Raenod swallowed hard.

Looking at the young master now, he seemed like someone who had been listening to their entire conversation, not someone who had been lying down for three days.

As he said, the reason the lord was releasing Yuriel was certainly not out of simple leniency.

Over the past three days, that widow named Jane had come and gone to the lord’s room several times.

Along with pleas to release her daughter.

The lord, who had often kept an eye on Jane before, would not refuse such a good pretext now.

Originally, there was no need for a pretext to embrace a commoner woman, so there was no reason to go that far.

For some reason, the lord said he would wait for the day she crawled to him on her own to become his mistress.

As luck would have it, the victim of the theft was Lady Catherine, an insignificant existence the lord didn’t need to be mindful of.

And just yesterday, the lord finally achieved his goal.

“She said she would become the lord’s mistress. She is scheduled to enter the lord’s bedroom in three days after preparing herself.”

These were the most carefully chosen words after much consideration.

Upon hearing this, the young master’s expression twisted as if something dirty had touched him, then he immediately burst into laughter.

The gap in his expression change in that instant was so great it was almost frightening.

Cassian twirled the glass in his hand.

Isn’t this turning out to be even more interesting than expected?

In a way he couldn’t stay out of.

After a long while, he stopped moving and ordered Raenod, who was holding his breath beside him.

“Tell her all of that.”

“Pardon?”

“Everything the butler knows. Without missing a single detail.”

Raenod experienced another moment where his breath stopped.

‘Without missing a single detail’… Does that mean telling that child that her mother is entering the lord’s bedroom as his mistress because of her?

Is there really a need to be this cruel, even so?

However, as always, he had no choice but to follow the young master’s orders.

“Understood.”

Raenod bowed his head and hurried out as if escaping.

With a click, the door closed and a long silence settled in.

Cassian leaned back against the headboard with his eyes closed.

Three days.

It’s already been three days since that child was locked up, since he ended up like this.

If she had been there, she wouldn’t know that he had ended up bedridden like this.

Meanwhile, the silver-haired one would have learned all these facts as he wished.

Yet he couldn’t even take a single step to the prison, they say.

It’s quite a satisfactory conclusion.

Yuriel must have realized by now that no one would come looking for her.

Through his closed eyes, her final image flashes before him.

The image of her asserting her innocence with a pale face. Then the face of resignation.

He imagines her face, sitting on that cold floor shedding tears.

Somehow, a prickly feeling settled in, as if thorns were stuck in his hand.

Why?

Because he knows she actually didn’t commit the theft?

Or because it’s disgusting that she’s falsely accused and even her mother will end up in the lord’s hands?

Hah, what nonsense.

Since when did he care about such justice?

A Blanchet shouldn’t be concerned with the grievances of such trivial things. As always.

There have been countless women led by the lord’s hand to suffer such fates, and countless lowly servants who had their tails cut off after being falsely accused.

His father, the head of the Blanchet family, has done it countless times as well.

What right does he, who inherited that blood directly, have to find it disgusting?

Even this time, it’s the same.

He’s just watching things unfold in such a vicious way when it could have been easily resolved. He must truly be born an evil person.

‘She will eventually come looking for me with a heart burned to ashes.’

Realizing that he is the only one who can save her from that cold and wretched prison.

She will cling to him in tears, begging for help.

When that time comes, he would simply take what he wants.

The prison where not a speck of light entered was cold.

Yuriel sat alone, trying to unravel the reason for the lord’s sudden change of heart.

As her thoughts connected, they gradually flowed to more negative places.

Just as ominous assumptions were taking over her mind, the guard’s voice rang out.

“You have a visitor.”

A visitor? Yuriel blinked, wondering if those words were meant for her, and only realized it was true when she heard the approaching footsteps of the guard.

The guards dragged her to the visiting room once again.

‘Could it be Mother again?’

That couldn’t be. Her mother, who had just visited, wouldn’t come here again so soon.

‘Then who could it be? Perhaps Hael…?’

This time, Yuriel truly thought it might be Hael.

That’s why she was a bit surprised to see Butler Raenod as soon as she came out.

But remembering her mother’s words, it wasn’t something to be too surprised about.

‘He must be here to tell me I’ll be released soon.’

Though she didn’t know how it happened, maybe he would tell her if she asked.

Recalling the butler’s usually stiff attitude, there was a high chance he wouldn’t tell her.

Still, thinking there was nothing to lose, she decided to muster up the courage.

“I heard the lord has pardoned me, is that true?”

“…Yes. Yuriel will be released from here in three days.”

The butler’s face was tired as usual.

The only difference from before was that he now avoided making eye contact with her.

Like someone facing an awkward subject. His attitude seemed to carry a faint sense of guilt, but his stance as a bystander remained unchanged.

“Do you know why the lord is releasing me?”

Though she asked the question, Yuriel gave up hope of getting an answer seeing the butler’s dry attitude.

But unexpectedly, he readily provided an answer.

“Your mother pleaded with the lord. She begged him to release you.”

Raenod’s detailed response was clearly different from before.

But Yuriel, having lost her senses at the mention of her mother, didn’t notice such things.

He’s releasing her because of her mother’s plea?

That couldn’t be. The lord Yuriel knew was never one to be swayed by the pleas of subordinates.

She was well aware of the rumors about the lord.

He was one of those typical nobles who would casually embrace maids and then pretend not to know them if caught by the mistress.

She was not unaware of the maliciousness that lay beneath his gaze as he looked at her mother all this time.

‘Surely not…’

Yuriel, turning pale, raised her head to stare at Raenod.

Raenod, without meeting her gaze, recited his prepared words.

“Lady Jane will enter as the lord’s mistress in three days.”

Mistress? Yuriel turned the word over in her mind several times.

Did she hear that correctly?

Only then did Butler Raenod’s inability to meet her eyes register once again.

Yuriel, who had been unable to utter a word in her bewilderment, finally forced out a hoarse voice.

“What do you mean… mistress?”

Raenod found it uncomfortable in many ways to have to say these things directly.

It felt like sprinkling salt on an open wound. And to a child, no less. What on earth was he doing?

However, as long as it was the young master’s order, and as long as the lord had decided to do so, there was nothing anywhere that could change it.

“That was the condition for your release.”

“What does that…”

Yuriel, turning pale, grabbed the bars.

The clanging sound conveyed her desperation.

“I’m fine not being released. So please, tell my mother.”

“…”

“Tell her not to do this. Tell her there’s no need to do this because of me. Please, just tell her that.”

Feeling like a criminal for having to do such a thing, Raenod abruptly stood up, letting go of the small hand trying to grab him.

With that, Raenod hurriedly went outside.

He had already done what he needed to do, so there was no reason to sit there looking at that tear-stained, haggard face any longer.

In any case, he wasn’t in a position to grant her request.

After Raenod disappeared, Yuriel screamed the entire time as she was dragged back to the prison by the guards.

She even fainted, and when she regained consciousness, it was late dawn.

Opening her eyes, Yuriel once again realized that all of this was not a dream.

Time flowed relentlessly, and the date she barely managed to find out from a guard was the first day of the month.

Tonight, her mother would enter as a mistress.

‘If only all of this were a nightmare…’

It felt like someone was playing a prank on the life she thought couldn’t get any worse.

As if saying, watch closely how far you can fall into the abyss.

Thinking of her mother being violated by the lord in an attempt to save her, she felt like she wanted to die right then and there.

If she died, wouldn’t her mother be spared from such a fate?

Yet she had to live because she knew leaving her mother alone would be an even greater sin.

Is this what it feels like when God forces you to witness misfortune?

Yuriel’s eyes were dry, even her tears had dried up.

Everything crashed over her like waves of regret.

Meeting Hael, entering the mansion hoping to earn a bit more wages, meeting the young master, and also…

That’s when it happened.

With a loud bang, the door opened.

As bright white light seeped in, Yuriel squinted her eyes shut.

Tap, tap, something like the sound of low heels echoed, drawing closer.

Finally, as the door closed and the light receded, an unbelievable person stood in the space.

‘How could the young master…’

Yuriel wondered if she might be dreaming.

But as the shadows lifted, the person standing in clear view was indeed Cassian di Blanchet.

Belying the reports of his collapse, he was not just fine but emanating a cold aura.

As always, his gait and demeanor, never losing the dignity of a Blanchet, were filled with grace.

His expressionless face held its characteristic loftiness.

Separately from that, his eyes… showed the greatest turbulence unlike usual.

Within them, Yuriel, she was fully reflected.

Her, much more withered and twisted than before.

Cassian’s red eyes flickered like pillars of fire as he gazed upon that sight.