Chapter 6
Unlike his sculpture-like appearance, the aura emanating from the master was closer to a wild beast, making her body want to shrink.
The Grand Duke was truly a beast. This was, indeed, the Beast’s Castle.
“Samuel. You’ve brought a very interesting woman. Anaïs had her interesting aspects too.”
The Grand Duke drank his wine again. A beast drinking blood sat before her.
However, Belle had to face the Grand Duke head-on. For that, she needed provocation.
“I can also handle the affairs of body-modified individuals within the territory.”
“You’re a bold woman.”
It was a clear provocation. Body-modified individuals were a social taboo.
“The 18 million berks won’t be wasted.”
Belle Sevigne, who had to enter the beast’s throat to survive. Fate is always cruel to you.
“I’ll risk my life to assist you. I, Belle Sevigne, swear on the pride of Sevigne.”
She wanted to see the blue sky. She wanted to escape the grayish-white castle that threatened to swallow her and lie in a field, gazing at the sky.
Following Josephine’s absurd lyrics, for the complete happiness that existed there, she wanted to flap her wings toward that high place she could reach.
Because she could never be happy here.
Yes. Happiness lies outside this castle.
So she must survive.
Belle made that pledge. To survive and certainly seize happiness.
***
“Hey, raven. Your storytelling is a mess, so let me organize it.”
“Okay, Belle.”
“You know at least ten women before me, and most were brought here to repay debts they couldn’t handle. The Grand Ducal family has difficulty finding employees because of the many body-modified individuals. But one was personally beheaded by the Grand Duke, and another was hanged upside down at the territory entrance for three days until she died, right?”
“That’s right.”
“And the last one executed, a woman named Anaïs, was publicly executed because the Grand Duke was very angry.”
“Exactly.”
Belle handed Bertrand a piece of candy. Bertrand’s eyes sparkled at the fruit-flavored candy, rare in the north, as he popped it into his mouth.
With chubby cheeks from baby fat as he chewed the candy, Bertrand had a personality as innocent as his kind eyes, making him, in vulgar terms, perfect prey to exploit.
“But aren’t you afraid of the Grand Duke?”
“I am scared, but I know something even more frightening, so it’s okay.”
“What’s more frightening?”
“Something. You know.”
Shrugging her shoulders, Belle noticed Ludvico approaching from a distance and instinctively pushed down Bertrand’s head to hide him. Ludvico approached with a crooked smile and spoke:
“You’ve been assigned quite an extraordinary task, I hear?”
“You’re quite late to hear the rumors. It must not be that extraordinary if you’re only hearing about it now.”
Belle flipped her luxurious blonde hair as if showing off. Ludvico opened his mouth in disbelief.
“I’ll give you credit for one thing: you’re out of your mind. Risking your life to attempt such a thing. You have about a week left to live, I suppose.”
When Belle glanced down, Bertrand, who was hiding, nodded in agreement with Ludvico’s words.
For good reason—she had made a life-or-death wager with the Grand Duke.
It happened a week ago, the night Belle first met the Grand Duke of Balzac and dined with him.
“I’ll risk my life to assist you. I, Belle Sevigne, swear on the pride of Sevigne.”
“Ha. What use is your life?”
“Then I’ll prove its worth. That my life is quite valuable.”
The Grand Duke, who had been staring at Belle as if to devour everything in her mind, burst into a snort. She hid her tension and tried to keep her face as relaxed as possible.
“Very well. Let’s make a wager, thinking of it as amusing entertainment.”
“What kind of wager?”
“If you win, you’ll become my assistant, and if I win, you’ll forfeit your life. Will you still do it?”
Though reluctant to engage in a wager dictated by the Grand Duke, she didn’t want to remain quietly confined in the castle.
If there was no opportunity to repay her debt and return to her original life, she intended to create one. So Belle answered:
“Fine. I’ll stake my neck.”
She stomped out the small spark of regret that was emerging. Regret was not what Belle Sevigne wanted. She knew better than anyone what she desired.
“What’s the content of the wager?”
“There’s an informant hidden in this castle. Samuel is watching that person, choosing the right moment to use them as a good card. Find that person. I’ll also acknowledge it if you find a different informant.”
“What’s the time limit?”
“I’ll give you two weeks.”
“Good.”
His ominous eyes gleamed with interest. Belle squared her shoulders to appear as confident as possible.
She didn’t want to be looked down upon or appear frightened.
Belle, who knew the hunting methods of beasts well and how to survive, was closer to a beast than the body-modified individuals, judging by her tenacious survival instinct alone.
From the next day, she searched the castle thoroughly, like hunting for mice.
“Meira, are there no guests in this castle besides employees and knights?”
“Do employees have separate paths they use?”
“Is it not possible to talk with the knights?”
After asking numerous questions and gathering information, Belle eventually extended her reach to the knights but was blocked by the commander of the Ponce Knight Order.
“What exactly is going on? If you don’t answer properly, I’ll have no choice but to suspect you.”
“I’m sorry. Actually, the Grand Duke is testing me. I need to find a brooch he lost within two weeks. It’s a brooch that could simply be replaced, but since it’s already lost, he’s giving me a chance to reduce my debt if I find it.”
“Can’t you just work to pay off your debt like the other women?”
“My debt isn’t an amount that can be repaid by such work. Moreover—”
Scanning the dozens of pairs of eyes directed at her, Belle confessed casually:
“He said I must forfeit my life if I don’t find the brooch.”
Thoroughly confused, Belle left the commander of the Ponce Knight Order and departed after saying goodbye.
Belle Sevigne’s crazy wager had spread throughout the castle before even half a day had passed.
And thanks to Bertrand, Ludvico, with whom she had become somewhat acquainted, was only now mentioning it after a week had passed.
“Why do you think I won’t find it?”
“Think about it logically. If you’ve searched everywhere and haven’t found it, someone must be hiding it. The Grand Duke’s brooch would be extremely valuable, and in the current situation, they’d try even harder to hide it. If they intended to hide it from the beginning, how could you possibly find it?”
“That’s why I revealed it.”
“What?”
“People who are hiding something tend to show signs. When rumors spread, they either shrink back, become overly cautious, or show worry on their faces—the truth reveals itself in various ways. They might even approach me.”
“Even if that’s true, how will you recognize behavior that differs from normal? You don’t know these people.”
“Don’t worry.”
Before revealing anything to the Ponce Knight Order commander, she had already memorized most of the knights’ faces and their basic behavior patterns.
She deliberately didn’t say the rest out loud for fear of spreading rumors. Belle hadn’t just been idling around since arriving at the castle.
While going to and from the library, she had observed the knights without arousing suspicion and grasped how the castle operated. She wouldn’t have set foot in an unknown castle without at least that much forethought.
The problem was the employees. When they saw Belle, they either stiffened their faces and lowered their heads as if they’d seen something they shouldn’t, or they avoided her altogether. In extreme cases, like in the kitchen earlier, they threw whatever they were holding or screamed.
Since she hadn’t seen how they normally behaved, it was difficult to distinguish unusual behavior.
“So have you found any clues?”
“Not yet. But I’m confident.”
Though she said this, she was considerably anxious because she still hadn’t found any proper clues.
The knights had tried to help Belle out of sympathy, but none of it had been particularly useful.
“How are you going to find it?”
Informants typically target information or lives. They’re likely from outside the territory, acting on enemy instructions.
Though she didn’t know when they had entered or how long they had worked as informants, their identity had already been exposed.
How? How did the Grand Duke and the butler notice?
Belle habitually tapped the windowsill with her fingertips.
“The brooch is with the employees.”
Ludvico’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t see anyone like that among the knights.”
There were too few clues for the time she had. In situations like this, she needed someone who knew the people in the castle better than anyone else.
That’s why she had been giving Bertrand candy while chatting to learn information about the knights.
“Do you have any employee friends?”
“Why would I?”
“Please introduce me to some. When I approach them, they all scream and run away. Are there any employees who have worked here since the previous generation?”
“Why do you think there’s a shortage of employees? They’ve been constantly replaced throughout the generations. And we don’t get friendly with the employees. The butler has drawn a line forbidding knights from mingling with them. But there is just one person.”
“Who?”
“Nestor Le Moyne from the Ponce Knight Order. He’s a distant relative from the Grand Duke’s maternal side.”