“You said so. That I had no idea how Jocelyn saw Arianthe……. Yes, just as you guessed, I knew the fact too. I couldn’t help but know. But why didn’t I just embrace and turn away Arianthe? I still don’t understand. If I had done that, Jocelyn would have done even more terrible things to Arianthe. And the reason I don’t drive Jocelyn away is not just because she’s Bervo’s mother.”

Meiana sharply interjected, “Then why on earth are you leaving that person alone? Don’t you realize that Lady could be in danger? How can you do that!”

Meiana’s excited breath became rough.

Arianthe’s words swirled around in Cedric’s head, almost catching at the tip of his tongue. He was on the verge of splitting his teeth trying to change his words. If he could turn words into needles, he wanted to spit them all out, hurting Cedric.

Cedric stared at Meiana, seemingly understanding what she was thinking, and then sighed quietly.

“I didn’t think things would come to this, and there’s no excuse. So, I’ll be honest. I think Jocelyn killed Bervo and Liria. No, it’s more like I’m sure. Until I find evidence and hear a confession directly from Jocelyn, I won’t send her anywhere noticeable in my eyes.”

Meiana momentarily doubted if there was something wrong with her ears. Or perhaps, in the past few days, her mind had become too tangled.

However, Cedric didn’t correct or explain his words. He just waited for Meiana to understand.

Her fingertips trembled. It felt like goosebumps were rising as if a spinal cord was flowing down from the back of her neck.

“That… What are you talking about? Those two… Jocelyn said they died in an accident at the lake… You said so yourself.”

Cedric scratched his forehead with a pained expression.

“My brother, Bervo, never listened to Jocelyn. Liria… she was cheerful but delicate. She often felt uncomfortable with Jocelyn’s oppressive attitude but kept shrinking back. So, the two of them… it wasn’t Jocelyn who sent them to the lake. Like what she did with Greta this time, she probably used someone to put them on a boat. And then made them drown in the lake.”

“Wait a moment, just wait. Duke, that’s… It’s not your own thought, right? There must be some clues, so Jocelyn Housekeeper…… It’s because there’s no other way but to keep her in this house, isn’t it?”

Cedric scratched his forehead with a painful expression.

“My brother, Bervo, never listened to Jocelyn. Liria… she was cheerful but delicate. She often felt uncomfortable with Jocelyn’s oppressive attitude but kept shrinking back. So, the two of them… it wasn’t Jocelyn who sent them to the lake. Like what she did with Greta this time, she probably used someone to put them on a boat. And then made them drown in the lake.”

“Wait a moment, just wait. Duke, that’s… It’s not your own thought, right? There must be some clues, so Jocelyn Housekeeper…… It’s because there’s no other way but to keep her in this house, isn’t it?”

Cedric nodded with a pained expression. The events that happened a long time ago, but which he couldn’t forget for a single day after the incident, came vividly to his mind.
“When Bervo and Liria went to the lake… I had made an appointment with Bervo to play chess. Liria was supposed to come along and watch. However, no matter how long I waited, they didn’t show up. Bervo never once broke a promise with me. Jocelyn came to me at that time and said she saw Bervo and Liria… taking a walk toward the forest.”

Meiana couldn’t quickly understand what that had to do with her question. She also thought that Cedric hadn’t told her everything… and she was right.

In that moment, when she heard that Bervo and Liria had gone for a walk… the emotion Cedric felt was intense jealousy. It was very brief and vanished in an instant, but it was a violent enough emotion to hurt him.

“Shall I bring them, my lord?”

Jocelyn asked with an expressionless face. If she had said so back then, wouldn’t they have survived? Or even if she had, was it already too late for them to be trapped and rescued?

“No, leave them be. I don’t want to disturb their time together.”

“Understood, my lord.”

Cedric, bowing his head, sighed with a painful groan toward the back of his head. Meiana, with an expression even more incredulous than before, just stared at him with a bewildered look.

Meiana spoke, “My lord, surely you loved Liria, didn’t you?”

Cedric’s eyes, raised, darkened. However, he immediately straightened his head.

“When Bervo first brought her, I fell in love with Liria at first sight. But the moment I realized that feeling, I immediately gave it up. The two of them stayed with me, but I never looked at Liria with such eyes. You have my oath.”

“But you said you were jealous just now.”

Cedric, looking at her, rubbed his forehead with a lonely expression.

“Yes, that’s true. At that time, I already… didn’t have any feelings for Liria, but strangely, I felt that way. Why was that? I’m still curious. Was it because Bervo and Liria seemed to be avoiding me? Was it just because the chess promise was broken that I was so angry and upset?”

That was the end. The bodies of the two, floating on the lake, discovered drifting to the edge by the wind and waves, were found early the next morning.

Bervo and Liria’s fingers were intertwined even after their breaths were cut off, and they were together even after death.

The last sight Cedric saw of the two, shining with radiant vitality, holding hands with their eyes closed with peaceful faces.

“The employees brought the bodies to the mansion. I thought I was dreaming while lying in bed. Or maybe it wasn’t them but me who died and was dragged to a terrible hell, one of the two… ”

Cedric, with a blurred end to his words, furrowed his forehead and closed his eyes in agony.

“At that time… I saw Jocelyn.”
“What do you mean?”

Meiana asked, prodding. Cedric folded his hands in front of his lips as if in prayer. The sturdy fingertips were faintly trembling. With closed eyes, Cedric, taking a deep breath, spoke.

“At that moment, I saw Jocelyn smiling.”