Chapter 17: Inside the Belly of a Monster

The duke’s estate was vast and it primarily was divided into three main wings. Each of the wings had dedicated servants stationed and in the event of an emergency, they all could be sealed off.

Urien’s assigned room was in the west wing, the furthest wing from the east wing where Rodrick and his knights lived, while Theobald and the chief butler were in the central wing. The west wing was where Rodrick’s mother used to live and hadn’t been used due to her absence, though they refurbished it and assigned new batches of servants into it when Urien moved in.

It had been ten years since Rodrick last visited the west wing. Then again, he spent most of his life in the battlefield, the training ground, or Count Herder’s estate—he didn’t wander inside his estate much.

Hence why he was so surprised to find how desolate the west wing felt. Back when his mother and Theobald lived in the west wing, the place was filled with gentle air, but now it was shrouded in a cold and lonely atmosphere.

But, he never expected that Urien’s room would be even more lifeless.

“Your Excellency!”

Suddenly, Theobald appeared from the other end of the corridor, followed by several servants. Among them, there were even a few knights, and all of them were soaking wet.

Seeing Theobald frantically approaching him with a pale face, Rodrick began to think that something was up. “I’ve been looking for you,” Theobald said, clearly out of breath.

“Lord Urien has been swept away.”

“…What?”

Theobald’s already pale face contorted in pain when he faced Rodrick’s gaze. Then, after a shaky breath, he continued in a clear voice.

“An act of treachery had occurred within the estate. We have arrested the head maid, Lady Camilla.”

“…Treachery?”

At that moment, the image of a blood-stained carriage crossed his mind.

Theobald shook his head firmly before continuing his explanation.

“We’ve detained and interrogated Lady Camilla and several other servants who had assisted her. Apparently, they committed the act out of self-interest rather than under the influence of foreign country’s order. In other words, the matter wasn’t related to the kingdom’s security. As for what act they committed, they moved Lord Urien’s residence to a storage shed near the western forest and covered up the fact.”

Seeing how speechless Rodrick was after hearing his report, Theobald dropped to his knees. He bowed his head deeply, shouting, “You can blame this on my incompetency!”

Meanwhile Rodrick’s head just ached. He never expected that such a thing would happen in the west wing. However, he quickly took a deep breath. Without telling his brother to stand up, he asked, “What did you mean ‘swept away’?” In which his brother replied almost immediately.

“During the interrogation, the heavy rain caused the river to overflow and caused the shed that Lord Urien was in to collapse. We searched the surrounding area, but he was nowhere to be found. There just isn’t enough light and the rain only drowned our voices.”

“Add more people.”

Since he was in the middle of torturing the captured servants in the prison, Theobald failed to notice the drastic weather change.

‘Urien has been living in the shed? Then why didn’t he tell me?’ Such questions popped up in Rodrick’s mind, but they weren’t important. What was important was to look for Urien’s whereabouts.

He quickly commanded the knights waiting behind Theobald, “Tell all the knights to assemble in the western forest. Kurd’s unit is to head downstream first. Dieter’s will be in charge of the flares.” Meanwhile, Theobald received a box from a soaking wet servant and brought it to Urien’s room, returned just in time to hear the knights’ responding with a “As your will!”

‘What was that?’ Rodrick was curious, but heading to the western forest took priority. The knights ran down to the east wing where the other knights were at, while Rodrick, together with Theobald and the servants, headed to the western forest.

The area was enveloped in complete darkness and a terrible downpour—it felt like they were inside the belly of a monster. Near the river should be the shed where the gardener used to live. The last time Rodrick  visited the place was back when he was a child, so he didn’t remember much. Following Theobald and the other servants’ guidance, they arrived in the remnant of the shed. Soon after, the knights gathered. They split into groups with Vice-Commander Dieter’s group being in charge of the flares.

After lighting the flares, the entire area around the shed was revealed. The first floor of the shed had been completely destroyed, leaving only the second floor and the roof. Of course, Urien was nowhere near the shed.

——’Has anything out of the ordinary happened?’

——’Out of ordinary, huh?’

Urien’s monotonous voice from last night echoed in Rodrick’s head.

——’Nothing that I know of.’

‘This is not nothing.’

As they were searching, the water level was rising and the flood only expanded. After warning the knights to be careful so that they wouldn’t fall into the river, Rodrick descended downstream with the knights, shouting Urien’s name as they went.

At that moment, from the forest’s side, a red flare was shot.

“Your Excellency!”

“Mm.”

They found Urien. As Rodrick and the others headed towards the red flare, they caught Kurd’s platoon running towards them. Among them was a knight who was holding Urien’s body. Seeing this, Theobald shouted “Yuri!” and ran towards him.

The military doctor who also accompanied them quickly made a call to get a stretcher for Urien, who was lying limp, unable to answer Theobald’s calls. If there was one good thing here was that he was still breathing. They then shot another flare towards the sky and shortly after, a strike of lightning struck the deeper part of the forest.

A large group of people—including the doctor and the nurses—helped carry Urien back to the main building, to a warm room that they had prepared for him. Theobald didn’t go with them. He just saw them off with a pained expression.

At that moment, the vice-commander, Kurd, ran up to them with a “Sire!”

“All the knights who’ve participated in the search have withdrawn. We’ve taken a roll call to confirm that everyone is safe. Only two were injured and they had been sent to the medical room.”

“Notify Dieter’s unit to assemble at the underground prison.”

“Sire!”

Among Rodrick’s entourage, there were also servants from the east wing. They quickly took off Rodrick’s rain-soaked coat and gave him a towel and a warm coat, but he refused and instead confronted Theobald.

“Who’s in the prison?”

“Aside from Lady Camilla and her cronies, there are three knights and the chief butler standing guard.”

“Gather all the servants from the west wing and seal it off. You, accompany me underground.”

“Understood.”

“You too, come,” after calling out to some of the knights, Rodrick went to the prison with Theobald.

The underground prison was built in the past during the time when the war had gone especially intense. When the two brothers’ grandfather was still alive, he conducted a lot of interrogation in the place.

In the cold air that permeated the place, there were the aforementioned three knights and the elderly chief butler. Together with them, with Theobald as the guide, they headed to the cell where Lady Camilla was detained.

This marked the first time Rodrick had spoken to her.

“Y-Your Excellency! P-Please forgive me!”

“——That’s surprising.”

The underground was quiet—even the raging thunder up above didn’t affect the place at all.

Only Rodrick’s low voice echoed, shaking the damp walls.

“I didn’t expect you to be so fluent in Lustrand.”

Behind him, Theobald and the others held their breaths as the atmosphere quickly turned tense.

Camilla, whose body was covered in bruises due to the torture, looked up at him, trembling. Her hair had been messily cut and her nails were torn off. Meanwhile the other servants in the cell opposite to hers were sobbing, the flames coming from the lamp illuminating the place flickered, as if showing them their sympathy. According to Theobald, most of them were newly appointed maids.

Rodrick glared at Camilla.

“Concealing your identity for five whole years. Impressive.”

“N-No… I-I never…”

“Where are you from? Which country are you working with? Belmania? Or maybe Seychell?”

“I-I am… A Lustrand…”

Theobald had already told him that the matter didn’t involve any foreign countries, but he still mentioned them anyway.

This was a warning. He wanted to make it clear what the consequences of committing an act of treachery against Duke Edel was by lumping her together with Belmania, who was in a war with them.

“I never planned such a horrible thing! P-Please…! Forgive me…!”

“Then, what did you plan?”

He never expected the servants of the west wing to deceive their masters.

Once again, the image of a blood-drenched carriage entered his mind. When the carriage that carried his mother was attacked, there were traces of the head maid from back then and the other servants trying to protect his mother until the very end—not a single one of them tried to escape.

The servants would throw their lives to protect their master. Rodrick spent more time on the battlefield than in his own estate, but he believed in his servants’ loyalty.

But now, they had betrayed their masters instead of upholding their loyalty.

“Why did you deceive Theobald and the chief butler and put Urien in danger?”

And so, he had to find out. Why did this woman choose to betray the Edel House?

Camilla’s teeth chattered. The sound echoed in Rodrick’s ears and it annoyed him.

Just as he lost his patience and grabbed the iron bars, Camilla finally spoke.

“Because he’s beautiful…”