KFBRV Pt 2 Ch 97

[Paula has been imprisoned.]

Sasha received the short telegram and sprinted through the main gate of the Imperial Watch Station.

What on earth does that mean? I asked them to find my ring, so why did they take the child?

Her goal in reporting Paula was to get her money back, but she secretly thought it wouldn't be bad if Paula came crawling back to her.

After looking into it, she realized hiring a maid cost much more than she expected. A maid with long experience in a noble house could name her price. Even if Sasha sold the blue diamond, she couldn't afford to keep a servant forever.

Moreover, once Paula vanished, Sasha had no one left. Being completely alone with no one to wait for was an unbearable weight. Realizing that Paula's occasional visits provided more comfort than she had admitted, she revised her opinion of her daughter.

Paula was no longer an ungrateful brat, but a daughter who could be forgiven for the blue diamond incident—if she reflected on her mistakes. Sasha intended to reconcile once Paula had been sufficiently frightened by the Imperial Watch.

Do you realize what you did wrong now? Have you reflected enough?

She planned to say those words with a proper motherly lecture. But instead, this thunderclap of a telegram arrived.

[Sasha] "Prison? Why is my daughter going to prison?!"

After causing a scene at the entrance, she managed to get the case records from the Imperial Watch. As she read through the documents, she discovered the truth.

Arson.

Paula's statement claimed she set fire to the Count's laboratory 'for her mother.'

Upon reading that noble and loyal statement, a flicker of affection for Paula returned like a dying spark.

[Officer] "Are you finished with the statement? If you're done, give the records back."

[Sasha] "How can you be so cold? Is that all you have to say to a poor mother who just lost her daughter?"

[Officer] "Ha. I show you kindness, and you throw it back in my face. Fine. Take these bills first."

Sasha, lost in her emotions, looked up at the word 'bills.' The officer pressed sheets of paper into her hand, one by one.

[Sasha] "What bills are these?"

[Officer] "These are the damages you must pay to the Count's estate. Punishment is punishment, but you have to pay for burning down a laboratory. And these... these are the costs for the Imperial Watch's mobilization."

The Barzeha Imperial Watch was not a free service. If a suspect was innocent, the Imperial Family paid the bill. But if found guilty, the criminal was charged for the trial, the investigation, and even the cost of maintaining the prison. If the criminal couldn't pay, the debt fell to the family.

Sasha's face turned pale.

What a disaster! I shouldn't have identified myself as her mother.

She stared blankly at the numbers followed by an endless string of zeros. It was a staggering amount that she could never hope to pay.

[Officer] "Your daughter's arson case remained unsolved for two years, so the Watch used a lot of resources. You’ll also be billed for the fire department's work. Your assets will be seized within the week, so consider yourself warned."

Knowing Barzeha showed no mercy toward a criminal's debt, she asked anyway.

[Sasha] "Is... is there no way to lower this?"

The weight of the debt threatened to crush her.

[Officer] "The only way is to negotiate the compensation directly with the victim. Since the Count is currently absent, the daughter likely has the final say. Why don't you go and beg for her to reduce it? After all, isn't that daughter your child too?"

Hehe.

Sasha let out a hollow laugh. Would that girl ever reduce the debt?

Her life was over. She would spend eternity paying off those massive sums.

Sasha finally understood. She understood why Paula, who had shouted that she would never treat Sasha as a mother again, had written 'for my mother' in her statement. It was to ensure the debt was shared. Without a family, Paula would have had to shoulder the entire burden alone.

Wicked girl, you’ll rot in hell for this. You probably find prison more comfortable.

Her empty laughter grew louder.

Hehe, hahahaha, hahahaha.

Seeing her laughing hysterically, the station employees whispered among themselves.

[Staff 1] "The Count's family again? The Albrechts are certainly loud."

[Staff 2] "You can say that again. By the way, why is the Count 'absent' again?"

[Staff 1] "You didn't know? He died last week. It was handled as an illness back then, but the housemaid came forward right before the funeral and accused his mistress of murder. Remember the scandal? The 'Invisible Count'? Apparently, the mistress smothered him with a pillow."

[Staff 2] "Incredible. Indeed incredible."

The whispering didn't reach Sasha's ears.

Her life, already dragged through the mud, had fallen into an inescapable pit. Just imagining what she would have to do to pay that debt made her stomach turn. She let go of her mind and laughed.

As if by doing so, she could escape her fate.

---

Mrs. Becker was accused. And the accuser was Malea, the maid she had trusted and cherished more than anyone.

Malea testified that she witnessed Mrs. Becker murdering the Count.

Due to the layout of the mansion, the hallway of the annex was visible from the Count's room. She claimed she caught sight of the murderer through the window while walking down that hallway.

Furthermore, she told the Imperial Watch about the secrets Mrs. Becker had whispered to her—how she repeatedly wished the Count would die quickly so her son could become the Count.

Mrs. Becker was driven to the brink of madness. She knew Malea's testimony couldn't be true.

On that day, no servant could enter the annex without her permission. She had locked the doors herself and kept the keys in her hand all day. Since she planned the murder, she had even drawn the curtains in the Count's room to ensure no one could see inside. Malea couldn't have witnessed anything.

[Becker] "Malea, how can you lie like this? How can you tell such blatant lies!"

However, Malea's description was so vivid that it was impossible to believe she hadn't seen the murder with her own eyes.

This was possible because of the oracle the World Tree showed Odette, but Mrs. Becker had no way of knowing that.

Based on Malea's accusation, an autopsy—rare for a noble's death—was performed. The medical examiner concluded that she spoke the truth.

Mrs. Becker was dragged away by the Imperial Watch.

She had a perfect motive. She killed the Count just days before the Emperor officially announced the law allowing women to inherit titles.

A mistress who murdered the Count to steal the title for her son.

There were already several cases where mistresses in similar positions attempted to steal titles in the same way. The Imperial Watch, like the medical examiner, would undoubtedly conclude that Mrs. Becker was the killer.

Once that happened, Maximilian would lose his right to inherit entirely. The law stated that anyone who murdered or harmed a noble to steal a title lost their claim. Naturally, this rule applied to the murderer's family as well.

Since Maximilian was a child under five, he would only lose the title and still retain a claim to some of the family assets, but even that was meaningless. Not a single coin remained of the Albrecht family's official fortune. Everything had long since been converted into Odette's personal wealth.

The Count's death. The arrest of the future matriarch. The heir's loss of inheritance and temporary placement with distant relatives. The remaining maids and servants wandered the halls in a daze, lost.

Lize stepped in, writing recommendation letters and providing severance pay to send them all away.

She was a mere maid, but with all high-ranking staff gone and the masters ruined, she was the longest-serving servant left. She had the authority to act.

---

Late at night, inside a carriage bearing the Kleist crest.

I was right to make Mrs. Becker kill the Count.

Odette laughed softly as she recalled the image of the Count from the oracle. If she had killed him with her own hands, she would never have seen that lonely expression on his face.

Even a man like him relied on the person beside him when he felt that weak. Having just learned the secrets of Sasha and Paula, he must have felt bitter. In that moment, he would have given his heart to Mrs. Becker.

He trusted her. He felt a rare sense of gratitude, thinking she was the only one left for him.

Odette wanted him to die at that exact moment. She wanted him to feel what it was like to be killed by the only person he trusted, at the very peak of that trust. Only then would he understand the pain of being abandoned—the feeling of being betrayed by the person he held onto like a final lifeline.

In his final moments, with his nose and mouth buried in a pillow, the Count died. Since Odette, the next head of the house, had no intention of claiming his autopsied body, his future remained miserable.

He wouldn't be buried in the Albrecht family tomb. He wouldn't be remembered as Count Albrecht.

As the new head of the house, she would reveal that Ulrich was the one who murdered the previous Count and Countess Albrecht. She would erase the names of Ulrich and his family from the Albrecht lineage.

No honor or legacy would remain of his life. Only the stain of a murderer and the world's mockery would follow him forever.

At that moment, the sound of the horses' hooves slowed down. They had arrived at the Albrecht mansion.

Odette looked at the grand building through the carriage window and let out a small gasp.

It's late. I thought it would be silent.

Contrary to her expectation of a dark house, a warm light leaked through the windows of the mansion.

---

To support the original author and publisher, please consider rating the official release on Kakaopage.