Chapter : 10
“Huh? You got called too?”
“You too?”
“Seriously, why did she suddenly summon all of us?”
“How would I know?”
Four maids and two male attendants, all appearing to be in their early twenties, stood outside the door to Camilla’s room, snickering amongst themselves.
“I heard things have been going pretty well between her and the Duke lately.”
“So what? Is she planning to scold us now? After all this time?”
“Pfft! As if.”
“You think it’ll last?”
“I’ll bet the earrings I bought this time that she’ll lose her temper again and end up falling out of the Duke’s favor.”
“Me too.”
Not a trace of fear or intimidation toward Camilla could be found among them.
A few kitchen maids had recently been caught bullying Camilla and driven out of the estate, but that had simply been bad luck on their part.
Knock, knock.
Without the slightest hesitation, they knocked once and immediately opened the door without waiting for permission to enter.
It was something they had done countless times before.
“Eek!”
“Gasp!”
The next instant, however, they had to swallow the screams rising in their throats.
Camilla was sprawled limply across the bed.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth as she lay motionless, and the sight alone was enough to horrify them.
Unknown medicines were scattered all around the room.
Anyone who saw the scene would conclude that she had taken her own life.
“Is… is she dead?”
The maid who spoke was trembling violently. Her face had turned ghostly pale.
What in the world had happened?
Camilla… dead?
The sudden situation left everyone frozen.
None of them even had the courage to approach her and check whether she was truly dead or merely unconscious.
“Th-That…!”
How much time had passed?
The group, still rooted in place, snapped back to their senses when one of the maids suddenly shouted.
Only then did they tear their eyes away from Camilla and look toward where she was pointing.
“C-Could that be…?!”
“No way!”
A single sheet of white paper lay on the bed beside Camilla.
Everyone present immediately realized what it had to be.
A suicide note.
Without question, it was the final letter Camilla had left behind.
They hurriedly grabbed it.
“…!”
As the maids and attendants read through the contents, their expressions changed by the second.
Their initial shock quickly gave way to fear.
Every one of their names was written clearly in the letter.
Not only their names, but every cruel thing they had done to Camilla had been listed in detail.
The letter ended with a desperate plea that her grievances be avenged.
“My goodness…”
“Wh-What do we do?”
“This is insane…!”
“I-If this ends up in the Duke’s hands…”
The power of a suicide note left behind by someone who had taken their own life was impossible to ignore.
No matter how much they tried to lie or make excuses like they always had, it would be useless.
Everyone would think,
“How wronged must Camilla have been to choose suicide?”
Even if people hated someone, hearing that person had died naturally stirred at least a little sympathy.
Besides, hadn’t Camilla recently been getting along rather well with Duke Sorpel?
If this letter reached him now…
“We have to destroy it.”
“What?”
“I said, destroy the letter.”
“B-But…”
“We can’t all die because of this!”
The maid shouted and, before anyone could stop her, snatched up the suicide note and tore it into tiny pieces.
The others, who had been panicking moments earlier, sighed in relief as the letter disappeared.
After all, they had to survive.
As long as the suicide note wasn’t found, there was no evidence connecting them to Camilla’s death.
Her suicide would simply be dismissed as yet another impulsive act by Camilla, who couldn’t control her temper—
“Well, well… aren’t you all putting a little too much faith in your luck?”
“…?”
At that moment—
“Do you really think you’ll always be lucky enough to find my suicide note before anyone else?”
“Huh?!”
“Aaaah!”
A very familiar voice echoed from behind them.
They spun around in a panic.
Several of them screamed.
Some even collapsed onto the floor.
Camilla—
The Camilla they had believed to be dead—
was standing there perfectly healthy, watching every single thing they had done.
As she wiped the fake blood from her lips with a handkerchief, she smiled brightly.
“I happen to be pretty good at playing dead.”
“A-Acting?”
Only then did they understand what had happened.
Their faces twisted with humiliation.
She had tricked them?
They had fallen for such a childish stunt?
And not just by anyone—
By Camilla, of all people?
Anger immediately flared inside them.
Forgetting the terror they’d felt just moments ago, they glared at her resentfully.
Watching every change in their expressions, Camilla chuckled softly.
“Though… it could become real.”
“…Wh-What do you mean?”
Their expressions stiffened again.
Become real?
Was she actually planning to kill herself?
“You all know I’ve been going to the kitchen every night lately, don’t you?”
There wasn’t a single person in the Duke’s household who didn’t know that Camilla visited the kitchen every night at the same hour to prepare a late-night snack for Duke Sorpel.
Rumor even had it that the Duke secretly looked forward to the snacks she made.
“So what do you think would happen if I didn’t show up one night?”
“What are you…”
“At the very least, someone would find it strange and come looking for me, right?”
Judging from their blank expressions, they clearly hadn’t understood.
Kindly, as though explaining something to children, Camilla elaborated.
“What if, right before that time, I lightly slit my wrist… and held this suicide note tightly in my hand?”
“…!”
“Or maybe I’d scatter pills all over the floor again and collapse just like before. You all fell for it. Do you think everyone else wouldn’t?”
“M-Miss!”
Only then did they realize this wasn’t a joke.
Their faces drained of all color.
“A-Are you threatening us?”
“Threatening?”
For the first time, the smile vanished from Camilla’s lips.
The atmosphere around her changed instantly.
Standing directly before her, the maid instinctively flinched.
“A threat…”
Camilla trailed off as she took another step closer.
“…is something you make when there’s actually something to gain.”
She slowly reached out toward the maid who had spoken.
The maid squeezed her eyes shut, convinced she was about to be slapped.
Instead, Camilla smiled sweetly.
Tap. Tap.
She gently patted the maid’s cheek.
“Do you threaten insects?”
“…!”
“When it comes to bugs…”
Her hand slowly slid down from the maid’s cheek to her neck.
“You simply crush them under your foot.”
“Miss…!”
“Or grind them to death with your hand.”
Her fingertips lightly stroked the maid’s throat.
“The only reason I don’t… is because I’d rather not dirty my hands or feet.”
The maid trembled violently as her eyes met Camilla’s.
“And yet…”
Camilla’s voice dropped even lower.
“Even patience has its limits, doesn’t it?”
Everyone swallowed hard as they looked into her cold, emotionless eyes.
“I don’t think I can keep tolerating all the buzzing anymore… so what should I do?”
The hand resting against the maid’s neck felt ice-cold.
It seemed as though her neck could snap at any second.
“W-We were wrong, Miss!”
“Please forgive us!”
Before anyone realized it, every maid and attendant had dropped to their knees.
Some even pressed their foreheads against the floor.
She’s different.
She’s nothing like before.
If she’d shouted in anger or started throwing things around like she always used to, they would have simply rolled their eyes.
They probably would have mocked her.
“There you go again.”
But now…
They could barely breathe.
For the first time, they truly understood.
This was not someone they could treat carelessly anymore.
Tap. Tap.
“Let’s all behave from now on.”
“We’re sorry!”
“We’re so sorry!”
Unlike the others, the maid whose neck Camilla had been touching was trembling too violently to even kneel properly.
Camilla gently patted her cheek once more.
“Go find it.”
“…Pardon?”
“My ring.”
“The one you stole.”
“Bring it back.”
“…!”
“Yes!”
“Right away!”
The moment Camilla finished speaking, everyone rushed out of the room as though fleeing for their lives.
One of them was in such a hurry that they tripped over their own feet.
Bang!
The door slammed shut.
Finally alone, Camilla let out a long, exhausted sigh.
Ugh… I’m wiped out.
Playing the villain was the best way to relieve stress.
But it also consumed an incredible amount of physical and mental energy.
After all, to make the performance convincing, you had to overwhelm the other person with an even stronger presence.
“…”
“…”
Derin and Perol approached as Camilla collapsed onto the bed.
Both ghosts looked as though they had countless things they wanted to say.
Yet neither of them could bring themselves to speak.
“What is it?”
Unable to bear watching them repeatedly open and close their mouths, Camilla spoke first.
“We were completely shocked.”
“It really looked like you were about to kill them.”
Having witnessed everything from the corner of the room, the ghost butler Derin and the ghost chef Perol finally voiced their thoughts.
Their faces were still full of astonishment.
“That really was acting?”
Camilla had warned them beforehand.
Even so, the way she had pressured the maids and attendants just now looked completely genuine.
Anyone would have believed she truly intended to kill someone.
If they hadn’t known the truth, they might have rushed out and begged her to stop.
“I once won the Grand Prize for a villain role, beating out the main lead.”
“The Grand Prize? What’s that?”
“You get awards for acting?”
Leaving the two baffled ghosts behind, Camilla picked up the glass of water on the table and took a sip.
“Miss Camilla.”
“Yes?”
Derin still looked unconvinced.
“Didn’t you already find the ring?”
She had just ordered the servants to retrieve it.
But in reality, hadn’t she already recovered it herself?
“I’m actually a very polite person.”
“Polite?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“If you’re a decent person, shouldn’t you always return what you’ve received?”
Camilla looked down at the hand holding the glass.
It was covered in scratches from rose thorns.
Anyone would think demons had infested that rose garden.
Especially if someone saw all those people besides Camilla rummaging through it.
You should all get called crazy too.
Receiving puzzled looks from both Derin and Perol, Camilla simply smiled warmly.
