Chapter 15
Her back was damp, soaked in cold sweat. Her chest heaved up and down, struggling to catch her breath.
Janet’s fingertips trembled, and her eyes darted around the room.
Her dark, shadow-like pupils scanned the surroundings in an instant.
Beside the bed, she saw the young maid who had been sitting in the chair, nodding off.
‘Why is the maid here…?’
Ah, right. She had fainted while clutching the hot teapot.
Checking the area of her injury, she saw it was wrapped in bandages. It seemed the doctor had finished treating her while she was asleep.
‘I wonder if the young lady is alright.’
She must have been quite startled.
As these thoughts crossed her mind, her dazed consciousness gradually cleared. Yet, the remnants of the nightmare still lingered in her head.
‘What on earth was that dream…?’
It had been a nightmare more vivid than reality, but now that she was awake, she couldn't recall a thing.
She only vaguely remembered a blindingly bright light flashing before her eyes.
And, something seemed to have sparkled on her wrist, too…
“Ugh.”
Janet groaned softly as she instinctively brushed her wrist. She felt a stinging pain, as if she had been cut by something sharp.
The moment a startled Janet checked the painful spot.
“What… is this?”
The last traces of sleepiness vanished in an instant.
「Salvation」
On the inside of her wrist, in a spot not easily seen, a faintly glowing word was etched.
The word, which had been emitting a white light, slowly faded away as if its only purpose had been to make itself known to Janet.
***
The next day.
As soon as the day broke, Julietta came to find Janet.
“How is your body? Are you in pain? Is it uncomfortable to move?”
“I’m fine. The doctor said I was alright, didn’t he?”
The doctor, who had been holding his breath nearby, nodded vigorously.
“Honestly, I was worried until yesterday, but it has subsided quite a bit overnight. As long as you manage the scarring well, there shouldn't be any problems. Truly, I can only say that Lord Dake has helped you…”
At the mention of Lord Dake, Janet glanced at her wrist.
Not the right wrist that had been burned, but the left one where the word ‘Salvation’ had appeared during the night.
Although the Latrian Empire basically allowed freedom of religion, most of the imperial citizens believed in the sole god, ‘Dake’.
Since the roots of the Empire began as a holy nation that believed in and followed Dake, it was, in a way, a natural thing.
Followers of Dake offered a ‘Prayer of Blessing’ when a child reached their tenth birthday; it was a tradition to pray for the child’s health and success.
However, sometimes, the god would respond to the prayers.
That was the ‘Verse of Blessing’.
A ‘Verse of Blessing’ would be etched onto the body of a child who had received a response from the god, and it would only reveal itself and glow when the person exercised abilities related to that blessing.
‘Could this also be a Verse of Blessing?’
Could it be that she, too, had received a response from the god on her tenth birthday?
But even so, she couldn't understand the meaning of ‘Salvation’.
What on earth was she supposed to save?
Janet’s thoughts were interrupted by the doctor’s words.
“You should apply the medicine to the wound twice a day. For the time being, please be careful not to let water touch it.”
“Yes. I will.”
“Well then, I shall take my leave…”
Julietta waved her hand at the doctor, who was glancing around cautiously.
The doctor, not missing the opportunity, bowed deeply and left.
Julietta slumped into the chair by the bed with a drained expression.
“Young Lady, please don’t do that, sit somewhere more comfortable…”
“It’s fine. This is comfortable enough.”
Julietta replied curtly and let out a deep sigh.
“I’ve had Sien confined to her room for now. I’ll leave her punishment to you, so tell me if there’s a specific penalty you want.”
A specific penalty, she said.
“Um, Young Lady. There is something that bothers me regarding Sien.”
“Something that bothers you?”
“The Marquess who wrote my recommendation letter a while ago sent me a gift.”
To be precise, it was a gift sent by Theo, but she couldn't very well say that honestly.
Above all, Theo had also sent the gift under the name of the ‘Marquess’.
“Ah. I heard about it vaguely. I heard the scale of the gift was enormous.”
At Julietta’s words, Janet smiled awkwardly.
“Yes. It was a bit excessive. Anyway, one of those gifts has gone missing.”
“What? A gift went missing?”
“Yes. The day after the gifts arrived, I received the gift list. I checked it carefully just in case, and one yellow diamond was missing.”
“Good heavens. You mean that expensive thing disappeared?!”
A yellow diamond was not an easy gemstone to come by. It was twice as expensive as a regular diamond.
“This is no small matter.”
“That’s right. Above all, it means a thief has entered the Young Lady’s annex.”
“But the fact that you’re bringing this up in relation to Sien…”
At Julietta’s sharp intuition, Janet nodded.
“The other servants said that it was Sien who told them to move the gifts to the first-floor room that day. And Sien was the only one who entered that room.”
“How dare that insolent girl!”
Julietta stood up abruptly, fuming.
“Not content with intentionally pushing someone to get doused in hot water, she even resorted to theft?!”
“It’s not certain yet. It’s just a suspicion, after all.”
“With that much circumstantial evidence, it’s obvious without even looking.”
“Still, we must conduct a thorough investigation.”
At Janet’s words, Julietta calmed her excitement and nodded.
“Right. Then I’ll tell the head butler to mobilize the Ludwig internal investigation team.”
“Please do, Young Lady.”
“Then it would be better to decide on the punishment for this incident all at once after the investigation into the theft is finished.”
“Yes. I think so too.”
After giving her answer, Janet bowed her head with a faint smile.
“Thank you for looking into this in many ways, Young Lady.”
“…It’s fine. You don’t have to thank me.”
She sounded grumpy, but her tone was somehow dejected. Julietta, who had slumped back into the chair, parted her lips.
Like a young child who had done something wrong and was about to be caught.
After hesitating for a long time, she opened her mouth with a sigh.
“Actually, Sien acting like that… might be half my fault.”
“Pardon?”
“I absolutely loathed things like maids. The thought of someone sticking to my side and serving me was repulsive. So, I wanted to drive you away.”
*Hoo.*
Julietta sighed once more.
“When Sien said she would help, I told her to do it. But, honestly, I didn’t know she would go this far. Above all, I even told her that she didn’t need to help me anymore…!”
“So that’s what happened.”
Julietta flinched at Janet’s calm response.
…She must be disappointed. Her affection must have faded.
The master she had risked her body to save turned out to be someone who was desperate to drive her away.
“Young Lady.”
“Yes.”
“By any chance, do you feel sorry for me? Or, are you still wishing to drive me away?”
Julietta blinked at the direct question. After hesitating for a moment, she opened her mouth falteringly.
“I, I’m sorry. I acted spitefully toward you on purpose to drive you away. And I… I…”
You.
Biting her lip hard, Julietta gathered her strength and continued.
“I don’t want to drive you away.”
“Yes. Then that’s enough.”
“…What?”
It was Julietta who was surprised by the answer that had returned more cheerfully than expected.
“You’ve apologized, and you don’t want to drive me away anymore. Isn’t it just a matter of starting our relationship over from here?”
“A, are you really okay with just that?”
“Of course. Relationships between people are actually simpler than you think.”
Getting angry, then apologizing, and reconciling.
And slowly becoming close like that.
“Once again, I look forward to working with you, Young Lady.”
At Janet’s energetic greeting, Julietta’s eyelashes trembled.
She closed her stinging eyes tightly for a moment, then opened them, and after hesitating, she spoke.
“Me too. I look forward to working with you too, Janet.”
“…”
“…”
A brief silence followed the exchange of greetings. The two, who had been staring at each other, burst into hearty laughter, neither knowing who started it first.
Soft sunlight filled the room.
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