The duke and the butler looked at each other.
“George...is a dead man.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How, after sixteen years of living with his sister, could that imbecile not understand something so simple?”
George had to have seen that Rachel was running wild, so what was he thinking?
If Rachel’s anger toward her brother were to explode, the duke had no intention of defending his son and heir. That could get him caught in the crossfire. The duke valued his own hide far more than that of the idiot son who had ruined everything.
As the duke looked up at the ceiling and took a puff from his pipe, there was a ruckus in the hall, and his wife raced into the room.
“Oh, Dan!”
“Iseria!”
The duke hurried to his feet as his stumbling wife leapt into his arms.
“It’s Rachel, she...she’s...”
“I know. I was just listening to the reports. Try to be strong!”
The duchess had completely lost her head, and she continued shouting with tears in her eyes.
“But, darling! If she let them escort her away...then she plans to kill him! The future of our house and His Majesty’s life are all about to shatter!”
“It’s going to be fine! Rachel is seventeen now. She’s not a child. She’s old enough to make adult decisions.”
The duke tried to console his sobbing wife with words he didn’t believe. However, she took no comfort in them.
“Dan, you don’t understand. When she was just a little girl, I caught her singing ‘Lizzie Borden’ while gleefully swinging an ax!”
“Calm yourself, Iseria! It’s fine. It’s going to be fine! Rachel has grown into a proper young lady in the last ten years. These days, we don’t have to worry about her bludgeoning His Highness to death with a blunt instrument. I’m sure she’ll use hard-to-prosecute methods to destroy his psyche!”
“Really? Is Rachel really going to be okay? She might well burn the capital to the ground to kill him.”
“Believe in your daughter, Iseria. She is smart and well educated. She’d never do something stupid that would take her down with him. I’m sure she’ll employ methods that leave no trace to absolutely demolish him.”
What was his daughter thinking right now? Was he sure she wouldn’t resort to a weapon? The duke had no idea. He didn’t even know how to resolve this situation. All he could do at this juncture was sigh.
A number of servants had gathered around the two of them, but they’d all been with the family far too long to comment on the current situation.
“Pardon me.”
As the duke was rubbing his wife’s back comfortingly, a person with a voice so utterly calm it seemed out of place in this nervous excitement sought permission to enter the room.
Looking to see who it was, the duke found Rachel’s personal maid and childhood friend, Sofia, bowing her head.
“Oh, Sofia. Your timing is perfect. Have you heard about Rachel?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“I will be heading to the government office to lodge an immediate complaint. You will be accompanying me, so get ready. You’ll bring Rachel the things she’ll need while she’s in prison. If they refuse, use my name to make them let you through.”
Whatever else they were going to do, they needed to ensure that Rachel, who had been taken from the party straight to the dungeon, had a change of clothes and other necessities. He thought it would be fastest to have Sofia, who knew Rachel best, make the preparations.
However, Sofia said, “No, that is already taken care of.”
“You’re already prepared? I should have expected no less from you.”
“Yes. The preparations have been made, and her things have already been delivered.”
“I see. You work fast. Huh? Already delivered?”
When he looked at Sofia, who’d just nonchalantly said something he couldn’t possibly ignore, the ashen-haired girl and the two other maids behind her nodded.
“The young mistress discovered in advance that her engagement was to end tonight. That is why, with her direction, we have already prepared the food and necessities that she will need for the next three months and delivered them to the dungeon.”
Unlike Rachel, who could show a surprising amount of expression in private, Sofia wore a steel mask. She delivered shocking facts as if she were merely relating common sense without so much as batting an eyelash.
“Huh?” the duke murmured. All sorts of doubts raced through his mind as he pressed a hand to his forehead. “H-Hold on. She knew in advance? Why would Rachel deliberately refrain from preventing it? And I know it’s only for one person, but how did you carry enough supplies to live on for three months into the castle?”
“She was unsure if he would truly go through with it,” Sofia explained, “but when she learned of his plans to scrap the engagement, the young mistress said, ‘So you’re telling me I can be rid of that idiot in a way that leaves him responsible for it, and I get a vacation? Splendid!’”
Sofia’s tone had clearly said, “Why ask something so obvious?”
The duke sighed. “Rachel...”
“Also, ever since her engagement to the prince was decided, we, the Black Cats of the Dark Night, have been inserting ourselves in key positions at the palace. As long as we know in advance that an event like this is coming, our forces can easily sneak in supplies under the guise of their official duties.”
“Rachel, what exactly are you trying to do?!”
The duke was relieved to learn that his daughter was in a more even state of mind than he’d feared. But, at the same time, he shuddered with terror as he realized that his daughter’s darkness ran deeper than he’d ever suspected.
How was there an intelligence organization operating out of his house without his knowing? And how were they so ingrained in the palace that they had free rein to bring in carts full of supplies? That was more than what the spy networks of some nations could manage. If Rachel had taken it this far, it would be easy for her to assassinate one little prince, right?
Thoughts like these raced through the duke’s head. He decided to give up on thinking.
“Anyway, I’ll go to the government office and lodge that complaint,” he said.
“Take care,” Sofia called after him.