KFBRV Ch 84
- Feb 20
- 6 min read
[Ulrich] "I shall ask you again, Sasha. Do you undeniably believe that letter existed?"
Since before their marriage, he had treated her as an inferior.
He had made his dissatisfaction blatant at their wedding, followed by a relentless string of affairs. He was the first to lead the mockery when the social circles ridiculed her.
And yet, I still considered that man the father of my son.
Sasha believed that her son and the small world within this mansion were all she had gained from the union. But her son proved a mirror image of his father...... and now, Ulrich sought to demolish her remaining sanctuary. He humiliated her even in front of the servants.
The Count's sneer spoke volumes. He had never once considered Sasha his wife.
You intend to brand me a madwoman right here.
In that instant, her mind turned ice-cold. Extreme hatred granted her a terrifying composure.
[Sasha] "......Haha."
She reclaimed her mask of calm.
[Sasha] "Fine. I framed Mrs. Becker. I wanted to brand her a thief and cast her out."
Ulrich let out a heavy sigh of disappointment.
Sasha felt the last drop of affection for him evaporate. When they married, her father had extracted only one promise from the Count.
“Promise me one thing. No matter what happens, do not make my daughter a divorcee or label her mad to rot in a monastery. Treat her as your legitimate, legal wife. If you do, I shall not withdraw my investment.”
Now, this man views me, my father, and my father's wealth as worthless.
At their wedding, the Count had skipped the common vows. Sasha had clung to the promise he made her father as a substitute for those missing oaths.
The moment she realized that oath had shattered, the reality hit her with agonizing force: Ulrich was not her husband. She was the only one who had ever viewed them as a family.
[Sasha] "What of it? She is merely a trivial maid. Why can I not choose theft as a means to discard a nuisance like her?"
Exile to a monastery as a 'mad noblewoman' meant the end of her reputation. Barzeha treated those deemed insane by priests with utter severity, stripping them of every noble right. Once imprisoned there, only a legal guardian—a husband or a son—could authorize a release.
With her relationship with Ferdinand fractured, she could rot there until death claimed her.
[Sasha] "It is a pity I was caught. I could have finished that wretched maid for good."
She refused to live like a caged animal. She would rather be remembered as a malicious, spiteful noblewoman than a broken lunatic.
[Ulrich] "You clearly lack the competence to manage this estate. Instead of overseeing the servants, you weave tawdry schemes out of petty spite? What are you waiting for! Lock this woman in her room immediately!"
At his command, four sturdy men seized her arms. Just as they prepared to drag her away—
[Servant] "Count! I have brought the coachman as ordered!"
A servant burst through the Main Hall doors, dragging a witness behind him.
[Coachman] "M-Master! I heard you were looking for me."
The coachman, completely ignorant of the current situation, stumbled in. He took in the grand assembly of servants and the sight of a woman—bedecked in jewels—being hauled away by guards. He reached a frantic conclusion.
Ah. Paula is finally being dragged away.
Terrified, he scrambled forward and threw himself onto the floor where the Countess had just been kneeling.
[Ulrich] "Ah, you arrive at last? Forget it. Sasha has already confessed—"
[Coachman] "I know why you summoned me, Master! It is about Paula killing Lady Odette by throwing her into the pond, is it not?"
[Ulrich] "What?"
[Coachman] "I-I apologize for not stopping that maid. I should have rushed to the pond immediately to intervene—"
[Ulrich] "What did you just say? Odette died in the pond?"
Contrary to the coachman's expectations, his words were a revelation to everyone in the hall. A shockwave rippled through the gathered servants.
[Ferdinand] "What nonsense is this! What happened to Odette?"
He had returned from the Imperial Palace at the worst possible moment.
[Coachman] "O-Oh. Is that not why you called me? Paula whipped the Lady at the detached villa and shoved her into the water......"
[Ulrich] "......"
[Coachman] "S-She must be dead. They even used sleeping incense on her."
The color drained from every face in the hall. The scale of the crime surpassed anything they had imagined.
[Ulrich] "Everyone of you, find Odette and Paula! Search the area around the pond!"
At his roar, the servants formed search parties with clinical precision. The fastest ran toward the villa, while others brought out hounds to catch the scent. One dog, catching Paula's trail, bolted toward the entrance of the villa's basement dungeon.
Why is that dog heading for the dungeon?
Ulrich furrowed his brow. He had never permitted Paula to enter the villa. He followed the hound, a sinking feeling clawing at his gut.
[Ulrich] "......"
The basement was empty. Karl was gone.
[Ulrich] "Damn it all......"
The cell door stood open. The restraints—items that should have been impossible to pick—lay discarded on the floor.
He frantically searched his coat. The key that should have been in his inner pocket had vanished.
The restraints require Odette's blood to open...…
Curse it. Did they just haul the heavy irons away?
He had forged those chains specifically to keep Karl bound! He had rigged the mechanism so only he could release them!
Who dared steal his key?
The hunting dog circled a fallen object inside the cell, barking incessantly.
[Ulrich] "What is this? ......A maid's hairpin?"
He picked it up. The pin was far too expensive for a common servant and bore Paula's name.
Now I know exactly who released him.
He ground his teeth.
Sasha opposed bringing Karl here from the very beginning.
She had complained about the expense. She argued that keeping such a 'filthy, mad race' in her home was an insult, suggesting he remain in the containment zone.
And Paula is nothing more than Sasha's puppet.
His lip curled. Those two knew nothing. If they had shared his experience, they would never have been so reckless. If they had witnessed what he saw ten years ago when he visited the Fenrir Kingdom as a diplomat......
[Karl] “You are in my way. Move.”
He would never forget the seven-year-old child who slaughtered thousands of bears and wolves in the tundra with a single breath.
The memory of that day—the overwhelming inferiority and primal terror—remained etched in his soul.
"That" thing was not human. It wasn't a matter of physical prowess or skill. The pressure the boy radiated was not of this world. He wore a human mask, but he was a weapon designed for annihilation.
Karl was a walking natural disaster. Beside him, Ulrich felt like a common insect.
Since that day, the Crown Prince of Fenrir had become a nightmare that choked him.
He remembered the stinging humiliation of feeling like vermin. To soothe that terror, he had to crush Karl.
Unless he kept Karl shackled—unless he could visually confirm the predator's fall every day—he feared the nightmare would become reality and swallow him whole.
How dare she...... I worked so hard to obtain him. A lowly thing like Paula!
Once the coachman started talking, he confessed everything—the conversation between Paula and the gatekeeper, and her subsequent murmurs.
[Coachman] “She said once the Count and the Young Master return, they will only lose everything, so now is the only time to take what they want.”
Paula's schemes revolved around Odette, yet Ulrich, blinded by his own terrors, interpreted her every word as a conspiracy regarding Karl.
Releasing Karl was equivalent to unleashing a hurricane. The thought of the nightmare returning—of the peace he found only by enslaving him vanishing—made him want to tear Paula apart.
[Ulrich] "I could rip Sasha and Paula into a thousand pieces and still not find peace."
He snarled as he ascended to the surface. He snatched a hunting rifle from a nearby servant.
[Ulrich] "Give it to me! I will shoot that girl myself!"
He would not let a maid live after she had robbed him of his escape from a lifelong terror.
Just then, the hounds let out a chorus of mournful howls and sharp yelps from the direction of the pond.
He sprinted toward the sound, rifle in hand.
He found her.
Odette lay collapsed by the water's edge, her dress drenched in blood.
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