* * * * *

“Are you still awake, my Lady?

“I’ll be heading to bed soon. Don’t be worried, sleep first.”

Penny yawned and walked out of the room, saying she was going to sleep with her feet stretched out today.

I gave a secret command to William. I wanted to make sure he took care of it properly.

I sat in front of the window, waiting for something. Early in the morning, at dusk.

I could see people starting to work at a glance in this wonderfully comfortable bedroom.

‘I am slowly getting sleepy.’

It was then.

I was utterly relieved when I saw someone dressed in a black robe.

It wasn’t William, though.

Because that person’s figure is much smaller than William…… And the fast walking pace was very familiar to me.

‘Who is that?’

There’s one more suspicious person there.

With a lantern in hand, I stormed out of my seat and down the stairs.

And.

“Stop right there.”

That woman stopped opening Shannon’s bedroom door and raised her robe at my command.

I marched up to the woman, raising the lantern.

The identity was quickly exposed when the hood was tilted back.

“…… Shannon?”

Shannon’s swollen eyes glowed as she looked at me. She seems to have sobbed a lot.

“Where do you go alone at this late hour?”

I said this, but I already knew the answer to Shannon’s whereabouts.

“Did you say your goodbyes to Emma?”

“……”

Shannon didn’t answer, and bit her lower lip. Instead, her trembling eyes told all.

“Hurry up and go in. I’ll pretend as if I never see you. If you’re afraid of being alone,……”

Bang! The door slammed shut in my face.

‘That jerk.’

I felt like an idiot for being concerned about her for so a while.

I’m sure her grief over the loss of her sole friend was severe, but…… It was much better for Shannon not to have Emma next to her.

‘Now she’ll behave like a dead rat.’

Shannon will keep chasing and harassing me if she has Emma by her side like she did before. It would be really troublesome.

I’m delighted I was able to take care of her so quickly.

On my way back to my room, I came across a man dressed in a black robe on the stairwell.

“My Lady.”

He came to a halt and knelt on one knee as the chilly dawn air blew out of him.

It was William.

“How did it turn out?”

“I took care of everything you said.”

“Did anything else happen?”

It was a question about Shannon who met Emma.

“There wasn’t any.”

The reassuring voice gave me a sense of relief.

“You worked hard. Thank you so much for accepting my request.”

I delicately placed my hand on William’s one shoulder after saying that.

He cautiously raised his head after flinching.

“For the time being, I hope you keep this a secret.”

I added this while maintaining eye contact to examine his inner thoughts.

“Even to my uncle……”

It was Cedric who William was originally loyal to.

Will he really listen to my “request”?

It might be difficult for him to turn away from Cedric and concoct a secret that only the two of us are aware of.

However.

“Yes, I understand.”

Hoo. A knight who has been entrusted with a mission cannot tell lies.

“Can you make a promise to me?”

“Yes.”

The knight’s pledge was a life-or-death deal.

Instead, I purposefully used the phrase “promise” in case he was burdened.

However……

“I swear, My Lady.”

Under his robe, William’s gray eyes gleamed with loyalty as he looked up at me.

I wondered if I had been underestimating Selina’s face in the past.

* * * * *

The Countdom grew boisterous as soon as the morning came.

It was because of the sad news that Emma’s body was found by the river in the eastern forest.

“It was reported that her body was swollen to the point where they couldn’t recognize her.”

“It was because of the ring that they recognized it. It was the ring she and Lady Shannon had shared.”

Shannon was stuck in her room and didn’t come out.

As a result, the servants began to gossip about Shannon.

“Do you remember?” Emma used to brag about how she befriended her since they were both babies.”

“She’s too cold-hearted.”

Camilla, on the other hand, collapsed in front of everyone.

“Oh, my goodness. What a dreadful thing!”

She pretended to be in a state of shock by lying down on the floor.

However, many people witnessed Emma leaving the Countdom crying after being slapped by her, thus it didn’t make much of an impact.

Finally, I was the only one who could find Emma’s body and arrange for her funeral.

“Why am I doing this?”

Penny, who was full of hatred towards her, grumbled, but did not complain more when she saw Emma’s dead body, which had already passed away.

Camilla’s servants, who had arrived late, seized the body, burned it, and then vanished.

“How s-s-sad she must be……”

I consoled Emma’s family who had been left behind.

Emma’s mother was Shannon’s nanny when she was young, and her younger brother was an errand boy doing Countdom’s chores.

They were astonished and angry at what happened overnight.

“What about Countess Crawford? Where is Shannon?”

They couldn’t even show their noses at the funeral of the deceased, who had served the two for the rest of her life.

“How… How can they do this to her? They didn’t even send their last goodbye to Emma!”

Emma’s father, Lord Patron, was particularly furious.

He was a White Eagle Knights’ knight.

Cedric, who had come to pay his respects and convey his sympathies, was visibly embarrassed.

I couldn’t pretend not to know, so I came, but Emma’s father grabbed my fist and trembled.

“My daughter was the oldest maid in the Countdom.”

“……”

“Why did Emma, who worked for the Countess and her daughter, have to die alone in the forest?”

For those who didn’t know the complete story, that was an adequate reason.

“My wife took care of Emma and Lady Shannon together when they were still a baby. But how……!”

“……”

“This is something I’ll never forget. Never……”

Me and Cedric couldn’t say anything to Lord Patron, whose eyes turned red.

It was at this time that people’s attention began to wane after the burial had been held in such a casual manner.

I delivered a letter to Emma’s family that I discovered while retrieving her body.

“There is a will……”

Emma’s mother was the first to receive the letter after waking up after a day’s sleep.

I could see their expressions change with sadness, anger, and other emotions from moment to moment.

* * * * *