“What do you mean Walter has disappeared?”

Deep into the night, Elizabeth sharply interrogated Eisen with a voice tinged with both astonishment and anger.

Eisen, who had come to report after double-checking multiple times that Walter had disappeared, was also frustrated.

“It’s exactly as I said. It seems Walter has disappeared.”

“Have you searched throughout the mansion? He might have noticed us looking for him and hidden somewhere like a deserted storage room.”

“I’ve thoroughly checked the storage room, between the bushes and pits of the neglected garden, and even the hollows in the old trees.”

“But….”

Elizabeth suspected that Eisen and Gurturk’s soldiers had missed something.

After all, Walter had been confined in the mansion for seven years. It’s not like he hadn’t tried to escape during all that time.

“On the day Nicholas agitated him, he ran toward the mansion’s perimeter and was repelled by an invisible barrier. The handmaids mentioned this. Have you checked near the barrier?”

“Of course.”

It made little sense for such a man to have escaped the mansion as soon as assassins appeared.

Elizabeth tapped her fingers on the table and reached a conclusion.

“Then investigate the servants who would know of his whereabouts. Make sure to do it as naturally as possible so Izazel and Edith don’t suspect anything.”

“Understood.”

“And bring me the servants who had frequent interactions with Walter. If he has indeed escaped the mansion, he must have had accomplices.”

Given that a funeral for the Count was taking place, it was a priority to eliminate Walter as swiftly as possible, whether noticed or not.

The thought that a nearly accomplished task had been ruined sharpened Elizabeth’s gaze more than ever.

“To be honest, I can’t believe it. Sophia has lost all her inheritance rights and has been sent to a monastery. At least Edith’s troubles seem to have ended.”

Izazel sighed and stirred her tea. Edith, who had invited her to the room for tea, slowly nodded.

“Indeed. Sophia couldn’t hold out for long, given that she’s up against the temple.”

Sophia had received her verdict approximately ten days after the formal investigation started at the temple. Essentially, she was being sent to a monastery where she’d be isolated from the world.

The thought of living a life confined to the monastery without ever stepping outside, and eventually being buried in the monastery’s backyard, was suffocating. But considering what Sophia had planned for her, Edith felt no sympathy. Even more so given that she was still stuck here due to her.

Izazel, Elizabeth, and Edith had all had conversations with the holy knights, so they had a rough idea of why Sophia had been sentenced to the monastery.

“I think the verdict was expedited because they planned to send the Count to some remote estate for recuperation even before the carriage accident occurred. What do you think, Edith?”

“It seems the temple concluded that the attack on the Count’s carriage was a scheme by Sophia, since Elizabeth submitted a letter containing that information.”

In reality, Edith knew that Elizabeth and her faction were the ones who had attacked the Count’s carriage and that Sophia was being framed to avoid detection.

However, there was no need for her to reveal this and take Sophia’s side, so she simply agreed with Izazel’s view.

‘I can reveal that Elizabeth is the real culprit at the appropriate time.’

What she had to prioritize now wasn’t about the two Countesses but her own escape.

Yet Izazel, unaware of all this, continued her chatter while sipping her tea.

“And also, it seems Butler Whitman’s forty-page petition for harsh punishment had a big impact. Have you read it, Edith?”
“The knights have briefed me roughly on the situation. Apparently, they’ve documented where the two have been and what kind of money they’ve embezzled.”

Even while confined to Karkus, Whitman seemed well-informed about the world’s affairs.

He wrote in the petition that Sophia had squandered money meant for repairing the lower riverbank on luxuries, itemizing each one.

However, he didn’t disclose that Sophia intended to have Edith impregnated by Hans, perhaps fearing even harsher punishment for both Sophia and himself if the truth came out.

Edith would have liked to ask the knights to investigate this matter as well, but that would risk implicating Walter, who had protected her, so she refrained.

“Since we ended up going to the monastery together, perhaps it’s a good thing after all…”

“It would have been terrible to die alone.”

What Edith understood of Whitman’s psychology was simple. Isabelle, seeing her blunt response, briefly smiled.

“I’ve never been in love, so I wouldn’t know, but it must feel like a massive betrayal when someone you’ve shared your heart with abandons you.”

“…”

“Forty pages of petitions, front and back. What could motivate such effort?”

Hiding her tightened lips, Edith brought the teacup to her mouth. The phrase ‘someone you’ve shared your heart with’ naturally made her think of Walter.