MBYS 17

Chapter 17

Eveline closed the document file. Summoning Albert right then and there to drag that presumptuous little rat down to the dungeon—and feeding her ears to the screams—would have been effortless.

With the Grand Duke away, the executive authority of the estate rested entirely in her hands.

Yet a careless slash of the blade only grazes a serpent’s body; it cannot sever the head. A chilling breath slipped between Eveline’s neatly shaped lips.

‘I must bind her hand and foot myself, in the deepest, most secluded place.’

Envisioning the silent hunt that would begin at dawn, she coldly traced the edge of the document file with her pale fingertips.

The following morning.

Pale, splintering winter sunlight settled coldly over the bedroom carpet.

When Grace entered bearing a silver tray with breakfast and a warm hand towel, Eveline was sitting by the window with her sleeves rolled up, quietly gazing down at the back of her hand.

“Did you rest comfortably last night, My Lady?”

Despite Grace’s polite greeting, Eveline merely flexed her long, slender fingers joint by joint instead of answering.

Three days.

It was the morning of the exact third day since Kailus had departed for the front lines, and that vicious demonic power transference had ceased.

Beneath skin so thin it was transparent, the dark blue-black veins that had bunched together as if pooled dead blood were rotting away had faded noticeably compared to yesterday. The traces of excruciating pain were gradually being erased. A faint warmth was even returning to the skin beneath her fingernails, which had looked choked with stagnant blood.

Her catastrophically ruined body was recovering its original state at a sluggish pace.

‘It is only natural for the body to heal once the transference stops, but…….’

This physical improvement instead dragged a chilling goosebump up Eveline’s spine.

Back in the days when she used to absorb the common, trivial illnesses of nobles in Count Roazia’s estate, her body would easily regain its full function after resting for just a day or two.

‘If the recovery rate is this slow…….’

Eveline pulled down her sleeves to cover the back of her hand and opened her mouth toward Grace.

“Grace, what kind of duties is Lily currently assigned to in the estate?” “She is a lower-tier maid assisting with chores between the annex and the main building, without any special title.”

Grace lowered the tray onto the table and added quietly, “She has been absent from her posts frequently as of late, so I was keeping a close eye on her.”

“Then, starting today, make Lily my dedicated personal maid.”

At the decisively dropped directive, Grace’s fingertips paused. A deep furrow creased her otherwise neat brow.

“My Lady, I have not forgotten my transgression of abandoning you in a freezing room when you first arrived at this estate and treating you coldly with nothing more than a rough piece of cloth.”

Grace’s voice trembled faintly.

“I am painfully and bitterly aware of my own foolish arrogance. However…… Lily is different. She is a dangerous spark, blind to her own station and consumed by a blind, greedy ambition. To place such a girl in your most private chambers……” “I know.”

Eveline met Grace’s gaze head-on, swallowing the cooled tea.

“The more desperate an enemy is to watch me and tear me down, the closer I must keep them right beneath my chin. That way, the moment the shadow behind her foolishly wags its tail, I can step on it and crush it in a single blow.”

After a brief silence, Grace swallowed the dissuasion hovering on the tip of her tongue and bowed her head.

“……I will obey. I shall assign her immediately.”

Before long, Lily hurried into the bedroom, breathing heavily. She hunched her shoulders as if intensely nervous, while the tips of her intertwined fingers rubbed back and forth incessantly.

“Y-You called for me, My Lady.”

“Starting today, you are my dedicated personal maid. You will manage all my schedules directly, including meals, medicine, and wardrobe.”

Lily’s head jerked up. Her widened eyes blinked once, then quickly moistened with moisture.

“M-Me? T-Thank you, My Lady! I, this lowly body, shall serve you with the resolve to bury my very bones here!”

Looking down impassively at Lily prostrated flat on the floor, Eveline rose from her seat.

“Your first duty is to tidy my bedroom. See that not a single speck of dust remains.”

Without a trace of lingering attachment, Eveline closed the bedroom door and stepped out toward the silent corridor.

Entering the study, Eveline strolled before the bookshelves packed tight against the wall, selected an old hardcover volume, and pulled it out.

Today, her gaze drifted naturally toward the massive mahogany desk placed in the center of the room.

The Grand Duke’s office desk.

As if drawn by some spell, Eveline approached and pulled out the heavy leather chair, sitting down. The scent of sandalwood that faintly lingered around the chair was colder and heavier than she expected. Scattered haphazardly across the wide desk were the territory documents he had been reviewing right before his departure.

Eveline gathered the papers, squared their edges, and neatly organized them to one side of the desk.

Only upon the cleared mahogany desk did she finally open her book. The sound of turning pages echoed lowly through the quiet study.

Leaning back against the backrest, the faint scent of sandalwood embedded in the leather wafted up. She was reminded of the indifferent, practiced movements of this chair’s master as he sat here and slashed red lines across documents. Eveline turned the page as if to brush away that lingering phantom.

It was then.

Bang!

“My Lady!”

The butler barged in with an urgent commotion that completely skipped the formality of a knock.

“An emergency dispatch has arrived from the front lines.”

Eveline unfolded the dispatch. Successful western detour, zero allied casualties. Yet her gaze, sweeping across the parchment, halted one line short.

[Main army commander, penetrating wound to the left arm. Continuing combat after hemostasis.]

Eveline’s fingertips grew deathly pale as she gripped the parchment. With just the chronic demonic power overload, his limits must have been reached, yet he was driving that broken body straight into the jaws of death. At the very bottom of the dispatch, a rough line that trampled all formal reporting conventions caught her eye.

[You have a useful head.]

Eveline’s fingers gently traced over those crude words.

The depths of her ribcage throbbed dully. If he died, there would be no one left in this unfamiliar north to validate her existence, nor anyone to protect her.

“Albert. I hear His Lordship has been injured. Dispatch physicians to the front lines immediately.” “My Lady, His Lordship possesses a constitution where ordinary wounds close almost instantly. You need not worry overly much.” “……Is that so?”

Even to Eveline, this was her first time hearing of such a trait.

“Yes. So please do not fret yourself.”

Albert added with a faint smile. Eveline nodded, rolling the crumpled dispatch tightly within her hand.

Even after Albert withdrew, the grip of her clenched hand did not loosen. From beyond the crumpled parchment, the smell of metallic, dried blood seemed to wedge its way up between her fingers.

Upon returning to her room, she found it meticulously ordered. The grain of the carpet ran in a single uniform direction, and even the scattered cushions and tableware on the table exhibited absolute symmetry.

A faint scent of lavender, likely sprayed by Lily, hung in the air. It was an excessively perfect room.

Eveline walked over to the bedside nightstand.

Her gaze immediately locked onto the gap of the very bottom drawer. The small scrap of paper she had wedged there that morning had vanished without a trace.

It was unmistakable proof that someone had opened the drawer.

The corners of Eveline’s curve upward thinly. She lightly tapped the silver bell on the table. A clear chime rang through the quiet room.

Before long, a knock sounded, and Lily entered.

“Did you call for me, My Lady?”

“You tidied the room quite neatly.”

Lightly brushing the smooth surface of the nightstand with her fingertips, Eveline spoke in a languid yet perilously tender voice. For a split second, Lily’s shoulders jerked in a spasm.

“It is only my proper duty as your dedicated maid. I wiped it clean without leaving a single speck of dust.” “Good work. But it looks like you inspected even deep inside the drawer quite diligently.”

It was a soft question laced with laughter, yet it struck straight at the core. Lily’s pupils dilated monstrously for a fraction of a second before contracting. But immediately widening her eyes, she feigned an expression of utter innocence.

“No, My Lady! I merely wiped the dust from the surface! How could I dare to carelessly open my master’s drawer!”

“Oh, really? There was a lot of dust in the drawer gap, but since it’s gone, I simply asked.”

Lily’s breathing hitched minutely.

“Ah, perhaps as I was brushing away the dust, a feather drifted into the gap and swept it clean.”

Eveline nodded, as if releasing the taut tension.

“Well, I suppose so, since the windows were left open as well…… You’ve worked hard. Just turn down the bed and go get some rest.”

Taking in the fleeting relief that flickered across the maid’s mouth, Eveline willingly surrendered her body to her touch.

Lily unlaced the corset of her dress, changed her into a soft slip, and brushed out her tangled hair. When Eveline leaned back and lay down on the bed, Lily bowed her waist and slipped out of the room.

Even after the door clicked shut, Eveline’s eyes remained wide open in the darkness for a long time. The silent hunt had only just begun.