Chapter 123
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 123
Mavka walked forward bravely, cradling Pudding in her arms. I felt like an overprotective parent tailing their child on their first errand. Honestly, I didn't want to go to such lengths either.
But Mavka had seen Nigella eating a rat. In situations like this, the culprit always tries to eliminate the witness. Of course, Pudding was with her, so I was sure he would protect her, but I couldn't help but worry.
Suppressing my presence as much as I could, I followed the girl. But Mavka, who had been walking along just fine, suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. She clamped her hands over her ears, sank to the floor, and began to sob.
Pudding, whom she'd been clutching like a lifeline, slipped from her grasp as her hands flew to her ears. Now free, Pudding didn't bother comforting the child; instead, he seized the opportunity to vanish. He must have been annoyed by all her clinging. I knew I was right to follow her.
I mentally told Pudding to go hunt some rats and blow off some steam. Since there were supposedly plenty of them around, he'd probably have a grand old time. I could appease him later; for now, I had to deal with the crying child.
"Mavka."
"...Lady Angel."
That 'angel' business again. Was this kid not even scared of me? Mavka grabbed the hem of my dress. Seriously, what would she have done if I hadn't followed her? After coaxing and soothing her, I asked why she was so frightened. Mavka’s eyes darted around, warily scanning our surroundings as she whispered.
"S-Someone is calling me."
Huh?
At Mavka's words, I strained my ears. It wasn't my imagination. Over the sound of something scurrying across the ceiling, I heard desperate shouts calling her name.
"Mavka."
"Mavka! Where are you?!"
The cries sounded utterly desperate. At first, I thought it was Rico, but multiple voices were calling out to her from various directions.
Why were they searching for her so desperately? I tilted my head in confusion, but then a sudden realization struck me. I pulled out my pocket watch to check the time. It was already past ten at night.
Ah. Since the girl hadn't returned so late, Rico must have asked the other servants to help search for her.
It's not Nigella, is it?
Or… could it be that, just as I feared, Nigella was hunting Mavka down to silence the witness? Since they had made eye contact, Nigella would know for a fact that Mavka had seen her swallow a rat.
No sooner had the thought crossed my mind than the sound of running grew even louder. Damn it. I must have triggered a flag. Strangely, the footsteps didn't have the sharp click of heels, but given the late hour, perhaps she was wearing slippers.
"I-I'm scared…"
Terrified, Mavka squeezed her eyes shut and clung to me. I-I'm scared too, you know… Still, I couldn't let a child see me panic. I held her tight as she buried her face in my dress.
The footsteps drew closer and closer, until I could feel the floor vibrating beneath my feet. While it had sounded like a small animal scurrying earlier, now it was unmistakably the heavy thud of human footsteps.
"Mavka!"
The voice was right around the corner now, making me tense up completely. I waited, frantically trying to figure out how to handle Nigella if she burst in, but to my immense relief, the person who appeared was Rico. I guess those other voices really were just the servants helping with the search.
"Th-thank goodness…"
At the sight of Mavka clinging to my legs, Rico collapsed to her knees, the tension draining from her body. I gently patted Mavka's shoulder to let her know she was safe. Mavka cautiously raised her head and spotted Rico.
"Mommy!"
All her fear forgotten, Mavka threw herself into Rico's arms.
I guess she'd just been crying out of shyness in front of me. Like an endless spring, Mavka wailed so loudly it felt like she could flood the entire mansion. Seriously, how many times did she cry a day? At this rate, her tear ducts were going to give out.
"Mavka, do you have any idea how hard Mommy looked for you? Where on earth did you go…?"
Rico was in no better state. I expected her to scold the child, but her voice was thick with tears. I stood there awkwardly watching the emotional mother-daughter reunion before finally chiming in, unable to bear the silence any longer.
"Good evening, Rico."
She hadn't forgotten I was standing right here, had she? I didn't realize my presence had become so faint.
"Lady Rohanson…?"
Only then did Rico seem to notice me. She glared at me warily, pulling Mavka closer into her embrace as if shielding her daughter from a threat.
She was literally just holding my hand, so what was the point of hiding her now? I hadn't even done anything, yet being treated like a villain made me feel a bit slighted. Wasn't this supposed to be a classic scenario where I earn some goodwill by helping her child? Forget goodwill; I had only succeeded in raising her guard.
Then again, if your precious daughter went missing late at night and, after a frantic search with your colleagues, suddenly reappeared holding the hand of your number-one suspect—me—it would look incredibly suspicious.
"Mavka! Where are you?!"
Huh? Someone was still shouting for Mavka. Was it because Rico hadn't announced that she'd found her yet?
"Did you hear that voice looking for Mavka just now?"
"Did you hear it too, Lady Rohanson…?"
"It would be stranger not to hear it."
Seeing her colleagues still running around frantically, Rico must be a notoriously doting mother. I decided to acknowledge her devotion.
"You must have been terribly worried."
Rico nodded. Rubbing her arms as if suddenly feeling a chill, she suggested that talking in the hallway wasn't ideal and offered to guide me to her quarters.
"Mavka looks exhausted, so would it be alright if we head to our room first?"
I didn't want to linger in the hallway and risk drawing unwanted attention anyway, so I nodded in agreement. Rico led the way.
The moment we arrived at Mavka's room, Rico locked the door behind us. She gently laid Mavka on the bed. The child had already fallen asleep; crying her eyes out and experiencing such a fright must have completely drained her. After carefully tucking her in, Rico walked over and sat on the sofa opposite me.
"So, why exactly were you with Mavka, Lady Rohanson?"
Rico questioned me sharply, showing zero gratitude. I had gone out of my way to tail the kid and bring her back safely when I could have easily ignored her.
"Mavka came to me crying, and I lost track of time trying to comfort her."
First, I made it clear that I wasn't the one who'd made her cry, nor had I approached her first.
Rico looked back and forth between me and Mavka as if she couldn't believe her ears. Well, it made sense. Why would she believe that the villainess who had suddenly appeared to usurp the Duke's inheritance had comforted her daughter? I felt a surge of irritation but decided to be magnanimous and let it slide.
"Wouldn't it be better to hear the details from Mavka herself?"
In other words, she should just ask her daughter, since she wouldn't believe a word out of my mouth anyway.
Actually, your daughter was almost eaten by a rat-devouring demon, and my cat saved her. Could I really just lay it out like that?
I debated how much I should reveal to Rico, but then I realized Mavka would probably tell her mother everything she went through without holding back anyway.
"Mavka is asleep right now. If you know what she went through, please, tell me."
It seemed Rico wanted to get a preliminary account of the situation from me first.
Was she trying to cross-examine me? I suspected her out of habit but ultimately decided to be honest. While I wouldn't dismiss the words of a six-year-old, Rico might brush off her daughter's claims as mere childish imagination.
When Rico heard that priests had approached Mavka to extract information about the ducal house, and then heard about Nigella, she clenched her teeth.
*
Rico's beloved daughter, Mavka, had always been an independent child who required little supervision.
With the Duchess incapable of managing her duties, it was no exaggeration to say that the internal affairs of House Hosaquin were run entirely by Rico, the butler.
With such a staggering workload, Rico could rarely carve out proper time for her six-year-old daughter. Yet, Mavka adored her mother and was remarkably mature for her age.
While Rico worked, the entire estate pitched in to look after the child. Mavka would splash in the stream with the laundry maids, and servants running errands to the village would take her along to buy her treats.
Marlowe, the head chef, was currently on a mission to cure Mavka of her picky eating habits. Thanks to the warmth and affection the mansion's staff showered upon Mavka, Rico had been able to fully devote herself to her duties as butler.
Naturally, Rico's greatest concern of late was the Duchess. Ever since the late Crown Prince's birthday banquet—which marked the anniversary of his death—the Duchess had completely lost her mind.
While the Duchess had occasionally enjoyed brief lucid intervals before, now not a shred of her former elegance remained.
The memories that defined the Duchess had been shattered and worn away by the endless cycle of killing the summoned lump of flesh. After seeing rats devour parts of that flesh, she had begun to see them as her daughter. But once she started killing those very rats, she reached a point where the mere sight of one would throw her into violent convulsions.
Now, the Duchess acted as though her deceased daughter, Amaranth, was the only thing left in her world. Naturally, she no longer recognized Rico. Unable to bear the Duchess's deteriorating condition any longer, Duke Hosaquin had brought in Evangeline Rohanson—a woman he had once sworn never to look upon again.
Even in Rico's hazy memories, Evangeline and Amaranth bore a striking resemblance to one another. In her fractured state of mind, the Duchess never once suspected she was looking at a stranger, fully believing Evangeline to be Amaranth.
The Duchess had calmed down enough to hold a normal conversation, but all that progress was undone the moment Nigella pulled back the tarp covering the water tank.
Evangeline claimed she had seen rat carcasses inside the water tank, and as Rico knew all too well, the tank did indeed contain dead rats.
Yet, the maids who had been present in the greenhouse had approached Rico one by one after the incident, confessing that they had seen something other than rats inside the tank. They excused their silence by explaining they hadn't dared to speak up at the time for fear of sounding insane.
The maids claimed they had seen a stone statue in the shape of a human inside the tank. The beautifully sculpted statue bore a striking resemblance to Evangeline, and the Duchess had reportedly called it "Amaranth."
Despite having a living, breathing lookalike right in front of her, the Duchess had still believed that the "rats" who had devoured the lump of flesh were closer to Amaranth. Fortunately, her memory was fleeting, and she quickly forgot the incident. By the time they left the greenhouse, she was treating Evangeline like her daughter once more.
Nigella, who exhibited the most severe symptoms, had not approached Rico directly. However, judging by what the other maids reported, she seemed to have witnessed the exact same sight as the Duchess.
Rico wanted to dismiss it all as hallucinations, reasoning that the contents of the tank couldn't possibly change. Yet, with every single maid unanimously claiming to have seen a statue, she had no choice but to inspect the water tank herself.
And yet, when Rico checked it herself, only the bloated carcasses of rats remained submerged in the water.