Most of them hurriedly lowered their heads as if they had seen something they shouldn’t have seen. She was not happy with the obvious refusal, but she smiled eagerly for her new line from ‘Choice and Concentration’. And the effort was not in vain.

“Hi?”

“Ah yes! Oh, how are you?”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Ah… Yes, go, thank you.”

A freckled young maid and a middle-aged male servant who were mending the old railing greeted her back.

‘Yes, one by one, one by one…’

In fact, it was nice that they didn’t have to be of great help to her. It was enough just to confirm that she wasn’t a ghost. So, feeling a little warmed up, she went back to her room. It was a mistake to get drunk on that feeling and not to look around properly.

“Are you here, lady?”

She heard Sophia’s voice chilling down her spine, followed by the sound of a door closing behind her, then she strangled Edith with her arms and pushed her against the wall.

“Ugh!”

“You dare to betray your master in an arrogant way?”

Somehow, only Sophia was in the room. After being teased by Edith for days, Sophia seemed angry to the top of her head. It was evident from the fact that her strangling power was much stronger than usual. Edith couldn’t even groan because of her strangulation, so Sofia threatened her darkly.

“I will give you one last chance. Steal the tax details of the major estates of the duchy from where you work now.”

She loosened her neck as if to give her a chance to answer. Edith coughed for a while to pass the time, but there was no sign of Anna coming back.

“Huh… If the… If I refuse, what will happen?”

“My lady will be dying. It’s something I got permission from the master.” said Sophia with a grin, as if she wanted her to be shocked.

However, it was not surprising since she had known that person’s intentions since she got married here.

“If you kill me here and now, won’t they find out that you are the culprit?”

“You think I’m stupid like you? Don’t worry, I’ll kill you to make it look like the Ludwig family did it.”

So she was saying she was not going to kill her right now?

“Sophia, I am giving you one last chance. Please calm down. You’ve been here too, so now you know. The Duke’s family isn’t that easy.”

“Well. I thought there were only idiots out there? Besides, the two sons of this house only have their eyes on the illegitimate woman.”

“So… Did you poison Lise’s embroidery thread?”

“What? Isn’t that what the lady did?”

As expected, Sophia knew it was her fault. It was certain that Sophia never had a chance to even reach for that embroidery thread. Edith took advantage of the loosening of her restraints and struggled, barely able to free herself from her arms. But Sophia just stared at her as if it didn’t matter.

“I am… I have no intention of stealing documents.”

“Why are you so anxious to die?”

“Shall I make a prophecy? Even if I help, the Rigelhoff family will be annihilated. Even my older brother, whom you love so much.”

As if her last words were decisive, Sophia lit up in her eyes and rushed at her. Edith noticed that she loved Shane because she caught a glimpse of her affectionately kissing her letter to Shane. It was a real surprise for her. It seemed like the two of them got along really well… Anyway, at this point where she was being beaten, none of that mattered. Of course, there was a restriction that no traces of being beaten should be visible to others, so it did not lead to dangerous violence, but if the assault was prolonged, there was nothing good.

“I’m going to expose everything you hit!”

“Ha! If you could, you would have already. Do you think I don’t know why you can’t?”

Sofia pressed her head against the pillow again, suffocating her, she said.

“You know that. Knowing that you are a discard card in Count Rigelhoff’s family, the only thing left for you is to be discarded here as well. Killian Ludwig will be more than happy to throw you away.”

Hearing the reason she hadn’t thought about for a while from the mouth of another person made her heart feel cold.

“And the master will make even useless things like you useful. Imagine what a terrible life that would be.”

Then she lifted her face. She couldn’t help but gasp like a sprinting dog.

“So think carefully. Because the only place that will accept a person as lacking as you is your family. If you successfully steal the papers, I will send Shane a revised evaluation of you.”

Sophia whispered as if she were flirting, then rolled her onto her back and quickly corrected Edith’s appearance. And as soon as she was a few steps away, the door opened and Anna entered.

‘It’s like a beast’s hearing.’

It would be a perfectly normal sight for Anna to see.

“You came back early. She has been called by the Duchess for a while.”

“Yes… me too… I just came.”

Anna nodded lightly and directed Sophia to bring the meal. Sophia bowed slightly on her knees in a hateful, docile manner, and went out. But she didn’t forget to send Edith a look in her eyes that said, ‘Think carefully.’

* * *

Of course, she had no intention of following Sophia’s words. But what she said was enough to hurt her little.

“You know that. Knowing that you are a discard hand in Count Rigelhoff’s family, the only thing left for you is to be discarded here as well.”

Sophia must have made such a threat because she did not know that Edith would have her head cut off before she could be thrown out of this house, but at least she knew that Edith couldn’t ask for help from anyone in this house.

“Killian Ludwig will be more than happy to throw you away.”

That’s what anyone could see. She was living as inconspicuous as possible and with minimal pride, but in the eyes of others, she was just a hostage to prevent the betrayal of the Rigelhoff family and a stranger they didn’t want to get involved with at all. Killian would be the same. He would spend the night with her or kiss her, but it was only a physical impulse, not because he had any other feelings for her. She could tell from the fact that he still stayed by Lise’s side whenever he had free time. His attitude towards Edith was slightly better than before, but she wasn’t sure if it was enough to want to help her when she was in trouble.

‘Edith must have grown up with this type of verbal violence, right? Even as an adult, I feel sick to my stomach, how hard it must have been for the young Edith.’

Somehow she became self-pitying, but she genuinely sympathized with Edith. In the original story, after crawling through such despair, she would have died miserably at the hands of the man she loved without being understood by anyone. She felt like she was going to cry even though it wasn’t something she had been through.

She was lying on the bed blankly thinking about that when someone knocked. It was too late for anyone to come. Anna, who slept in Edith’s room to keep an eye on her, got up and quietly went outside. But soon, a completely unexpected voice was heard.

“Everybody get out.”

It was Killian who seemed to be in a bad mood.

“Killian? What are you doing at this hour?”

As she got up, Killian kicked Anna and Sophia out, closed the door, and strode towards her. 

Then he pressed her shoulders back onto the bed.

“Killian…?”

“The probation is over, but why don’t you crawl into my room this time?”

“What?”

Killian’s eyes, which spit out completely incomprehensible words, were shaped into something like anger.

“I am… Did I decide to go to your room after the probation?”

She didn’t think she had ever made such a promise, so she asked him while rolling her eyes, but Killian smiled. There was clearly an aura of ridicule.

“Isn’t that your way?”

“My way?”

“If you feel uneasy after claiming your innocence, you seduce people with your body.”

“What, what?”

“It even worked pretty well. Because I’m a jerk.”

She had never really understood Killian’s words before, but this time she couldn’t get the context to the point where she wondered if this person and she were on a different level.

“Killian. Have you been drinking?”

“If getting drunk is your preference, have someone bring it to you.”

“No, not that… You seem a bit drunk right now. I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.”

“You don’t know…? You don’t know…?”

“Yes.”

A crooked smile crept across Killian’s lips. He’s laughing, but she could feel he was on the verge of exploding. However, she couldn’t turn her tail on such unfair and insulting remarks.

“First of all, I have always been innocent. You just didn’t believe me.”

“Ha…!”

“And I never seduced you physically. That thing at that time… Technically… Could it have been your misunderstanding?”

“Now, are you claiming that you were unilaterally eaten by me?”

“That’s not it. It may have been caused by a misunderstanding, but… I have no intention of denying that I liked it.”

She was going to speak confidently, but when she remembered what had happened that night, a fever rose from the nape of her neck.

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