Chapter 146
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 146
It was because Hazel was a good person. The kind of person who would rush to the dining hall to help the butler after hearing he looked unwell, and the kind who couldn’t bring herself to refuse my request for her to attend to me, despite all the grim rumors.
That was why I had to use Mavka as an excuse to keep Hazel by my side. Losing one good person around me was more than enough.
Since ‘the Rat’ was inside Rico’s body, Mavka was the one most exposed to danger. As a mere child, she wouldn't be able to tell the difference between ‘the Rat’ and the real Rico. I explained that Mavka needed protection, but since Canna and I couldn’t be with her at all times, I wanted Hazel to stay with her.
I asked her to bear with it for just a little while, promising I would handle Rico as quickly as possible. Good-natured as she was, Hazel nodded at my request to look after the vulnerable child.
Still, I breathed a sigh of relief, comforted by the thought that I had saved at least one person.
The sun rose. The morning light was incredibly bright—so bright that it cast the things I had tried to ignore during the night in painfully sharp relief. For instance, the fact that I had to deal with Rico.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the time wasn't right to subdue her just yet. ‘The Rat’ had vanished after Hazel discovered its identity. Pudding reported that he couldn't sense Rico's presence anywhere within the Duke's estate. Was it planning to go somewhere to grow stronger? But since Agera, whom ‘the Rat’ adored, was still here, Rico was bound to return.
Of all people, the host had to be Rico… I couldn’t help but admire ‘the Rat’s’ knack for choosing hosts. Rico was trusted by the Duke and was the mother of Mavka, the very child I had resolved to protect.
Aside from the Duke and Duchess, Rico was the person I had interacted with most at this estate. To think we had only just become allies, only for her to become an enemy in the blink of an eye. And against her own will, at that.
If the host had been anyone else, I wouldn't have felt the slightest guilt in disposing of them. I would have gone to capture them the very day Hazel came to my room in tears.
People I didn't know personally were nothing more than letters on parchment. Even if they were sacrificed, all that would stain my hands was a few drops of ink.
But I had spoken with Rico. I knew how deeply she cherished her daughter. I had even heard all about the hardships she had endured.
It was so hard to resolve myself to harm her. She was just a character in a novel; I should have been able to close my eyes and just get it over with… But if I disposed of Rico, would it really be just black ink that stained my hands?
“Hazel, I’m hungry…”
“O-oh, really?”
Looking at Mavka, who was whining about her hunger like any other child, and Hazel, who was doing nothing but walking on eggshells around me, only made me feel more conflicted.
Because I had told them to avoid leaving the room if possible, Hazel hesitated, not daring to even think of going to the dining hall. Or perhaps she simply didn’t want to go there after the shock of what she’d seen.
I couldn’t let them starve, so I laid out the refreshments Canna had prepared. Mavka’s eyes sparkled at the feast of bread, cake, and cookies.
“They’re all sweet…”
“Lady Rohanson loves sweets!”
This was one of the rumors Canna had spread about me throughout the estate. If even Mavka knew, then absolutely everyone must. Fortunately, Mavka also liked sweets, so she didn’t clamor for meat. Since she was eating sweets, we made a promise that she would brush her teeth or gargle with holy water afterward—truly luxurious dental care.
“My Lady, um… you’re surprisingly good with children…?”
It was only natural. At the Rohanson mansion, there was Mary, a child who wasn't afraid of me in the slightest.
“Funnily enough, yes.”
I looked at Mavka with a conflicted expression.
I didn’t bother explaining my situation to Hazel. My warm attitude toward Mavka probably seemed quite hypocritical to her anyway.
But even so, I couldn’t just leave ‘the Rat’ alone. I couldn't let Rico go, swept away by personal feelings. I didn't want her to attract the Temple's attention, and there was a high probability that ‘the Rat’, obsessed with Agera, would multiply its hosts and drag the people of this estate into danger again.
Now was the chance. Capturing Rico would bring a clean end to this. And on a fundamental level, I hated that it called itself Amaranth.
Even if something more than black ink splattered on me when I harmed Rico, I still intended to capture her. If Mavka found out the truth later, she might just sharpen her blade and come for revenge.
As I left Mavka with Hazel and stepped out of the room, I was flanked by Pudding on my left and Canna on my right. Since Pudding was still in his human form, it felt like having a flower in each hand.
The Duke had been in his office since early morning. The moment I arrived, he opened the door as if he had been waiting. Though puzzled, I stepped inside.
“…You’ve come.”
The Duke looked extremely haggard. I thought I had finally won him over, but now he was avoiding my gaze as if all the goodwill I’d built had been completely reset. How distracted could he be to not even ask who the incredibly handsome man standing beside me was?
“Who is this?”
But I was the one who had to ask. In place of the absent Rico, a strange woman stood beside him. Canna whispered that she had never seen her before. Since Canna must have familiarized herself with everyone in the estate while distributing holy water, this woman was a complete outsider.
Why would he meet with an outsider first thing in the morning? And with a demon on the loose, the Duke had allowed a visitor?
I grew even more puzzled when the Duke didn't dismiss her even after I arrived.
“Do you know what happened last night?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation toward Rico. I gave him a hint that this wasn't a story for an outsider to hear. However, the Duke still didn't send the woman away, only letting out a heavy sigh.
Glancing at the woman, I saw her looking at me with displeasure and disgust. She wasn't wearing priestly robes, but was she affiliated with the Temple?
“I knew it, you were the culprit!”
Culprit? What was she talking about? The woman shouted something incomprehensible, then ignored my bewildered expression and turned back to the Duke.
“Your Grace, please hand over custody of Evangeline Rohanson.”
“…I cannot do that.”
“That person is an atrocious cultist! She is a despicable scoundrel who tried to sacrifice my family to a demon, so why are you defending her?”
Cultist? Seeing how she called me a cultist and a heretic, she was definitely a priest.
It seemed Bishop Marik was hell-bent on catching me. When the Duke adamantly refused to hand me over, the woman, who I presumed was a priest, huffed and pressured him.
Despite him being one of only three dukes in the empire, she looked down on him immensely. Then again, this was to be expected ever since Bishop Marik had placed himself above the Emperor.
“I thought Your Grace had recognized Evangeline Rohanson’s wickedness early on and cast her out. That is why I believed you would naturally cooperate. It seems you have been possessed by a demon in the meantime.”
Since the Duke had openly thrown a wine glass at me at the Crown Prince's birthday banquet, advertising our ruined grandparent-grandchild relationship, she must have come here thinking he would cooperate. But in the meantime, I had already won him over. It was a relief I had done so beforehand.
Bishop Marik’s loyal minion glared at me for a while longer, threatened that she would return, and then swept out of the room. Her murderous gaze made me feel as if I truly was some wicked being. However, even after the priest disappeared, the Duke's expression did not ease at all.
“Why did a priest suddenly come here?”
Were they planning to use Agera’s sorcery as leverage to threaten the Duke into giving me up? If forced to choose between us, the Duke would choose Agera without a moment’s hesitation.
That was my guess, but the answer that came from the Duke was completely unexpected.
He spoke in an incredibly heavy, slow tone. It took me a moment to comprehend his words.
“…An urgent report came in. The Rohanson mansion was completely burned down last night.”
“What?”
I doubted my ears. I asked again, but the Duke couldn't bring himself to repeat the terrible news. I had no choice but to piece together the fragments of the words I had heard.
Last night. Rohanson mansion. Completely burned down.
At that moment, the story of a certain noble family that had been burned to the ground by Bishop Marik—with not even a single child surviving—flashed through my mind. What had simply been a plot device to highlight Bishop Marik's evil deeds now became a sharp blade piercing through my own body.
Burned down? But Jelly was at the mansion. I hadn’t left Jelly behind and brought only Pudding with me for no reason. I had wanted Jelly to protect the mansion.
“If the mansion burned down… Sister…” Canna trailed off in horror.
Could someone have been hurt? Hena, Daisy, Doline, and Daisy's younger siblings like Mary and Yulma were all there. They were all people I had taken in.
I had to go to the Rohanson mansion right away. Before I could even call for Pudding, the Duke stopped me.
“They say paladins are surrounding it. It would be best not to go.”
“Did Bishop Marik do this?”
“……”
I took the Duke’s silence as an affirmation. However, after hesitating for a long time, he finally answered my question.
“The arsonist is you, Evangeline Rohanson.”
This time, I couldn't even bring myself to ask again.
“Someone came forward who witnessed you committing the arson. And they are someone whose credibility cannot be ignored…”
Meaning it was a highly credible testimony that was already being accepted as fact. It had to be the Count, right? Who else of that stature could it be but Count Rohanson?
I knew better than anyone that I was innocent. I had no reason to set fire to the Rohanson mansion.
The Rohanson mansion was a place where I had memories of my mother…
Memories?
At that moment, pure white snow fell before my eyes. I clapped my hands to catch it. Fearing it would escape, I peeked through the gaps in my fingers. Instead of a crystal, I saw a white petal. Only then did I realize I had caught a cherry blossom petal.
Sprouts budded from the ground. When I raised my head, my vision opened up to a deep blue sky. A giant cherry tree appeared above me. It was in full, luscious bloom, looking even larger than the one I had seen at the Rohanson mansion.
The world around me was a mild spring. Servants bustled about outside. I tried to climb the tree but was caught and stopped by a maid. Defeated, I picked up the flowers that had fallen to the ground, brushing off the ants that crawled on them.
Then, with my arms full of flowers, I ran. I climbed the stairs, up and up, heading to the third floor. When I kicked the door open, a radiant woman inside looked at me with wide eyes. Soon, her eyes crinkled into a warm smile.
I placed a flower in the hair of the woman, who looked as if she might crumble from the sheer weight of her affection. In return, she hugged me tightly, as if to crush me. Held in her soft embrace, I grew shy and tickled her. The woman laughed with a sound that resembled mine, then fell backward, still holding me.
Snap. I felt my neck snap. Something was holding me. Cough, cough. I choked.
Two pairs of feet floated in the air.
I am floating. The cherry tree bit the back of my neck like a mother beast. What strangles my neck is mother’s pure white bedsheet. I tore the blanket to prepare a rope. Cherry blossoms fell fell fell decorating my coffin. Ants crawl up my body in a line. Ants crawled over my eyes. Ants.
“Evangeline.”
Ah.
Air rushed back into my lungs, and I gasped deeply.
I came to my senses at the sound of someone calling my name. I frowned, my head throbbing. What was I just thinking about? Oh, right. I was deducing the identity of the person who set fire to the mansion. They said someone had testified that I did it.
“However, the testimonies are conflicting. A few people said someone else, not you, set the fire.”
At first, I thought the Count was giving false testimony, but that wasn't it. Apparently, there was more than one witness. Hearing that, it wasn't hard to guess who the culprit was.
“Rico is the culprit.”
“Ricoradca?”
The Duke, who still didn't know Rico was the host, was utterly puzzled by the sudden mention of her name.
If there were actual witnesses and it wasn't something fabricated by Bishop Marik, then there was only one entity who held a grudge against me and had been missing last night. Suddenly, it became glaringly obvious where ‘the Rat’ had been. Furthermore, as we already knew from Hazel’s case, ‘the Rat’ was highly skilled at mimicking others.
“Rico is the only remaining host in the estate. Yesterday, Hazel witnessed that Rico was the host and ran to me to report it. I tried to capture Rico, but because it was the middle of the night, I couldn't find her.”