Sella approached Callian and opened the box.
Inside the box were blood-stained switches and bandages.
It seemed more disgusting than he had thought, as Callian frowned for a moment but carefully picked up one of the switches.
“Sella told me that she had been beaten too.”
Callian’s cold gaze was directed at Esika.
“Sella’s younger sister, who was also a maid, left the mansion two years ago.”
Sella’s eyes were wavering as she clenched her fist.
“From here on, you tell the story.”
Callian ordered Sella, raising his chin.
Yuri suddenly had an ominous feeling. She had never heard about Sella’s younger sister…
Surely Sella wasn’t talking nonsense?
“My mother and younger sister live in Achembel. My sister has a limp in one leg, so she can’t work… They’re barely surviving on the money I send them.”
Sella recalled that day.
Her sister, who had a terrible cold, couldn’t change the Duchess’s bed sheets on time.
The Duchess was already in a foul mood after seeing another lady wearing a more beautiful dress than hers at a tea party.
From there, the tragedy unfolded.
“This is the switch that was used to beat my sister. The bandages were also used to wrap her calf…”
The bandages were stained brown, showing how much blood had been shed.
Looking at that box, Sella opened her mouth and continued.
“I was so angry about what happened to my sister that I kept the evidence, but I never thought that a mere maid like me could use it to expose the faults of those above us.”
“Even if you’re just a mere maid.”
Callian looked at Esika with cold eyes.
“You are all assets of the Klaus family.”
Skilled maids were necessary for the household to function.
“If there’s someone repeatedly damaging those assets, even if they’re a family member, they should face appropriate consequences.”
Callian hoped that Esika would be frightened even now.
That she would lower her stiffly raised neck, her eyes wavering with tears, begging for forgiveness.
That she would plead for love, saying she couldn’t help but be jealous of Yuri.
“I believe in Your Grace’s promise to right the wrongs done to my sister.”
Sella’s trembling voice was heard.
Callian nodded slightly.
“On the honor of the Klaus family. Of course.”
Seemingly emboldened by those words, Sella cleared her throat and continued more clearly.
“The switch Your Grace is holding has the nail marks of the person who beat my sister. It’s likely the same person who beat the head maid.”
“…What?”
“If you wish, I can bring my sister here to prove that the scars on her legs match those of the head maid.”
“Sella. This isn’t about finding the culprit.”
Callian’s eyebrows twitched.
Isn’t the culprit right before our eyes?
Esika Klaus. The one with clear blue eyes, shamelessly observing this situation.
“You seem to misunderstand.”
With a cold voice, Esika took the switch from Callian’s hand.
Although he was distracted, it happened too quickly for Callian to stop her.
The switch was now in Esika’s hand, and she compared the clear nail marks to her own nails.
“…What are you doing?!”
Callian tried to take the switch back from Esika, but for a moment he felt an intimidating aura from her and hesitated.
With his heart pounding, Callian looked into Esika’s eyes.
Then his gaze shifted to her hand.
The nail marks… They were completely different from Esika’s nails.
“Since coming to the Klaus duchy, I’ve never dyed or grown my nails. If the Duke had even the slightest interest in me, you would have known that.”
Callian’s heart was pounding.
“These are not my nail marks.”
The stick showed deep, sharp nail marks and traces of dark pink dye.
Callian shook his head.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Your Grace, it seems the Duchess and Sella have conspired, so please don’t listen any further…”
Yuri quickly tried to change the subject, but Esika cut her off again.
Her voice, cold yet powerful, pierced deeply into Callian’s ears.
“In no part of Tureshian is there a custom of beating people’s calves with switches.”
“…!”
Yuri’s eyes widened in shock.
Callian, too, stood frozen with his eyebrows furrowed.
“…”
So, the nail marks were just a warm-up.
An appetizer, if you will, to accept the undeniable truth.
“…What do you mean by that?”
Callian asked, looking at Esika with his bright purple eyes.
Esika moved her lips.
“Anywhere in Tureshian, when a child misbehaves, they are made to raise their hands or kneel. In strict households, they might hit the palms, but the calves…”
A smile leaked from her lips.
“…are not beaten.”
“That can’t be.”
Callian immediately refuted Esika’s words.
“When I was young…!”
But Callian couldn’t finish his sentence.
For a moment, Callian’s purple eyes wavered as if he had realized something.
“On the other hand, I’ve heard there are countries where it’s customary to beat children’s calves when they misbehave.”
Callian’s mother, Riona, was of royal descent from the fallen kingdom of Smichen.
“…Let’s investigate. Which country’s custom it is.”
Yuri bit her lip tightly.
She realized that the situation was already turning around.
Esika, looking at Callian whose eyebrows were stiffly set, leaned closer to Sella’s face and asked.
“Sella, who beat your younger sister and made her limp?”
Though the tone was gentle, the impact of the answer to that question would be enormous.
Callian stood frozen, staring at Sella.
He regretted calling Esika to this place.
He had sensed victory, but all he gained was defeat.
A plea not to answer, mixed with despair, was swirling in his eyes.
However, Sella answered in a calm and composed tone.
“It was the Duchess.”
“…!”
Callian’s hand trembled slightly.
Yuri asked Sella, as if pressing her.
“You’re here to report that you were abused by the Duchess… why are you saying such things?!”
“No? I didn’t say who beat me. I only said that my younger sister and the maids were abused.”
Yuri’s eyebrows rose at Sella’s bold retort.
“You… you…”
“Head maid, you should tell us. Is it true that the Duchess beat you?”
And Sella’s counterattack continued.
Yuri flinched.
The situation was already turning around. If Sella brought her younger sister and showed the scars, she would notice the same thing as Yuri… and it would be revealed to Callian that Yuri had lied.
If she were to lose Callian’s interest because of this, all her dreams would become bubbles.
But if she honestly said that it was actually Riona, not Esika… it would be difficult to deal with the aftermath.
This was the Duchess’s plan, and the Duchess wouldn’t leave her alone.
“Why aren’t you answering? Head maid?”
At Sella’s words, Yuri could only clench her fists without saying anything.
“Well, the maids who submitted fake resignation letters would be too afraid of the Duchess’s punishment to say anything, so of course you wouldn’t admit it. That it’s all lies.”
Blast it, things shouldn’t have turned out like this.
But there’s no way out.
“…”
Callian was still watching this situation with his mouth tightly shut.
Yuri doesn’t answer Sella’s question.
The reason she doesn’t answer is probably because Sella’s words are true.
His purple eyes were filled with deep confusion.
“Your Grace promised on the honor of the Klaus family to right the wrongs done to my sister. I believe in the honor of the Klaus family!”
Sella’s voice was heard.
Callian tasted bitterness on his lips.
“…”
Indeed, he had. This was meant to be a threat to Esika.
Callian’s gaze turned to Yuri.
Now he couldn’t run away in front of Esika.
“…Tell the truth. Yuri.”
Yuri’s shoulders flinched at Callian’s low voice mixed with anger.
Thoughts as fierce as a moment of war were filling Yuri’s mind.
Among them, the most desperate thought rising was that if she mishandled this moment, her relationship with Callian might end.
So this is the only way.
“…I’m sorry, Your Grace…”
Yuri knelt down on the floor.
And she began to shed tears uncontrollably.
“Concerned about Your Grace and the Duchess’s relationship becoming distant…”
Yuri certainly had a talent for playing the victim.
“I couldn’t tell the truth.”
Callian’s heart sank deep again with a thud.
Esika’s lips twisted at the sight of Yuri kneeling and crying.
Callian asked, furrowing his brow so deeply that wrinkles formed between his eyebrows.
A cold chill was flowing from his body.
“…So you slandered a friend?”
“It’s not that… sob… I was scared too, Your Grace…”
Yuri, who had fallen to her knees, pleaded as she fumbled to lift her skirt.
Now there was only one thing Yuri could do.
“If I open my mouth wrongly, I might really die next time…”
It seemed she had decided on a course of begging Callian for sympathy.
However, Callian’s eyes looking at her were cold.
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
