been used as little more than a storage space.

The air inside was cold.

The furniture was old and warped.

Diena might’ve been mentally strong, but physically she looked fragile.

Anyone would get sick living in a place like this.

“Damn it.”

Scowling, Varkan carried Diena to his own room.

He gently laid her down on his bed.

A knight who had followed him asked,

“Lord Varkan, we’ve locked the Head Maid in the underground prison. What should we do with her?”

Varkan quietly looked down at the sleeping Diena before answering.

“I’ll personally interrogate the Head Maid and every servant involved.”

* * *

Varkan was in a terrible mood.

After Matilda was dragged to the underground prison, he began interrogating the servants from Bianca’s residence.

And the confessions he received revealed something horrifying.

The things Matilda had done as Head Maid went far beyond imagination.

Skimming portions of the maids’ wages was among the least serious offenses.

Using carefully crafted lies and sweet words, she had secretly ruined Bianca’s health for years.

“She really tried every trick in the book.”

A sigh escaped him.

He was furious at his own stupidity.

He had been completely at ease without even knowing the condition his sister was in.

Slowly, Varkan made his way toward the underground prison.

* * *

A cold droplet of water fell from the prison ceiling and landed on Matilda’s head.

But she had no attention to spare for such things.

Her teeth chattered in fear as she stared at Varkan standing before her.

“What was your real purpose for coming here?”

“What exactly were you planning to do to Bianca?”