There Are No Bad Young Ladies in the World

—

Power and Love (6)

“Did a letter come from Baron Ravenclaw?”

Early in the morning, Lady Trisha, who was getting dressed with the help of the mansion’s maid, had a puzzled expression.

It had been less than ten days since she was rejected when she tried to commission Derek.

Of course, the commission itself was also a ploy to maintain contact with Derek, the most renowned magic teacher in Ebelstein. However, it was hard to deny the importance of finding the necromancer on Rodentz Island.

It was a win-win strategy to gain the favor of Lady Renewel and maintain contact with Derek, but the commission was rejected as too dangerous, and everything fell apart.

However, the letter from Derek that arrived early in the morning made all those things irrelevant.

– ‘It seems we have found a necromancer who appears to be a survivor from Rodentz Island.’

Reading the letter that started with that one line, Lady Trisha couldn’t help but harden her expression.

*

Nearly ten days had passed since Ellente’s house arrest began, and finally, unable to endure it any longer, Count Belmiard summoned his high-ranking retainers, immediate family, and most trusted servants to the study of the count’s mansion.

No matter how much they examined the clues from Ellente’s room, the only conclusion they could reach was that Ellente had been researching necromancy.

“Your Excellency…”

Briana looked at Count Belmiard’s expression with a worried tone.

Count Belmiard’s expression was as haggard as Ellente’s, as if he was cornered.

As time passed, public opinion towards Ellente gradually worsened.

Come to think of it, testimonies were piling up that Ellente had been seen wandering around the mansion late at night when no one was around.

In fact, she had just gone out to look at the moon because she couldn’t sleep.

There were also many testimonies that she often looked tired as if she had stayed up all night. People wondered if she had been researching necromancy in the dead of night when everyone was asleep.

She had just stayed up all night to cultivate her knowledge, or she was simply not feeling well.

There were also many testimonies that she hurriedly changed the subject when the topic of necromancy came up.

She simply considered discussing necromancy to be taboo.

Suspicions gave birth to more suspicions, and doubts gave birth to new doubts.

Leonard, who was observing the situation from the corner with the retainers, quietly lowered his head. He had to suppress the urge to smile.

In fact, there were only two pieces of direct evidence for this conspiracy: the laboratory found under Ellente’s room and the letter that seemed to be written by Ellente.

The laboratory was prepared by Leonard.

The secret underground room in the heir’s private quarters was actually known to the head of the family and high-ranking retainers. It was a secret space for emergency evacuation.

However, over the decades, the majesty of Belmiard had never wavered, so the room had quietly been forgotten over time.

Leonard had slowly transformed that room into a necromancy laboratory and left traces of Ellente while she was away.

—

The letter was also cleverly crafted by Leonard to fit the circumstances.

Knowing that Elente had visited the Duplain family, he mixed numerous lies and truths appropriately, making it difficult to judge where the truth ended and the fabricated lies began.

Once he had planted suspicion in public opinion, all he had to do was wait. Circumstantial evidence had a tendency to multiply on its own.

Continue to create dirty rumors about Elente, who was once the flower of the noble count’s family.

It didn’t matter whether it was accepted as truth or denied as a lie.

As long as you raise doubts, constantly make people question the facts, and create confusion about where the truth lies… surprisingly, that alone will turn half the public against her.

That’s how you control the masses. Once you create that flow, it becomes easy. Logic and reason no longer mattered.

“Father.”

Leonard pushed through the gathered retainers and stepped forward.

Count Belmiord still remembered Leonard as the devout clergyman he had been.

He felt quite sorry that Leonard had not been properly welcomed back from his pilgrimage due to these rumors, but for now, Elente’s matter took precedence.

“Leonard. You…”

“You may need to steel your heart, Father.”

Leonard spoke with a pained expression.

Outwardly, he was just a lamb chasing faith, with no interest in the rights of the family’s heir.

It was something no other retainer could say, but Leonard, the only blood relative present, could.

“Elente is just a lamb too. Sometimes… she loses her way…”

“Leonard…!”

“It pains me to say this, but… isn’t this the situation we are in…!”

Leonard spoke through gritted teeth, his chest trembling.

Seeing the complex emotions on his face, Count Belmiord held his breath.

“Perhaps it’s fortunate that we discovered this early… You remember the tragedy of the Duplain family, don’t you, Father?”

“You want me to doubt Elente?”

“Elente was a noble person who spared no effort to gain power. But, sometimes, while walking the righteous path, one can be tempted by shortcuts and fall into traps.”

Learning necromancy is a taboo for a wizard, but for a power-seeker, it means having a secret weapon that no one else knows about.

Handling corpses, overcoming death, and controlling thoughts means being able to manipulate without anyone noticing.

As one progresses on the journey towards power, the temptation to acquire such secretive power frequently arises.

“It was just a momentary mistake. Accepting that fact and making efforts to recover is all that needs to be done. Ignoring the reality at hand will only make things worse…!”

“Leonard…!”

“Father. Please, heed my advice…!”

—

—

Leonard once again pushed through the crowd and bowed politely in front of the desk.

“The successor position? I have no desire for such things. Anyone else can take it. You can even call back Brother Linus and make him the successor.”

Linus would never return to the Belmiard family.

Anyway, once Ellente falls from power, no matter how much he worries and wanders, Count Belmiard will have no choice but to make Leonard the successor.

It was a bluff he could throw because he knew that fact well. Leonard was perfectly and neatly acting as a lamb with no desire for the successor position.

“You must correct it now. That is… the way to prevent any more damage to the Belmiard family…”

Leonard twisted his expression as if he were giving a heartfelt advice.

Count Belmiard, who was watching him, could not raise his voice. Most of the mansion’s servants already harbored seeds of suspicion towards Ellente.

At this point, if even the head of the family turned his back, there was no telling how the situation would unfold.

Count Belmiard, with a face full of anguish for a long time, finally wiped his face and spoke.

“Still, I must hear Ellente’s excuse.”

As a father, Count Belmiard could not completely turn his back on Ellente.

“Briana. When the sun rises tomorrow, I will personally confront Ellente with the evidence. I will decide Ellente’s fate there. Although all the investigation results have been kept secret, starting tomorrow, Ellente will also know all the results.”

Watching Count Belmiard, who remained cautious until the end, Leonard could only click his tongue inwardly.

However, Leonard knew.

He had already been going back and forth to the mansion, checking Ellente’s situation several times.

She was pretending not to, but she was already cornered.

*

“Huff, huff.”

She felt something like a sticky liquid flowing down the end of her hair.

For the first time, she realized that this was the sensation of her mind becoming hazy. Sitting in her private room, Ellente felt her throat tighten every time she took a breath.

From noble mtl dot com

Complete confinement would have been better.

Being watched during meal times, receiving suspicious glances from everyone, hearing whispers in the garden, and feeling the futility of the power that once pierced the sky.

And in such anxiety, having to endure day after day. One feels a strange sensation as if their vision is becoming blurry.

Late at night, when even the sound of insects has died down.

A buzzing sound in her ears, the flickering shadows of candles, darkness, and more darkness.

She was a girl who reached out to the stars in the sky, and having raced upwards all her life, she did not know the pain of falling.

Even the retainers and close aides who had looked up to her all their lives were ultimately just a crowd swayed by power and public opinion.

She never had the chance to learn to distinguish between those who would truly stay by her side and those who were mere byproducts drawn by fleeting power.

Those who have never hit rock bottom do not know how to distinguish who is truly on their side.

—

—

As you wander through the gaps of confusion and doubt, you suddenly feel as if the world around you is shrouded in fog.

At some point, you stop combing your hair. You don’t even rub your haggard eyes. Slowly withering away, self-assurance and confidence begin to fade.

An extraordinary mind, quick wit, exceptional magical skills, noble appearance… The only thing the girl lacks is experience.

The experience to stand firm on both legs in front of the crowd that stares at her.

“Ridiculous… Do you think I would be swayed by such trickery…?”

She repeats the words with hollow eyes, biting her nails. There is no life left in her, only a meager pride barely holding on.

The girl realizes. The support of the crowd, like reeds, is as fleeting as a daydream.

If she falls, that fleeting support will vanish like the wind, just a facade.

“Yes, it seems like they are trying to sow seeds of doubt while stalling for time… If only I could reach Duplain… If only… Ugh…”

A retch devoid of any dignity rises. Ellente collapses.

Has she ever crumbled like this before?

Neither the authority that seemed to pierce the sky, nor the magical skills that made tongues wag just by witnessing them, nor the rivals who couldn’t even compare to her, could push Ellente into such a pit of despair.

Even when countless noble ladies succumbed to the burden and pressure, Ellente never lost her will.

But now, it’s just rumors, doubts, and time.

Not some great evil, not a grand cause that would engulf the world, not a fateful nemesis. Just those things.

It was just those things that eroded the shallow trust of the crowd that followed power.

Even the retainers who had built trust over a lifetime now cast doubtful glances at her.

She can’t even express her dissatisfaction with that fact.

A play she saw at the Kalimford Theater in her childhood comes to mind. It was the day Ellente left the theater with a scoff.

The poignant song of the protagonist on stage, who chose love over power, tickles her ears.

Did the playwright realize it subconsciously? There is no flower that blooms forever, and in the end, the essence of that flower called power is to wither.

She had spent her whole life chasing that facade called power.

The beings who leisurely walked on the throne seemed admirable, and she wanted to sit beside them.

– Tap, tap.

The rain that had started to fall hits the window.

At first, it only hits the window intermittently, but soon the pouring rain begins to reflect Ellente’s heart.

What have I lived for? Why did I cling so desperately to the sand that would scatter through my fingers when I clenched my fist?

I don’t know. I don’t know anything. The girl who had run unhesitatingly down the well-paved road for so long experiences the depths of wandering for the first time. It leaves a void in her heart so great that she can’t even think of the false accusation of necromancy that has been placed on her.

– Swoosh

The rain outside the window becomes completely fierce, and even lightning begins to strike intermittently.

—

—

Suddenly, the ceremonial dagger in the corner of the room catches the girl’s eye.

If she were to succumb to her misery and press the blade to her neck here, would the retainers understand her innocence?

If she were found cold and lifeless in the morning, with tears of anguish flowing from her eyes, would the retainers then understand Elente’s injustice?

Such an impulse is irrational.

How could one end a noble life over such a false accusation? It doesn’t add up at all.

However, that forbidden impulse always came without regard for understanding or reason.

Those who end their own lives do not act after calculating everything.

They simply fail to overcome the shock of the moment, the dark impulse that has come to their heart right now, leading to an irreversible outcome.

If they could just overcome that momentary shock, there might be a way out, but countless people choose to end their immediate suffering.

Driving one’s heart into a corner was such a thing.

As Elente picked up the dagger with her blurred pupils and stared at it, her once fiery red eyes had turned ashen, as if they no longer had the strength to burn.

Her fingertips trembled as she held it.

Eventually, she tightly closed her eyes.

– “Lady Elente, as you clash with various enemies in the noble society, there will surely come a time when you stumble over a stone or face the suspicion and ridicule of everyone. Even if it’s not a crisis that shakes your life like mine, it could still drive your heart and mind into a corner.”

These were the words of a certain lady, who had faced a pain so great that such trials seemed trivial, spoken as she sat in the corridor of Elfontaine Hall.

She smiled brightly and extended her fist to Elente.

– “That’s the time to look around.”

– Crash!

– Swoosh! Bang!

In an instant, the window shattered, and the rain poured into the room.

Elente’s room was guarded by numerous escorts, making it difficult for anyone to enter easily.

However, the uninvited guest created the illusion of thunder with a confusion spell to mask the sound of the window breaking and then broke in through the window from the outer wall as if it were nothing.

The man, seemingly accustomed to moving in such harsh weather, let his rain-soaked cloak hang loosely as he stood up in the room.

And without hesitation, he firmly grasped the blade of the dagger in the girl’s hand.

– Drip, drip.

Red blood flowed down the blade.

Elente was so shocked that she couldn’t even scream.

“…”

– Clang! Clang!

—

The man snatched the dagger and threw it to the floor, then pushed Ellente away.

As Ellente’s posture collapsed helplessly, the man dusted off his hands and took a letter from his bosom, placing it on the table in Ellente’s room.

There were two letters. One bore the seal of the Duplain family, the other the seal of the Renuel family.

“Huh, ugh…”

As Ellente barely caught her breath, the white-haired man roughly wiped the blood from his hands and straightened his posture.

Lightning struck, and his red eyes shone brightly.

If you can claim to have lived a valuable life.

Even if everyone turns their back, there is always someone who remains.

As if to prove that fact, the man stood firmly with the rain pouring down behind him.

Although no explanation had been given yet, the haggard girl lying on the floor with wide eyes could instinctively sense it.

For some reason, she thought.

This man was Ellente’s ally.