“…my dy…wake up…emergency…”

  Perhaps because she was too engrossed in fiddling with the flip phone until she passed out on her bed, Estel barely roused even when her dy-in-waiting barged into her bedchamber.

  “My dy, you have to wake up now!” Adrianne practically screamed into her ears, causing her to jolt upright in shock.

  She rubbed her eyes, her mind swirling in a fog of sleep and confusion. “W…what time is it, Adrianne—”

  The dy-in-waiting’s face was ghostly pale in the dim light. “I’m terribly sorry, my dy, but it’s an urgent matter…”

  Her confusion deepening, she pushed the covers aside and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, the chilly air biting at her skin.

  “I-I’ll be ready in a minute.”

  Just yesterday, Estel had begun to realise that her life was turning into one hell of a whirlwind ever since her engagement with the Crown Prince went awry. That unfortunate realisation was only further reinforced when she descended the steps to the celr, the cold and musty air a stark contrast to the warmth of her bedchamber.

  “Hm?” She squinted her eyes at the familiar figure standing at the bottom of the stairwell. “Why are you here…?”

  “Oh, morning, Estel,” the Witch greeted, turning up the oil mp in her hand so that its orange glow reached them. “I heard the maid’s scream, so I came down here to find out what happened.”

  “And, uh, what happened exactly?” she asked in a tentative voice. “Does it have something to do with Gerald?”

  The Witch shot a gnce at Adrianne behind her before returning a grim smile. “Would you like to see for yourself?”

  Steeling herself, she took the mp that the Witch offered. She took a deep breath to gather her courage and approached the thick wooden door at the end of the corridor, her apprehension growing with each step. An iron key—she recognised it to be Adrianne’s—protruded from the keyhole; the door had been left slightly ajar, a narrow slit revealing nothing but darkness beyond.

  Her heart pounded in her chest as she paused right at the threshold. The musty smell of the celr hit her like a wave—a mouldy mix of damp earth and decay that nearly overpowered her senses, with a faint but distinct tinge of metal…

  Metal?

  She pushed the door open and peered inside.

  “Gerald?”

  She should have expected the resounding stillness, given that both Adrianne and the Witch had made no mention about the butler’s condition. She held her mp up, the fme inside sputtering slightly, and settled her gaze on a body sprawled motionless on the cold, stone floor.

  “Ge…”

  Her voice trailed off when she noticed the blood staining his rumpled uniform. A wave of nausea rose within her as she looked at his face twisted in agony, his gssy eyes frozen wide open in a ghastly rictus—

  It took all of her self-restraint not to swear out loud and sm the door shut behind her.

  “Wh-what…” Estel hesitated, biting her lip, before finally meeting the gazes of the other two. “Did he choose death over exilement?”

  The tense look in Adrianne’s eyes told her what she needed to know.

  “There was a broken half of a vial on the floor and gss fragments inside his mouth,” the Witch revealed in an unusually calm tone. “It wouldn’t be too far-fetched to assume that the butler intentionally swallowed broken gss.”

  She opened her mouth to ask why the Witch seemed so composed despite the gruesome discovery, but was interrupted by Adrianne before the question had formed on her lips.

  “What shall we do now, my dy?” her dy-in-waiting pressed, stepping forward so that she stood in between her and the Witch. “We are already implicated in dire machinations targeting the Crown Prince. If word gets out about this, I fear the House of Livroche may be irrevocably…”

  “I understand,” Estel muttered. “We can’t risk the Church finding an opportunity to attaint the dukedom, not with our current troubles.”

  “My dy, we ought to conceal all evidence of his death,” Adrianne anxiously said. “Before the sun fully rises, I propose we bury the body in the forest—”

  “I have a better idea,” the Witch cut her off.

  Estel grimaced. “Please don’t say you want to burn the body inside the hearth or something equally morbid…”

  “Nah, that won’t work. Unless you want the entire house to stink of burnt meat,” she replied with a wry ugh. “Quite a viliness-like thing to do though, I must admit. And by the way—” she gestured at Adrianne “—as someone who lives full-time in the forest, I have to point out that burying a body that reeks of blood without attracting the attention of monsters is almost impossible.”

  “If that’s the case, what do you propose?” Adrianne hissed.

  “We frame it as an accident.”

  “Huh?” Adrianne and Estel both said at the same time.

  The Witch gave an enigmatic smirk. “And let the guards handle the rest. Easy, isn’t it?”