Chapter 5 – Part 2

‘This can’t happen!’

“Olivia, don’t we have a lot of work to do? We need to investigate who caused this… and who ordered the theft of the bomb…”

Facing a death sentence wouldn’t be as terrifying as this. His body had already reacted, and Marsden was using all his strength to hold back.

“You’re right. I have a lot to do.”

“Right, right.”

‘So please, get off me.’ Marsden trembled like a captured deer as Olivia generously climbed off him.

Once Olivia got off his legs, Marsden pulled the blanket over himself from the waist down. Olivia snorted.

“I won’t pounce on you even if I get wild, so don’t worry.”

It would have been easier if her intentions were impure. Marsden leaned against the headboard, catching his breath.

“The storage room must be a mess. The shelves must have collapsed.”

“Yeah.”

Under normal circumstances, he would have listened attentively, but Marsden was drained from just a few minutes. Olivia felt a bit smug.

“I need to assess the situation. Although Kellic claims Harry Palmer gave the orders…”

Olivia’s playful demeanor vanished as she locked eyes with Marsden.

“Harry Palmer claims it was Gael Abyss.”

The hand urgently buttoning his shirt froze. The atmosphere around Marsden turned icy, a stark contrast to his Countier demeanor.

“Abyss?”

His voice was flat, devoid of any overt hatred or anger, which surprised Olivia even more.

“Harry Palmer said Kellic is a small fry planted by Gael Abyss. I checked, and it’s true. While I think Gael Abyss’s motive is questionable, and someone like Harry could easily shift the blame, it wouldn’t hurt to investigate.”

“So.”

Olivia sensed the cold air and took a step back, but Marsden closed the distance, his shirt still partially unbuttoned.

“Are you planning to go see Gael Abyss?”

Where did the giant deer from a moment ago go? Olivia narrowed her eyes.

“They say avoidance is the best defense, but to set things straight, I have to face him at least once more.”

“What if I don’t want you to?”

What if you don’t?

‘Man, he’s got a great body.’

Contemplating whether to pounce on him, Olivia shook herself back to reality.

“If you don’t like it, that’s unfortunate. You’ll just have to manage your feelings.”

“Managing feelings aside. Are you planning to go alone?”

This was unexpected. Marsden wasn’t even pretending to be his usual gentle self. Olivia observed the man, who looked ready to switch to confinement mode at any moment.

Is this jealousy? Possessiveness? Exclusivity? It felt more complex than that. What was the source of this blind protective instinct?

“I’d bring someone along, obviously. I’m not crazy enough to go alone.”

“Then I can come with you.”

“In all my blue youth, I instinctively feel like that’s not a good idea.”

“In all my red and tragic life, I instinctively feel it’s the only way, Buddy.”

Reasoning didn’t work. He seemed completely out of his mind.

“Fine, let’s say you come along. Are you going to follow me every time I go to meet him?”

“‘Every time’? You’re planning to keep meeting him?”

Olivia swallowed hard. When did this dynamic shift? Marsden’s large body was now effectively trapping her.

“Buddy.”

This was a misstep. Trying to tease him had awakened the beast’s instincts.

“Even before I realized my feelings, just seeing you standing next to another man made me want to snap his neck. How do you think I felt after realizing my feelings?”

It wasn’t a question. Her back was already against the bed.

“Buddy, even if it’s just a non-blood-related biological male, I’d want to cut him off, but Gael Abyss isn’t someone I’d be satisfied with just crushing.”

His words made her want to protect him even more. Olivia tried to calm him by holding his shoulders, but this action seemed to ignite him further.

“…Ah.”

“Kettlelin Forest.”

Marsden’s breath tickled her collarbone. Her body felt tingly.

“To get there, you have to pass through Abyss territory. Will you meet Gael Abyss every time you go?”

Her heart felt like it would burst. She feared Marsden could hear it and she didn’t want him to. She always wanted to prove she was unruffled in front of him.

“Should I strip, Buddy?”

“Huh?”

Olivia’s mind went blank at the abrupt comment.

“You told me to strip earlier. If I take off everything… if it eases your worries even a little…”

Marsden moved his hand to his belt.

“Will you take me with you?”

* * *

Olivia was not a pervert. But she wasn’t shameless enough to actually strip a patient.

She slapped Marsden on the forehead and shouted, agreeing reluctantly. Feeling intense frustration, Olivia covered Marsden with the blanket.

While she did want to hit him for not being upfront, she didn’t want him to grovel.

She wanted a sincere apology, not for him to endure humiliation. Not that he showed any shame…

“It’s all our fault. We should have been more thorough and prevented this.”

The knights acting as guards bowed their heads deeply. Olivia surveyed the wrecked storeroom.

The storeroom was in chaos, with shelves toppled like dominoes and items broken and scattered among the debris.

It wasn’t hard for Olivia to figure out what had happened. Her vassals, who pursued sorcerers like Marsden, informed her.

“This stone is a trap. Just a trick. If the Marchioness stood under it, they’d likely use magic… or spell, to injure or kill him.”

“So, they used some magic trickery to mess with me?”

“If they could use magic, that level of trickery is child’s play.”

“But we didn’t sense anything. Are you suggesting there’s a spy among us?”

Given Marsden’s injury, Olivia was on edge. Her vassal shook his head.

“There could be a spy, but it might be… they used the stone. It could have been set to collapse the shelves from a distance.”

In other words, someone with magic abilities used the stone as a trigger to start the collapse. Olivia and Marsden almost died because of that damned stone.

“Now I understand why Marsden freaks out about magic. I’m furious myself.”

The knights swallowed hard. They never wanted to end up in this prison. They didn’t want to be trapped for 127 years!

“Gather all the prisoners.”

“What?”

The knights snapped to attention. Olivia gave a serene smile.

“We can’t let them laze around in their cells. Let’s have a fun game of Mafia.”* * *

Olivia swore she was more committed than anyone to taking down Harry Palmer. She despised cowards who gaslighted the weak. However, she didn’t want to accuse him of crimes he hadn’t committed.

She wasn’t a hero drunk on self-righteousness or invoking some hollow sense of justice. She just hated any criminal who didn’t pay for their crimes.

If Harry Palmer hadn’t orchestrated the bomb theft, someone else would benefit when he was punished. To prevent that, Olivia needed to know if he had really done it.

‘The kingdom seems to accept this…’

The kingdom, already tense with the empire over this incident, seemed to buy the idea that Harry Palmer was a prime suspect. It was a widely known scandal that a mere commoner had ruined a Marchioness’s family.

Harry Palmer was already in ruins. Shake him up a bit more, and he might spill who he hired for the curse magic and how to break it.

“So, here I am, standing before you.”

The prisoners gathered in the prison courtyard shuddered at her cheerful voice. Most kept a wary eye on the knights overseeing them from the upper balconies.

“Now, you all have ears, so you must have heard about the recent events in the prison, right?”

Olivia scanned the crowd of prisoners. They were all desperately hiding their hands, fearing exposure.

That was because using the stone left marks on the hands. The cursed stone caused the skin and nails to redden and swell if handled directly.

Olivia had the knights gather anyone with swollen hands. Among them was Harry Palmer.

“I’ll give you five minutes. If you have any suspicions about someone or wish to confess, do it now. And don’t feel unjustly treated.

You are not innocent proletarians but rotten noble bastards. Precisely, those who’ve exploited the proletarians.”

Olivia clasped her hands behind her back, leisurely.

“Of course, to use that stone, one needs some magical power and the skill to conceal it. But remember, you will never again breathe the outside air and use that talent. You are not Les Misérables.”

Olivia tossed a revolver in front of the prisoners.

“What, what is this!?”

A vassal who had beaten a lord to death and embezzled for years jumped in shock. Olivia smiled sweetly.

‘Welcome to the Mafia game tutorial.’

“There are six bullets inside. If you refuse to answer, pull the trigger and pass it to the next person. Simple, right?”

“What are you saying?”

“This is absurd!”

“This is highly insulting!”

The prisoners began to stomp their feet, the clanking of chains echoing.

“Do you think so too, Mr. Palmer? That this is unfair?”

Palmer remained silent, his lively eyes now dull, staring at the ground. Those were Olivia’s eyes in the past.

“Your leader can’t answer. Pass the gun.”

Olivia instructed a prisoner to take the gun, causing him to tremble like a ball of jelly.

“What, what we did was really for the family…”

“Even Lord Marsden, the duke, said that while it’s possible to detect magic and measure its power, it endangers the person’s life. Isn’t it better to trust luck than to have your life drained?”

“Please, please, my lady… I have a wife and daughter…”

“Families… the lord you plunged into misery had families too. Do you think you’re the only one who matters?”

The prisoner’s mouth clamped shut. Olivia gestured toward the gun.

“Pick up the gun, aim at your head, and pull the trigger if you have nothing to say.”

She didn’t take the creation of the prison lightly. This life was now hers.

As expected, the prisoners began to waver. They kept glancing at Harry, indicating his former influence.

“The Marchioness is just the same.”

Harry smirked, looking at Olivia.

“You are particularly sensitive when it comes to the duke.”

“Indeed, if you knew I was sensitive, you should have acted wisely. Who told you to behave like an idiot?”

Olivia, unaffected, picked up the gun she had tossed on the ground.

“Whether the stone found in the storeroom was used to curse the duke or set up the shelves to collapse, or whether you orchestrated the bomb theft or not, your situation is truly pathetic.”

She aimed the revolver at Harry.

“I don’t know which chamber the bullet is in. First question.”

Her elegant finger pressed down on the revolver’s hammer.

“Who did you hire to curse Troy Marsden?”

This was the last straw. With Marsden injured, Olivia couldn’t back down any further.