Chapter 9

　　It was a rare morning where Marquis Hildegard and all his children gathered for breakfast. Laila picked at her portion of the meal with a half-dazed expression.

　　This makes absolutely no sense… It has to be a dream…

　　Her half-hearted fork movements didn’t just break the fish apart, but completely mashed it. Laila stared blankly at the ruined meal, but though her eyes were on the food, her mind was on something else entirely. Namely, the boy in the dungeon.

　　The boy disliked Laila. No, “disliked” was too light a word. The boy hated Laila. Even saying he loathed her wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

　　But why?

　　Laila had truly tried her best, but not even once over the past few days had her efforts reached the kid.

　　Food? He wouldn’t eat it. Water? He wouldn’t drink it. He refused to even accept them from her. Medicine? She couldn’t apply it. The kid wouldn’t let Laila get near him. Herbs? Since she couldn’t feed them to him, she would leave them inside the cell… but she never once saw him touch them.

　　Laila felt so wronged and frustrated that she thought she might go insane.

　　But why? Why does he hate me that much?

　　Because he was flogged on my account? Is he still holding a grudge over that?

　　Still, it’s strange. Why would he hate me more and more…?

　　Laila gripped her fork tightly.

　　Yes, it was truly strange. If the kid had at least hated her just the same as before, she would have felt depressed and discouraged, but she could have at least understood it. But now it was clear that his hatred and hostility toward her were growing with each passing day.

　　It was incomprehensible. Was he angry because she treated him well? Why? Why would he get angry when she was being nice to him?

　　I really don’t get it. And it’s driving me crazy. What can I do now?

　　She had tried to win his favor, but earned only his hatred instead. She had intended to gain his goodwill, but instead reaped an overflowing enmity. Laila had absolutely no idea what else she was supposed to do in a situation like this.

　　Feeling suffocated, she mashed the poor, innocent fish once again.

　　Just then.

　　“I am thinking of going hunting this morning.”

　　Marquis Hildegard finally revealed why he had gathered his children together.

　　Laila let the Marquis’s words go in one ear and out the other. She was distracted by thoughts of the boy, and besides, “hunting” was a subject she had little interest in. It wasn’t fun. She couldn’t understand why they even did such a thing. The act of releasing animals into the forest just to shoot them with arrows…

　　Arrows… wait, arrows?

　　Laila’s head snapped up.

　　Right on cue, the Marquis continued, “I will not delay our departure, so those of you coming along should prepare in advance.”

　　“Wow, a hunt!”

　　“How long has it been?”

　　“I’m definitely catching a wild boar this time.”

　　“You? We’ll be lucky if you don’t fall off your horse at the sight of a rabbit.”

　　“…Want to bet on who catches the bigger prey?”

　　“Sure. What’s the prize?”

　　“The loser has to crawl on all fours and call the winner ‘big brother.’”

　　“Ah, right. I knew you’d say that, so I already bought you some knee pads.”

　　“Really? What a coincidence! I bought some too! Last year!”

　　“I actually bought mine the year before last.”

　　“Well, I actually bought mine three years ago…”

　　“Both of you, knock it off! Ugh, so annoying.”

　　“Henri, if you get a boar, can I have its skin?”

　　The quiet dining table instantly erupted into noise. Amidst the clamor of joy, excitement, and anticipation, Laila sat frozen, her face deathly pale.

　　It had been about a week since the boy was dragged to the castle.

　　A hunt.

　　Oh my god.

　　Laila barely managed to swallow the groan threatening to rise in her throat. Today was the day the boy would die.

* * *

　　A beast in crisis finds a way.

　　Laila suddenly remembered that saying. She, too, had found a way. The problem was that she really, truly, deeply… did not want to do it.

　　Do I really have to go this far?

　　Laila immediately answered herself. She did. She had to.

　　This was the only way. At the very least, this was the only method that came to mind right now. Even if she agonized over it, the answer probably wouldn’t change. That was how bleak her situation was.

　　“Miss Laila! You were looking for me?”

　　Just then, a man who looked to be in his thirties opened the door. Laila greeted him in an empty study.

　　“That’s right. Come in, Wilhel.”

　　“What business do you have that requires us to meet alone…?”

　　Looking puzzled, Wilhel closed the study door and approached Laila. Laila stared up at the man’s gentle face.

　　His name was Wilhel. He was thirty-something. It wasn’t important, so she had forgotten his exact age. What was important was that he had been working at the castle for nearly twenty years as Marquis Hildegard’s aide.

　　He’s been working here since before I was even born.

　　He had to be competent. That was how he had survived by the villain’s side for so long. Laila needed the competent Wilhel’s help.

　　“I have a favor to ask.”

　　“A favor?”

　　“Yes, and I need it right now…”

　　The moment Wilhel heard her explanation, he turned on his heel.

　　“Where are you going?”

　　“I am a busy man. I don’t have time to indulge in your pranks, my lady.”

　　“It’s not a prank.”

　　“If it’s not a prank, that’s even worse!” Stopping right in front of the door, Wilhel looked back at Laila. “You’re asking me to secretly steal from the Marquis?”

　　“You can do it.”

　　“It’s not a matter of whether I can or can’t! What if I get caught?” The adult man forgot his dignity and glared at the ten-year-old girl. “You must have always disliked me. But I, Wilhel, will not be so easily disposed of by such a clumsy scheme.”

　　“Don’t misunderstand. I want you to continue working safely at the castle for a long time, Wilhel.”

　　“And yet you ask me to—!”

　　“That’s why I didn’t tell Father about you falsifying the ledger.”

　　Wilhel, who had been on the verge of losing his temper, froze.

　　“…Excuse me?”

　　“I mean the secret ledger. From the autumn before last.”

　　As Laila continued to speak, Wilhel’s face grew increasingly pale.

　　“When Father was away for a long while, you conspired with the butler to siphon off the second-half budget . The funds you embezzled were for medicinal herbs and…”

　　“Aaaaagh!”

　　Wilhel let out a sudden scream and rushed at Laila. Then, perhaps regaining his reason just before grabbing her, he stopped to flailing his hands helplessly in the air.

　　“M-my lady. H-how on earth did you… find that out…”

　　“I just happened to.”

　　In truth, Wilhel had confessed it himself. Not now, but about three years in the future.

　　Did Wilhel confess first, or did he and the butler reveal it at the same time…?

　　The story was simple. Around this time, three years from now, a very beautiful widow would move into the marquisate and her beauty would become the talk of the entire territory. Wilhel and the butler, both vigorous unmarried men, each went to see the widow out of curiosity…

　　They both fell in love at first sight.

　　That was how the tragedy began. With the age of forty looming, the two men desperately tried to eliminate each other as rivals in love. The method they chose was a war of exposés. Wilhel and the butler exposed each other’s secrets and weaknesses, but what started as mere scandals escalated day by day, until eventually…

　　They exposed things that should never have been exposed.

　　Thus, the matter of the ledgers came to light, and the butler and Wilhel both got the axe side by side. For the record, that was not a metaphor for fired. It meant they were executed. It was, quite literally, a secret their lives depended on.

　　The fact that Laila knew such a secret in excruciating detail made Wilhel’s hands tremble violently.

　　“M-my lady.”

　　With that, Wilhel dropped straight to his knees.

　　“P-please spare me. I’m only thirty-five.”

　　So he was thirty-five.

　　“Isn’t that too young… too young to die?” he stammered, perhaps embarrassed to call himself young in front of a ten-year-old.