The Status Effect Count - Chapter 21

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

Abnormal Condition Earl — Episode 021
Lady Ecquem forced a smile, as if at ease, but cold sweat trickled down her spine.
“Not just you—I’ve spotted several familiar faces. I simply chose not to acknowledge them until now.”
Belentse’s icy gaze swept across the retinue standing behind Dern, the Baron.
Those who had been strutting about until moments before now averted their eyes or bowed their heads.
It was Baron Dern who stepped in between them.
“I asked them to come!”
“…You did, my lord?”
“I did. My residence in the Capital sits empty most of the time, so I requested company from those I trust. Surely you know that Lady Ecquem was raised in this very house. That is precisely why I could place my confidence in her.”
Regardless of the truth, he stood firmly on Lady Ecquem’s side.
‘We are in the same boat.’
Baron Dern, whom no one in Preneta acknowledged as legitimate, could muster such audacity solely because Lady Ecquem had elevated him to the rank of a respectable nobleman.
His rank as baron carried little weight, even in remote provinces.
Especially after squandering even his estate at the gambling table, he had become accustomed to contempt even from commoners who held no title at all.
But everything changed once he came to know Lady Ecquem.
‘While you draw their attention, I shall find the evidence. She has committed such appalling deeds that proof will undoubtedly remain.’
She had then transformed him into a quite distinguished nobleman.
When Lady Ecquem mobilized her entire network and even provided him with servants and attendants, the façade became convincing.
If only he could uncover that evidence!
If only he could strip away the current Earl of Preneta’s glittering image of heroism!
And if he alone could claim that credit!
Then perhaps—no, surely—it would be he who received Preneta’s castle from the Emperor this time.
The baron, lost in hollow dreams, remained utterly oblivious to how threadbare Lady Ecquem’s plan truly was.
Nor did he grasp the immense authority that came with a Title granted directly by the Emperor himself.
Instead, he drew only confidence from the strange atmosphere pervading Preneta’s residence and the Earl’s behavior of never appearing despite endless commotion throughout the day.
‘That celebrated hero has fallen ill. Perhaps he is even dead already.’
If so, the matter became far simpler.
These wretched servants had killed their own master and even hidden the deed.
Baron Dern reclined in the seat of honor, affecting an air of superiority.
“Is that truly such a serious matter? Besides, Lady Ecquem acted solely upon my request, so she bears no connection to this affair whatsoever.”
“Indeed, my lord.”
“Quite right.”
Lady Ecquem smoothly received his falsehood as though it were the plainest truth.
“Since your instructions did not reach me, I took it upon myself to come.”
Lady Ecquem’s gaze turned to the servants standing behind her.
“It is my fault for leaving these inexperienced children behind. Perhaps they still require my guidance, even now.”
“You have no right to—”
“Quite so. Even though I have departed, I served this house for so long that this chaos troubles me greatly.”
Dern clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
Not a soul in the room was unaware that whatever he said, Baron Dern would openly take Lady Ecquem’s side.
Secure in her absolute ally’s support, Lady Ecquem opened her mouth.
“It was then that I discovered this girl engaging in something suspicious. She was clearly attempting to harm the Earl and cast a Curse upon the residence!”
Her long finger pointed directly at Anne. It was a bold accusation.
So confident was her tone that every eye in the room snapped toward Anne in an instant.
“That’s not true! I did no such thing!”
Anne shook both hands emphatically in denial.
Her arms trembled, but if she lost focus now, misunderstanding was all but certain.
Anne raised her head sharply and spoke with deliberate clarity.
“I simply woke up hungry and was going to the Kitchen. Then I heard a strange sound coming from the Western Corridor…”
“How shameless—telling such a brazen lie without even wetting your lips first!”
Lady Ecquem flew into a fury.
She moved so violently that the tea table rattled.
“Speak truthfully! You did place that Curse on this residence, didn’t you? All to endanger the Earl’s life!”
“That’s not—that’s not true!”
Anne shook her head vigorously. But Lady Ecquem seemed determined not to listen.
“Compose yourself, please. Lady Ecquem.”
Belentse stepped between Anne and the fiercely pressing Lady Ecquem.
“Tell me what this strange occurrence was that you witnessed. What exactly did you see?”
“The matter was so terrifying that I cannot bring myself to speak of it aloud.”
Lady Ecquem pressed her lips shut tightly—a complete reversal from the vicious pressing she had been doing moments before.
Belentse let out a breath tinged with disbelief.
“Then how on earth am I supposed to believe that this child committed such suspicious acts?”
“This wretched girl…….”
Ecquem’s hand darted toward Ann’s head.
“Ahhh!”
Rough fingers seized her by the hair and yanked her upward.
“Look here!”
The strands cascading through the woman’s grip shone with a distinct, unmistakable black gleam even beneath the murky light.
“The evidence is right here! She’s a filthy Netherian!”
Ecquem’s voice rang out with utter conviction.
“Wherever she goes, she spreads curses like the demon she is!”
Every eye fixed upon Ann’s hair—Dern’s company, the servants, even Belentse herself.
As Ann’s face flushed and she lowered her gaze, Ecquem smiled with cruel satisfaction.
“You all know what Netherians are, don’t you?”
Netherians were the people who gathered in Nether, a village at the edge of the continent.
Their eyes and hair were uniformly dark as pitch.
Long ago, they had coexisted with the Empire’s people, but the Empire began to shun them once the dark-haired humans’ atrocities came to light.
They cursed others into illness. They poisoned innocents into madness.
Worse still, they colluded with the Demon Race, offering children as sacrifices.
When the truth emerged, the entire Empire burned with rage.
Those whom they had taken for merely strange-looking neighbors were revealed as demon-worshipping traitors to a man.
When the Empire’s people, invoking divine power, drove the black-haired humans out, they fled across the continent to Nether, the village at land’s end.
Though centuries had passed, the Empire’s people never forgot that betrayal.
All those with black hair and black eyes were demons—that was simply fact.
‘But I’m not.’
Ann’s teeth clenched.
She had never been drawn to anything demonic. She had never wished death or curses upon anyone.
Back in the countryside where she lived, tales of Netherians had always been dismissed as threadbare old folklore.
Commanding demons, living alone in forests, brewing strange potions—the stuff of fairy-tale villains, nothing more.
Since coming to the Capital, she’d felt the sting of suspicious glances, but never before had anyone spoken such nonsense so openly.
Yet these people clung to those rumors as absolute truth.
‘What do I do?’
Even the Mysterious Tray was useless in this moment.
If word of the suspicious tray and her inventory ability leaked out, she would be branded a true demon-worshipper and dragged away.
Her black hair alone had become all the evidence they needed.
And still Ecquem pressed on.
“Clearly, the Marquis has only grown sicker since this girl arrived.”
The servants who had fled with the Marquis’s household and now mingled among Dern’s company murmured in agreement.
“That’s true.”
“Didn’t she show up about a month ago?”
Buoyed by the crowd’s assent, Ecquem’s confidence swelled and she smiled sweetly.
“The Head Chambermaid personally hired this girl—a rootless Netherian with no references whatsoever.”
……
In that moment, Ann understood.
Ecquem’s true target was not Ann herself.
It was Belentse, who had hired her.
Turning toward Belentse, who sat with perfect composure, Ecquem’s voice dripped with mockery.
“Why did you hire a Netherian when no one else would accept her, Belentse? Because she’s a witch skilled in curses?”
For all her derision, Belentse answered without the slightest tremor.
“There were no other applicants, and we were short-staffed.”
“That cannot be. You placed that witch at the Marquis’s side to kill him with her curses.”

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