Becker frowned for a moment, then shook his head. Cedric read despair in his eyes. However, it wasn’t because he couldn’t remember. It was undoubtedly not.

“Becker, speak.”

Hesitating, Becker sobbed for a moment. His awkward fist was pressing tightly against his knee.

“A creaking sound… I didn’t know what it was at the time. Marquis, you may remember, but that night the wind was blowing heavily. It was an unusually windy night. I thought it might be the wind shaking the cabin roof. Yes, I really thought so. Then, as the sound got louder, I went out to see. With a lamp in my hand. And… and I saw.”

Becker, who had stopped talking, took a deep breath. His eyeballs were no longer shaking now. Instead, his whole body was trembling.

“It was Jocelyn, the housekeeper. She was undoubtedly removing the boat’s wooden pegs. And in that place… she was putting something else. It must have been something that could cause the planks to fall off. I don’t know what it was. When I tried to shout, she, she… tried to hit me with the axe and nail puller she was holding!”

On that dark and windy night, Jocelyn’s hair was scattered messily in the wind.

Dressed in black clothes that she always wore since the death of the former Marquis, with her hair uncombed and eyes wide open, she looked like a demon. No, she was the embodiment of it.

Becker yelled. Cedric, rubbing his forehead, took a deep breath and sat heavily in the chair.
It was a shocking statement. Although he thought there was nothing more shocking to hear, his heart sank. If Becker had seen something, Cedric suspected that Jocelyn would never have stayed quiet. However, to openly threaten with killing, who could have imagined such a thing?

How long had she been insane? Cedric felt a chill more than ever.

“Marquis!”

Gémero quickly approached him. However, Cedric raised his hand, dismissing him, and looked at Becker. His gaze was darker than ever.

“Becker, are all the words you just said true?”

“It’s true! It’s an absolute fact with not a bit of falsehood. Marquis! I… I wanted to run away that night. But it was too frightening! I didn’t want to believe what Jocelyn, the housekeeper, had done. Vervo Young Master and Lady Liria, I couldn’t possibly… could never have imagined them doing such a thing.”

Cedric slammed the table with his fist. It was so forceful that the tall vase and glasses on top of it wobbled and almost toppled.

“Why didn’t you tell me back then? Why didn’t you tell me what you saw truthfully at that time! When you saw Jocelyn, that night! Before Vervo and Liria rode the boat, you could have told me anytime!”

Becker, shaking his head as if he were crazy, crouched down and burst into tears.

“It was too terrifying, Marquis! Please… please forgive me. It was really, really frightening. I tried to go to see you, Marquis, I really did! But when I tried to enter the mansion, Jocelyn, the housekeeper, appeared… After seeing her face again, I just couldn’t. Marquis, please… spare me. I never thought that Young Master and Lady Liria would end up like that. Young Master Vervo was good at swimming, but why…”

Probably because of the drug. Cedric thought. But how could he have been made to take the drug? Liria might not know, but Vervo never touched what Jocelyn gave.

“When Vervo and Liria came to ride the boat that day, you would have brought out the boat, right?”

“Yes, yes… I did.”

“Were they the only two who came?”

Becker shook his head.

“Jocelyn, the housekeeper, came with them… She just came along, saying she had business in town. I remember Vervo Young Master making an unpleasant expression. But Jocelyn, the housekeeper, didn’t give them anything. Lady Liria brought a small picnic basket.”

“A picnic basket?”

“Yes, with sandwiches… I remember things like that being inside. When I asked, that’s what she said.”