My Arrogant and Insolent Shadow - Chapter 30

The air turned cold in an instant.

Lady Catherine looked at her husband, doubting what she had just heard. Then she saw Olga, wearing the same stunned expression as herself.

The two officers were silent as well. They kept their heads lowered, as if their silence confirmed that what had been said was true.

As Lady Catherine slowly came to her senses, her face drained of color.

“What do you mean by that?”

Her voice trembled uncontrollably.

There was no way her son would ever sell a horse from the family stable.

Hael was raised without ever lacking anything. If he ever needed something, whether it was school tuition or anything else, Lady Catherine made sure he had it. When it came to her son, she never held back.

Hael also loved horses deeply. He couldn’t even speak properly when he was around them, that’s how much he adored them.

So how could this be? If Hael had really sold the horse, he wouldn’t have stayed silent while the entire village was being searched for a thief. He would have said something.

Lady Catherine convinced herself that the man speaking to them must be wrong. He had a smooth face and strange words, and she was certain he was mistaken.

“There must be some mistake. Hael would never do something like that.”

Olga also didn’t believe it. Calmly, he asked,

“Are you sure you haven’t mistaken someone else for my son?”

One of the officers stepped forward and handed them a document.

It was information provided by the Rittenbuff Auction, following an official request for cooperation in the investigation. The document listed the seller’s personal information.

There, clear and undeniable, was the name Hael.

It was written in his own unique handwriting, the kind anyone who knew him would recognize.

There was no denying it any longer. Olga’s face went blank. Lady Catherine placed her hand on her forehead.

The two of them slowly turned their heads at the same time.

At the end of their gaze, Hael stood gripping the railing. His face was pale.

He didn’t offer a single excuse.

“Then shall we consider the case closed?”

Before Lady Catherine could respond, Olga dismissed the officers and brought the situation to an end.

Once they were alone, Olga grabbed Hael and led him into a room.

From outside, Lady Catherine could hear Olga’s frustrated voice and Hael’s complete silence.

“What did you do with the money?”

“…”

“I never thought you were capable of something like this. But after seeing that document, I can’t deny it anymore, Hael.”

“…”

“Why did you sell Britt at the auction? Where did the money go?”

Hearing their conversation, Lady Catherine let out a bitter laugh.

She remembered how confidently she had claimed the thief must be someone from Alphonse, when all along, the real thief had been in her own home.

She had shouted at the townspeople, full of anger and pride.

At the last tea party she hosted, some guests from Alphonse had quietly suggested that it might have been Yurisiel.

They said they had seen Yurisiel and Hael lingering near the stables together.

One lady had even wondered aloud if Hael had given her a key, since they were so close.

Even Lady Catherine had secretly suspected the girl, though she said otherwise in public.

But now, to find out the thief was her own son.

A few days passed.

Lady Catherine was terrified that the villagers would find out the truth. Every time someone brought up the stolen horse, her chest tightened.

Her son remained completely silent, as if struck with muteness.

All he said was, “I’m sorry.”

Once again, Olga came out of the room today and sighed.

Lady Catherine watched him, the lines on her face growing deeper.

It was obvious. Hael must have just repeated the same apology again.

“Has he still not said what he did with the money from selling Britt?”

Olga shook his head. He could still picture Hael’s blank eyes and hear his quiet, meaningless apologies.

And as always, Olga took his frustration out on Lady Catherine.

“Of course the house is falling apart. The lady of the house can’t even manage things properly.”

“Do you think I knew Hael would do this? Did you know?”

“You act like you’re blameless. What nonsense.”

Olga shook his head and sat down in a chair with irritation.

Lady Catherine bit her lip as she watched him.

She pressed her hand against her chest, trying to calm the frustration building inside her.

Her mind was racing with thoughts.

Looking back, there had been many strange things.

Her son, who started leaving for the lord’s estate more often, even before sunrise, saying he had more work to do.

Her son, who dismissed the other stable hands and insisted on caring for the horses alone.

Her son, who quietly avoided conversations whenever the theft was mentioned.

And just a few days ago, her son’s pale face as he checked on Britt.

Even over the past few days, while the entire household searched frantically for the missing horse, Hael had not said a single word.

How could her kind, innocent son have done something like this?

“My son couldn’t have done this alone.”

Had Hael been influenced by something bad while staying in the capital?

No, that couldn’t be. That made no sense.

After all, he had been selected as an outstanding student by the Blanchet Scholarship Foundation. The academy he attended was a place for only the most distinguished nobles.

Unless her naive son had felt ashamed of his humble background among such high-ranking students, there was no way he could have picked up such a habit.

Unless, of course, it was like the other ladies said. Unless that girl, Yurisiel, had somehow bewitched him.

Wait. That actually made sense. Lady Catherine’s eyes lit up.

Ever since coming to Alphonse, Hael had always been with that girl.

And if Yurisiel had nothing, then maybe she had clung to her son out of desperation for money. No, this wasn’t just speculation anymore. It felt like certainty.

Boys, after all, are said to need a few meaningless romances in their youth to grow up properly. That belief had led her to let the girl linger around him as a mere distraction. That had been her mistake.

Come to think of it, that girl always needed money.

“Her mother was the same. She stuck to our household like a parasite just to earn a few coins.”

It was Catherine herself who had offered Jane the job, and Jane had only accepted. But such facts had long since vanished from her memory.

The only thing that remained vivid in Catherine’s mind was her spotless reputation. So many ladies had praised her for being far too generous and kind.

Lady Catherine stood up abruptly, bit her lip, and spoke.

“Yurisiel must have seduced our innocent son. That has to be it.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?” Olga asked, baffled.

Catherine let out a long sigh, turned her head sharply, and muttered softly.

“It makes sense.”

Finding out where the money from selling Britt had gone was something they could figure out later.

Lady Catherine stood up in a rush and moved quickly.

Behind her, Olga kept shouting that she was about to make another foolish mistake, but she didn’t stop.

She kept going until she could no longer hear anything behind her.

Yurisiel’s day began early, as usual.

She knew she didn’t have to wake so early anymore, but her body moved out of habit. The routine was deeply ingrained in her.

She tied up her hair neatly and stood before the mirror. Her reflection was clean and proper.

She opened the wardrobe, which felt far too large and luxurious for someone like her. Inside hung an array of dresses that were only called maid uniforms in name.

Every time she put one on and headed toward the young master’s room, the eyes of the other maids would follow her.

Just like the shopkeepers along the streets of Alphonse, who used to watch her as she walked to the lord’s estate.

Some people said they enjoyed such attention, but maybe that was because they were real noblewomen. She wasn’t.

To Yurisiel, all of it felt burdensome and uncomfortable.

But what could she do? If she complained, it would only lead to ridicule. So again today, she reached for “that dress.”

Among all of them, it was the least flashy, a soft peach-colored one that hung quietly from her fingertips.

Thankfully, the young master had never said anything about her always choosing the same dress.

Once she confirmed her appearance was neat, Yurisiel sat down and slowly opened and closed her eyes.

There was still about an hour left until breakfast.

She began to tidy the table.

Then, she stopped in front of an empty bottle filled with gold coins.

It was the money she had received from selling the medicine Hael had given her a few days ago.

“I meant to return it if I saw him again…”

Since that day, Hael hadn’t shown up at the estate.

According to what she heard from Aunt Mary, he had taken a few days off, saying he wasn’t feeling well.

“He’s not the type to do that,” Mary had muttered, her voice still clear in Yurisiel’s memory.

Was he upset because she hadn’t accepted the medicine right away that day?

When she remembered the wounded expression on his face, it seemed possible.

Still, how could she have just taken such valuable medicine on the spot?

No matter how she thought about it, there was no other way she could have acted.

Hael’s voice echoed in her mind, asking, “You accepted everything the young master gave you, didn’t you?”

That’s right. Just like he said, I had already received too much from the young master.

All while playing the role of entertainment.

So maybe refusing only what Hael offered was, in a way, contradictory.

Yurisiel felt a twinge of guilt.

But it couldn’t be helped.

In the world she knew, giving and receiving were things only those with power and wealth could do.

She wasn’t used to those things. And in her world, nothing came for free.

Since coming to this estate or more accurately, since meeting Cassian, she had learned that truth even more clearly.

To be honest, it wasn’t true that she didn’t want to take the medicine Hael offered. She did.

But the feeling of not wanting to owe him was stronger.

Just remembering how the women in that house looked at her when the horse went missing, or the cold eyes of Lady Catherine, was enough to make her refuse.

If she accepted Hael’s help, would that make her guilty in their eyes?

Lady Catherine’s reaction was easy to imagine.

Even if she didn’t say anything directly to Yurisiel, she would probably find her mother and start accusing her.

That kind of possibility was what scared Yurisiel most.

That’s why she wanted to be proud of herself. To feel strong and secure.

And to do that, she had to live without owing anyone anything.

At the very least, she didn’t want to be in debt to Hael or more truthfully, to Hael’s family.

Maybe that’s why the money she still hadn’t returned kept bothering her so much.

When the merchant had first told her how much the medicine was worth, she had almost fainted.

That’s how expensive just one pill had been.

Only then did she start to wonder. Where had Hael gotten that kind of money?

Support