It was because the extras were able to flexibly deal with any unexpected situation so that the flow of this world would not be disrupted. However, the 13th Edith drew the Duchess and her aide Renan to her side. And she was trying to change the perception of herself by saying hello to nameless servants. In addition, she wondered if she would break down mentally if she was accused of doing something she didn’t do following the self-made poisoned pie case, but this time she also calmly persuaded Killian. She even insisted on her innocence in a more dignified and haughty manner than in the case of the document leak, while making a plausible reasoning to accuse the Sinclair family as the culprit. Thanks to this, Killian seemed to be more inclined towards Edith, and she had no choice but to cover up the case that Edith should have been accused of. If the previous Ediths were helplessly swept away and collapsed by K’s tricks, the 13th Edith was fighting against K.
‘Fun… Yeah, it’s a funny situation.’
K belligerently accepted the tension he was feeling.
‘Now, how do I set the second stage exception condition?’
Edith had to set conditions that would never be exceeded. If she fulfilled level 2, K would lose almost all control she had over Killian, and her control over the main characters other than Killian would be slightly lowered.
If the third level was met, K’s dominance would be almost useless, and even K didn’t know what the world would be like if Lise and Cliff couldn’t be united because of that. It was because of K’s confidence that bordered on arrogance that she brought the possessed chair from the multidimensional universe even after taking such a risk.bHowever, K had the confidence to protect her world. After all, this was just a game where K won.
‘It must be a condition that Edith will never be able to fulfill, and it must be possible to reinforce the flow of the original work by repeating the action contrary to the condition. What are those conditions?’
K, who had been thinking for a long time, looked over Edith’s actions and smiled. After a while, the ‘flow of the original’, which could be called the system of this world, accepted K’s condition.
[Step 2 exception conditions have been set.]
* * *
As he kicked Sophia out, Killian roughly guessed Edith’s circumstances.
‘She’s a daughter raised by the Rigelhoffs to be sold at a high price.’
Actually, he didn’t mind that. This was because there were not a few families who gave birth to and raised their daughters for that purpose. At least the marriage alliance was believed to be the safest. However, it was surprising that they had control over Edith even as they assaulted her through the maid. That’s how perfect the Rigelhoffs’ play was.
‘But if I reveal this fact, Edith’s position will be embarrassing.’
Edith, who had always acted like an arrogant and selfish young lady, would be deeply hurt if a rumor spread that she was beaten by her maid.
‘I can’t understand it at all, but every family has its own circumstances.’
Maybe they thought of it as ‘discipline’ in their own way. It’s ridiculous, but people had different opinions, and even villains had their own cause. If it was truly unbearable abuse, Edith would have asked for help. So, Killian didn’t tell anyone about Sofia’s assault on Edith.
“If you look at the recent events, the maid is also suspicious.”
At that explanation, Cliff got angry, saying, “I should arrest her and investigate, what should I do if you send her away as it is?”
But Killian soothed Cliff.
“Without her corroboration, if we investigated the maid, would we see anything more than Rigelhoff persecuting her people? That would be something to be caught on its own.”
“But…!”
“I just know that, because she took this opportunity to kick out her maid, whom she didn’t like from the start.”
He tried to swear, but Cliff was still sharp.
“Then the Rigelhoffs couldn’t have accepted it without protest…?”
“There is no confirmation, but at least there seems to be a plan. We said that there were incidents that made their maid suspicious, and we said we would send her back, but they didn’t squeak and accepted it?”
In the end, Cliff and the Duke also accepted Killian’s decision.
‘What am I going through with this because of Edith?’
He had a troublesome day, but he didn’t really feel too bad. It was because the expression on Edith’s last face when he was dragging Sophia out was close to being relieved.
‘I thought she was a fox… Tsk.’
He thought she was an arrogant and shrewd woman who couldn’t lose to anyone, but she was a bear-like woman who couldn’t even talk about her pain and endured it. The maid probably assaulted Edith right after she entered. And yet, seeing that Edith had never lowered her arrogant chin, he thought she was amazing.
‘How can you be so gullible… No, wait.’
Suddenly, he remembered Edith’s strange behavior after Sophia came in.
‘Come to think of it, during that peach pie incident… Didn’t Edith starve for several days to lose weight?’
Sophia said Edith didn’t eat to lose weight voluntarily, but now that he looked back, that was nonsense. As soon as he put Anna on her back, he could tell just by looking at Edith, who was starting to gain weight like before, that she had no will to lose weight. So that damn maid was starving her master.
‘No way, that’s why you asked for another maid?’
Suddenly, the puzzle seemed to fit together. At the same time, an unexpected laugh broke out.
‘It’s not like she just shut her mouth and endured it. She wasn’t going to give in after being beaten like that, she was that kind of woman.’
He couldn’t hide his smile when he remembered Edith, who had a tragic expression on her face, asking for more maids from the Ludwig family to prove her innocence. He should have looked at Sophia’s expression then!
‘That’s amazing, Edith Ludwig.’
She was also not an easygoing woman. She knew how to do anything for her father, but she did not obey even her family’s orders. Even though he had been taken advantage of by her cunning, he was strangely satisfied with it.
Lise was also grateful for the decision to let Sophia go without much fuss.
“Thank you, Killian. I really… I didn’t want to think about it any more.”
“I cannot say for certain that the maid named Sophia is the culprit. The Count of Sinclair is still the most suspicious yet, and it’s just that she took this opportunity to kick out the maid she didn’t like.”
“Whatever.”
Lise, who was slowly recovering from the poisoning, looked really tired.
“Is it really okay if I bury it, Lise?”
“Yes, I am serious. I don’t think I can bear to find out that the culprit is Edith, or the Sinclair family’s brothers. Just… I’m not going to know.”
Even though Cliff has tried to convince her, there’s no way he could win over the piteous crying Lise. Killian was the same.
“Okay. So what, do you want anything else? I’ll do anything.”
It was only then that Lise’s face brightened when he suggested it in a half-playful way.
“Will you really listen to me if I ask you?”
“Of course.”
“Okay, Killian.”
“Yes, Lise.”
Lise hesitated a little, then slightly raised her eyebrows and said.
“Please take good care of Edith.”
“…what?”
“How hard must it have been for Edith? Now that I’ve been poisoned, I think I know how hard it must have been for Edith, who was poisoned last time.”
Killian knew. Because he saw her in pain.
“I believe Edith was not the culprit. Therefore… Killian, please comfort Edith, who must have been having a hard time.”
“Ha… You innocent child with no countermeasures.”
Killian lightly caressed Lise’s cheek, which was still pale.
“But what am I supposed to do, I need to know how to comfort her.”
“You are good to me.”
“That’s because you…”
“Please do the same for Edith. Just like when you comforted me, we drink tea together, take walks, talk…”
If it had been the same before, it would have been an offer he would have rejected immediately, saying, ‘Are you crazy?’, but this time, Killian also pondered Lise’s proposal seriously. He had a mixed feeling of guilt that he didn’t know Edith at all, and curiosity that he wanted to know more.
“Well, I do need to keep an eye on her to see what she’s thinking.”
“I don’t mean for you to be nice to her with that thought.”
“I know. But changing my mind is something that will take me some time, Lise.”
Lise, who understood his meaning, lowered her gaze as if she was sorry.
“I am not blaming you. Time is medicine, so I will be okay someday. But… It means I don’t even know my own mind yet.”
“Sorry. And thank you, Killian.”
Killian smiled bitterly and lightly kissed Lise’s forehead. Her forehead was warm from the slight fever that hadn’t come down yet. Suddenly, he remembered that he hadn’t put his hand on Edith’s forehead, who was trembling as she curled up in pain.
He really didn’t know why he was thinking that now.
“Killian. Will you listen to my request?”
Seeing Lise looking up at him with big clear eyes, Killian smiled and nodded.
“Yes, I will.”
It was nothing difficult. They could go out together, take a walk in a sunny garden, buy expensive and good things in the downtown area, and eat something delicious together. It was a bit cumbersome, but the method wasn’t difficult, so Killian accepted Lise’s request without much hesitation.
But things didn’t go as expected.
How do you feel?
