Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Her unshakable, innocent eyes spoke of her innocence.

Azela stared at her with a complicated face. Perhaps, her eyes were wrong when she saw that. If that innocent-looking expression was actually all made up…

“…Lina.”

“Yes, Madam.”

“Do you think I believe in you?”

“…Yes?”

At her edgy question, Lina looked blank. She looked like she couldn’t understand. However, she rolled her eyes back and forth, not knowing what to say. It was a difficult question for a young girl to answer.

“That, that… It is a matter for the Madam to decide… How can I answer—”

“Well. Then, I’ll change the question.”

“Yes?”

“Can I trust you?”

Lina’s eyes widened.

Taking a deep breath, the girl’s chest swelled greatly. Lina, with an agitated look, rolled her eyes back and forth with a red face that could not be hidden. Her fluttering lips seemed to want to say something.

Azela didn’t rush her, she waited quietly. Lina, who couldn’t hide her agitation for a long time, said as she exhaled evenly, calming down only after time had passed.

“…Ma, Madam is the first person to ask me such a thing.”

“So, what is the answer?”

“If, if Madam will believe in me… I will never do anything that will harm Madam.”

Lina nodded her head with firm lips, pounding her fists lightly on her chest. Her tight lips were bitten, it felt wretched. Azela nodded her head and stretched her finger to point to the scented candle that the girl had removed.

“Then, let me ask you another question. Did you know what this was for, and did you bring it to me on purpose?”

“…What?”

Following her finger, the girl shifted her gaze. Lina stared at the scented candle and tilted her head at the incomprehensible situation.

“It would be more accurate to say that it contains poison rather than herbs. It also contains cheap drugs used by commoners.”

“What…?”

She couldn’t hide her surprised expression at Azela’s words as she stared at the scented candle again. The girl’s hand that covered her mouth was trembling. Lina, who looked at the er incense candle without a word, raised her head and turned her gaze to Azela.

“It’s, it’s not me!”

“Really? But, that’s what you brought me.”

“Really, really not me…! I really don’t know! However, if I had known that this was really poisonous and even contained a drug used by commoners, I would never have put it in the Madam’s bedroom!”

She screamed desperately with her whole body. Nevertheless, when she did not respond much, Lina hurriedly knelt down on her knees toward her Madam.

Nevertheless, Azela’s gaze was still gloomy.

“It, it really is. Please, believe me… I really had no intention of harming Madam!”

Tears of injustice welled up in the corners of her eyes. It was only then that Lina realized the questions Azela had asked her. Anyway, it was true that this scented candle had something to do with Sylvia. That was something Azela already found out yesterday.

What was important was whether or not Lina was also involved in this matter.

“Last night, Sylvia sneaked into my bedroom.”

“….!”

“I happened to be awake, otherwise, what would Sylvia have done?”

Standing up from the bed she had been sitting on. She then walked up to Lina, who was on her knees, and lifted the girl up.

“Why did Sylvia come to my bedroom last night… Do you know?”

Azela’s sharp gaze fell on her. Lina swallowed a gulp as she saw the gaze that became a sword and pierced her.

The girl’s eyes fluttered.

“I-I-I don’t know.”

“…Alright.”

For the first time, Lina avoided Azela’s gaze and whispered softly without confidence. At the sight, Azela nodded her head lightly and walked past her to wash up. She could have called the maids to wash her, though she didn’t because the traces that Zagnac left behind last night were all over her body.

Lina was still standing there.

Azela, passing the girl, abruptly stopped and turned her body.

“Lina.”

“Ye, yes?”

Surprised by the sound calling her, Lina’s shoulders trembled, and she turned her gaze to Azela. Even if she pretended that she couldn’t hide her nervous look, she was still like a little girl. So, it was even more obvious…

“Choose where you will stand in line.”

“….!”

“When you answered, you couldn’t look into my eyes.”

“That, that…”

“If you decide to do something, do it right. Only then will you be able to live.”

Azela, who spoke lightly, turned her body again and hurried her steps.

* * *

In the end, night came without knowing what Lina felt. Did she know and was pretending not to know, or was she really being taken advantage of…?

Although Lina said that she would bring the scented candles tonight as well, she did not get them in the end. She didn’t do anything she usually does towards her.

She just stared at her all day long as if she had become a sinner herself. As Azela was looking out the window, unable to sleep due to her complicated mind, someone secretly knocked on the bedroom door.

“…Madam.”

A familiar voice called Azela from outside the bedroom door.

It was definitely the voice of the handmaid who took the jewel. Azela jumped out of bed, and she carefully opened the bedroom door. Standing in the dark hallway with the lights off was the handmaid who took the jewel and an old man with few gray hairs.

“What you said…”

The handmaid glanced around and whispered softly to her, swallowing her words at the end. However, Azela knew the meaning very clearly. He was the doctor who examined Sylvia at that time.

Looking left and right through the dark hallway, she then opened the bedroom door wide.

The door opened, and the handmaid and the old man hurried into her bedroom. Even after the two of them entered, Azela closed the door only after checking again that there was no one in the hallway.

“…It took quite a bit of effort to find him.”

The handmaid spoke first to her with an excited expression. She glanced at Azela’s dressing table, and her cheeks flushed red. In short, it contained a deep meaning that she would like to be appreciated for her hard work as much as the effort it took.

“Yes.”

Nodding her head, Azela opened the drawer of her dressing table and pulled out a necklace, which glows even in the darkness. The handmaid, who saw the light, unknowingly covered her mouth with two hands and smiled.

As she handed the necklace to the handmaid, the handmaid whispered softly, ‘I’ll do my best,’ and hurriedly put it in her pocket.

Azela turned back and saw the old man, still terrified, with a puzzled face.

“Are you a doctor?”

“Ye, yes. Greetings to Countess Todd…”

“Forget the greetings. I heard you came to this mansion a few days ago.”

“Yes, yes.”

“To visit my mansion… Neither I nor Count Todd knew anything about it?”

“That, that…”

The doctor sweated and looked away from her as she questioned. Respectfully clasping his hands together, he was showing with his whole body that he would cooperate with Azela as much as possible.

Satisfied with that, she pulled a chair in front of the doctor and smiled.

She could tell by the sweat dripping down his forehead that this person was the doctor who examined Sylvia. Azela glanced at the handmaid with a satisfied smile, then turned her head again to see the old doctor in front of her that was struggling hard.

“What happened… can you tell me more?”

“That, that…”

The old doctor lowered his gaze with a troubled look at Azela’s question. It must have been that Sylvia had silenced him. Nevertheless, he knew it intuitively that Azela, the Madam of nobility rather than the mistress, was a higher being that cannot be resisted.

“Sylvia, I heard you examined her.”

Besides, she seemed to know a lot already.

The old doctor hurriedly knelt in front of Azela, thinking that he might lose his life if she misunderstood his words.

“I, I just did what I was told! If, if she couldn’t see a doctor, she was going to kill me…!”

“I know. I didn’t call you to reproach you.”

Azela drew her most compassionate smile. It was her first time doing something like this, even for her, so it was somewhat awkward. She nevertheless drew her smile as casually as possible.

“What are the results of the examination?”

“…What?”

“Sylvia, for some reason, she secretly called you here, and what the result was… You just have to tell me.”

“But, but Countess, I have to keep it a secret… Or, my family and I will be killed…”

The doctor, who was talking, clenched his lips after meeting her sharp gaze.

Beads of sweat ran down his jawline. Even he knew all too well that the day he said the wrong word would be the day he would die on the spot.