The Whipping Maid of House Calley - Chapter 131

They didn’t arrive at the city guard until late at night.

Duker, who had been dragged in the day before, was being questioned and detained there.

“Officer, I’m Hugo Easter.”

“I’m Cedric Calley.”

“It’s an honor to meet you. There was no need for you to come all this way. You could have had the criminal transferred.”

“I have personal reasons.”

Leaving behind the woman he had finally managed to get his hands on weighed on his mind, but Cedric hated the idea of someone like Duker breathing under the same sky as Sheila.

Hugo wasn’t tactless enough to pry into a noble’s ‘personal reasons.’ He smoothly changed the subject.

“Then… Miss Sheila didn’t come with you?”

“My maid was deeply shaken by this incident and is bedridden. I came as her representative, so let the investigation end with me.”

Cedric had no intention of making her go in and out of the guard station to be questioned. She had already been shaken enough by what happened.

Hugo nodded and spoke again, “With the testimony of the witness beside you, we’ve roughly grasped the situation. Late at night, the suspect tried to forcibly take your maid, Miss Sheila, which led to a struggle with you, Young Count, and in the process, you injured your hand. Is that correct?”

“That’s right.”

After confirming Cedric’s bandaged hand, Hugo continued, “But why were you and your maid, Miss Sheila, there at that hour?”

“Do I have to explain that as well?”

As Cedric showed a displeased expression, Hugo immediately straightened up.

“My apologies, Young Count!”

Hugo continued, “There’s clear evidence that Duker tried to forcibly take Miss Sheila, and above all, he even injured you, Young Count, so there shouldn’t be any issue in punishing the criminal.”

“That’s enough for me. What did Duker say?” Cedric asked.

Even with a witness, they were all his people, and if the suspect denied the crime, things would inevitably become far more complicated. Just like in Sylvia Stacy’s case.

“After getting drunk and hurling insults, he said it was a shame he couldn’t do anything to Miss Sheila. We’ve recorded everything he said while causing a disturbance here, so he won’t be able to change his statement.”

Hugo then asked, sounding puzzled, “But why aren’t you filing a complaint, Young Count? Attempted abduction of a commoner is one thing, but injuring a noble is a far more serious offense.”

There was no way Cedric didn’t know that. And when Hugo pointed it out, he muttered bitterly.

“I don’t want that.”

He didn’t want what happened to her, her life being threatened, to be treated as something less important than a small cut on his hand.

He wanted Duker to be punished solely for what he did to Sheila.

“…Pardon?”

Leaving Hugo, who couldn’t understand, behind, Cedric stood up from his seat.

“You say there’s no issue with punishing the criminal, so I’ll take my leave without worry. Will the verdict be sent by mail?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“There are only two things I want. First, that Duker receives proper punishment for what he did to Sheila. Second, that my maid doesn’t have to face that man again because of unnecessary investigations. Understood?”

“Yes, Young Count!”

Hugo immediately replied to Cedric’s words.

Hugo had already caught on. That the maid named Sheila was Cedric’s mistress.

The incident that happened here must have occurred while the two were engaged in a lovers’ tryst.

Even without Sheila’s testimony, it wouldn’t be difficult to punish Duker.

Still, it remained puzzling that the Young Count refused to report that Duker had injured him.

“I’d like to see that man one last time.”

“This way, please.”

Hugo immediately led Cedric to the holding cells where the prisoners were kept.

Duker was sitting on the floor of the cell with a few other prisoners who had been brought in the night before. Among them, he was the only one whose hands and feet were bound. It was the result of the commotion he had caused all night.

His bound hands trembled uncontrollably. A symptom commonly seen in addicts.

And he kept muttering to himself without pause.

“That damned bitch. I should’ve killed her the moment I saw her.”

“Hey! Hey!”

As Hugo stepped forward to reprimand the prisoner, Cedric raised a hand to stop him.

He intended to listen a little longer with the officer, since the man was practically confessing his crime on his own.

“No, maybe I should’ve dealt with that fucking bastard Fred first.”

Duker went on spouting incomprehensible words, cursing Sheila and Fred in turns.

“At least that’s him being somewhat quiet,” Hugo added an explanation.

Duker had caused a loud disturbance all night, picking fights with other prisoners in the cell and being restrained by the guards, constantly stirring trouble. Only now had it reduced to this level of muttering.

Looking again, his already ruined face was covered with additional bruises from being beaten.

“If only that noble bastard hadn’t shown up, I would’ve had a taste of that bitch at least once. Her face is even prettier than that Fabiola bitch. Should’ve picked her from the start.”

At the insult toward a noble, Hugo glanced nervously at Cedric.

Cedric’s already cold face burned with anger.

“You’ve been letting him spew that kind of nonsense until now?”

At Cedric’s sharp remark, Hugo straightened his posture.

“I’ll correct it immediately!”

At Hugo’s order, two guards entered the cell. They beat down the struggling Duker and fitted a gag into his mouth. It was a device that pressed down on the tongue so he couldn’t speak at all.

“I’ll be expecting a strict judgment.”

Leaving those final words behind, Cedric turned away.

“If only that noble bastard hadn’t shown up, I would’ve had a taste of that bitch at least once. Her face is even prettier than that Fabiola bitch.”

“Fucking trash.”

To think Sheila had to face a man like that….

The veins stood out on the back of Cedric’s clenched fist.

Why did she keep getting entangled with people like that? The more he learned about Sheila’s situation, the more furious Cedric became, to the point he couldn’t bear it.

***

Late at night, Cedric returned to the mansion again. Sheila was asleep alone.

Cedric placed a hand on the sleeping woman’s forehead.

Perhaps because of the medicine, her fever had gone down a little. Cedric looked around her small room. On one side of the room was the bag she had taken with her when she ran away.

Cedric opened the bag again.

The maid named Molly had already sorted most things out, so what remained in the bag were only the items Sheila had taken out from her secret stash.

As Cedric examined them one by one, he picked up a shoelace from inside the bag and muttered to himself, “What is this, that you’d even keep something like this….”

She treasured the items in the bag very much. Especially the doll of a little girl with the name ‘Sheila’ written on it.

In the meantime, noticing that the ledger was missing, Cedric pulled back the carpet and lifted the floorboard where the hidden space was.

And he found it. A single sheet of paper left behind.

[Resignation Letter]

Beneath the paper he had seen once before, the date of the day she fled and her signature had been added.

That was all.

Seeing that she had deliberately left only the resignation letter in the hidden space, it was clear Sheila had realized that he knew about this place.

And yet, there wasn’t even a single letter or a single line left for him.

“Ha….”

A bitter sigh slipped from Cedric’s lips.

He thought they had grown quite close over the past four months, but to her, he was nothing.

‘No, to be precise… am I just a pervert she needs to run from with all her might?’

Even so, Cedric thought it wasn’t too late. They hadn’t yet had the chance to talk things through calmly. He hadn’t conveyed his true feelings.

***

“Leave! Please just leave me alone!”

Sheila, who had come to her senses a little under the effect of the medicine, stubbornly rejected Cedric.

Molly, who had been taking care of Sheila, was completely flustered.

The Sheila who lay limp when she was with her would suddenly sit up and become agitated the moment she saw the Young Count.

It was also a side of Sheila she had never seen before.

And to cause such a scene in front of the Young Count, of all people.

“Sheila, what’s gotten into you! It’s Young Count Cedric.”

Molly nudged Sheila lightly and tried to signal her in a small voice. Then Sheila spoke to Molly.

“Molly! Tell the Young Count to leave. Please, please….”

Caught in the middle, Molly showed Cedric an apologetic expression.

‘At least it’s a relief she’s recovered enough to act like this.’

Forcing himself to think positively, Cedric turned away.

That evening, Cedric received a report from the physician Adriana that Sheila’s fever had completely gone down.

“So she’s fine now?”

“Since the fever went down within three days with medication, it seems it was just a simple cold. If she rests for a day or two, she’ll be up again soon.”

Cedric nodded in satisfaction, and Adriana withdrew.

Cedric felt relieved.

He wanted to go up to the attic and see Sheila right away. But he couldn’t. If she saw him and had another fit, her condition might worsen again.

Even after getting her back, Cedric still couldn’t eat or sleep.

He became afraid that he might lose Sheila forever like this. He always thought she was in the palm of his hand, but when he actually tried to possess her, she struggled desperately to escape.

Where had it gone wrong?

As his thoughts continued late into the night, a knock echoed.

It was a time when everyone was asleep. Even Rufus, who was always by his side.

With a faint expectation, Cedric got up and opened the door himself.

And standing in front of the door, as expected, was Sheila.

Sheila, whose fever had only just gone down that evening, already looked gaunt, seeming even smaller than before.

“Come in.”

Cedric hesitated for a moment at the woman who wouldn’t meet his eyes, then let Sheila into the room.

Throughout her fever, no, even before that, she had fiercely rejected him, so he didn’t know why she had come to see him. But just the fact that Sheila had come to him on her own made Cedric feel strangely overwhelmed.

“What is it?”

He was about to say, Get some rest and we’ll talk tomorrow, when Sheila lifted her gaze and looked at him. For someone who had been sick for two full days, her expression was resolute.

“I came to repay my debt.”