Chapter 10.3

“Let go…! I said let go!”

A sharp voice rang out in the hallway of Bailey Manor. Dragged by the knights, Melosi struggled fiercely.

“It hurts, I said it hurts!”

Her arm, gripped so tightly, felt like it would be pulled out of its socket. No matter how hard she tried to break free, she couldn’t escape.

“Ignore whatever that girl says. If you listen to even a single word, you’ll be severely punished.”

The suffering of a powerless young lady was nothing compared to the orders of the Earl, the head of the house.

“Please, just… ugh…!”

Dragged all the way to her room, Melosi fell to the floor, exhausted. Without shedding a single tear, she looked up at the Earl with bloodshot eyes.

“…Are you insane, Father?”

“You’re the crazy one.”

The Earl clicked his tongue in disbelief and walked past the knights to stand before Melosi.

“Was it really so hard to just behave like a pretty flower?”

With a cold gaze, the Earl scanned Melosi’s face.

“Foolish child. If I’d known you’d act so stupid, I never would have brought you here. You’re absolutely useless!”

“…”

Melosi’s face hardened as she looked up from the floor. After a brief silence, she got up and muttered,

“…You’ll regret this. You’ll definitely regret treating me like this.”

“Ha! Regret?”

But the Earl only scoffed, looking down at her.

From the moment he decided to bring back the daughter he’d once exiled with her mother, the Earl wanted only one thing from her.

No trouble, just fulfill her value on the marriage market. That was the only reason he brought her, and if she couldn’t do her job, she was worthless.

But today, Melosi Bailey finally crossed the line.

“To think you’d go crazy over a man and sneak around, spying on the Duke’s plans like a rat. Did you really think you’d get away with it?”

“So what am I supposed to do?”

A murderous glint appeared in Melosi’s pale blue eyes as she stared straight at the Earl.

“You dragged me back from living like a dead mouse and forced me into an engagement! Now my fiancé is gone and you expect me to just wait around forever?”

“…What?”

“Why should I?”

Melosi gave a hollow laugh and slowly approached him.

“Just as I was a useful product to you, Kaiden Bannon was the only lifeline to get me out from under a wretched father. It’s not just about a man…!”

The startled knights tried to restrain her, but Melosi raised her hand to block them.

Her resentful gaze returned to the Earl.

“It’s all your fault I became like this. If you didn’t want things to go wrong, you could have explained things properly at least once. I’m just as much your child as your other sons, yet all you ever told me was to keep quiet…!”

At that moment—

“…I can’t believe what I’m hearing. You really do talk just as vulgarly as your mother.”

A large hand flew toward Melosi’s cheek.

Smack!

“Melosi Bailey, you’re nothing but my property—no more, no less.”

Melosi’s eyes trembled as she straightened her head.

“F-Father, right now…”

“Do I really have to go this far for you to know your place? If you were a son, maybe things would be different. But I’ve never wanted a daughter, not even once. And what? The same child?”

His gaze, full of contempt, pierced Melosi’s face.

“If only you’d managed to win Young Master Bannon’s heart, I’d have been proud of you! But you couldn’t even win over your fiancé, so what makes you think you have anything to say? Now everyone knows. You’ve been completely pushed aside by Brienne Ford in Young Master Bannon’s heart.”

“…”

“You’re a disgrace to the family. Such a useless girl.”

Clicking his tongue, the Earl turned away from Melosi, who was clutching her cheek.

“From this moment on, do not let this girl take a single step out of her room. Feed her twice a day—only water and bread.”

Leaving behind this harsh punishment, the Earl walked away without a hint of guilt. The knights, watching him, left the room, and with a click, the door was locked tightly behind Melosi, who stood alone.

It was the beginning of a prison-like life.

* * *

“So, Third Prince, you think this incident is also the work of Hamartia?”

In the emergency meeting room of Roeta Palace, the first prince asked solemnly as he listened to Garzen.

After the Academy’s entrance ceremony accident, the investigation team discovered someone had planted explosives in the library’s rare book section. With the royal family suddenly facing a crisis, they were gathered to discuss countermeasures.

“As you claim, this crime targeted rare books, not people. But I’d like you to clearly explain the grounds for your theory.”

Garzen sighed, sounding frustrated, and lifted a document in response to the first prince.

“Didn’t you see the article here, printed in huge letters? Do you really need more explanation? The motive is so obvious.”

Garzen’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he tapped the scrapbook Lusell had prepared.

After the incident, newspapers were filled with provocative articles discussing the similarities between this case and Hamartia’s crimes.

The basis was this:

The Demekia Temple had once burned books about the Goddess of Vengeance, Riela. Hamartia always used Riela’s vengeance as a justification for their actions against Demekia Temple.

Therefore, burning the library where the temple’s rare books were kept must be Hamartia’s revenge.

Previously unknown crimes by Hamartia were being re-examined, lending weight to this theory.

The nobles were furious, while the reaction among commoners was more mixed.

It was true that the lost rare books were national treasures, but only the privileged could access that knowledge—and Hamartia was, after all, made up solely of commoners, a weak group.

The Second Prince glanced at an article and shook his head.

“Sorry, Third Prince, but the great Royal Family of Roeta isn’t swayed by the cheap words of the press. All those stories the public likes to gossip about are just conspiracy theories.”

“…Conspiracy theories?”

Garzen, with a fierce smile, looked around at the princes and spoke.

“If you knew what I saw when I went out in disguise yesterday, none of you here would be saying that.”

The Second Prince narrowed his eyes, as if asking what he meant, and Garzen dropped a document onto the table.

“In the Peterman slums, Hamartia is being praised as true revolutionaries. They’re calling this the real revolution for justice in our era. Do you really think those voices will stay only in the slums?”

Now that things had escalated this far, if the Royal Family failed to stop Hamartia’s actions, their authority would truly be in danger.

Until now, the Royal Family had acted as if Hamartia posed no threat whatsoever, but since the Academy explosion, the situation had changed.

Realizing that Garzen had pointed this out precisely, the First Prince nodded.

“If that’s true, then I have no reason not to agree with the Third Prince this time. What do the rest of you think?”

“…”

After a brief silence, the princes exchanged glances and one by one nodded in agreement with Garzen’s opinion.

The only one to scoff at the easy result was the Second Prince, Perian.

“Well, seeing how things are going, our little brother must have prepared very thoroughly. To unite brothers who fight like cats and dogs every day—what magic! Sometimes you seem like a different person.”

The Second Prince shrugged and looked at Lusell, who was standing quietly behind Garzen.

“Anyway, good job. I don’t know whose head wrote that script…”

Lusell, who had been recording the flow of the meeting, flinched and stopped writing for a moment.

Amused, the Second Prince smiled at Lusell, who looked up in surprise, then turned his gaze back to Garzen.

“Anyway, since everyone agrees with the Third Prince, I don’t need to say anything more. So I’ll cast my precious vote for that conspiracy theory as well.”

“Thank you for giving me that precious vote.”

Garzen smiled broadly, having achieved the unanimous approval he wanted, and took his hand off the documents. As the Second Prince had pointed out, he was reading the script Lusell had prepared, but he was more serious about this meeting than ever before.

Hamartia.

Who are they following orders from to do these things?

Many members of Hamartia had been captured and interrogated, but none had ever revealed who their leader or backer was. In fact, even they seemed not to know who was giving the orders.

The only person ever identified in connection with them was Derrick Harrington.

He needed to investigate that man to find a clue, but since Derrick was missing, Garzen was at his wit’s end.

He frowned, thinking of Brienne.