It took only a moment for him to abandon Carola, who had long been his backing, his confidant for a long time, and for whom he had had quite a bit of affection during his youth.
Zain immediately said servilely,
“Actually, I am in a very difficult situation.”
“What does that mean?”
“It is true that I accidentally wrote a marriage contract with Lady Elisha some time ago. But I didn’t even touch that person’s body, and the marriage fell through. At the time, Lady Elisha was not even fifteen years old. How could we get married! It’s something I deeply regret now.”
“If what you say is right, it’s all in the past. What’s the problem?”
“Well… … . Carola kept pushing me to attack Lady Elisha and revive the marriage… … . I didn’t want to get caught up in the affairs of the duke’s family. So I had no choice but to run away!”
Zain also knew that he had to hide last night’s vicious scheme. What would happen if he found out that he had planned to rape Lucerne’s wife? His head would definitely be blown off.
The way of thinking of those with ugly hearts was obvious. Pass the responsibility to someone else. It was natural for her to target him in a crisis.
“What? Zain, you said you liked her too! You said you wanted to marry Elisha and take away the wealth she received from Lucerne!”
She hurled her curses at Zain. He had known Carola for a long time, to begin with. So, he considered her an old friend rather than a lady he served, and because of that, the arguments quickly became personal and messy.
“I know. I mean, she tempted me like that. If I had succumbed, I would have approached Lady Elisha at least once since she came here. But I kept refusing. But she continues to mistreat, harass and bully people—she is out of her mind!”
They fought in front of Gaju, spitting messily. When the patriarch saw that, his eyes grew cold. Zain’s testimony made Carola look like an even more insane woman.
“Get him out of my sight right now. Then dismiss him and lock him up.”
“Please spare me! Didn’t I honestly confess everything?”
Zain begged.
“Head.”
Then, unexpectedly, Lucerne opened her mouth.
“I heard that Zain is a knight who worked under Jacob for a long time. They say he once saved Jacob’s life.”
“That’s true,”
Gaju answered briefly.
“Then I will take over the new recruit. Jacob will definitely take out his anger on that guy. It is not good to see a loyalist who saved the life of a member of the Cartier family to be seen being treated coldly. I will place him as a knight under my command and dispatch him to the border area in the future.”
The area near the border was extremely dangerous. The birthplace of monsters lurked all over the empire. Often, ‘going to the border’ meant going on an expedition to where monsters originated.
“If he survives there, I will keep him under my command.”
“But didn’t he kill Elisha’s father?”
The head of the household’s question was directed to Elisha.
“Please do so. In fact, I almost never saw my biological father’s face. Life and death on the battlefield are all fate. I don’t hold on to petty grudges.”
Elisha spoke so sharply that it seemed a little cold. Gaju was satisfied with her answer and nodded.
‘Going to the border. Even if you are far from success, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.’
For now, Zain was satisfied with that. Once his disposition of Zain was decided, Carola was next.
“Elisha. What do you think I should do with Carola?”
“I don’t think Carola is an evil person.”
“… … what?”
Elisha explained calmly.
“Sometimes some people do strange things regardless of their will. It is said that one is intoxicated with a kind of madness. Even though I was stuck working in a laundry room, I heard about Carola a few times. There were times when she looked after us kindly, but she would often come to the laundry and behave strangely.”
“… … Is that so?”
“Elisha, you have to be honest.”
Lucerne comforted Elisha as if giving her courage.
“What did Carola do to the girls?”
“… … She would often beat up pretty girls.”
Many young girls from noble families had good looks. Carola would regularly stalk women she thought would catch Jacob’s eye in advance.
Moreover, during this period of her previous life, Elisha had worked as a bookkeeper under Carola and Jacob. At this time, Carola’s depravity was already considerable. Elisha went through it right next to her and remembered it all.
She calmly informed them about Carola’s misdeeds over the past year.
However, she said it as if she had heard rumors in the capital.
“That’s how you usually behave?”
It was natural for the Head’s face to harden.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tell on her.”
Elisha spoke demurely. Previously, the patriarch would have thought Carola’s wickedness was cute.
However, once she was disliked, even pretty features would be seen as flaws. All Elisha had to do was provide grounds for Gaju to find fault with.
