With difficulty, Marin looked at the man before her through her flickering vision.
Even in the darkness, his white hair was so distinctly pale that the word "angel" seemed more fitting than "devil."
'A devil.'
But the man before her was clearly a devil, no, hell itself.
Marin recalled the moment she was dragged to this place.
At the time, Marin was waiting for Lucia in her room.
However, those who burst into the room were not Lucia but the duke's knights.
Bound by them, Marin was dragged to the underground prison.
After that, only terrible torture continued without rest.
She couldn't even tell how much time had passed.
'Who ordered you to release the high-level monster into the forest?'
'Aaaah!'
'What method did you use to bring the high-level monster into the mansion?'
'Ugh, I don't know anything!'
However, the torturer and the white-haired man who watched everything from behind did not believe Marin's words.
'A sachet to attract intermediate or higher-level monsters was found in Lucia's clothes. Are you going to say you don't know about that too?'
'…….'
'If you don't answer, I'll make you answer.'
The endless torture ruined not only her body but also her mind.
'I want to die.'
Marin desperately wanted to die, but the skilled torturer's perfect torture did not even grant Marin the peace of death.
So Marin closed her eyes.
She wanted to escape this terrible reality, even for a moment.
However.
Splash!
"Ugh...!"
The moment she closed her eyes, ice water was poured over Marin's head.
Clatter.
Her teeth chattered from the sudden surge of cold.
It was already early winter.
The underground was not insulated, and being soaked in cold water with a body battered by torture made her feel like her body would shatter.
Marin struggled to open her eyes and looked ahead.
"Tell me, who ordered you to do this?"
The torturer kept asking the same question.
Marin looked at the man leaning against the wall behind the torturer.
In the darkness, his purple eyes glowed like those of a beast.
I want to tell them.
I want to tell them everything.
Marin's pale blue lips slowly parted.
"...I..."
A faint voice, as if about to break, escaped.
The torturer put his ear to Marin's lips.
And then.
"...I don't know anything..."
"Tsk."
After clicking his tongue displeased, the torturer picked up a tool.
Marin closed her eyes again.
It had been quite a while since Ligrin left, but I was still staring blankly at the closed door.
It felt like Marin would burst through that door any moment now, making a fuss.
No matter how long I waited, the door did not open again.
'Marin was the culprit?'
The full story of the incident that Ligrin told me was this:
Marin had attached a sachet that attracted monsters to my clothes.
As soon as I heard that, I remembered the sachet she had attached to the inside of my clothes, calling it a good luck charm.
'No wonder. I thought it was strange that it only chased me so persistently.'
If the ogre only followed the scent, it would explain why it didn't chase anyone else, why it ignored the bodies of the low-level monsters, and why it found me hiding.
But there are clearly things that don't make sense either.
'What ability does Marin have to secretly release a high-level monster into the forest?'
I was managing the monsters in the family until right before the exam.
But Marin alone managed to secretly release that huge, violent ogre into the forest, avoiding the duke's eyes?
'There's someone behind her.'
The ducal family also suspects someone is behind her, which is why they are continuing the torture despite finding the circumstances.
'Who is it?'
Who ordered Marin to threaten me?
'Since when?'
When did this plan start?
No... I already knew the answer to that.
'Because I suspected it from the beginning.'
I had always felt a sense of unease from Marin.
Specifically, the day I came back from trading with Aien, when she hugged me with a crying face.
The unease started then.
So...
'Why is Marin doing this to me?'
Marin's obsession and affection for me were strange.
She was overly anxious if I disappeared from her sight even for a moment.
And that's not all.
Marin acted as if she had known me for a long time, and treated me like a blood sister.
Marin's actions made my heart feel ticklish and uncomfortable.
Everyone else hates me, so why does Marin, who is just a maid, like me so blindly?
The duke changed my room and his influence had reached it, but that was all.
I was still a dirty, unwanted bastard.
So it's strange.
Could it be that Marin's actions and affection hide another purpose?
If so, what is that purpose? What does Marin want to get from me?
The suspicion that had once sprouted grew and grew, but I deliberately didn't delve into it deeply.
I was too busy and distracted to question Marin's true intentions.
So let's just watch for now, I thought.
I never thought she would do something like this.
This is an incident of a scale that Marin couldn't have done alone.
There's someone behind her.
And that person must have put Marin by my side.
'Who could it be?'
There are so many people in Rodbel who hate me that it was difficult even to guess.
But I can be sure of one thing.
'Marin won't be coming back.'
Ligrin clearly said that Marin was imprisoned in the underground prison.
'It's probably in the prison in the basement of this building.'
There are many eyes watching, so they will want to finish the case as secretly and quietly as possible.
Then it's even worse.
Because the basement of this white building...
'Is a maze.'
That's right.
The reason why the underground prison of this white building is called impregnable is because the path to the prison is a maze.
Moreover, the structure of the maze is only known to the head of the family and the torturer, so there are no guards.
Even if Marin somehow escapes from the prison, she will be exhausted wandering through the maze.
And probably, in all likelihood... no, definitely, Marin has been abandoned by the person who hired her.
That's what they intended when they had Marin attach the sachet to me.
Even knowing that they would be caught afterward.
And Marin followed the order even though she knew that fact.
'Why?'
Knowing that she would die if abandoned, what could be more important than her life that Marin followed the order?
I didn't feel particularly resentful or sorry for Marin.
It's the result of Marin's choice, after all.
However... there's something I really want to ask her.
It was a question that I couldn't solve unless I heard it directly.
But as I said, the path to the underground prison is a complicated maze.
But that doesn't mean there's no way to go.
'Blueprint.'
If I have the blueprint of the underground, I can pass through the maze.
But the blueprint is kept deep in the warehouse, and the warehouse...
'Only direct descendants can enter.'
It was the same principle as how only direct descendants can freely enter the duke's office.
'I passed the qualification test, but I haven't been recognized as a direct descendant yet.'
Only after the ceremony after the qualification test can I be truly recognized as a direct descendant.
'What should I do?'
I was wondering when.
Thud.
I raised my head at the sudden feeling of someone's presence.
'What is it?'
The presence was coming from beyond the door.
Is it Ligrin?
But if it were Ligrin, she would have come in a long time ago?
'Who is it?'
Is it the newly assigned maid?
I tilted my head, wondering, and waited for the owner of the presence to come in.
Tap. Tap tap.
Only the light tapping on the door continued, and it didn't seem like they intended to come in.
'Who the heck is it?'
It was annoying that they were loitering in front without coming in.
In the end, I strode to the door and threw it open.
Then.
"Uwaaah!"
The white-haired boy fell backward.
I looked at the white-haired boy - Bansis - with a dumbfounded expression and asked.
"What are you doing here?"
"Why, why did you suddenly open the door like that!"
"What?"
I'm at a loss for words.
I retorted coldly.
"This is my room, you know? Do I have to ask permission to open my own door?"
"Th, that's...!"
"Then what were you doing in front of someone else's room?"
"Th...!"
Bansis couldn't answer anything properly.
By the way, like in the duke's office last time, and this time too.
"Ah, could it be."
"......?"
"Are you perhaps a fan of eavesdropping?"
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