Chapter 66
Avoiding the hand that tried to grab her hair had been instinct, and the slap… had come out before she even realized it.
Because she had really, truly wanted to hit Helena Caneze.
She had never spoken to her first, and she had only been a maid doing menial work, yet Helena had tormented her relentlessly. Ephinia hated her.
Now that she was an adult, she understood why Helena had bullied her.
‘Because I was weak.’
A maid three years younger, sold into a noble household by her parents, how easy and laughable must she have seemed? She had been less than even the dog Helena kept.
‘This feels so good.’
Just that one slap had sent adrenaline surging and made her blood run hot. Even though she had been frightened by her own actions, when Helena charged at her again, she was able to respond the same way.
‘Maybe I’m faster than I thought.’
Her heart pounded wildly. And yet she felt so happy she could almost fly. Even though Helena screamed and lunged at her, she hadn’t lost. She hadn’t been hit. She had protected herself.
“Baroness Linier, are you alright?”
Marchioness Deacon, who had approached, asked carefully. Ephinia could only nod with a dazed expression.
“I think… I’m alright.”
In truth, she felt very good.
* * *
When the Marquisate attendant approached and reported that they had captured ‘that man’, Kasselard decided to confirm his identity without Ephinia knowing. The man he saw earlier might not be the same person. This was inside the ballroom, and there was no one who felt like a Transcendent, so he judged it would be fine.
So he entrusted Ephinia to Countess Rinne, who was nearby, and left his place beside her. Countess Rinne was a noblewoman with a daughter older than Ephinia. She was somewhat lacking in tact, but he remembered her as someone warm-hearted who took good care of others.
“This way, Your Highness.”
The attendant guided Kasselard to a place somewhat removed from the ballroom. After passing through a corridor and entering a room, he found Marquis Deacon interrogating the man from earlier.
“Your Highness. You have arrived?”
Kasselard nodded at his greeting and glanced toward Bill Caneze. Marquis Deacon spoke.
“He stubbornly refuses to reveal his identity. Is this the man Your Highness saw earlier?”
“Yes.”
Held down by the servants, Bill avoided Kasselard’s gaze as if frightened. As Kasselard examined him closely, he found it strange, no matter how he looked at him, the man was a complete stranger. There was nothing connecting them, so why was he afraid?
“Didn’t this man bring a servant? He must have come by carriage.”
At Kasselard’s words, Bill’s face turned pale, and Marquis Deacon’s expression brightened. If the man had not warned his attendants to keep silent, then the Marquisate servants would surely obtain information easily when they questioned them.
“Y-Your Highness! I have been wronged! I merely brought my daughter to this ball after hearing of the prestige of the Deacon Marquisate.”
“Then reveal your identity.”
“……”
Bill hesitated, unable to speak as he watched Kasselard’s reaction. Kasselard scowled and began to turn away. Startled, Bill hurriedly cried out.
“I-I am Vi…Viscount Bill Caneze!”
“Caneze?”
Kasselard, who had an excellent memory and knew every noble family in the capital, paused at the vaguely familiar name, then recalled it at once.
It was the very house to which Ephinia had been sold as a maid.
He also knew that the viscount there had recently sent a proxy to prison, and that the proxy had only recently been released.
‘How insolent… he came all the way to the capital intending to harm Ephinia?’
The Caneze family were relatives of a locally influential house, but they were not close to real power. They merely used connections and money to enjoy certain conveniences as nobles.
A family of that level wouldn’t have come here at a time like this.
Coincidence?
Kasselard gave a cold snort. He wasn’t someone who believed in coincidence. The child who had once been their maid had become a Guide and reported them, their punishment had only recently been carried out, and yet they forced their way up to the capital?
Anyone could see this was the action of a man harboring ill intent, seeking to harm the one who had reported him. Kasselard’s expression as he looked at Bill turned harsh.
“You came to show your daughter the Marquis’s ball? Using another noble’s invitation?”
“Isn’t such a thing common among nobles? I-I have not broken imperial law, so I do not believe I deserve this kind of humiliation.”
It wasn’t uncommon for nobles to attend balls they had not been invited to by using connections. However, in such cases, someone from that household usually attended with them.
If a man who didn’t even know that Count Nicol Armand was an elderly noble possessed his invitation, the proper conclusion was that someone from the Armand household had misused it.
If a member of the Armand family had given him the invitation, that would be fortunate, but in the worst cases, servants sometimes sold their master’s invitation for money.
“That is something Marquis Deacon must decide. Since you didn’t come with Count Armand, the Marquis, who didn’t invite you, has the right to remove you.”
“T-There’s no need to go that far…”
Viscount Caneze turned toward Marquis Deacon in alarm, but the Marquis had already made up his mind. If he had answered his identity immediately when asked, matters might not have gone this far, but he was indeed an uninvited guest.
“I regret that it has come to this.”
Saying this, Marquis Deacon signaled to the servants with his eyes.
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