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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Part 6. The Trap (1)

A few days later, his plan threw the entire estate into an uproar. Kaidros had asked a maid to clean his room this morning, but by afternoon, an expensive jewel from his room was discovered missing.

He went to the Viscount, claiming a thief seemed to be in the house and requesting a search.

The Viscount, who strangely became flustered only around him, turned beet red with shame and ordered the head butler to gather every person in the estate.

Edith, who had been minding her own business, was abruptly summoned, putting her in a foul mood.

“The missing item is a large, brilliantly crafted ruby brooch. If anyone happened to find it, won’t you return it?”

An awkward silence fell among the servants, everyone exchanging glances. Someone finally broke the silence.

“Isn’t jewelry something noble young ladies like…?”

With that single comment, attention instantly shifted—not to the speaker, but to Edith.

‘This is really going too far!’

Facing yet another all-too-familiar situation, Edith held her head, beginning to pity her own existence. After enduring neglect and torment, now they were trying to frame her as a thief? It was utterly disillusioning.

Even if she denied it, they clearly wouldn’t believe her. She couldn’t understand why the dragon was escalating the situation to put her in such a difficult spot.

“That’s right…! The Young Lady always said she wanted new jewels because she has so few!”

Edith stared at Marie in disbelief as she fabricated a story about jewels—something Edith had never even mentioned. One by one, the servants began to agree with Marie, and the Viscount, thinking the source of his embarrassment was Edith, glared at her sharply.

Just as the Viscount was about to speak, Kaidros shook his head regretfully, pulled Edith close by her shoulder, and held her in his arms as he spoke.

“How strange. I spent the day reading with Edith. Isn’t that something you also know, maid, since you brought us tea?”

The pointed-out maid nodded as if she’d just remembered, agreeing.

Thanks to Kaidros, Edith was cleared of suspicion. While she was inwardly grateful to have someone on her side, she also found the owner of the arms holding her utterly infuriating, thinking this mess wouldn’t have happened without him. She felt like pinching him.

“Your Grace, whom did you ask to clean the room? Perhaps that person saw something?”

The Viscount, wiping the sweat he’d shed trying to appease the prince, asked the question. If no one else came forward, the most likely suspect would be the maid who cleaned the room.

“Hmm, I just asked a random maid I saw passing by…”

Pretending he couldn’t recall, Kaidros propped his chin on his hand, closed his eyes, and feigned trying to remember.

Watching the usually prideful dragon put on this act from beside him, Edith found it darkly amusing.

Then, as if it had just come to him, he looked at the Viscount and said,

“Ah, it was a face I see often. I believe it was the maid dedicated to Edith.”

At his words, the gazes of the servants shifted—from Edith to the maid Marie, who had been trying to frame her just moments ago.

At the center of it all, Marie’s face went deathly pale. Forgetting she was standing before the Viscount, her face a mask of anxiety and panic, she began to shout.

“There’s no way it was me!”

Marie did it?

Doubt was plain on everyone’s faces.

“In that case, would a search be acceptable? It would be more definitive and less unjust that way.”

“Your Grace! Are you accusing me of theft?”

At Kaidros’s words, the maids and servants surrounding them exchanged a silent glance for a moment, then seized Marie by both arms.

With her arms held, Marie, perhaps in a panic, grew even more frantic in her denials. But then, from another maid who was rummaging through her pockets, something carefully wrapped in white silk cloth was pulled out.

The maid handed the item to Prince Kaidros, and everyone’s focus turned to them.

As Kaidros unfolded the silk cloth, the large, exquisitely crafted ruby brooch he had described was revealed inside.

“Yes, that is the jewel I lost.”

His confirmation solidified Marie as the thief who had stolen his jewel.

In the midst of this, the Viscount felt deep shame that the dishonorable act of a commoner maid trying to frame a Viscount’s daughter had been witnessed by an outsider.

His face contorted with anger and embarrassment, and he bore down on Marie as if to dismiss her immediately.

However, Kaidros immediately raised a firm hand, stopping the Viscount.

“Wait. She is still a young maid. She may have been captivated by the jewel’s beauty and made a mistake without realizing it, Viscount Moulton.”