Mad Rosetta - Chapter 102

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Rosette Gone Mad
Chapter 102
Loyalty and Collapse (3)
“If I am innocent, then I need only prove it, Mother.”
As I spoke, I held up a brooch transparent as pure crystal water, and Lianna’s brow furrowed as though caught off guard.
It had come undone the moment I pressed the mechanism of Memoraph, but that hardly mattered now.
– “Laurence Badam. You murdered my mother in the Study and set it ablaze. Do you remember where you struck her? …The neck and chest… I had to make Lianna… the Duchess…”
I cut the recording short.
At once, everyone fell into contemplative silence, exchanging glances with one another.
Lianna turned to face Laurence with a rough, betrayed expression, as though confronted by the impossible.
Since there was no need to show more, I fastened the brooch once again and spoke.
“It is an object capable of preserving what one sees. In other places, they call it a recording stone.”
“…”
“Beyond the matter of Mother’s involvement in the crime, it contains Laurence’s confession to setting the fire in Benern, and even the scene of him assaulting me in an attempt to murder me again.”
“…That, that is no proof this has not been fabricated—”
“Precisely.”
“…”
“I shall submit this as evidence to the Security Bureau. If Mother is truly innocent, will it not be revealed that this has been tampered with?”
Lianna’s face twisted with a mixture of bewilderment and despondency, and she finally bowed her head.
Laurence was dragged away by the Knights, repeating hollow murmurs of “No, no…”
Lianna too was bound and shuffled away with faltering steps.
…And you, watching all of this unfold from Rose Manor.
I gazed at Odette’s reflection in the small window pane.
With both hands pressed against the glass, wanting a closer view, you stared with hollow eyes—the gaze of one who had lost everything.
“…Hah. A perfect vantage point.”
I could not have been more satisfied with having secured the very spot from which all calamity would be most visible.
One day remained until Odette’s house arrest would end.
With her despair etched upon my eyes, I left the Garden with the support of those around me.
* * *
Three days had passed since I handed Laurence and Lianna over to the Security Bureau.
Benatra, where incidents erupted with relentless frequency.
Such was the state of our Household as the world spoke of it.
It was no mere embarrassment or disgrace—nothing so simple—and the newspapers issued in succession were deafening in their clamor.
A steward, scarcely distinguishable from a vassal, had murdered the former Duchess and concealed it through arson, feigning an accident.
‘The list of charges was endless.’
And beyond that, an attempted murder of the direct heir, a noble lady, had been added to the tally…
Nobility society was, in a word, in absolute chaos.
“There has never been a spectacle quite this sordid.”
I cast the newspaper aside from my bed as though there was nothing more worth seeing.
As both a witness and victim, my testimony had been essential, and I had endured interrogation by the Security Bureau throughout the morning, so I felt somewhat fatigued.
The video recorded in the Memoraph ended with Lawrence’s eerie expression as he strangled my neck. The investigators’ faces grew grave upon witnessing it.
Beyond that, Reina and Penny, who had witnessed the situation at the time, were also interrogated, and I submitted the attendance records of the servants to demonstrate that Lawrence’s alibi on the day of the Benern fire was unclear.
This included the information I had received from Sergio.
‘Sergio’s materials won’t be recognized as evidence, but… they should still prove helpful in the investigation.’
Those days were nothing short of chaotic.
“Lady, I’ll apply the medicine for you.”
Penny entered the bedroom and placed the ointments for the bruises and abrasions on the table with practiced ease.
The deep shadow cast across her face made me realize how startled and frightened she must have been by what the Butler had done.
“…Sob.”
“…Oh dear. You’ve used up all my handkerchiefs, haven’t you?”
I had cried this morning, yesterday, and the day before that.
The moment I unwound the scarf I had been wearing, Penny’s eyes welled up again with tears.
‘This is getting rather severe.’
As I gently dabbed Penny’s eyes with a handkerchief, I gazed at my neck reflected in the mirror on the table.
The bruises, which resembled Lawrence’s fingerprints, were scattered irregularly in shades of purple and blue.
On the first day, my eyes had been bloodshot as well, and my neck had swollen considerably. This was merely what remained after some of the swelling had subsided.
Not only had Penny witnessed the entire ordeal firsthand, but she had also been shoved violently when she tried to stop Lawrence….
Her mind and spirit were in a precarious state.
“Sniff, I’ll apply the medicine now. You need to stop crying.”
“Sob, sob…. I really thought you were going to die. I, I….”
“Oh dear….”
“I’m so, so anxious. I’m terrified I can’t bear it, Lady….”
Seeing no sign of her tears abating anytime soon, I simply placed the handkerchief in Penny’s hands.
I fully understood her feelings as she blew her nose and struggled through her sobs to stop the tears.
Lawrence, who had always greeted me with warm, encouraging smiles whenever we met.
Diligent, kind.
The revelation that he—someone who had embraced so many and earned their trust—was an assassin had plunged the other servants of the Duke’s Estate into profound shock and despair.
But what could be done?
Since the fault lay with him, I could only hope that with time, everyone would gradually find stability.
“By the way, did you send the letters I gave you?”
“Uh…. Yes, yes. The ones you wrote to the Kingdom of Terkikan and to Montague Estate, right? I sent them at noon.”
“Good, well done. When Fordicus arrives, show him in immediately.”
“….”
“You’re not answering.”
“…Yes, I will. A request for a visit had already come in anyway.”
Penny, with tears still glistening in her eyes and her lips pouting, was so endearing that I couldn’t help but be exasperated.
I suspected she must have taken quite a dislike to him, though the Duke’s Estate’s current security—brutally severe as it was—had certainly played a part.
‘The checkpoint is practically at border-level intensity…. Not that I didn’t anticipate it.’
My Father, who had been away on official business, returned to the Manor and heard everything immediately, after which he fell silent for some time.
He looked as though he were in a daze, or as if he were consumed by a sense of futility….
To my eyes, he appeared as nothing more than a man whose world had crumbled.
With the Duke’s Estate’s entry and exit strictly controlled, many guards—including Knight Demish—began frequenting my room and Odette’s room.
‘…If I don’t see him soon, he’ll worry himself sick.’
Every time I recalled Sing’s ashen complexion, a wave of guilt washed over me.
I had dragged him to the garden after capturing Lianna as I wished, only to show him the sight of myself drenched in blood—it was only natural he would feel this way.
The security was so stringent during all this that even obtaining permission for a brief visit proved difficult, making the situation all the more frustrating.
“To be honest…. I thought you would follow the Duke as well, Lady. I’m just so relieved you didn’t.”
“…Yes.”
As I lay comfortably, Penny applied salve while speaking.
Father had departed early this morning for Jedo.
To visit Lawrence, who was being held in the Security Bureau.
Had I been my usual self, I would naturally have accompanied Father, so I laughed softly at Penny’s concern.
“What? Were you afraid I’d go out in this condition?”
“Yes.”
“…Ah, yes. I’m sorry to be such a troublesome mistress.”
“Hehe…. But it really was unexpected. May I ask why you didn’t go?”
This girl—she won’t accept a simple denial.
I spoke with a hint of petulance at her persistence, then squeezed my eyes shut.
“If I went gallivanting about in this state, people might start saying it’s not as serious as it looks, wouldn’t they?”
“…Ah.”
“Of course, the Butler’s crimes are grave enough that the outcome is predictable. But the fact that it was attempted murder must remain unchanged this time.”
“R-right. Just thinking about that time….”
“…Besides, Father may have many questions he wishes to ask, but I do not.”
That’s right. I no longer cared about that man’s circumstances.
I had suspected him for a long time and even investigated him thoroughly.
Of course, there were certainly facts I didn’t know, but hearing them one by one would only disturb my peace of mind.
That’s why I was all the more concerned about Father, who had been shocked by such sudden news.
I recalled Father visiting me in the middle of the night on the day I handed over the captured Lawrence and Lianna to the Security Bureau.
– “…How long have you known?”
– “….”
– “When exactly…. You’ve been carrying such a heavy burden alone, Coco….”
Father didn’t merely suffer in silence—he collapsed before me.
Such overwhelming rage transformed into self-reproach, and the confusion born of incomprehensible betrayal weighed heavier than dwelling on loss once more.
Looking at Father’s grief-stricken face, unable to shed even a single tear despite the years that had passed….
I had to truly comprehend how indelible a wound they had inflicted upon us.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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