“Where is that woman?”
Marsha turned pale and followed as Laslo rose to his feet.
“I have her locked in the laundry room. I told her not to come out until she finished all the work.”
“What? You locked her up?”
“How else was I supposed to discipline her? She wouldn’t even listen to my orders, let alone follow them.”
Marsha’s lips pouted stubbornly.
Without a word, Laslo strode out of the parlor and headed toward the laundry room.
Just then, two maids hovering near the lobby exchanged glances before quickly approaching him.
At the same time, Marsha shouted in a sharp voice.
“You two! How dare you obstruct the Count! The Count is busy, so get out of the way this instant!”
However, the two maids, Salia and Laila, stood their ground before Laslo. Despite being visibly terrified, they seemed resolved to see this through.
“M-My Lord! Edel is very sick! She’s been locked in the laundry room all day without a single meal! She has a high fever and…!”
“Lady Bohen gave Edel work that was impossible to finish! Edel even begged for just a half-day of rest, but Lady Bohen refused her even that, and then…”
At their words, Marsha’s expression turned venomous.
“Do you see this, My Lord? Just as I said. That woman is so cunning; she’s already lured two naive laundry maids into becoming her minions.”
But Laslo was no longer listening to Marsha.
“That woman is sick?”
At his question, Salia and Laila stepped closer, as if they had found a glimmer of hope.
“Her forehead was burning hot! Edel never complains about being tired, but today, she couldn’t even hide it—she was gasping for air.”
“It’s freezing today; if she stays soaked in cold water in that state, something terrible will happen, My Lord!”
Laslo bolted toward the laundry room.
The door was latched with a long wooden bar, and the room, visible through the window, was pitch black without even the flicker of a candle.
The laundry maids usually started work around 8:00 AM. And now, it was 7:00 PM.
‘Don’t tell me she’s been locked in there the whole time?’
He quickly pulled the bar away and threw the door open. It was too dark to see clearly, but at least there was no sound of activity inside.
“Bring me an oil lamp!”
At his shout, a servant who had been lingering nearby, perhaps out of curiosity, quickly brought one.
The scene inside the laundry room, illuminated by the light, was as grave as he had feared.
“Edel!”
Before Laslo could react, Salia and Laila let out shrill screams and rushed to the collapsed Edel.
“O-oh, no! Edel! Please, come to your senses! Edel!”
“She’s burning up! My Lord, if this continues, she’s going to die!”
Laslo, who had been staring at the scene in shock, snapped to his senses at Laila’s cry and rushed to her side.
He was horrified when he placed a hand on her pale neck. She had likely been lying on the cold, wet floor for a long time, yet as the maids had described, she felt as hot as if he were touching a flame.
“Marco! Call Marco!”
When someone quickly fetched Marco the coachman, Laslo ordered urgently.
“53 Weitzley Street, District 3 of Maze! Go there, tell them it’s by my command, and bring a doctor! Now!”
Marco didn’t say a word and ran off at once. Laslo then ordered Salia and Laila to take Edel to the second-floor guest room and change her into dry clothes.
Marsha watched the entire scene, feeling somewhat dazed.
‘What on earth is the Count talking about…?’
She had noticed that Edel was sick, but was it really to the point of collapse?
Even if it were, servants collapsed while working all the time—why was Laslo making such a fuss?
Marsha, finding his reaction completely ridiculous, furrowed her brow. It would have been better if the girl had just groveled at that point.
As the maids helped Edel away, Laslo’s demeanor turned menacing in an instant.
“Gather the servants. You have five minutes.”
He spoke in a voice so cold it sounded as if he might behead someone, and walked back toward the lobby.
Taken aback by the sudden shift in atmosphere, Marsha could only squawk out orders.
“G-gather everyone! Go to the lobby! Hurry!”
The maids who followed her ran to the quarters, pounding on doors to summon everyone. Fortunately, all the servants gathered in the lobby before Laslo’s patience ran out.
Since Laslo had never summoned them like this before, they were filled with clear confusion.
“I have…”
When Laslo spoke, the more observant ones realized this was a moment to hold even their breath.
“I have kept you all quite autonomous until now. I assumed you would handle your duties well. However…”
The lobby became so quiet you could hear the sound of eyes shifting.
“It seems everyone is far too immersed in their work? Especially considering you left a person to rot until she was half-dead.”
Someone swallowed hard, the sound audible in the silence.
Laslo’s cold, sharp gaze swept over the servants before landing on Marsha, who stood at the far left.
“Marsha.”
“Y-yes! My Lord.”
“Edel Lancaster… well, she isn’t a Lancaster anymore. Regardless, what did I tell you that woman’s status was?”
“That… she is… a captive, sir.”
“A captive? No, that’s incorrect.”
Laslo emphasized each word slowly and menacingly.
“She is a captive ‘bestowed upon me by His Majesty the Emperor.’ Do you not know what that implies?”
“…….”
“Didn’t you always boast that you have relatives in the Imperial Palace and that you are well-versed in all the laws?”
At that moment, the servants who didn’t follow Marsha secretly rejoiced. It was the day Marsha, who always acted superior and ignored them, finally got what was coming to her.
In contrast, Marsha stood frozen, unable to even reply, biting her lip as the situation spiraled far beyond her expectations.
Laslo stared her down and explained calmly.
“If an imperial gift is damaged, in severe cases, one can be charged with treason. That is why people are specifically sent as captives—because human life is fragile.”
At the mention of ‘treason,’ Marsha jumped in alarm and lifted her head.
“What? No, isn’t this a bit different? You told me to use her as a maid…!”
“I told you to use her as a maid, not to destroy her.”
“Her being sick is not my fault!”
Consumed by a sense of injustice, Marsha argued back to the end. Her voice was thick with resentment.
Laslo barely suppressed his murderous intent.
“You were the one who locked her in there to die while she was sick. Even if she had been healthy, she would have ended up in that state after being locked in the cold all day, so don’t try to claim ignorance. Unless you want me to do the same to you.”
Marsha’s face turned ghastly.
Adding to that, Laslo delivered the final blow.
“If that woman happens to die, you won’t be dragged to the police station; you’ll be taken by the Imperial Knights. I’ll leave it to your imagination what happens there. If you don’t want that, you’d better pray she remains safe.”
He looked over the silent servants and toyed with the ring on his right hand.
“You are all accomplices, so keep your mouths shut.”
A chill ran down the servants’ spines. That ring was the signet of the master of the mercenary guild , and those words meant that if Laslo wished, making a few people disappear would be no trouble at all.
As Laslo left the room, the servants exchanged glances before dispersing without a word. Only Marsha remained, standing there in utter disbelief.
‘How did it come to this?’
She had never, even for a second, imagined the situation would turn this way.
She hadn’t bothered to check how sick Edel was, so she hadn’t expected her to collapse, and she hadn’t known there was such a weight behind the label ‘Imperial gift,’ which she had dismissed as just a term for a slave.
Most of all, what shocked her was the look in the eyes of Laslo Krissus, whom she had disregarded as a mercenary ignoramus.
‘Something is wrong. That man… he doesn’t know nothing. He’s pretending not to.’
But she had no idea how much he truly knew.
Recalling the embezzlement she had been committing all this time, Marsha quickly calculated.
‘Even so, he couldn’t possibly know that I’m siphoning off the money. If he did, he wouldn’t have left me be all this time. So, I’ll just skim a little more and then make a run for it.’
Just as she was thinking this, she saw Marco rushing up to the second floor with a man carrying a large doctor’s bag, and her eyes grew vacant once again.
It dawned on her that all of her plans were only possible if Edel remained safe.
***
“Ugh….”
Feeling her hazy consciousness gradually sharpening, Edel turned her head to the side.
It felt as though she had been unconscious for a long time, but she had no idea how much time had actually passed.