My Arrogant and Insolent Shadow - Chapter 44

“All of a sudden?”

“I heard it happened on his way back from the banquet.”

“Well, he was always frail. That’s why he came to Alphonse to recover.”

Through the haze of her dazed thoughts, voices echoed in Yurisiel’s ears.

The words struck her like lightning.

“The young master collapsed?”

At the sound of Cassian’s name, she shot up and grabbed the prison bars with trembling hands.

“Did Lord Blanchet collapse?”

Her voice was hoarse and cracked. The constables turned around, startled.

There she was, a girl who looked half-alive, barely sitting upright in the cell.

They fed her regularly, but she hardly touched her meals. They couldn’t recall seeing her finish a bowl of porridge.

She looked like she could waste away and die in there.

It was hard not to feel sympathy. A girl young enough to be their daughter, locked up in a cell like that.

She had clung to her innocence since day one. Maybe she really had been framed.

But it didn’t matter. The two constables were just men following orders.

And once the Lord of Alphonse had declared her a thief, her fate was already decided.

“This isn’t the time for you to be worrying about Lord Blanchet. You’ve got your own problems.”

Yurisiel’s face turned pale at those words.

So it was true. The young master had collapsed.

Could it be worse than that?

A terrible sense of dread wrapped itself around her like ice.

He had been terminally ill from the start. Even if he had died yesterday, it wouldn’t have been unexpected.

But she had thought he was doing better.

His face had always been pale, but that was normal for him. His breathing and complexion seemed stable.

He had always been someone she feared, someone who made her uneasy. But hearing that he had collapsed made her heart twist.

If something happened to him, she would truly have nothing left to hope for.

She remembered what one of the constables had said during questioning.

“The victim’s side has no interest in settling.”

Yurisiel had expected that. Lady Catherine would never settle.

If she were a kinder person, maybe she would have offered a way out. Maybe she would have let Yurisiel go quietly if she promised to stay away from Hael.

But Lady Catherine was not that kind of woman.

To her, the safest thing would be to brand Yurisiel as a criminal. That way, her son would never see her again.

It was safer than hoping Yurisiel would keep her word.

Hael probably couldn’t fight her even if he wanted to.

He hadn’t appeared in three days. That alone made everything clear.

Yurisiel felt like all of this was her fault.

Maybe she shouldn’t have left any opening for Hael to get close.

Maybe she should never have entered that house.

Or maybe, she should have run away from the young master before any of this ever started.

What would happen to her now?

She remembered another officer’s words.

“Stealing from a banquet hosted by the lord himself? That’s an automatic three-year sentence.”

If things kept going like this, she would be imprisoned for at least three years.

Her body began to shake.

If she were locked away for that long, what would happen to her mother?

Her mother could no longer work. Could she even survive?

And what about her medicine?

The young master wouldn’t help now. Not for someone who had become completely useless to him.

Yurisiel had to get out of here. Somehow.

But for three days, she had been trapped in this place with no help, pressured to confess.

They told her if she didn’t, her sentence would only increase.

The fear closed in on her. Tears filled her eyes again.

She pressed her forehead against the cold wall. The chill grounded her.

Time passed, though she didn’t know how long. Eventually, one of the guards came in and spoke quietly. The other walked over to her cell.

“You have a visitor.”

A visitor?

Was it Hael?

Maybe he had spent the last three days trying to convince Lady Catherine and had finally come.

Hael would never believe she was a thief. He would never leave her like this.

A spark of hope lit in her chest. Her heart began to race.

Led by the guard, she walked to the visiting room. The door opened, and someone stepped into the space.

She looked up.

“M-Mother?”

As the figure stepped out of the shadows, she realized it really was her mother.

Her body moved instinctively. She rushed to the bars and held on tightly.

Now that she could see clearly, the sight tore at her heart.

In just three days, her mother had withered. Her thin frame looked brittle. Her cheeks were hollow. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying.

She looked like a tree stripped bare in winter.

Yurisiel had expected her mother to find out by now, but seeing her face made her eyes well up again.

“Yurisiel.”

Her mother’s voice was cracked and trembling. It was clear she had been calling her name over and over again for days.

Yurisiel didn’t need to ask.

She could already picture it. Her mother, half-conscious, stumbling through the estate trying to find her.

When her mother reached through the bars and touched Yurisiel’s cheek, her hand was ice-cold.

Just like the night air outside.

Cassian’s physicians finally let out a breath of relief once he opened his eyes.

This time had been dangerously close. For days, he had remained unconscious, his body drenched in cold sweat. None of them had been able to do anything but wait.

They tried to uncover why someone who had seemed fine just days earlier had suddenly deteriorated so badly.

Eventually, they learned he had stayed at the banquet for several hours.

In his condition, even strict rest would have been insufficient. Attending a banquet had been completely out of the question.

It was clear he had ignored their repeated advice.

Now that the damage had been done, all they could do was try to keep him alive.

But as the days passed and his condition showed no improvement, the chief physician began to pale. With no other choice, he reported the situation directly to the Duke of Blanchet.

True to his usual demeanor, the duke handled the situation with composed dignity. He gave only one simple command.

“Do whatever it takes to save him.”

The duchess, however, immediately said she would come herself.

Once news of her impending visit spread, the mansion was thrown into chaos.

Given the distance from the capital, she would arrive in no more than two days. Everyone in the household knew how much the duchess adored her son.

And they all understood that if she saw anything she disliked, consequences would follow.

While the entire mansion braced for her arrival, Cassian finally awoke.

The slight twitch of his finger caused the doctors to rush to his side.

“Young master? Can you hear me?”

Cassian slowly sat up, enduring the medical examination in silence, even as discomfort lined his pale face.

Once the physicians had left, Lanod entered the room, his face drawn and anxious.

Cassian remained quiet for a long time.

Just as Lanod was beginning to relax slightly, Cassian spoke.

“Where is she?”

The first words from someone who had nearly died were about Yurisiel.

Still, his usual expression didn’t betray a hint of emotion.

“Lady Yurisiel is currently being held in Alphonse’s detention quarters. She’s under investigation regarding the recent incident.”

Lanod took the opportunity to explain more. He mentioned the days Cassian had spent unconscious, the doctors’ urgent efforts, and the lord’s deep concern.

As usual, Cassian showed no reaction. His expression remained as unreadable as ever, so cold it could send shivers down anyone’s spine.

“And her mother?”

“She’s devastated. Completely broken over her daughter’s situation.”

Cassian remained silent.

“Fortunately, the lord was moved by pity and decided to grant the girl a pardon.”

“A pardon?”

For the first time, a visible change passed over Cassian’s face.

One of his eyebrows lifted slightly, as if questioning how such a decision had been made without his knowledge.

Of course, Yurisiel had deceived him. But after letting her stay so close to him for so long, it was difficult to believe he felt absolutely nothing.

Did the idea of her being released really bother him so much?

It was an unusually cold reaction.

Besides, she hadn’t stolen from him. The victim was Lady Catherine.

Even so, Lanod’s voice gradually weakened.

“Yes. Since it was her first offense, and there were several extenuating circumstances…”

“Not that.”

“I’m sorry?”

“What’s the real reason?”

“The actual reason the lord decided to release her.”

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