Count Will’s head turned towards me. Various emotions were prevalent on his wrinkled face, which showed his sensitive nature. Anger, shame, passion…….
“You can’t do this, lord! She’s just a maid, a maid!”
The Count Will I remembered was very strict, but he was able to control his emotions. But in front of him, he was staring at me, who was nothing more than a maid, with bloody eyes.
“No matter how foolish you are, how can you make fun of us? What would a maid know? The rumours they pick up are only provocative but have no substance….”
“I don’t want you to raise your voice.”
At his low warning, count Will closed his mouth and took a breath.
“I’m very tired right now. I haven’t had a wink of sleep in three days. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Richton’s face was much paler than Azmaria on the other side. Richton, in my eyes, seemed to be barely holding onto his last straw of reason. Count Will, who had been confronting him for years, was not unaware of what Richton was warning about. If he knew better than me, he would have known. That he is a man skilled in twisting the neck, whether a human’s or a beast’s.
“If you don’t understand, it’s ok to ask. Of course, to the count’s daughter, not me.”
Azmaria looked nervous. Her eyes were the clearest of all the people in the room. Like a pioneer who pulled out a knife to get through difficulties. I was very displeased with her shameless appearance as if she could get through all the difficulties.
“Your Excellency, I’ve just had a very short time… I wondered why your Excellency had made this occasion, and why you had brought in that maid.”
When she glared at me, her eyes were more sharp than I thought.
“You can’t trust anyone completely. I was thoughtless. In the presence of the Lord, who lost everything and regained everything, how could you try to change his mind with only a few short words……”
It started again. Azmaria, the heroine who never knelt in front of an ordeal, said to her biological father.
“You are right, Father. It is up to the maid whether this engagement is maintained or not. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell my father the details. I can’t reveal Ingord’s internal affairs to outsiders.”
Count Will looked as if he could not be more lost.
“Azmaria, are you calling this father an outsider?”
“Yes, I decided to be part of Ingord for the rest of my life. That’s my atonement.”
Atonement. What does she mean by atonement? I remembered Jane’s face as she was being led like a slaughtered pig in the rain. Hopefully it was not an atonement for that.
“Oh, Sharyl! Are you watching this? Our lovely daughter…….”
Count Will rubbed his face with a long sigh.
“Think again. Azmaria, you’re still young. It means that you are young enough to regard a false belief as being the right one . What is this atonement?”
“Literally, Dad. I must pay the price for my great sin against him. The sin that brought him down to this hell.”
I felt nauseous. The voice of Azmaria, soaked in bitter grief, felt like it was pouring filth into my throat.
“Richton. My Richton, really… Don’t you know who I really am?”
Count Will took Azmaria’s hand with a bewildered face.
“Azmaria?”
“I thought you would recognize me. Even if I have a face like this in a shell like this, as much as you….”
“Azmaria! What’s wrong with you?”
“You should know me at least! You should!”
But in Azmaria’s eyes, it seemed to contain only Richton.
Her eyes fluttered with longing. She licked her lips several times without a sound, and finally uttered a single word at the end of her hard work.
“I’m Agrane.”
Pfft. I didn’t mean to, but I just burst out laughing. Three pairs of eyes, including Keane, turned to me in a flash. Richton, well. He would rather close his eyes than look at me.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I just….”
Staring at Azmaria’s face, I revealed my honest intentions.
“Your atonement is so funny that I almost threw up”
“What?”
“Didn’t you hear that? The lady’s atonement….”
I was trembling at the end of my words. This was because I breathed in to hold back my laughter.
“Atonement. It’s so funny that….”
Something flew across my cheek, and immediately the sound of glass breaking burst out. There was no need to confirm what flew. The spot in the teacup in front of her was empty.
“What do you know? Damn it, Susan! What do you know to keep bothering me? Huh?”
Azmaria’s pale, thin neck trembled.
“Don’t pretend to know me with all your might! The Shadow of Richton? Are you just mocking me while trying to understand us? Even if you die and wake up, you won’t be able to understand us.Me, Richton, and Wilhelm! Do you even know where we’ve been and what kind of life we’ve been through?”
“Lady, that’s enough.”
“Listen! We rolled like hell in that filthy swamp for a long time….”
“Lady.”
“You still don’t understand? I pushed Richton there….”
Azmaria, who gripped the table, crawled to Richton’s side. Her eyes were filled with pearls of tears.
“Richton… you still don’t understand? I’m back.”
Richton’s back was straight and still as usual. So I didn’t have the confidence, no, the courage to check his face even more. What was Richton thinking? I couldn’t understand Azmaria’s way of thinking.
Why was she acting like she loved Richton so desperately? Why did you describe love as an emotion that you can’t have because you are an Agrane? Why did you think Richton would have missed her and hoped to see her again? I had received his hatred, and was awaiting death, which I did not know when.
“Azmaria, what the hell are you….”
Count Will’s countenance as he watches over his own daughter resembles that of a prisoner sentenced to death. Kean also had a confused face that he had never seen before. Rather than being surprised by the situation like a surprise play in front of him, he seemed to be in deep trouble for unknown reasons. Azmaria’s hand slowly reached Richton’s chin. She looked very unstable.
“Y-you don’t believe it. I understand, so please give me time to prove to be Agrane. To prove that everything is true….”
Her fingertips were on the verge of reaching. Richton turned his head slowly.
“Keane.”
Soon a scornful voice woke Keane up in confusion.
“Get this bug off my side right now.”
Keane’s action was quick. It was so quick that it made me feel like he was protecting Azmaria. He grabbed Azmaria by both arms and stepped back three or four steps.
“Richton?”
Azmaria blinked with a stupid face.
“Did I, did I make a mistake? I’m just, I’m just….”
“Count Will, I think your daughter must have gone crazy. What does the count think?”
Count Will stared blankly at Azmaria.
“Azmaria Will, who claims to be Agrane Karold… No way, count. You’re not ignorant of who Agrane Karold is, are you?”
Count Will shook his head hurriedly when Richton asked again.
“No, I’m not. About her….”
“There’s no way you can’t know. Isn’t it the Count who locked us in that cage with his own hands?”
In an instant, I felt as if not a drop of blood was left in my head. I forgot my position as a maid and stared intently into Count Will’s face. Compared to the cold head, the inside of my heart was as hot as if a lump burst.
I belatedly recognized that this provocative emotion was hate. It was the first time I felt such a clear hatred for someone.
The man who hurt me in the Imperial Palace. The man who helped and deserved to be Wilhelm’s dog there.
“Susan.”
Richton murmured and clasped my hand. He led me to a seat next to him with a soft touch.
“Maybe I’d better change the question to ask you. Right?”
There was a different kind of excitement in his voice. The usual bored, indifferent blue-gray eyes were lively. At this moment, Richton was breathing alive. As he always did, he was tainted with madness.
“I wonder what you think, Susan. Do we really need to keep Azmaria Will alive?”
“Your Excellency!”
Count Will sprang up in a rush. I couldn’t see him like that, and Richton’s cool gaze still remained on me.
“Azmaria is the daughter of the Will family. No matter how powerful Your Excellency is. You’re talking about the life of an innocent noblewoman?”
“You’re talking nonsense. You know how awful Prince Wilhelm thinks Agrane Karold is.”
With those words, Richton slowly stroked the back of my hand in his hand.
“Then I’ll ask you again. Miss Azmaria Will, are you sure you are truly Agrane Karold?”
When Keane let go of his hand, Azmaria’s body collapsed weakly. She then clenched her lips and nodded her head as if she could not give up that fact.
“Then, Count. If I let Agrane Karold go here and now, you will be offering Agrane Karold back to Prince Wilhelm.”
“No, Azmaria is just… Yes, she’s just misunderstanding something. I don’t know where the hell she heard it from. Isn’t Agrane Karold long gone? But….”
Count Will’s eyes were more agitated than ever, and Richton did not listen to him. Still holding my hand, Richton asked Azmaria. It was a voice with a sense of laughter.
“Miss Agrane Karold. I don’t know if you remember…. You said you’d rather die than go back to hell.”
Richton let go of my hand.
“It wouldn’t hurt to give you a chance to make a choice for you who came back. Agrane Karold, will you follow Wilhelm back to that hell? Or will you die here comfortably?”