Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: The Locked Closet
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No one present knew Rubette's whereabouts, and there was no response.
“Doesn't anyone know?”
“She hasn't been around since the hide-and-seek started earlier...”
One noble girl muttered, and Lark's eyes sharpened.
“Hide-and-seek?”
“Yeah, Evelyn.”
At that moment, Riki clapped his hands as if he'd just remembered, turning to Evelyn.
“Didn't you say earlier you were going to hide with Rubette?”
“......”
All eyes turned to Evelyn. She was pale and trembling.
Her gaze darted around, unable to face Lark directly, her fists clenched tightly on her lap and shaking.
It was the reaction of someone clearly guilty and panicking.
The nobles' gazes shifted to suspicion.
“I, I, I...”
Crunch.
Just then, someone under the table slowly stepped on Evelyn's foot. It was Lilia Bert, sitting beside her, giving her a warning look.
On the verge of tears, Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut.
She hadn't imagined things would blow up this big. To confess in front of the suddenly arrived Crown Prince that she'd deliberately locked Rubette in the closet...
“Where is she?”
Lark's once gentle expression had turned sharp. His voice was probing now.
“W-Well, um...”
“What is it? Did something happen to Rubette? Evelyn, did you know?”
“Then why didn't you say anything when the maid was looking for Rubette earlier? Where's our Rubette?”
Lilia and Riki shot to their feet, angrily snapping at her. Their faces were full of worry for their dear sibling.
‘Those rotten brats...’
The reason they were ganging up on her, when she'd only done as told, was obvious. With things escalating, they wanted her to take all the blame.
“I, I, I...”
“Randian.”
Without waiting for the hesitant Evelyn, Lark murmured.
Randian was his spirit. Everyone there understood and gulped nervously.
Randian approached silently from behind Lark like a breeze and whispered.
“She's on the basement level one. Locked in a closet.”
“......!”
Lark's shocked expression twisted definitively.
Leaving the nobles stunned by his fierce aura behind, he hurried into the villa.
He quickly reached the room Randian guided him to and unlocked the firmly bolted closet door from outside.
“Rubette!”
There she was, slumped against the wall, unconscious.
“Damn it, wake up!”
Lark bent down and hurriedly scooped her trembling body into his arms.
Pressing his ear to her in a flash, he thankfully heard faint, raspy breaths.
“Haa...”
Only then did Lark finally relax, slumping to the floor completely as his strength gave out. The breath he'd been holding burst out.
Thud, thud, thud.
His heart, which had plummeted to the floor in that instant, was still racing wildly from the shock.
* * *
“Ugh...”
“Rubette!”
The moment I opened my eyes, someone threw their arms around me.
“H-Hwaaa...”
Fluttering golden hair—it was Lilia. She was bawling with puffy eyes.
“You, you scared me so much, I thought something happened to you, sob!”
‘Like hell.’
Dizzy from her strong perfume, I pushed Lilia away and looked around.
“You okay? Anywhere hurt?”
Riki, standing beside Lilia with the same teary face, asked.
Behind the twins stood Evelyn, head bowed with unfocused eyes.
‘What happened...’
Trying to piece it together, someone opened the bedroom door and entered. It was Lark.
“Your Highness?”
Lark stopped me as I tried to sit up quickly.
“You coming around? How's your body?”
“I-I'm fine.”
“Phew...”
Lark sat up, closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. His expression was sharply intense, unlike him.
“What happened? I think we need some explanations.”
“Ah, well...”
“You're such a mean girl! I'm telling Oppa everything when we get home! I can't let this slide!”
Suddenly, Lilia whirled on Evelyn and shrieked.
‘Ah, I get the gist.’
They'd planned to just scare me by locking me in the closet, but things had spiraled. They probably never expected Lark to show up.
Lark must have found out someone intentionally locked the closet door from outside...
‘They're trying to pin it all on Evelyn.’
Impressive kids. I clicked my tongue inwardly.
“Why don't you apologize to Rubette first? Even as a prank, that was way too far.”
Riki chimed in. ‘Our’ Rubette, huh...
“......Sorry, Rubette.”
“What do you have to be sorry for? You didn't tell the truth, did you?”
“Huh?”
I propped myself up slightly, glancing at Lark hesitantly as if acting coy.
“Y-Your Highness...”
“......”
“Actually, I told Evelyn to hide in the closet with me. I even asked her to lock it so no one would know I was inside.”
“What? You asked her to lock you in on purpose?”
“Y-Yeah... I didn't even know it was a birthday party today. I barely slept last night and was exhausted, so I figured I'd sneak away quietly. I told her absolutely not to let anyone find me and to open it just before heading home...”
“Duchess.”
Lark seemed to catch on that I was deliberately covering for Evelyn... but he didn't press further.
“Phew, pranks like that are too much.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Your body really is okay? You passed out in that closet.”
“Mm, no. It wasn't passing out—I just dozed off for a bit.”
“......”
I turned away from Lark, who narrowed his eyes in displeasure, and spoke.
“Guys, sorry for worrying you.”
“Uh, y-yeah... Hey, Evelyn. If that was it, why didn't you just say so?”
“Why would you help with a prank like that?”
Lilia and Riki muttered awkwardly, one after the other.
They'd probably expected me to go berserk the moment I woke up, so this unexpected defense of Evelyn must have been baffling.
I grabbed Lilia's arm and said,
“It's late—head home now. And please don't tell Appa or Oppa about today since they're worried. Okay?”
“O-Okay...”
Lilia stood hesitantly, and Riki followed her.
“See you, Evelyn. I'll be in touch, so let's meet again soon.”
Evelyn, staring at me with a pale face, nodded quietly and left the room.
Click.
The moment the bedroom door closed, I let out a long, stuffy breath—huaaa—and flopped back down.
“What really happened? You didn't actually ask to be locked in there, did you?”
Lark crossed his arms, launching into a proper interrogation.
“I did walk into the closet myself. Evelyn begged me on her knees to get in.”
“What?”
“The twins must have put her up to it.”
Lark's eyes widened.
“You didn't notice?”
“I knew they disliked you, since I'd heard. But...”
Even for them, he hadn't imagined mere preteens would lock someone away all day.
Fair enough. I'd never gone into detail with Lark about how the twins tormented me.
Feeding me spoiled food, locking me in closets... Memories I didn't care to revisit.
“I've been locked in closets plenty. Almost every time we visited the Lubon villa to play with the twins?”
At my confession, Lark looked shocked, then clenched his teeth with a fierce expression. The corners of his eyes twitched faintly.
“Other times, no one was watching, so they'd lock me in directly. But now there are investigators at the villa, and I'm not just taking it lying down like before...”
“I see. So they bullied you using someone else's hands, then tried to cut and run?”
“Pretty much.”
“How old are those twins?”
“Fifteen this year.”
Lark let out a hollow laugh, incredulous at the cruelty of children.
“Who's kids are they? You reap what you sow.”
“But why cover for Evelyn Torsso? She was part of the same group tormenting you, wasn't she?”
“Oh, right! That's just it—I thought so too, but apparently not.”
Remembering suddenly, I rummaged at the front of my dress. Rustle—a folded piece of paper.
It was what Evelyn had accidentally dropped when she locked me in the closet.
“You think I wanted to do this? If I don't listen to her, my whole family starves.”
Evelyn clearly had some circumstances.
“She used to be close to Nora Pelkan, but it was more like Nora treated her like a maid. Evelyn followed Nora blindly.”
I'd thought Evelyn stuck around the rising Pelkan Baron Family hoping for scraps, playing maid on purpose...
As I unfolded the paper and skimmed the contents carelessly, I froze.
“......You knew? Why stop mid-sentence? What's that?”
Appa, I'm really sorry. Mom, I'm really sorry. It's too much, I can't take it anymore.
I tried enduring for you and Dad, but I can't. I hate waking up in the morning. I just wish I could disappear. I wish I could sleep and never wake up.
I don't want to live like this. I'm terrified of seeing the sunrise.
I'm truly sorry. And I love our whole family. If there's a next life, let's meet again then. I hope we're all happy next time.
Nora Pelkan. I hope you fall into the pits of hell. You're the one who killed me. Even in death, I'll curse you. Never forget me.
“Ah, damn...”
Shit. This was a suicide note.