Chapter 12

“Mistreatment of the servants within this residence is strictly prohibited.”

A shiver ran down my spine at the chill in Massera’s voice.

‘The first trait of a regretful male lead—he doesn’t listen to the whole story and just jumps to conclusions based on what he sees.’

I let out a sigh, caught in the cliché of being wrongfully misunderstood by the male lead.

Anyone watching would see me as a wicked hypocrite—pretending to be kind in front of people, while beating the servants behind their backs.

Regardless, I decided to tell the truth for now.

“I never ordered any kind of violence. I just came to the kitchen because I was hungry and happened to witness all this, so I was trying to stop it.”

‘The second trait of a regretful male lead—he doesn’t believe a word you say.’

As I had expected, Massera only stared at me with that cold gaze.

Now was the time he’d make his sharp remarks toward me.

He’d probably say something like “You truly are a horrible person,” or “Even when I had no expectations, you still disappoint,” or “Lying and being violent? You’re a failure of a human being.”

However, I had no choice but to endure the suspicion for now. With the situation like this, all I could do was reveal the truth later, deal with Rose then, and make Massera eat his words.

“No, my lady would never do such a thing. Please, punish me instead.”

Rose said, putting on the face of a loyal servant unjustly taking the blame for her noble lady.

Massera, who had been quietly looking back and forth between the two of us, gave a slight nod.

“All right.”

At his unexpected answer, both Rose and I were left blinking in confusion.

Massera added—

“You’ll be tried by a military court.”

It was beyond unexpected, but downright shocking. In surprise, Rose asked—

“What? Are you saying you’re applying military law?”

“Since you’re in a military residence, you fall under military jurisdiction.”

Rose must have expected a light punishment since such discipline among servants was common, but her face turned pale.

“You may all return now.”

As Massera dismissed them with a flick of his head, the trainee servants bowed deeply and scurried off, sniffling.

Someone must’ve spread the rumor during their evening rounds because before long, other servants had gathered in front of the kitchen. The stares directed at me were sharp.

“Rose was always a bit of a pain, but it’s kind of sad to see her getting punished instead of her master.”

“So the rumor that Lady Cynthia was secretly giving those orders was true?”

I could hear them whispering.

I immediately turned my head and smiled sweetly at them.

“Everyone, I know you don't have a good impression of me, but gossiping behind someone’s back without knowing the truth is also a kind of violence. If you’re curious about something, feel free to ask me directly.”

Several of the servants quickly averted their eyes, clearly not expecting me to respond so openly.

With his arms crossed, Massera silently stared down at Rose.

When met with his piercing gaze, it felt like even the deepest of secrets would come spilling out.

“I-I was only… following my lady’s orders…”

Rose stammered, sweating despite the cold winter night.

Massera then asked—

“Yesterday, you beat the trainee servants for not cleaning the bathtub properly, didn’t you?”

“That was…”

Perhaps thinking that she’d be punished without fail if things continued like this, Rose opened her mouth to speak.

But I cut her off quickly before she could use me as an excuse.

“I was on the brink of death at the time. I wasn’t in any condition to give orders.”

“That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but yes, I’m well aware of that.”

Massera only agreed with half of what I said.

At that moment, Rose—white as a sheet—made up an excuse.

“You see, my lady did wake up for a brief moment.”

“Eugene said exactly this to me though. ‘I visited Cynthia noona every day, but she was always asleep. So she didn’t even take a bath until today.’”

Massera retorted her in a tone that somehow felt like a public execution.

At the same time, the servants who had been standing near me slowly began to back away.

I scrubbed myself clean the moment I woke up though. This was so unfair.

But that wasn’t the issue here.

“I heard from Dahlia, the one who took care of me this whole time, that you never stopped by my room even once. So how would you know if the bathtub was dirty or not? And how exactly did you get my supposed orders?”

I calmly asked as I approached Rose.

Flustered, she repeatedly opened and closed her mouth as if she had run out of things to say.

Without giving her a chance to even speak, I went in for the final blow.

“And you’ve been stealing food supplies by threatening the trainee servants and pretending it was under my orders, haven’t you? You were planning to pin the blame on them later if you got caught, right?”

In fact, she was probably planning to frame me.

I was going to save this card for later, but since Massera didn’t act like a full-on cliché regretful male lead, I had the chance to play it now.

“What? My lady! Even if you were only using me like a disposable tool, to accuse me of something like that—!”

Ignoring Rose’s outburst, I said—

“General, may I personally check this residence’s food supply purchase records?”

He nodded and readily cooperated.

What’s with him? I mean, I appreciate it, but it’s kind of throwing me off.

***

As a person with experience in kitchen work, I checked the records and found no discrepancies on paper, but the actual quantities didn’t add up.

She was pretty thorough with this.

“Rose, you might’ve fooled everyone else, but not me. It seems you were stealing ingredients and selling them.”

Rose clenched her fists and glared at me.

“My lady.”

Rose looked at me like she still held the upper hand. Stepping closer, she whispered ominously.

“You’re really risking your life over this? You’re just a fake, you know.”

“Yeah, I am.”

It wouldn’t be long before they tried to kill me on the count’s orders.

That was why I was grateful Massera stepped in since I had been wondering how to deal with them.

Glancing over at Massera, his aide, and the butler as they were cross-checking the records, I then turned back to Rose with a composed smile.

“Go ahead and tell them I’m a fake. You’re already a liar and a criminal who stole military supplies.”

This wasn’t just a noble estate—it was a government residence, a military facility.

Embezzling military supplies was tantamount to treason and considered as colluding with enemy forces.

In short, it was a capital offense.

“Getting caught stirring up trouble before the wedding was your biggest mistake. The Count and the General, whose top priority is this marriage, will side with me. You, on the other hand, will take the fall for everything and be sentenced to death.”

As if not realizing that, Rose’s face turned pale as she stammered.

“S-Sentenced to death? How do you know that?”

“Didn’t you sign a confidentiality agreement and receive training when you came here? I guess you didn’t pay much attention.”

I shrugged my shoulders and lowered my voice.

“Even if you completed your mission, you wouldn’t have been rewarded. You’d just be killed. That’s how Count Queensguard does things.”

Rose’s face twisted with rising panic.

Once she grasped the situation, she dropped to her knees and began to beg.

“My lady, I’m truly sorry. Please, forgive me for the sake of the time we’ve spent together. My younger siblings are starving, so I had no choice!”

It sounded like she was begging me, but judging by the volume of her voice, she was clearly trying to gain Massera’s sympathy.

None of the servants who came with me, including Rose, had family, but I played along and pretended to be fooled.

“I knew about your circumstances, so I turned a blind eye back at the count’s estate—but doing it again here, and using my name on top of that?”

I spoke in a gentle voice as I helped Rose to her feet, then whispered so only she could hear.

“If you cooperate with me, I’ll get you out of this. You see, I need information about the count’s family.”

“Y-Yes, I’ll keep quiet and cooperate.”

After hearing her answer, I resumed my act.

“Rose, it doesn’t look like you did this alone. There were accomplices among the other servants from the count’s estate, weren’t there?”

Understanding my signal to “shift the blame onto someone else,” she nodded solemnly.

“It was Jessie and Peregrine.”

“All right.”

And with a hint of hope in her expression, Rose was taken away by the soldiers.

I watched her retreating figure, then approached Massera with a downcast look and apologized.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault for failing to keep my servants in line.”

“Are you requesting that the servant be forgiven due to her circumstances and sent back to the count’s estate?”

At Massera’s question, I lowered my gaze and slowly shook my head.

“No, I have no intention of forgiving her, so please proceed according to the law. Jessie and Peregrine were named as accomplices too.”

In truth, I said what I did to Rose to give her false hope.

‘I don’t need the help of a traitor.’

That was something I’d learned through two tough lives.

I cast a quick glance at Charles, a servant who was watching from a distance. I gave him a discreet wink, signaling that he should quietly keep watch.