# 74
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Theodora frowned as she looked into the cellar in the detached palace.
“Fuck, I hope this satisfies him.”
She hoped he would calm down and cooperate in escaping now that he got what he wanted.
'There's no more time.'
It was difficult to deal with someone higher in rank than her. But she didn't show it, instead she smiled sweetly at the idiots waiting for her.
"Great job, everyone. I know it was hard, but you did it well."
“No, no, Mrs. Byrne!”
The maids who had kidnapped Ariana smiled happily in response to her smile.
At first, they thought that this woman would be protected by the Duke, which would mean losing their chance for promotion.
But for the sake of a “real lady,” knocking Ariana Aberdeen unconscious and hiding her in a laundry basket wasn’t a big deal.
They did not feel guilty for secretly distributing “love letters to the princess” and blaming Emily. It was all for the fair lady.
“I will make sure to protect you from punishment,” Theodora said as if she were doing a favor, “so don’t worry.”
“Yes, ma'am!”
“Now, come back quickly. Before the Duke knows.”
She sent them away with a smiling face, but as soon as they left, her face turned into a fierce expression.
“Ha, what a lack of intelligence.”
These lowlifes are beyond repair... Theodora laughed sarcastically and shook her head.
Just a simple temptation made them think of harming Nabila senessly.
'We should get rid of them too.'
The maids' lives meant nothing, and her father would take care of replacing them.
Now, she had to quickly evacuate the place and head to the ship prepared at Miller Port to escape.
But a muffled sound and screaming from the cellar made Theodora's ears perk up.
'Oh my God.'
Does he crush Ariana's face?
Despite the disgust, there was a strange desire to see a crushed insect, so Theodora moved quietly towards the cellar.
She hoped that the lowly woman who had stolen her place this time would collapse in the mud.
'But that scream wasn't a woman's voice...'
Theodora suddenly stopped with a strange feeling of danger, but at that moment, a burning pain shot through her at the back of her neck, and her vision went white.
"Yes …!"
* * *
In beautiful resorts, small and large crimes abound.
Resources are limited, and petty theft and drunken crimes are common...
Therefore, the disappearance of maids who were not from the area was a secondary matter to the Port Elisia police.
When Duke Clifford suddenly returned and asked, “What’s going on?”, a cold sweat broke out internally.
It was clear that upsetting someone who controlled the region's business would cause major problems.
“Nothing, sir.”
Even the elderly police chief came to confront the Duke. They tried to emphasize that everything was under control, hoping to calm things down.
“It is unlikely that the maids will disappear in the same place. Wait a moment and they will appear.”
“Fifteen have disappeared by now, isn’t it too late to call it nothing?”
“A…”
“Isn't it?”
The police chief couldn't say "no" before Kenneth's dry eyes.
“But that place is the Bayern family’s separate palace… We can’t easily interfere…”
“But if the Duke insists, we can inspect quickly.”
He couldn't complain about the noise so late.
The Duke was clearly in a bad mood. For Kenneth, the disappearance of the maids was not the problem, but rather the discomfort caused by Ariana.
'I thought she was ing for her life.'
But her request to Roger was an investigation.
If it had been someone else, they would have said that sending Ariana to monitor Theodora was “jealousy.” But Kenneth, no matter how much he despised her, knew that wasn't true.
'If Ariana wanted something, she would have brought in a second wife.'
“We will send an inspection team immediately,” the police chief said, calmly putting on his hat. “Don’t worry, sir.”
“No, I will go with you.”
"What? The Duke himf...?"
Kenneth frowned slightly at the hesitant party.
The first reason was that the situation seemed as if they would handle the matter randomly if there was no supervision.
The second reason...
'Exclusively the Bayern family mansion.'
Considering the Byrne family's assistance to him, a search at this time with the police was extremely rude. But he suddenly remembered that Count Bayern had been strangely calm during the meeting with the Emperor.
‘He was very talkative at the cruise ship banquet.’
The change of members of the House of Lords was also not surprising, but the media in the capital changing so quickly during his absence was suspicious.
'Someone to give advice to the Emperor.'
But after Kenneth destroyed the nobles loyal to the Emperor, there were not many who would give such advice.
…Unless they seem to be allied with the Clifford family.
Knock-! Knock-! His bad habit of tapping on the chair arm returned.
'Could it be the Bayern family...'
Assumptions always betray, but why do the maids disappear into the Byrne family mansion?
Unless there's something to hide...
His fingers stopped tapping on the arm of the chair.
He knew it was a ridiculous idea.
But after the accident that shook his life, perhaps because of a trait that had become prominent, he felt a compulsion to confirm anything suspicious with his eyes.
Kenneth smiled lopsidedly at the party observing his expression.
He had hoped that the Duke would not accompany him, but unfortunately, his hope would not be fulfilled.
“Is there a problem accompanying me?”
“No, no! We will pick you up right away.”
The police chief got up with a smirk along with Kenneth, internally sighing at the VIP's insistence for some strange reason.
* * *
While heading to the Byrne family mansion, nothing particularly suspicious appeared.
It was looking more and more like needless noise late at night.
But the location was more isolated than Kenneth expected, with dense trees surrounding the place, evoking a feeling of eerieness. This place was not in keeping with the “natural” design favored by the nobility…
“Look, sir”
The police chief said politely to the young duke, as if to say “See.”
“No problem, right? And at this late hour, visiting a place where a woman is staying alone...”
“Mr. Chief of Police!”
But at that moment, a policeman who was monitoring the area shouted.
From the hill full of bushes he pointed to, women were running and panting, waving their hands.
“Help us!”
For a moment, Kenneth thought the woman screaming was Ariana.
Her hair color was very similar to Ariana's...
But when two more women appeared, his heart froze for another reason.
They were all different, but each one reminded him of something specific.
One of them has a similar hair color to Ariana, and another has similar blue eyes...
'Ariana.'
At that moment, he felt as if his blood had frozen.
The policemen calmed down the maids who ran away crying.
They assumed they had stolen some silver spoons and disappeared, but their appearance injured sparked confusion.
“What's going on?”
“Mrs. Byrne... imprisoned us there... we ed to be released...”
For a maid to accuse a noble was unprecedented. But in this situation, there was no one to silence her.
A maid, who had previously been shunned by Theodora, shocked everyone by saying: “His Highness the Prince was there too!”
There was a blue bruise on one of the maids' cheek, which was most similar to Ariana's hair, which made Kenneth's jaw harden.
"Are you sure? Who's there now?"
“Yes, Mrs. Byrne used to call him His Highness...!”
How long had he been there, how the Byrne family was involved, and how the maids had stolen the keys when Theodora passed out could all be documented later.
“In the end, they brought someone called the Duchess. She is still being held there.”
* * *
Every time, Ariana would defend herf by throwing her life away, but she couldn't do it anymore.
'As long as there's Baby.'
You can't get hurt or die.
So, if someone was trying to harm her, she decided to attack instead of shaking in fear and losing opportunities.
It was normally impossible to face such an opponent, but his sugar-tinged eyes gave her courage.
To escape, she had to get rid of him first.
Afraid of the feeling of hurting someone, Ariana gritted her teeth and hit his face with the candle holder several times.
“Ugh, ugh...”
It was unreal that the man who had previously insulted and abused her would collapse with these few blows. She felt aggrieved that her reputation had been tarnished by such a weak and miserable person.
As Andrew clutched his face and writhed on the floor, Ariana dashed toward the door she had spotted earlier.