Chapter 63: Chapter 63 I want to live next door to her house (1)
‘Is it better for me to totally deny I know his name? Is it worthwhile for me to continue to argue I don’t know his name when the guy’s identity as one of my servants has already been revealed to everybody?’
If she denied it to the end, she would obviously be blamed for not knowing her own servant. She even thought that even if she said she knew his name, Lard would not shift that guy’s responsibility for the crime on her.
After she was done weighing the gains and losses, Altarin quickly opened her mouth. Above all, she could not stand Lard’s disdainful look.
“How can you ask me such a question? No matter how lowly that servant is, I know his name. His name is Bellas Dubbo! ”
“… Is your name Bellas?” As soon as he heard it, Lard asked him to confirm it. He barely agreed, nodding his head. “If that’s the case, is it also true that you have helped her in recent years?”
He nodded this time. Altarin could not easily deny it as he agreed in person.
“Bellas, let me ask again. Who told you to use rutting substance? If you don’t answer right here, you will have to take all the responsibility for the crime. This incident threatened more than just one person, but also the Schroder and the imperial family of the Benyahan Empire. Are you going to be fully responsible for the crime alone?”
Lard’s voice struck his whole body like a whip. Bellas couldn’t control his trembling. His eyes darted around frantically.
While staring at Bellas for a while, Lard suddenly asked Altarin, “Altarin, do you want to employ a spokesman on behalf of Bellas?”
Startled by his unexpected question, she looked at his face.
“… Even if you ignore him, your family will not be absolved of his crime. As he is a servant of your family, the Scholters family are responsible under Benyahan’s imperial law and morally. So, what do you think? I’m going to charge you with treason against the imperial family.”
Altarin breathed out deeply and folded her arms. Her breathing was so rough and wild as if she wanted to be freed from her crime. Her upper lip trembled and she opened her mouth as if she had decided on something. It looked as if she had the standard answer from the beginning as Lard wished.
She said, “This has nothing to do with the Scholters family! So, there’s no reason for me to find a spokesman to defend him! …It is my duty as the master to protect the servant, but given the gravity of the accident, I have to duly pay for the price. I’m ready to take the moral responsibility, but I can’t tolerate any groundless speculation that undermines the honor of my family!”
She spoke, flaring her nostrils as if she was excited. When she said that, Bellas made a resigned and dejected expression, like an old tree devastated by storms.
While looking at Altarin’s actions, Wendy had no choice but to click her tongue at her stupidity. “…Miss Altarin! How can you say that? ”
As expected, her words fuelled Bellas’ anger. Wendy sneered at their poor handling of this grave accident.
Presumably, Altarin might not have planned to use the rutting agent from the beginning. As Altarin had been longing for Lard, she might have been frustrated and unhappy about Wendy’s unexpected appearance. When she was unexpectedly insulted by Wendy, however, she couldn’t stand it anymore as the highly arrogant daughter of her family. But Altarin, the instigator, and Bellas, the executor, didn’t see eye to eye as far as her plan to harm Wendy was concerned. After all, it was like cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.
“Miss Altarin, is this my reward for executing that dirty trick at your order? Why are you pretending not to know me?” Bellas protested finally.
“Shut up! What the heck are you talking about? I never gave you an order! Why are you charging me falsely?” She yelled, feigning shock.
Despite Altarin’s adamant denial of his words, Bellas was not swayed. As if he lost his mind suddenly, he shouted to Lard that he did all the terrible things at her instigation. On her part, Altarin screamed, trying to overpower his voice, but obviously she became increasingly nervous at his desperate defense of himself. Altarin looked at him on and off as if to try to appease him to change his mind, but it was too late.
The rutting agent accident brought about a catastrophic outcome to Altarin.
Shortly afterwards, the two were led away by the knights. Seeing them being dragged out, Wendy was lost in thought. At the end of the day, this case could be closed in some way, but the Scholters family would not sit idle. Wendy decided to go home quickly and open an illustrated plant book to pick out one for Altarin.
After escorting Wendy to the carriage with a tired expression, Lard hurried back to interrogate the two. Before leaving, he quickly looked at her face as if he had something to say. She took off her hat, guessing that he was gazing at it. But he was looking at her chapped lips. When she took off the veil, he found her face haggard from the pain. He seemed to feel sorry for her while looking at her. His eyes were calm and warm like the moonlight shining on the river.
Meeting his eyes, she suddenly felt a breeze blowing as if through her stomach. It was the wind that passed through the silver poplar by the river.
She looked down, as usual, to avoid his gaze. She felt as if she would open her heart to him if she kept meeting his eyes.
In the end, Lard left, leaving her wondering about his real intentions. She got into the carriage quickly and closed her eyes. The silver poplar, shining alone by the river, stayed there even when she closed her eyes.
It wasn’t until the afternoon that Wendy opened her eyes and walked out of her room with faltering steps. Although she was still sleepy, she couldn’t keep sleeping as she got hungry. The Poison Teeth near the door seemed to turn to her as if it was asking for larvae. Although it was a pity that she pretended not to have noticed it shaking its petals like a dog wagging its tail, she had no time to care for it now. She descended the stairs a couple of steps before getting hold of the wall as she felt like she would collapse.
“Ah…”
Her whole body ached, but her sharp hunger, which she felt as if all the organs in her stomach were shrinking, stopped her. She hadn’t eaten after she ate lunch in the forest yesterday, so she starved for a full day.
Wendy gave up going down to the kitchen, sat on the stairs and tried to put her index finger over the tiny cactus pots along the stairs, recalling a list of some high-calorie fruits.
But she had to stop on the spot before touching the dirt with her index finger because she saw the white bandage around it. Looking at the bandage, she recalled what happened last night.
“Lard Schroder…”
Several letters that hovered in her mind were woven like puzzle pieces and came out of her mouth. Surprised by her own voice, she hurriedly looked around as if she would be caught by someone.
Feeling like a pilgrim who broke the taboo, she struggled to her feet. It was not the time for her to be lost in idle thoughts. She needed to eat something to pick up her spirits.
It wasn’t until it was getting dark that she got out of her house. If she could have her way, she wanted to take a rest for the day, but she couldn’t because she was worried about the flowers and trees in her flower shop.
As she spent the whole day at the Burgonu hunting competition yesterday, it would be the second day she had skipped watering the flowers if she didn’t stop by the shop today.
It was possible that some of the more sensitive plants had begun to wither because she hadn’t water them. She quickly passed by the front yard of her house.
Although there was some noise from Benfork’s house, she couldn’t afford to look closely. Maybe he was being scolded by his father for causing trouble. She glanced at the window of Benfork’s house, where the dim light was leaking and quickened her pace.
Darkness was falling on the street in the evening. When she trotted along the street, dust drifted into the air. She shook her head to shake off her idle thoughts.
Every time she walked, she heard some weird sound from the joints of her legs, but she was bothered by one very odd name tormenting her mind rather than the pain in her legs.
Although she narrowed her eyes, clenched her fists and gnawed her teeth to forget it, she could not erase it from her mind.
“Dang it!”
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