The Thieving Cat
Baroness Turen had always been a gentle soul, but it seemed this was one matter she could not simply overlook. As the former chief maid to the late Empress, the Baroness cherished this aviary as deeply as I did.
Yet Karina stood stubbornly unmoved. When the furious Baroness reached out to seize the cat, Karina slapped her hand away with a sharp crack.
“Why are you blaming my cat when it doesn’t know any better? And isn’t hunting birds simply a cat’s instinct and nature? I truly don’t understand why you’re making such a fuss over it.”
“W-what did you just say…?”
“Besides, this isn’t a cat—it’s my family. Send it outside? As long as I remain in the imperial palace, that will never happen, so you had best remember it.”
Baroness Turen, rendered speechless, furrowed her brows and glared at Karina. But the Baroness was not by nature a harsh woman, nor was she accustomed to anger. All she could do was heave her chest, struggling to catch her breath, unable to find any words to refute her.
“…The cat truly takes after its owner.”
I set May down and rose slowly from my seat. Everyone around me held their breath, watching in silence.
I stared straight into Karina’s golden eyes and walked toward her. When the distance between us felt sufficient, I stopped.
Slap—
The sharp sound sliced through the suffocating silence, and Karina’s head snapped to the side.
“You dare enter my domain, kill a bird I treasured, and feel no remorse? Shameless. Ill-mannered. I don’t even know where you crawled out from, you vulgar, rootless creatures.”
Karina’s cheek swelled red in an instant. She touched it with trembling fingers and turned to look at me. I barely contained the rage surging within me, spitting out each word as if chewing it.
“I pitied you—a wretch who would have died miserably wandering the streets—and took you in. Yet you don’t know your place and dare to climb above it? Even if you cannot repay the kindness, you should have at least hidden that base instinct of yours that covets what belongs to others!”
Tears shimmered in Karina’s golden eyes as she stared at me. Harsh breaths leaked through her tightly clenched teeth.
The cat that had tumbled from Karina’s arms let out a pitiful cry and bolted out of the aviary. The keeper, reading the room, quickly followed it outside.
“You won’t send the cat away? Then you get out. Disappear from here this instant!”
“Don’t delude yourself, Duchess! This is not your house—it is His Majesty’s!”
Karina hurled the words back at me like a blade.
“You already drove me out once before. After going through the trouble of seeking me out yourself, you’re telling me to leave again? No. I won’t obey anymore. I am no longer a maid you can command at your whim!”
Karina’s voice grew shrill, veins standing out on her neck as she half-lost her senses. It was I who had lost something precious, yet here she was, screaming and charging at me instead.
“Where did I crawl out from? Vulgar and rootless? Why ask me? You people made me this way—now you spit such words at me and expect what? What do you want from me?!”
“That is enough, Viscount Linton! How dare you raise your voice in such a manner!”
One noblewoman who could bear it no longer shouted at Karina. The others joined in, each adding her own rebuke.
“Not all nobles are equal. Her Grace the Duchess of Winteara is to become the Crown Princess.”
“Think of what your cat has done! You should be on your knees begging forgiveness, yet what is this outrageous behavior!”
“Hurry and apologize to the Duchess.”
One of the women dragged Karina’s arm forward. Karina shook it off with a violent jerk.
“I will not. What have I done wrong that requires an apology? I am innocent. His Majesty gave permission for me to let the cat roam free—why are you all attacking me like this!”
Karina whirled to face me.
“The Duchess should apologize to me first. For calling me shameless, vulgar, and rootless—take all of it back. Then I will apologize as well.”
“Karina, stop this.”
Ebony Bladin, who had remained silent until now, spoke quietly.
“This is sufficient. Apologize to the Duchess and end the matter.”
“No. This is not something that ends with her apology.”
Baroness Turen cut Ebony off.
“I truly dislike making a spectacle of things, but this time I cannot let it pass.”
The Baroness drew a deep breath and pointed at the necklace around Karina’s throat.
“That necklace belonged to the late Empress. Imperial jewels are passed from the Empress Dowager to the Empress, and from the Empress to the Crown Princess.”
My gaze followed hers to Karina’s neck. It was a delicately crafted diamond necklace—the very set that matched the earrings she now wore, part of the imperial collection.
“It was originally meant to be inherited by the Duchess of Winteara, but she chose to keep it safe, saying she would not wear it until she officially became Crown Princess. So, Viscount Linton, explain how it came to be in your possession.”
“That’s right, I remember! I saw the late Empress wear that very diamond necklace while she was alive!”
The noblewomen who recognized the imperial jewel began to murmur. Karina ignored their whispers and answered Baroness Turen.
“His Majesty said that among the jewels in the palace, I could use any that the Duchess was not wearing.”
“If His Majesty said so, do you not know that you must then seek permission from the Duchess of Winteara? Or did you simply take the jewels from the Empress’s palace without leave?”
Karina bit her lip hard at the Baroness’s words. The thrust had clearly struck home.
Baroness Turen, anger blazing, turned to me in appeal.
“Your Grace, this person dared to lay hands on the late Empress’s belongings. She must be punished.”
The other noblewomen voiced their agreement.
I gazed at the necklace glittering at Karina’s throat.
Even if I did not possess it now, everyone knew it was mine. No one but me had the right to touch the imperial jewels. The Empress’s necklace was mine without my needing to proclaim it.
Yet she had reached for what was mine. Whether deliberately or in ignorance, she had stolen something I had cherished for the moment I would be happiest.
It felt filthy. No other word could describe the emotion.
“As expected, you are no different from the stray cat you brought with you.”
I reached out and seized the necklace at Karina’s neck. I yanked it with all my strength. With a loud snap, the clasp broke.
“No matter how thoroughly you are washed and dressed in fine clothes, that greedy desire to covet what belongs to others cannot be scrubbed away. Do you think wearing these shining jewels makes you appear different? No. You have not taken a single step forward from the day you first came to me.”
Humiliation flooded Karina’s golden eyes. But I wanted her to feel even greater shame. Only then might the rage filling my chest subside even a little.
“Abigail!”
At my call, the chief maid Abigail approached swiftly.
“You called, Your Grace?”
“Bring a wooden switch and the platform.”
Karina’s face hardened with dread. Baroness Turen and the watching noblewomen swallowed nervously.
“W-what is this?”
Rosé, who had just returned after seeing Sylvia off, muttered in confusion.
The older noblewomen seemed to grasp the situation, but the younger ones like Rosé looked shocked at the unfamiliar scene.
“Chief maid, how many lashes does one receive for recklessly touching imperial property?”
“Twenty, Your Grace.”
“Begin.”
The moment the order left my lips, maids seized Karina’s arms from both sides and forced her to her knees on the cold stone platform. Others stripped away her rings, earrings, and hair ornaments, then pulled her dress down to bare her back and shoulders.
“What do you think you are doing!”
Karina thrashed, trying to shake off the maids. But at Abigail’s command, more servants swarmed in, holding her completely immobile.
The maid holding the wooden switch stepped forward. Seeing her, Karina screamed in fury. At that moment, Ebony moved to stand before me.
“Your Grace, I understand your feelings completely, but twenty lashes are excessive. She would likely spend at least a week lying facedown, unable to use her hands or arms. Please reduce the number.”
“Then will the Count take the lashes in her place?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked whether Count Bladin would receive the lashes in proportion to how many you wish to reduce.”
A cold, merciless light flickered in the purple eyes that met mine—something I had never seen before. The noblewomen beside her flinched, eyes widening.
It was humiliating. That was precisely why I had said it.
Demoted from Duke to Count by the Regent family, and now facing the prospect of being publicly whipped—it would be an unbearable disgrace.
It had been proven since my grandfather’s time that the Bladin family gained nothing by meddling in Regentra affairs.
They had always sided with Fabiel and irritated us. And now Ebony, a descendant of Bladin, was defending Karina, a descendant of Fabiel. In my eyes, she was simply repeating her ancestor’s mistakes.
So I was warning her now. To stop using Karina as a shield to provoke me.
Part of me hoped Ebony would lash out. Then I could punish both of them together.
But the card the Bladin family had sent was not so easily played.
“Ebony, close friend of Viscount Linton, would gladly do so. But Count Bladin cannot. Especially not on behalf of a Regentra.”
Ebony’s face returned to its usual sly smile as she stepped aside.
“Do as you please, Your Grace.”
When even Ebony withdrew, Karina’s face turned deathly pale. As the maid with the switch approached, Karina screamed wildly.
“How dare you lowly maids try to strike me?! Just try it—I will remember every one of you! Do you think His Majesty, who cherishes me, will let those who dared to hit me go unpunished!”