Resetting Lady - Chapter 147

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

Tap tap tap.

Footsteps echoed loudly.

Karen looked down at the floor. Had they cleaned blood here? If so, had they put someone in the basement? Even though Karen had stayed here, she hadn’t been with Raymond the entire time. He had done various things alone.

Could the strange sounds be coming from someone else being here?

She looked around. The hall was spacious, but behind the central staircase was a passageway leading down to the basement. Karen stood in front of the basement door. The basement was locked.

“…”

A fairy tale came to mind. A wife who secretly entered her husband’s room discovered corpses there. The wife who uncovered her husband’s secret was so shocked that she dropped the key, and the blood on the key could never be wiped clean no matter how hard she tried. And when the husband returned, he killed his wife.

‘Not me.’

Karen denied the story. It wasn’t her story. She was doing this because she wanted to understand Raymond. And Raymond hadn’t told her not to go or tested her. It was simply a matter of whether there was any need to know, a story that considered Karen’s safety above all.

The wife in the story didn’t know her husband. The husband didn’t know his wife either. He had chosen the wrong wife.

If it were her… she would willingly take up an axe alongside her husband to grasp love.

Clatter.

That’s when it happened. Karen put down the lock she had been touching.

The strange sounds grew increasingly louder. But they weren’t coming from the basement. They were from outside.

“…Damn.”

Karen hastily extinguished the flame of the lamp she was holding. It was to hide that someone was there. But the sounds didn’t stop.

Clatter clatter.

Karen bit her lip. And she resented Raymond.

She shouldn’t have been here alone after all. Raymond had made the wrong judgment.

She hastily grabbed her skirts and climbed up the stairs. She needed to get a gun. Her inability to sleep had been due to anxiety. And from the very day he disappeared, that anxiety began to become reality.

Bang!

“…Where are you going in such a hurry?”

A familiar voice came from behind. There was no need to check who it was. Verdick had broken down the door and entered with dozens of men.

“What is the meaning of this right now?”

Karen shouted in a sharp voice and glared at Verdick. Verdick entered without much concern for whatever Karen said.

“Don’t we have a lot to talk about?”

“What is this in the middle of the night! Get out right now!”

Of course, Verdick didn’t even pretend to listen to Karen’s words. Verdick pointed at Karen with his finger and commanded the men standing behind him.

“That woman called Karen… Cally, put her aside. Tie her up so she can’t move.”

“Understood.”

“…Let go of me! Coming into a house without its owner… you thugs!”

“Gag her mouth too.”

“Yes.”

The men approached the struggling Karen. Rough hands bound Karen’s body, and soon her mouth was also gagged with cloth. After forcibly seating Karen on the sofa in the drawing room, Verdick pointed at the people with his finger.

“You five start from the first floor, and Mr. Seiren, please search the upper floors one by one.”

“Should we search places like the attic and boiler room first?”

Why is that man here? Karen opened her mouth upon seeing the man’s face. She had seen that man’s face before. He was a subordinate of Prince Guiz. Were Verdick and Prince Guiz more deeply connected than she thought? Was Raymond certain about knowing all of this?

Verdick commanded him and his subordinates.

“No, it would be more efficient to first check the general rooms overall, then search the special rooms.”

“Do you have blueprints?”

“No.”

“We’ll have no choice but to search everything manually.”

The men scattered. Verdick also moved with them. Verdick Evans literally ransacked the house. Countless men searched every corner of the house. Would there be traces of Isella?

* * *

“It’s been a while… Well, only two days have passed.”

“…Mmph.”

“I really missed you during that time.”

Verdick looked down at Karen. It was still hard to think of her as anyone other than Karen. And the reason a young woman would defend a young man she was alone with was obvious.

His own daughter had also lost her senses over Raymond’s face. Young girls would fall head over heels as long as the surface was glossy, regardless of what was inside. He didn’t know how far she had fallen.

“Even if you don’t open your mouth, there’s a lot I can do. Stay quiet.”

Verdick looked down at Karen and then moved toward the stairs to search the house himself. First was the study. The men who had entered first were ransacking the inside. They were people sent by Prince Guiz. One of them saw Verdick and raised his hand to stop his steps.

“…Mr. Verdick Evans, you shouldn’t move.”

“What’s the problem?”

“Traps have been installed.”

“…What?”

Verdick stopped and looked down. Because it was night and dark, nothing was clearly visible. But when he squinted and looked slowly, he could see something glinting.

“What is this?”

“Wire saw. Well, it’s not like your leg would be cut off immediately, but it’s perfect for making you trip.”

“Why such pranks?”

“Maybe because it’s dangerous for a woman to be alone? We would have gotten hurt if we weren’t here.”

“…How fortunate.”

Verdick’s eyebrows twitched. Raymond really was dripping with suspicious behavior at every turn. Installing traps in his own manor – didn’t it look like he had made them anticipating their intrusion?

“Then can’t we move a bit faster?”

“Yes, since one wire saw has been found, we don’t know what might be where. That’s why we’re preventing the people working under Mr. Verdick from moving too.”

“We don’t know when Baron Seyertes will return.”

Verdick was anxious. He didn’t know when Raymond would return. He wanted to thoroughly search the house before Raymond came back. But Raymond had set up these pranks. It would become more dangerous when Raymond returned. But the man was carefree. Because it wasn’t his business. Verdick chewed his lips roughly.

* * *

Karen thought while tied up. There was nothing she could do right now.

Raymond had installed various traps, but he hadn’t prepared thoroughly either.

“He will never find his daughter. I’ve already confirmed everything.”

But that was when Karen wasn’t there.

Karen had died early several times while trying to kill Dulan. Raymond’s successful experiment and revenge came after that, didn’t it? His success was because Karen wasn’t in the house.

“Damn it!”

From afar, she could hear Verdick shouting in frustration.

Had he gotten caught in one of Raymond’s traps?

“When entering rooms, the study and kitchen and… I’ll organize it separately for you, so don’t enter those places.”

“What is this?”

“Pranks. I didn’t install anything too severe in case you might die, but it’s still dangerous.”

“…I understand.”

But those were extremely simple. In some rooms, needles would spring out to prick hands, and somewhere desks would fall over to crush feet, but there were no traps where guns would pop out or axes would clatter down.

Why had Raymond installed such things?

Verdick wasn’t a man to be underestimated.

He was persistent and experienced. He would catch evidence from even the most trivial places and return to take revenge on Karen again. He would find Raymond from Karen, and find Isella from Raymond.

And he would return to take revenge on them again. Karen thought of those fingernails. If the owner of those fingernails was Isella, had Raymond disposed of them properly? Had he finished everything perfectly?

‘Lord Raymond, you’re actually not good at cleaning.’

Karen let out a groan.

Raymond would speak confidently, but sometimes there were careless parts. He couldn’t perfectly handle alone what over fifty servants had managed. Inevitably, he swept and wiped focusing mainly on the big, noticeable parts. Like how she had discovered the fingernails, he might have made some mistakes.

‘But still, he should have disposed of the body properly.’

Karen was worried that Raymond might not have done it properly.

And she was also worried whether it was just Isella alone.

But what could she do right now?

Karen felt a bit pathetic being tied up tightly, but she also knew it wasn’t something she could do anything about.

More than twenty strong men had come. Whatever Raymond had done, subduing all those people was something only Raymond could do. No matter what she tried, what couldn’t be done couldn’t be done. Soon her thoughts turned to complaints about Raymond.

What on earth are you thinking?

“Karen Hyer!”

When Verdick Evans called her from above in an angry voice, her stomach churned.

It seemed Raymond had done something again.

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