Chapter 133: Change of Assignment
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 133: Change of Assignment
The knight turned toward the exit, seemingly satisfied that Janet had finally understood the gravity of her situation.
"Tomorrow will likely be your last chance. If you don't want to rot in a dungeon forever, I suggest you make the right choice."
"Don't be ridiculous! I am a lady-in-waiting of the Frais family! The Marquis will surely come looking for me!"
Janet screamed, slumped on the floor, insisting that the Marchioness would never leave her behind.
"Well, I hate to dampen your spirits, but the Marchioness hasn't asked about you even once since that day."
With those final words, the knight left the cell without a hint of lingering regret.
"Wait! Sir Knight!"
Janet grabbed the bars and shook them, but the sound of his footsteps soon faded into silence.
*
How many days has it been since I last saw the sun?
The heavy scent of grass wafting through the garden made Janet feel lightheaded.
Seated at an outdoor table, the Grand Duchess was reading the pages Janet had spent all night writing.
In truth, Janet didn't actually know that much about the Marquis. However, she feared that if she didn't satisfy the Grand Duchess this time, she really might be locked away in the Grand Duke’s Castle for the rest of her life.
After clutching her head in desperation all night, Janet had squeezed out every scrap of information she possessed—from the list of frequent visitors to the Marquis’s estate, to the names of the maidservants he flirted with, the boutique where he recently ordered clothes, and even his favorite foods and tea preferences.
Please! I really don't know anything more than that!
Janet stood before the Grand Duchess, anxiously fidgeting with her hands.
"You certainly put in some effort."
Having finished reading, Annette folded the paper in half.
Janet wanted to scream profanities at her then and there, but instead, she politely clasped her hands together.
"I didn't expect you to be so thorough. Were you really that desperate to return to the capital?"
Janet hurriedly bowed her head. Because she hadn't been given proper water to wash with, dirt was caked under her fingernails, but she didn't have the luxury of worrying about such things.
"I am deeply reflecting on the disturbance I caused in the kitchen that day," Janet said, trying her best to sound repentant without actually admitting to a crime. "If you could find it in your heart to forgive me, I will prepare to leave as quickly as possible. I wouldn't want the Marchioness and the Young Lord’s schedule to be delayed on my account."
"Delayed? There's no need to worry about that," Annette said, blinking innocently. "The Marchioness and Raphael left early this morning."
The realization that the Marchioness had abandoned her sent a chill down Janet's spine.
But she said she’d make sure I could go back with them...!
"Then... what about me?"
"Regrettably, there isn't much useful information here." Annette shrugged, folding the paper in half once more. "What use is it to me to know that the Marquis enjoys aspic jelly?"
Reta, standing behind her, handed over an envelope. Annette placed the folded paper inside and sealed it.
"Wh-why are you sealing that?" Janet stammered, a sense of foreboding washing over her.
"Oh, this? I'm going to send it to the Marquis as a souvenir," Annette said, her lips curling into a calm smile. "I should let him know just how detailed Janet’s testimony against him was."
"Y-you said you'd let me go if I wrote down everything I knew!" Janet’s lips trembled violently.
"If you want it that badly... fine, I'll send you. Though this letter will arrive much sooner than you will."
"My Lady—no, Your Highness!"
Janet threw herself to the ground in a prostrate bow.
"I'll do whatever you command! Please...! Just don't send that letter!"
Janet had almost hoped Annette would try to use her as a spy. If that were the case, she could have provided the Marquis with even better information later.
But sending this letter to the Marquis? Regardless of the content, if the Marquis found out she had betrayed him, he would never let it slide. Forget finding a decent husband; she would be kicked out of the Frais household without so much as a letter of recommendation. It was certain he would use his influence to blackball her from every other noble house as well.
"Your Highness, I won't go back to the capital!" Janet cried out urgently.
It was better to stay by the Grand Duchess's side and wait for an opportunity than to return to the capital as a traitor.
"Please, let me be your person! I'll serve you in the Grand Duke’s Castle until the day I die!"
"You want to be my person?"
The Grand Duchess let out a small laugh.
"Janet, you should have said that before you tried to feed me poisonous herbs."
Unlike her laughter, the Grand Duchess's eyes flashed with a sharp, cold light.
"I-I was wrong!"
Janet instinctively knew that this was the moment she had to grovel. The illegitimate child of the Frais family she had once looked down upon was nowhere to be found.
Annette stared at her for a long moment before speaking.
"Tell me exactly what you did wrong, in your own words."
"Mixing Black Caribane into the sauce..."
Annette leaned back comfortably, signaling for her to continue.
"Slapping the maid and causing her to get burned, and..."
Attempting to ruin the delegation's banquet, trying to spy within the Grand Duke’s Castle, intentionally approaching the knights. And going even further back—stealing the Young Lady’s jewelry, spreading malicious rumors about her, occasionally stealing her meals...
Annette’s expression grew darker, but Janet instinctively dragged out every single one of her sins.
"And... tearing Your Highness’s dress the day before the debutante ball."
Having finished, Janet stole a glance at the reactions around her. The knights, the guards, and even the maids had looks of pure fury on their faces.
"...You certainly have a long list of grievances," Annette said with a skeptical gaze.
"I truly regret it all!"
The memory of that horribly cold and damp cell brought tears to Janet's eyes automatically.
"I'll do anything as long as I don't have to go back to that dungeon! Please, just forgive me this once!"
"Anything, you say... Very well."
At those words, Annette slowly turned to her maid.
"Reta. Is there anywhere we need extra hands?"
"I heard the laundry department is short-staffed."
Wait, surely she’s not planning to send me to the laundry room?
To make a noble-born lady-in-waiting work as a laundry maid?
"Yes. That seems appropriate for her."
Janet’s heart sank. When she said she would do "anything," she meant she was willing to serve as a trainee maid—someone even lower than Cecilia—not that she would do common labor.
But if she refused now, it was back to the dungeon. Janet clenched her fists so hard her nails dug into her palms.
"Work hard, with the mindset of washing away your old sins."
Janet could only blink, unable to even offer a response.
The Grand Duchess never had any intention of letting me go from the start.
How had she ended up providing evidence that would hold her hostage, only to gain the position of a mere servant? The problem was that she had been too terrified in the dungeon to make a rational judgment.
"Reta, please show Janet to the laundry room."
Janet shuddered inwardly, sensing a faint, ominous smile playing on Reta’s otherwise expressionless face.
*
"Will it really be alright?"
"I mean, Lady Janet," Cecilia said, pulling her gaze away from the white snowy fields outside the window.
The carriage was climbing the snow-covered mountain path without hesitation.
"What if she causes trouble while we're away?"
"She probably won't be able to," I said, leaning back leisurely against the carriage wall. "I told her that if she causes any problems, I'll send that letter to the Frais house immediately."
This had been discussed before the Marchioness left, when we were deciding what to do with Janet. Unexpectedly, Vice-Captain Hedrick had been adamant that the lady-in-waiting could not be released.
— "She intimidated a maid to enter the kitchen, and now she knows the layout of the dungeon as well."
Given that she was the Marquis's pawn, there was concern about how the information she possessed might be used later.
— "Then are you saying we should keep her here forever?"
— "But there's a risk of her escaping. And keeping her under constant surveillance is a waste of manpower."
Loik and Perel had added their thoughts.
Since things had turned out this way, I thought it would be best to sever the link between Janet and the Marquis entirely. That was when an alternative occurred to me.
— "What if we make Janet stay in the castle voluntarily?"
— "How do you mean, Your Highness?"
The Marquis was a man who held grudges. Therefore, if I held even a small piece of evidence proving her betrayal, Janet wouldn't dare act out. She might not fear me, but she certainly feared the Marquis.
And the method for creating that evidence was very simple.
I'll just make her write it with her own hand.
And so, Janet remained at the Grand Duke’s Castle as a laundry maid.
"For the time being, I've made it so she can't even go to the restroom without supervision, so you don't need to worry too much."
As a relieved Cecilia nodded, the carriage procession came to a halt.
"Oh, we must have arrived!"
Soon the carriage door opened, and Loik, wrapped in a thick cloak, reached out with a bright smile.
"Annette, we're here."
Perhaps from riding for so long, his pale cheeks were flushed.
"Was the carriage ride difficult?"
"Not at all."
As I took Loik’s hand and stepped out of the carriage, my fur boots immediately sank into the snow up to my ankles.
"Wow! The snow is piled up all the way to here!"
I meant that it was amazing to see this much snow in the middle of summer, but...
"Oh, my mistake."
Loik narrowed his eyes and swept me up into his arms.
The gazes of the knights and servants unloading luggage in the wide field all shifted toward us.