“I, I’ll tell you. Right now, the madam is at the clinic.”

“Clinic? Is mother hurt?”

Rublion exclaimed in surprise. Anna shook her head and answered.

“The madam isn’t hurt. Baron Deli was attacked as soon as he left the troops. I only know that he couldn’t go to the baron’s residence and came here instead.”

Rublion clenched his fist. He felt upset that he had been laughing and playing while Schmidt was suffering from the misfortune of someone dear to her.

“If young master wants to know more, I can find out… Young master?”

Before Anna could finish speaking, Rublion dashed down the hallway. On his way, Riena asked where he was going in such a hurry, but of course, he had no mind to answer that.

[This is the timeline separator]

In the basement of the Artenbach ducal family, there is a prison for those who have committed wrongs. It was a place with the worst conditions – damp, cold, and crawling with all kinds of insects and rats.

In the deepest part of this underground prison, there was an interrogation room where screams would not escape to the outside.

A wooden chair without armrests was placed in the center, and on it sat a man with tattered clothes, his whole body tied up, eyes closed as if dead.

“Wake up.”

Gaben poured water. The man slowly opened his eyes and mumbled.

“I don’t… know anything. I just… did as I was told…”

The man struggled to breathe with each breath, as if his ribs were broken.

“If you just tell me whose orders you followed, I’ll free you from this pain. If you want, I’ll even send you back to your hometown.”

“…”

The distinct muscles on the man’s abdomen showed that he was a well-trained knight. At the time of the attack, he wasn’t wearing a uniform or clothes with a family crest, so their affiliation couldn’t be identified. That’s why they had no choice but to interrogate him.

“I promise you.”

Startled by the sudden female voice, Gaben turned around. There stood Schmidt.

“Madam! Why are you here… This is no place for you to be.”

He frantically tried to cover her eyes, not knowing what to do. But Schmidt gently removed his hand.

“What grudge could you have to harm my father? You just did as you were told from above.”

Schmidt brushed past Gaben. Then she stood in front of the ragged knight. The hem of her dress was stained dark red.

“Sir. I don’t know who your master is. But I can be certain of one thing.”

Schmidt sat down gently on the chair Gaben had brought and continued speaking.

“If you remain silent here, you’ll die. You might think you’ve been loyal to your master, but your master won’t see it that way.”

After reincarnation. Most of the nobles she had seen living in this world were like that. The lives beneath their feet were just worth sacrificing for their own sake. That was the harmful effect of the class system.

“They’ll be anxious about what you might have testified here, and they’ll be desperate to take your family hostage and make an example of others.”

The man’s shoulders trembled slightly. Still, Schmidt paid no heed.

“Think carefully and choose how you want to be remembered by your family. Do you want to be remembered as someone who died loyally for your master, or someone who, for whatever reason, survived to protect your family?”

The man was silent. He was quiet without moving. Since he wasn’t dead, he seemed to be thinking deeply.

As Schmidt rose from her seat, Gaben, who was standing by, offered a handkerchief. She waved it off, saying she was fine.

As she left the interrogation room.

The man’s pupils trembled slightly. His heart was wavering at the expectation of being freed from the terrible torture and being able to survive to protect his family.

Gaben, noticing that Schmidt’s method was working, said,

“You won’t be able to live in the Empire, but at least they’ll provide enough for you to go abroad. It’s what the Duchess has promised.”

[This is the timeline separator]

When I breathed in the pungent air of the interrogation room, my head spun.

But I couldn’t just sit idly by out of fear of that sight.

Coming out of the underground prison and breathing fresh air, only then did the tension release and my body trembled. I never wanted to enter that place again, which seemed to create a boundary between life and death.

Hoping for positive news from Gaben, I headed to the clinic. Though the treatment was over, father was still in a coma.

The attending physician and the medical staff from the national hospital informed me of father’s condition.

“His skull is cracked from being hit by a mace. If there’s any fortune, it’s that he only received the weight impact of the mace as the attacker’s arm was cut off while swinging it.”

“And the misfortune?”

To my question, the attending physician carefully opened his mouth.

“The misfortune is that the internal injuries might be worse than the external ones. If he doesn’t wake up within three days…”

The atmosphere became solemn. I closed my eyes, tightly gripping my hands clasped in front.

“You need to prepare yourself mentally, Duchess.”

In place of the attending physician who couldn’t finish his words, the doctor from the national hospital spoke.

“You mean… father might pass away?”

“That’s right.”

I wanted to kneel down right there and beg them to save my father by any means necessary.

[Schmidt, how about… joining the army?]

Father, who was reluctant to leave me behind, had constantly refused to enlist.

[Please enlist, father. The position of company commander isn’t something just anyone can do.]

It’s no different from me sending him. I pushed my hesitant father into it. Not knowing it would turn out like this.

Although he had troubled me with gambling and fraud before, he was still my beloved father and family.

I never wished for him to die so meaninglessly.

“Madam, I have something to report.”

Gaben, who was in the underground prison just moments ago, approached.

“We obtained a confession. He says he’s a private soldier of Baron Arche.”

“Arche?”

I had been suspecting Rumps. But suddenly Arche?

“For now, I’ve sent the mercenaries from the Deli mansion to Baron Arche’s residence.”

“Just in case, please ask the servants to keep quiet. And make sure that soldier is well taken care of before sending him off.”

“Yes, madam.”

After sending Gaben away.

I approached my father, who was lying with a bandage around his head and a pale face, and held his hand. A thousand thoughts dominated my mind. There were times when I hurt him with words because I was his child, and times when I easily apologized for the same reason.

I regretted it all. How much could that tobacco leaf have cost that I was so stingy about it?

I was reluctant to spend money on gambling dens, but I could have made plenty of the carrot puree that father loved.

I bit my lip hard, trying not to cry. Because now wasn’t the time for that.

[This is the timeline separator]

Maybelle, who was drinking tea in the greenhouse, received news that an Artenbach knight had taken Baron Deli to the Artenbach mansion. She was also informed that Baron Arche had failed.

“I thought they’d come out. Useless things, as always.”

She clicked her tongue. She tapped the table with her fingernail, saying nothing was ever done properly.

“Ah, father…”

Maybelle turned her head at the small voice heard from the side. There was a cage large enough for one person to stand in, and inside sat Baron Arche’s daughter, her face covered in tears.

“Since the Duke ordered it… even if something happens to father, you’ll save him, right?”

Baron Arche’s daughter, gripping the bars of the cage, was trembling. Maybelle seemed to like her this way, savoring the tea aroma as she took a sip.

“You know what?”

Maybelle put down her cup and said.

“I heard your father went to Duke Artenbach asking him to save your family.”

Baron Arche’s daughter couldn’t continue speaking. She was too afraid.

“As you know, I don’t forgive traitors.”

“Please, have mercy…”

Maybelle looked at her, chirping like a bird trapped in a cage, with satisfaction and said.

“It’s too late. Your father has already betrayed both me and Artenbach, hasn’t he?”

It was chilling how the Duchess spoke as if she was watching a fire across the river, when she was the one who had made it so.

“By the way, Duke Artenbach doesn’t forgive traitors either. He’s more cruel than I am.”

Then Maybelle continued, as if she had just remembered something.

“Come to think of it, Askal must have gone out to subjugate now.”

Her eyes fell on Baron Arche’s daughter in the cage.

“You go to Artenbach and bring the Duchess out. Then at least I won’t exterminate your family.”

Baron Arche’s daughter sensed that she would die either way. She regretted her past when she had been proud to be Rumps’ maid.

[This is the timeline separator]

We were able to meet Baron Arche by a hair’s breadth. While the mercenaries hired by the baron were dealing with the Silver Knights who had stormed into the mansion, the Artenbach knight smuggled the baron out.

Throughout the journey to the ducal residence, Baron Arche never stopped praying, calling out the name of God.

And I learned why he had been begging so desperately.

“Duke Rumps took my daughter hostage and ordered me to attack Baron Deli.”

He prostrated himself on the floor and wept. He shouted that when his child’s life was at stake, what use was morality?

“My daughter… can’t you just confirm if my daughter is safe?”

It was contradictory that he was asking for mercy from me, the victim, after attacking my father and putting him in mortal danger.

Above all, I wasn’t kind enough to feel a pang in my heart at their pitiful situation.

Just as Baron Arche cherished his daughter, I cherished my father.

“Let me say one thing for certain. Is it true that you, Baron, attacked my father, Baron Deli, on Duke Rumps’ orders?”

Baron Arche trembled like an aspen tree. He banged his forehead on the floor and said,

“What father would sit still when told his daughter would be killed if he didn’t obey!”

“What daughter would sit still when she might lose her father!”

“Children and parents are different. You’ve never even given birth to a child, have you, madam!”

He shouted angrily, possessed by evil. All the while, he prayed, calling for God.

My jaw trembled so much that my molars ached. There’s no difference between children and parents in the pain of losing a loved one.

The baron was telling me to endure it, saying his pain was greater.

“Madam…, please, think of it as saving one life…”

Red blood began to drip from Baron Arche’s forehead. I unknowingly bit my lip hard.

“Don’t expect anything. I won’t do anything.”

At my firm words, he screamed like an animal. Occasional curses could be heard.

Words no longer got through. Perhaps due to the shock of potentially losing his child, his eyes had lost focus.