CH 116

“We’ll have to look further into the results to be sure, but for now… We have no choice but to put great weight on the fact that the owners of the two handwritings are the same person.”

Erez: “Is that something that can be discerned so quickly? Why don’t you take a closer look?”

“I-if that’s the case, Lord Shore can take a look at it himself.” 

He held out two pieces of paper to Erez.

Erez’s expression stiffened when he received the letter and order form. As an outsider, the two handwritings were quite similar to each other.

People gathered around Erez to see the letter in question, and they could see it with their own eyes.

“…even in my eyes, they look the same. Don’t they?”

“I-it really does…”

Claire was also sandwiched between them. When she saw that the handwriting of the order form and the letter were quite similar, she unknowingly grabbed her head.

Claire: “Haa.”

The people around Claire stared pitifully at her. 

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“Miss Claire, are you okay?”

Claire: “Yes, I-I’m fine.” 

Just by looking at her complexion, they could tell it was just empty words.

Countess: “Lady Keira, are you going to continue to claim you didn’t claim the item despite this?” 

“How could this be…”

“There is a thing called morality. This is really…”

With this kind of reaction right in front of her, it didn’t take much imagination to predict what her reputation would be like in the social world after tonight. 

People’s eyes grew cold. 

Ludwig: “Keira, is that true?”

Even Ludwig, who believed that Keira couldn’t do such a thing, looked surprised and asked. 

‘I thought it was weird that he approached Keira often…’

But he never imagined that the relationship could be as deep as the letter revealed. 

“If there is any difference from the truth, try to explain it.”

The voice that said that was drenched in astonishment.

Amidst the pouring of criticism, a hand wrapped warmly around her. It was Cosette.

Cosette: “I don’t know why you lied like that…”

Keira: “Cosette.”

Cosette: “No, of course, I understand you’re want to avoid a crisis. You could have made a momentary mistake. But your lie nearly stigmatized Countess Rheol for failing to secure the auction house properly.”

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Cosette pointed out that the content of the astonishing letter had almost everyone had forgotten.

It was as she said. If it weren’t for the letter’s handwriting, Countess Rheol wouldn’t have been able to escape accusations that she had not properly safeguarded the items at the auction.

Keira could feel everyone’s piercing glares even more.

Cosette: “Come on, let’s apologize to Countess Rheol.”

Countess: “No, no. How dare I ask Her Ladyship to apologize? I am satisfied that the misunderstanding has been cleared up.”

Cosette: “Don’t say that. Keira still needs to reflect on her mistake…”

“Pfft.”

Pfft? 

At the sound, Cosette stopped. She clearly heard a scoff. 

Unable to believe if she had heard correctly, she turned to check for herself.

“Ha, Hahaha.”

Keira was laughing out loud. Cosette could even see her teeth. Has she gone insane because she was pushed too hard? 

Countess Rheol, half wondering if the lady had gone crazy, trembled with unexplained anxiety and asked.

Countess: “I don’t know what makes the situation so funny for Her Ladyship to laugh like this.”

Keira: “Ah, sorry. I couldn’t stop myself because this is just so funny…”

Countess: “Your Ladyship, I don’t want to say this, but… Are you aware of how grave this situation is?”

Then Keira’s laughter stopped. However, her smile still hasn’t disappeared. 

Keira: “It’s more interesting than the play I just saw. You put a lot of work into the script.”

Countess: “Oh my gosh. Do you even know what you are talking about? Understandably, you’d be defensive after your lie has been found out. But this rudeness is unacceptable…”

Keira: “My maid wrote the form.” 

It took a while for the Countess to speak.

Countess: “…W-what?”

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Keira: “I didn’t write the order form Madam presented as evidence. It was by my maid that came with me. The fact that the two handwritings match is quite surprising to me. Are you saying I had my maid write a love letter, which I was supposed to send secretly?”

Countess: “W-what are you…”

It took the Countess a while to understand the situation. 

The evidence that Keira wrote the letter in question was actually written by her maid? 

Countess Rheol roared in reply, her voice trembling.

Countess: “Y-you’re lying to get out of trouble! Y-Your Grace. Your Grace was in the same room so didn’t you see Her Ladyship filling out the order form?”

Ludwig: “…Come to think of it.”

Ludwig tried to recall the events a few hours ago. It was quite dark inside the box, so he didn’t take a close look.

‘Did Keira fill out the order form herself?’

He remembered how Keira was asked if she wanted a snack to the maid going outside with their order. 

There was no memory of Keira filling out the order form anywhere.

Ludwig: “…I don’t think I’ve seen it, her writing the form.”

As Ludwig gave his answer, doubts spread like wildfire. 

If the person who wrote the form was the maid, didn’t that mean the letter’s handwriting wasn’t Keira’s?

As the crowd murmured, Countess Rheol began to noticeably look agitated. 

However, no matter how upset she was, the experiences she had accumulated thus far did not disappear.

Countess: “Your Grace, I wonder if you’re giving false testimony to cover up Her Ladyship’s wrongdoing.”

Ludwig: “What?”

In other words, the Countess just questioned whether he was lying to avoid dishonor.

It must have been a huge disrespect because Ludwig frowned slightly.

That alone changed the atmosphere. The pressure from dealing with the Demon Beast suppressed Countess Rheol.

No matter how long she fought on the battlefield of the social world, she was nothing but a powerless woman. She couldn’t handle the wrath of a man who had been fighting literal monsters, extraterrestrial beings.

Ludwig: “So, you’re saying I’m lying on purpose. Of course, there must be reasonable grounds for such a claim, right?”

Countess: “U-uh, t-that’s…”

The color began to drain from her face. As she continued to stutter, she sounded as if she still had something to say but was too terrified to come up with a proper sentence. 

Cosette grabbed her hand and patted her.

Cosette: “Calm down, Madam. Don’t panic and think slowly.”

Countess: “T-thank you, Miss Cosette.”

Countess Rheol gulped.

Countess: “I still have Lady Keira’s reply saying she would attend the charity auction. It might take a while to get it, but if you compare them, you’ll find out the truth.”

It was an imaginary but meaningless act of courage.

Keira’s smirk grew.

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Keira: “Aah, what about this, Countess? That letter was also written by my maid.”

In order to properly analyze the handwriting, the appraiser would need a longer letter to check.

At Keira’s reply, the Countess scoffed in disbelief.

Countess: “Ha! Does that make sense?! The note and the reply you sent me must have all been written by Her Ladyship.”

Keira: “Why doesn’t it make sense? Isn’t it common for maids to write for the ladies they serve?”

Of course, it was polite to write directly if the other person was of a similar rank. But Keira’s disrespect was nothing more than a speck of dust compared to what the Countess had done.

Keira shouted as she looked at the entrance to the auction house. 

Keira: “Bring them in!”

Bang–!

As soon as she said it, the doors swung open, and Miranda walked through. Behind her, two men in the Parvis Knights uniforms followed, holding a captive. 

Cosette’s eyes widened when she saw the captive. It was the first time she had seen his face, but his uniform, clearly from the auction house, gave her a clue of who he was. 

Keira’s words suddenly ran through her mind.

“My maid…I ordered her to do something and sent her out for a while. She’ll be back soon.”

Was this what she sent her maid out to do? It was a mistake not to find out why the maid was missing in action. 

It seemed that the knights were ordered to be on standby. 

Cosette clenched her jaw.

“Here he is, milady.”

Joseph threw the auction house employee on the floor.

“Ugh.”

The man, thrown to the floor with his arms tied behind him, twisted and moaned in pain. Under the bright light, everyone could see how swollen his face had become.

They must have used violence to force him to speak. 

Keira pointed to the man on the floor and continued.

Keira: “Everyone knows that there is an attendant at each box seat. The employee assigned to serve me was quite curious. It was suspicious that he insisted on staying inside, so I ordered to have him interrogated.”

Joseph: “Say it.”

Joseph threatened the man still on the floor, poking him in the head with a scabbard. 

The man raised his head, looking completely terrified. His jaw trembled, and teeth chattered. 

“I-I-I did what t-the higher-ups told me to do! I was told to make sure Her Ladyship orders food or whatever so she could fill out the order form, so I did…”

It was a little strange, but the employee was convinced it was to increase the auction sales. 

He never could have imagined he’d be involved in such a complicated conspiracy.