Chapter 55
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Alice's eyes widened in horror at the sight of Roan, her pupils shaking wildly.
She wanted to believe that she was seeing things wrong. But no matter how much she blinked and tried to deny reality, his image would not disappear.
"Alice. The slave has gone missing from the mansion. Do you know anything?"
At the butler's sharp question, Alice shook her head with frightened eyes. She'd originally planned to pretend not knowing, but now, with the man staring down at her like the Grim Reaper, she was genuinely afraid.
"No, no. I-I don't know anything, I haven't even seen the slave today!"
"How dare you say this in front of..................!"
Alice stammered, and the head maid jumped up and slapped her across the face as if she couldn't stand to hear any more.
Alice let out an unexpected yelp and fell to the floor.
The slap was so fierce that her cheek and head tingled, but even more shocking was the realization that it was the hand of the head maid.
The head maid had been turning a blind eye to whatever Alice had done. She had pretended not to notice even when Alice tried to dominate the fellow maids and when she tried to get rid of new recruits she didn't like.
It wasn't that she particularly liked Alice, it was just that it was easier to manage the maids that way. She only needed to control Alice.
What would it mean to have such a cowardly person suddenly step forward?
"Margaret said it all! She saw you sneaking out the back door with the slave!"
The head maid’s shout echoed through the great hall.
Alice clutched her slapped cheek and glanced behind her. She caught sight of Margaret, who was peering at her through the crowd.
‘I can't believe I'm being caught by that mousey little wench..................!’
Alice gritted her teeth. She should have gotten rid of Margaret sooner, but she was so focused on getting rid of the slaves that she put it off.
Alice's head was spinning, even as she glared at Margaret. It was all happening so fast she was getting motion sickness.
Should she come clean now, maybe she could get away with a bad joke?
‘No.’
Alice scolded herself for thinking such weak thoughts.
There was no slave, no conclusive evidence. If she kept denying it, she'd get away with it somehow.
Alice still believed she could remain an innocent bystander. It would be a waste if she confessed now since she had put too much effort into it.
"Actually, the slave asked me about the gardener's whereabouts, so I took her there. I thought I should pretend I didn't know if she was in a relationship with him or not................... You said that too, head maid, that the slave was so close to the gardener that she must be in love with him..................."
"What? My, when did I...............!"
With the head maid in the mix, the hall quickly turned to chaos. There was a loud shouting match to see who could scream the loudest.
Clang.
The ghastly sound of steel pierced their eardrums.
As if on cue, everyone fell silent and turned their heads in the direction of the noise.
Roan had his gun out and was loading a round.
The man's face, as he looked down at his weapon, was devoid of any expression. His hand gestures were calm and controlled, as if it was something he did every day.
Nevertheless, the tension of not being able to exhale a single breath gripped their entire body. Everyone was frozen in place, unable to take their eyes off the lone man.
"What a waste of time."
The bored-sounding words resumed the time that seemed to have stopped.
Roan raised his loaded gun nonchalantly. The muzzle was aimed squarely at Alice.
Alice's limbs trembled. No sound escaped her throat, just a ragged breath.
He was really going to use it. And he would step over her body without changing his expression.
There was something in his eyes that made Alice sure of it. She was more afraid to look into those eyes than the muzzle of a gun pointed at her. Alice felt suffocated by the murderous glint he exuded.
It was only then that Alice realized that the Roan Barthez she had been seeing had been an illusion, a realization that came too late.
"Oh, northwest............... wall, oh, abandoned shack........"
Alice mumbled, half-sane, with a teary, snotty face, and she looked like she could pass out at any moment.
Roan, glaring down at the ugliness of the scene, quickly withdrew his gun.
Alice still shuddered uncontrollably, though, and finally fell backwards, foaming at the mouth.
"Lock her up. I’ll decide what to do with her later."
"Yes. Colonel."
The butler barely managed to sweep the horror from his chest at the carnage before him. No one noticed anything out of the ordinary in his tone of voice as he spoke with such natural deference.
Roan left the manor without a backward glance, as if he had no further business.
There was a hint of impatience in his step as he leapt over the shrubbery and walked beneath the dense trees.
Even the sun, which was just setting, peeked through the canopy of trees with an intense presence, blinded his vision.
As he wandered through the garden, bathed in the woman's touch, he was plagued by the urge to wipe out everything in the sky, just as he had once done.
Gritting his teeth, Roan finally came upon an old, ramshackle farmhouse.
Rushing to a place he hadn't even realized was on his estate, he hurriedly undid the latch. The stench of rotting wood stung his nostrils.
His blood rushed to his head as he realized that the woman must have been trapped in the old, cramped space, barely big enough for farm equipment, let alone people.
His frantic hand threw the latch to the floor and, without pausing to catch his breath, he yanked the door open.
But he didn't see anything immediately.
He lowered his head, wondering if he'd been tricked.
The sight of a figure, crouching small, came like a bullet to his eyes. His heart dropped like a stone.
"You..................!"
A shout threatened to rise in his throat, and the woman slowly raised her head. Her disheveled hair fell over her crouching knees.
A blank face stared up at him, and her white lips twitched as if to say something.
But she never managed to get the words out and fell forward.
Roan, frozen in place, reflexively caught her. Her breath, unbearably hot, raced across his chest.
Without hesitation, Roan scooped her up into a quick embrace. He was suddenly displeased at how light she was, along with her boiling hot body temperature.
"Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.................."
The feverish woman mumbled in a tiny, muffled voice.
Roan froze in his tracks, forgetting that he had to get her to a doctor as soon as possible. His eyes sank deeper than ever as he looked down at the woman trembling in his arms.
What the hell?
Sorry for what?
The urge to grab the sick woman and scream at her ran through his body.
But he clenched his teeth to control himself, and began to move his feet again, oblivious to the strength in his hands as he held her.
***
"An officer from the police station asked for our cooperation in searching Alice's room, and I accepted."
Roan didn't react to the butler's news that he had let an outsider into the mansion without his permission. He had already given them instructions in advance.
Alice was eventually handed over to the police due to an unsavory incident that occurred some time ago.
Up until this point, it hadn't been much of a surprise, but things got out of hand when a suspicious man was caught wandering around the Barthez mansion.
Roan, having gleaned the details of Alice's request from the man's bloodied mouth, ransacked the illegal gambling house where the man was working.
At first, the police force was displeased with Roan's solo action. It was not known if it was because the were ashamed of their own incompetence, or if it was because it was an outsider doing the job for them.
But the bottom line was that they busted an illegal gambling house.
Roan wasn't about to take credit, so he asked the police to do the rest of the investigation, with the only request being that Alice's guilt be made clear.
Before things could get any weirder, the police granted Roan's request.
The result was a long list of heinous crimes, including illegal trade, kidnapping solicitation, and attempted murder.
"We'll be calling in Margaret and the other maids soon to confirm their testimony."
Thanks to the insistence of a brave maid, it was revealed that Alice was the one who had framed Delnia for stealing in the past.
It would be packaged as theft and fraud and added to the list of heinous crimes listed above.
There would be no pardon, so it was obvious where Alice would end up.
When Roan remained silent at the obvious conclusion, the butler, who had been watching him carefully, spoke again.
"I, and the head maid................."
***
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