The guards pulled a large pig down from the cart.

Already dead, the pig’s body had half-frozen solid, stiff and rigid from the cold.

After examining it, the village representative nodded with a devastated expression.

It was indeed the missing pig.

One of the guards spoke again.

“Is there perhaps a boy in this village around thirteen or fourteen years old?”

“There are a few.”

“And no household has reported a missing child?”

“A missing child? Everyone’s been in chaos over the pig, but… no, I haven’t heard anything like that.”

The guard’s expression hardened once more.

Together with the village representative, he entered the house.

Inside, the Count and Countess sat at the table.

After properly greeting them, the guard began reporting everything that had happened.

The pig had been discovered deep within a forest far from the village.

It was a place one could only reach after crossing the river and traveling quite a long distance along the road.

The location was too unnatural for the pig to have wandered there on its own.

But that was not the only problem.

“When we lifted the pig to move it, we found a pit beneath it. There was a child inside.”

The boy had been curled up inside the hole, half-conscious.

His body, exposed to the cold for too long, had become dangerously cold, and he could barely even open his eyes as he muttered incoherently.

The guards hurriedly carried the child away, summoned a physician, and administered emergency treatment.

They submerged him in hot water, and whenever he briefly regained consciousness, they forced warm water into him to drink.

The child repeatedly drifted in and out of consciousness.

By the time the guard left, the boy had lost consciousness once again.

“The physician said… there’s a greater chance he won’t wake up.”

Everyone’s expressions stiffened.

Edwin quickly glanced toward Richel before cutting the guard off.

“That’s enough. Stop talking about the child’s condition. We understand the situation already.”

Richel’s face had turned completely pale.

She was someone who hated seeing people die and hated seeing children die even more.

Edwin lightly grasped her arm.

“If it’s too difficult to hear, then go inside and rest. I can hear the rest of the report and tell you later. At least lie down for a while…”

“No, no. I’m fine… I’m fine. Has the child’s identity been confirmed yet?”

Richel forced the words out in a strained voice.

The guard lowered his head respectfully as he answered.

“The captain of the guard is personally investigating the matter right now. The other guards are going around the village checking boys around that age.”

At that moment, the village representative cautiously glanced around before walking over to one of the guards standing nearby and whispering something.

After listening, the guard gave a small nod.

Soon afterward, the village representative stepped forward before the Count and Countess.

“I think the child may have been from our village. There was also something rather suspicious that happened this morning…”

That morning, after discovering the pig had vanished, he had hastily organized search parties.

He had gone back and forth throughout the village several times gathering the men together, and each time, he kept running into the same woman.

She had been wandering around anxiously as though searching for something.

That woman belonged to one of the families set to be expelled because of the dike road incident.

The village representative had deliberately ignored her.

After all, he himself had been telling everyone not to associate with the families marked for expulsion.

“I don’t know whether she was searching for the child or not, but she definitely seemed frantic. And… the age of the boy from that household matches the age of the child who was found…”

That family had two children.

A thirteen-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl.

Once the explanation ended, a guard stepped outside and brought the woman inside.

Richel recognized her immediately.

She was the woman who had rushed onto the dike road during the riding incident.

The woman’s eyes were terribly swollen from crying.

“It’s true… my son disappeared. When I woke up this morning, he was gone… I don’t know why he was found in the forest. I-I don’t know why he froze there…”

The child discovered in the forest was indeed her son.

Once they compared the clothing and appearance, everything matched perfectly.

The woman suddenly burst into tears.

That was when the village representative, who had been standing to the side, abruptly interjected.

“Up until early winter, that boy was the one who cared for the village pig. But after the dike road incident, we stopped letting him handle it anymore.”

Even after that, however, the child had continued lingering around the pigsty from time to time, and many villagers had witnessed it themselves.

“I’m reluctant to say this, but for that boy, secretly taking the pig away would have been incredibly easy. The pig was especially attached to him, after all.”

“No! My son would never— Why would he ever do something like that? Why would he?!”

The woman screamed in protest.

The village representative shouted back just as fiercely.

“Because your family’s being expelled! He probably tried to steal it away! Or maybe he was angry because the villagers refused to listen to your family anymore, so he decided to ruin the New Year altogether!”

“No! That’s not true! It really isn’t!”

Looking desperately between Richel and Edwin, the woman cried out.

“We never thought anything like that. I-I didn’t even know where he was… hhk— I didn’t know where he was… I didn’t even know he was freezing to death…”

The woman collapsed onto the floor and began sobbing.

It was not simple crying anymore.

It sounded closer to a howl of agony.

Even the guards’ expressions hardened at the sound of it.

Then the village representative suddenly barked.

“Don’t be deceived by this! She’s only acting like this to gain sympathy! You remember what happened before, don’t you? When they rushed onto the dike road to provoke the Countess’s pity!”

His voice was firm, as though warning them never to fall for it.

“They deliberately brought all those children along back then too. They thought if they gained the Countess’s sympathy, maybe the expulsion order would be withdrawn.”

They had known Richel was soft-hearted toward children.

That was why they intentionally dragged the young children out there on that heavily snowing morning.

Shaking his head harshly, the representative continued.

“It’s the same thing now. Even if she cries like this, who knows what she’s truly thinking inside? Maybe she’s secretly hoping the child dies. It’d gain her sympathy and silence everyone at the same time—”

“Aaagh!”

The man crashed to the floor.

The woman had suddenly lunged at him.

She grabbed a fistful of the village representative’s hair and violently shook him.

Her tear-soaked eyes were bloodshot with rage.

Screaming hysterically, she shouted.

“What would you know?! You bastard! What do you know about watching your own child die?! You filthy piece of sh*t!”

“Aagh! Stop—!”

She clawed wildly at the man’s face.

The guards rushed forward and forcibly pulled the two apart.

Even while being dragged backward, the woman continued screaming curses at him.

“Drop dead! Acting all high and mighty because you’re the village representative! What the hell do you know before running your mouth like that?!”

Tears streamed endlessly from the woman’s wide, furious eyes.

Restrained by the guards, she continued struggling violently.

The village representative staggered back to his feet in disheveled ruin and pointed accusingly at her.

“Y-you crazy b*tch! You’re the one who’s insane! Countess, did you see that? That’s their true nature! Look at the way she behaves like some kind of demon!”

His face flushed red as he shouted.

“They’re the kind of people who’d freeze their own child to death if it earned them sympathy! They completely lost their minds after hearing they’d be expelled!”

The woman let out a shrill scream.

“Aaaah!”

Then her body suddenly went limp as she fainted.

Now looking triumphant, the village representative pointed at her again.

He continued ranting about how vicious she was, insisting that people that cruel would naturally drag children out into a snowstorm like that.

“That’s enough! Stop it and get out! Get all of them out!”

Richel suddenly shouted furiously.

Two guards dragged the unconscious woman and the village representative outside.

Even while leaving, the representative continued loudly talking about how cruel and heartless that family supposedly was.

Once the two people causing the commotion disappeared, silence fell over the room.

The guards exchanged uncertain glances, waiting for further orders.

But Richel simply sat there with a deathly pale face.

Edwin rose to his feet.

“Go investigate whether the village representative’s claims are true. I want to know how the villagers truly see the families marked for expulsion.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

“And separately speak with the families being expelled as well. I want to hear both sides.”

Truthfully, Edwin barely believed the village representative at all.

The story itself sounded plausible, but every word had carried an obvious intention behind it.

Rather than simply stating facts, the man seemed intent on steering people toward a conclusion he wanted.

Edwin had noticed that almost immediately.

‘If someone like him is the village representative, I doubt the village has been managed well.’

Whenever someone who spoke before thinking took a leadership position, conflict inevitably followed.

He remembered the hatred in the woman’s voice as she screamed curses at the representative.

“While you investigate, ask around about the village representative too. I want to know what kind of reputation he has.”

Once the orders were given, the guards all withdrew.

Edwin turned back toward Richel.

Her face was still pale.

He lowered himself onto one knee in front of her.

“Are you alright? Do you want to lie down somewhere for a while? It’ll take time before the guards finish investigating…”

“…That child.”

After saying those words, Richel hesitated for a long moment.

Little by little, her expression began to twist painfully.

Then, in a voice so strained it sounded almost submerged, she continued.

“What if… they really did it on purpose to gain my sympathy? Then this happened because of me…”

Her voice trembled more and more.

The image of the villagers charging onto the dike road resurfaced in her mind.

Along with the sight of those children shivering helplessly in the snow.

Her chest felt unbearably heavy.

And thinking about the child freezing to death beside the pig only made it worse.

To think it had all been done merely to provoke her pity, the thought was horrifying.

“Maybe I was too… wrapped up in my own self-satisfaction while handling things. If I’d just been cold from the beginning, none of this would’ve happened. But instead, I…”

Her emotions crumbled apart chaotically.

Regret, anxiety, self-blame, they all surged together into overwhelming self-loathing.

“I knew… I needed to keep my distance… but… it was just hard for me to act cruel and cold toward them. So…”

Her strength gave out, and tears finally spilled over.

She should never have acted that way in the first place.

If she hadn’t, maybe none of this would have happened.

Edwin hurriedly pulled her into his arms.