Chapter 12

“No, no, that’s not what I—”

Charlotte waved her hands frantically, but Lucy simply shook her head.

“Ask me anything.”

“Lucy, I really—”

“I don’t think you’re here because you suspect me, Charlotte.”

Lucy reached out and held Charlotte’s hand tightly, her voice calm and quiet as she whispered,

“You came instead of the police officer. I know that was for my sake. You didn’t want me to be stressed. Am I right?”

“…Yeah.”

Charlotte’s face reddened slightly. She felt a little embarrassed that Lucy had read her so thoroughly.

“Ask me anything—I’ll tell you everything. …I need to know who killed my husband, too.”

A slight tremor crept into Lucy’s voice. The hand covering Charlotte’s was shaking just as much. Charlotte turned her palm over and squeezed Lucy’s cold fingers reassuringly.

Yeah… Maybe it’s better if Lucy knows everything. There’s no such thing as a secret that stays hidden forever. It’s better to learn the truth now than to have it catch her off guard someday… Charlotte bit her lip, trying to justify herself.

“First of all… you know Miss May, right?”

“Of course. She’s one of our servants.”

“…Miss May is… in the capital right now. Because of the interrogation.”

“Yes, I know that.”

“Well, all the other servants have been interviewed too, but… do you know why only Miss May is still being held by the police? I mean, what I’m trying to say is…”

Charlotte had steeled herself before speaking, but the moment the words left her lips, they felt jumbled and incoherent. Get it together, Charlotte Lovern. Is this really the best you can do? She shut her eyes tightly in frustration.

“You mean because she was going in and out of my husband’s bedroom?”

What? Charlotte’s head snapped up.

“…You knew?”

Lucy nodded slowly. She looked composed—like a dignified noblewoman utterly unfazed by her husband’s infidelity. Or maybe she had already cried all her tears, leaving nothing but an empty shell behind.

“How could I not? There are too many eyes watching and too many ears listening in this house. It was only a matter of time before someone found out.”

“…Right.”

Just because they were servants didn’t mean they were blind or deaf. Charlotte nodded bitterly.

“I was having tea with my husband once, and May came in with the refreshments. But the other servants subtly blocked her from getting too close to him.”

“Ah…”

A vivid image formed in Charlotte’s mind—of the Baron sitting at the table with his wife while secretly reaching out to grope a maid under the cover of the furniture’s shadow.

“I thought it was odd, so I asked the servants about it later. At first, they hesitated, but something like this is impossible to keep secret forever. Eventually, one by one, they started talking.

Some had seen May with the Baron behind the hedges in the garden. Others saw her leaving his study with a teapot, her uniform in disarray. Someone even said they once caught her secretly washing clothes in the middle of the night—clothes that had some… strange stains on them.”

Lucy let out a dry, cynical chuckle and shrugged.

“There was no way I wouldn’t find out.”

That bastard. He was already dead, but Charlotte cursed Baron Turove in her mind all over again.

“…Still, he wasn’t all that bad. At least he tried to keep it from me. Since she was just a servant and not an outsider, there was no risk of a scandal spreading through high society. And as my husband, he always treated me with the proper respect. That was enough for me.”

“That was enough?”

Lucy burst into laughter.

“How could you say just that, Charlotte? Do you know how many people don’t even get that much?”

Charlotte thought that even if she bit her tongue and died on the spot, got buried, then clawed her way out of the coffin with her bare hands, she still wouldn’t be able to understand Lucy’s perspective. But she simply nodded. After all, it was Lucy who had spent the past few years immersed in high society, not her.

“So, what about Sir Lau?”

“Huh?”

“Have you already forgotten? You were the one who asked me if I had heard anything from him.”

Oh, right. Charlotte gave an awkward laugh, and Lucy reached out, cupping her cheek before giving it a playful pinch—just like she always used to.

“I was only trying to find out if you knew about the Baron’s affair. There’s a rumor among the other servants that Sir Lau is unusually loyal. Since he knew about it, I figured he might have told you.”

Charlotte hadn’t expected Lucy to already know. As Lucy gently touched her cheek, Charlotte caught her hand. Her fingers were trembling slightly.

“…So Sir Lau did know?”

“Huh?”

Charlotte stared at Lucy in confusion. Lucy’s eyes darkened slightly, and she murmured,

“But he never said a word to me… Are you sure he knew?”

“Y-Yeah… Miss May told me herself. She said Sir Lau caught her and scolded her, telling her to stop immediately.”

“…Really? Then why didn’t he tell me?”

Lucy’s voice was filled with disappointment. She seemed a little shaken by the realization that someone she deeply trusted had kept something from her—especially something as serious as her husband’s infidelity.

“…Maybe he didn’t want to hurt you. That’s probably why he warned Miss May, too. He must’ve hoped everything would return to normal without you ever having to know.”

“…I see. So…”

“So?”

Lucy hesitated for a moment before speaking cautiously.

“The truth is… sometimes I ask Sir Lau to run errands for me.”

“…A knight?”

“I know, I know—it’s the kind of thing you’d ask a servant to do. But I had no choice. It’s… kind of embarrassing.”

Charlotte said nothing and simply stared at her friend. Lucy’s pale complexion was tinged with a faint blush. The small beauty marks on her cheek and under her eye caught Charlotte’s attention. Feeling her gaze, Lucy shyly raised a hand to cover one side of her face.

“Once a month, I ask him to buy some medicine for me. Normally, he goes alone, but last month, he insisted on taking May with him. He said he needed her help…”

“He must’ve taken her outside to warn her.”

“Yeah… I guess so.”

Lucy let out a soft chuckle and reached for her teacup. But before it reached her lips, her hand trembled, and the cup slipped. It bounced off the bed once before rolling onto the floor. Thanks to the plush rug, it didn’t break, but the spilled tea soaked through the blanket, staining the pristine white sheets with a deep red blotch.

“Are you okay?!”

“…Ah.”

Charlotte quickly pulled the blanket away and set it aside. Fortunately, since the night was still warm, the blanket was thin, and the tea had already cooled. Lucy hadn’t burned herself. But her hand, still frozen in the air, was visibly shaking. Charlotte grabbed it gently, then reached for the cord beside the bed to summon a maid.

“…I must’ve worn you out today.”

“No, no… I’m just a little tired.”

“If you’re tired, then get some proper rest. I should go.”

As two maids hurried in to clean up the mess and change the bedding, Charlotte led Lucy to the table and helped her sit down. Lucy tried to stand, saying, “I’ll see you off,” but Charlotte shook her head firmly and pressed her hands on Lucy’s shoulders.

“No, I came with the police anyway. You should stay and rest. You look pale.”

“…Do I?”

Lucy let out an awkward laugh. As Charlotte followed the maids out of the room, she glanced back. Lucy was waving at her, mouthing the words Goodbye. Charlotte gave her a small smile before stepping out and closing the door behind her.

The mansion’s corridors were long and lavishly decorated. Charlotte walked slowly, eventually stopping by a window. Peering outside, she could see the well-maintained garden in its entirety.

At its center stood a massive tree. The garden had been designed around it, with neatly sectioned flowerbeds harmonizing beautifully around the trunk.

Charlotte left the mansion and made her way to the garden. Up close, the tree was even more impressive. Its smooth, pale gray bark and sharply edged, pointed leaves made her think it might be a beech tree. As she ran her hand over the trunk, her gaze fell upon a small gravestone.

[The Most Beloved Dog in the World, Toby]

Though small, the headstone was beautifully crafted, with intricate engravings along its edges, suggesting a considerable amount of money had been spent on it.

Lucy must have stood here, reminiscing about her tiny, adorable Toby. Charlotte crouched down, brushing her fingers gently over the stone. It was cold and unyielding beneath her touch.

How bright those days had been. She missed those times—missed her friends, missed the way things used to be. But she knew they could never return to those days.

She tilted her head back and gazed at the sky. The sunlight was so blindingly bright that her eyes stung. As she squeezed them shut, a deep sigh escaped her lips.

Lucy had been her closest friend for all four years at the academy. They had shared the same dormitory, arranged their schedules to match whenever possible, and knew everything about each other’s habits and preferences.

Lucy was compassionate and sentimental, someone who preferred to take a step back rather than stand at the forefront. Once she set a goal, she pursued it relentlessly, and because of her kind nature, people naturally gravitated toward her.

Her eyes would sparkle whenever she ate food she liked. When concentrating, she would furrow her brows slightly and tap her fingers. And when she lied—she would stare directly at the person, only to avert her gaze at the very last moment and offer a small, flustered smile.

Just like she had earlier, when talking about Sir Lau.