For a moment, a silence passed, during which no one spoke. It was a silence that was harrowing for Jocelyn and infuriating for Cediloy.

“No?”

Cediloy spoke. It was a voice mixed with cold mockery, profound disappointment, and sadness.

Jocelyn shouted with a fiery voice again, “Duke! How can you say such things to me! Have you forgotten that it was an accident? How, how can you treat me like a criminal, kneeling on the cold stone floor, only for the dedication I’ve shown to the Valternminster family! Duke!”

“You are a sinner, Jocelyn. Is that your answer?”

“Duke!”

A thin streak of blood seeped from Jocelyn’s lips as she opened them in a twisted smile of despair. Seeing her in that state, Cediloy recalled a memory from when she was very young.

When Jocelyn burst into her room without waiting for her to answer, not even knowing what the potion she was about to drink was…

At that time, Jocelyn’s expression looking at him had been exactly like this. Cediloy’s lips formed a faint smile for a moment.

“Bring it.”

Jocelyn, not knowing what ‘it’ was, just opened her eyes wide. The servant named Aint, or whatever his name was, who had been loyal only to him, looked at Jocelyn with a disdainful eye and then handed something small to Cediloy.

She glared at Aint, as if trying to intimidate him, suspecting that he might be manipulating Cediloy’s thoughts. However, Cediloy’s following words brought Jocelyn’s consciousness back as if slapped.

“Do you know what this is, Jocelyn?”

Cediloy threw what he had been holding in his hand. The very small, momentarily sparkling object, weightless, fell onto the withered grass.

Jocelyn, bending down to confirm the identity of the object, looked at Cediloy with a face that seemed to want to scream.

“Is it yours?”

Cediloy asked. Jocelyn’s lips clenched even more firmly. The thin streak of blood shook.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Where did you use it?”

It was a button Cediloy had received from Blancon inspiration. A button that had been on Jocelyn’s clothes. He had never worn it after the previous duke’s death, but it had always been with her.

Since when did she push it out of her consciousness?

“It’s a button that was on my clothes, Your Grace.”

“Right. I’m relieved you remember. Can you guess where I got it?”

Jocelyn fell silent again. Cediloy looked at her for a moment as if he expected that, then said, “It was found in the crevice of the ship that Berbo and Liria’s accident occurred, the wrecked ship.”

“That’s impossible!”
Jocelyn’s voice erupted, thick and powerful. It was a denial that drew all her strength from inside the ship. Her face, which had momentarily turned pale, trembled, and her vision seemed to blur as her body leaned to the side.

However, she didn’t collapse easily. She struggled not to fall, exerting all her might to stand upright. In the face of her unwavering determination, Cediloy, as well as Harmon and Clopff, who were watching this spectacle, couldn’t help but scoff and furrow their brows in annoyance.

“This is slander, Your Grace. I don’t know who it is, but someone schemed to trap me. Why are you indulging in such a petty trickery!”

At that moment, Clopff, who was sitting behind Cediloy, spoke, “If someone hears this, they’ll really think it’s unfair. You should have become an actress in El Routika’s theater, not working at the duke’s estate. Then, you wouldn’t have ruined people’s lives, and your own life wouldn’t have come to this.”

“Quiet, Clopff.”

Harmon said sternly. Clopff chuckled but obediently fell silent.

Cediloy spoke again, “Someone is plotting against you. Who is it? Who dares to cover my eyes in this household and conspire against an innocent person? If that’s true, speak the name.”

“It’s…!”

Jocelyn’s voice, which was about to retort, broke with a cracking sound. She understood.

Even though he was getting old, Cediloy, with a judgment that was never blurred in some aspects… Jocelyn realized that Cediloy hadn’t said those words to help or save her.

Instead, it was a reprimand toward Jocelyn. Blinding the eyes of the duke, plotting against innocent people in his absence, hitting and kicking them to drive them away…

It was what she had done.

“Have nothing to say?”

Jocelyn opened her eyes wide and looked at Cediloy. Cediloy’s cold gaze was unfamiliar to Jocelyn, but it was also the first time she had looked at Cediloy with such eyes.

“I have done nothing wrong, Your Grace.”

“Is that so?”

As Cediloy turned his head, Jocelyn, instinctively, turned her gaze to where he was looking. Aint and another servant – Jocelyn couldn’t remember Zelso’s name – were dragging along a withered old woman.

The messy and unkempt beard, ill-fitting clothes; Jocelyn thought he looked like a wanderer who had been wandering around the duke’s estate.

But when the old man was dragged to kneel next to her, she couldn’t help but scream in horror.

“How could you…!”

This time, Jocelyn collapsed. Even after enduring the whip without falling, she crumpled to the ground, her face turning pale as if she had seen a ghost.