A Cruel Beast's Leash

“You can’t!” It was Jenna who blocked the door from the maid eager to get out of the annex. “It’s ‘I’ll be right back, my L-a-d-y.’ I’ll go,” Jenna enunciated one syllable at a time, as if to say to the ladies-in-waiting to mind their place. She then turned around and started towards the main building, but it was only a short while after she came running back to the annex with a blanched face.

“It’s terrible!”

“What’s going on?” As Emma looked at her with a startled look, Jenna quickly answered with a flustered look.

“Th-That… Mr. Collin…” As soon as Jena uttered the name, the faces of the maids suddenly froze. “… he fell.”

“Fell?”

Emma couldn’t comprehend what it meant but as soon as Jenna gestured with her hands, she understood it wasn’t a metaphor or figure of speech, but literal. Collin had a serious fall, though she was unaware of the magnitude of it.

“Ah…”Emma could only utter in bewilderment. The maids in front of them exchanged glances in a hurry.

“We have to go!”

“Madam will be looking for us now!”

“We are going!”

Emma immediately shook her head. “No. Both of you are going to wait here,” she sternly said.

“S-Still something serious happened. Our madam needs us!” they argued back.

Emma glared at them. “So, are you going to disobey Mr. Irvan’s orders? Should I tell Jenna to go and tell the manager about this now?”

“Oh, no, no, please…” At Emma’s firm attitude, the maids shook their heads. Emma thought that Irvan might be behind what happened to Collin, so it was important to retain the maids in the chaos.

“Wait here until Mr. Irvan comes back,” she said with finality. Emma walked out of the room and exchanged glances with Jenna as the maids hesitated. Jenna quickly locked the door. As she stood with her back against the tightly closed door, the maids frantically pounded on it.

“Open the door!”

The sound was audible in the annex, but the doors were as solid as the main building.

“What should we do?” Jenna whispered in a worried voice.

Emma looked out the window with a determined expression and said, “We must remain where we are until Mr. Irvan arrives or we hear news.”

* * *

Countess Karina’s fury reached its peak when she heard that Collin had fallen and died.

“Did you say that Irvan was there…?” In the next moment, Karina’s blood-curdling scream tore into the air. She waved her fists in the air as her wrath finally exploded. “How?! Did you allow Irvan to go inside and be alone with Collin?!”

“We had no cho-choice,” the direct attendant stuttered. “Mr. Collin told us to leave because he and the commander had something to talk about and…”

The butler and the direct attendant who were present at the scene cowered. The blood vessels on Karina’s forehead were bulging, distorting her beautiful face. Her usually elegant facade was torn, and her red, twitching face and tightly shut lips painted her like a demon.

“You!” Karina furiously jabbed her finger at Collin’s direct attendant. “How can you be alive when you can’t even protect your own master?!”

“I’m sorry!”

“Is this something that can be fixed with a single word of apology?”

Karina turned, opened the drawer of her office desk and pulled out a smooth pile of leather that had been curled up. It was a whip; the ends, which were split into countless strands, looked hideous with the sharp metal pieces embedded in them.

“M-Madam!” As the servant looked up at Karina in horror, she gave a fierce look at the butler.

“Madam? How dare you open your mouth?!”

“Argh!”

As soon as the butler caught the servant, a scream filled with pain erupted along with a blast that slashed the air ferociously. After a while, Karina, who exhaled with a brisk breath, wiped the bloodstains on her face with the back of her hand and said to the butler,

“I had no choice but to cover up the dungeon incident, but I can’t overlook this.”

“… Yes.”

The butler, Miller, looked down at the servant, who had turned into a pool of blood in an instant, a frightened expression on his face. In the places where the metal studded whip was lashed cruelly, the skin had burst and blood flowed non-stop from the ripped flesh. His face was crushed, and the upper body was like a piece of finely chopped meat. He didn’t know if he was still alive. Miller bowed before the countess in a more polite and courteous manner than ever before as the thought that it might be his turn next hit him.

“Please go ahead. I’ll listen,” he said.

In response, Karina exhaled a breath as she trembled.  “I will use my authority as a feudal lord to formally bring the commander to trial. This time tell everyone to gather around!”