As soon as the butler reported that his son had suddenly collapsed, Ingo instructed him not to leak anything outside the mansion. Everyone in the Zeavert mansion ostensibly acted as if nothing had happened as far as the outside eyes were concerned.
However, with a carriage ready in front of the main gate and several messengers driving away with orders to go to the church or the royal palace, one could sense a flurry of activity if someone were watching.
Amidst all this surreptitious commotion and confusion, Clara quietly slipped out the back door. After confirming that there was no one around, she walked fearfully through the streets of the Royal Capital at night.
No matter how big the city was, there were always criminals roaming in the darkness of the night. And the place where Clara was heading to was, no matter how one describes it, on the unsafe side of the city. It was an area where a woman of a tender age would feel very uneasy walking alone.
On the way there, Clara looked back several times, but once she saw a couple of drunken adventurers throwing something down on the road, and later she saw a lamp bearer looking for customers and a rag-clad beggar walking along.
Incidentally, light bearers in this world were divided into those who carried candle lamps and those who carried magic lamps, with the light bearers who used magic lamps being more expensive to hire but also more reliable. The candle lamp bearers also sometimes acted as fledgling hagglers.
Even so, residents who go out at night sometimes could not reach their destinations even in the royal capital without hiring a lamp bearer. There was no such thing as streetlights in this world yet.
Praying for luck and half crying, Clara continued to walk through the darkness of the city, and when she reached her destination, she knocked on the door. The door opened as soon as she answered the voice from inside. As if rushing in, Clara entered the room.
This building used to be an ash collector’s building where ashes from household hearths and fireplaces of noble families were collected and stored. Therefore, the building was made of sturdy plaster to prevent fires from breaking out in the dregs, and it was more spacious and soundproof than a typical warehouse.
Although this business was essential in the city, it was not only hard work but also unhealthy, and often went out of business when the owner died prematurely and there were no successors. Incidentally, the ashes collected were sold inside the cities for detergent or used as fertilizer on farmland outside the cities.“It took you a long time, didn’t it?” (Random 1)
“I hope you did it well.” (Random 2)
“Ah, that’s right. They said they would take the Viscount to the church right away…”
Clara was stared at by the ten or so men inside, and she replied with a frightened look. But she still managed to keep her voice down.
“Oh, um, my mother and brother are safe, aren’t they!?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll see them later.”
The men looked at each other and chuckled as they responded. One of them, however, turned his eyes to Clara and asked, “Alone? You couldn’t get the woman (Lily) out of there?”
(T/N: They wanted Lily to take the blame.)
Another man added, “I guess it was too much to ask.”
Clara explained the situation as one of the men stared at her, “Well, you see… Welner-sama collapsed after drinking Lily’s tea, I was not told what happened later.”
(T/N: Tea was technically made by Lily, Clara only served it.)
“I see. It would have been a nice souvenir if we could have taken her out while we were at it.”
“What are we going to do next?”
“Well, go contact the head, and he will relay the information to our client. The rest of us will be staying here for now.”
In response, one of the men exited the building, and the rest of the men began checking their armaments. Clara approached one of the men.
“Um, my mom and my brother…”
“Shut up.”
The man then punched Clara. When Clara fell to the ground, the man ordered her to get up.
“It’s too much trouble, shove her in the back room. Keep her away from the goods room.”
“Hiyah.”
During this command, most of the men grabbed their weapons and walked out of the building. Stunned, Clara watched them go.
The man in charge of the housekeeping smiled mockingly as he said, “Sudden illness and death are not uncommon among the nobility, but it would be a shame to be murdered. And if they are dying of poison, it’s easy to cut off their heads.”
Another man laughed vulgarly as he responded, “Well, if we leave his head lying around the plaza, Viscount Zeavert will be greatly ashamed that he was killed by people like us.”
The two of them said this as they laughed vulgarly at each other. Then they went on to look down at Clara and sneered.
“Don’t worry, I heard that the head isn’t going to kill you off either. He’s going to sell you out of Bain Kingdom, though, so I don’t know what will happen to you there.”
“He’s going to sell off your whole family separately. You know he said that it would be enough money for a small allowance.”
“Oh, no, that’s…that’s…that’s not what I…”
Clara, aghast, uttered a rebuttal, but the men just laughed. One of them looked down at Clara and sarcastically interjected.
“Ha, how can a nobleman keep a promise like that? Maybe if it’s people as useful as we are.”
“No doubt.”
Just as the other man laughed in response, the door was slammed from the outside.
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