Ashley woke up to a knock on the door. She jumped out of bed and shivered.
'It's not the Countess, right?' But the knocking didn't stop.
"Ashley, it's me, Mary," said the voice on the other side of the door. She sighed in relief, then walked to the door to open it.
When she opened the door, Mary rushed inside and locked the door.
"What's wrong, Mary?" Ashley asked in confusion as she saw Mary breathing heavily.
"Lady Elizabeth is missing," Mary said straightforwardly. Ashley frowned. "Missing?"
"She was gone last night after lights out. Her maid got to her room this morning and saw she was already gone." Mary said.
Ashley was speechless. She was too shocked to say a word. But Mary wasn't finished talking.
"The whole mansion is in chaos now. The knights are interrogating all the maids and servants. Even the night-shift guards were fired for neglecting their duties."
"Then did they interrogate you too?" Ashley asked with a concerned tone.
"Yes. I told the knights I don't know anything about Lady Elizabeth and her disappearance, so they let me go." She said as she crossed her arms.
Ashley felt relieved that Mary was okay. Then Mary looked at her with excitement. "Then that means we lose one enemy now."
Ashley just shook her head at the silly words Mary said. "But it doesn't mean we are already free, right?"
"It's just a matter of time before we can be free from this place. So, let's hang in there." Mary said it with hope in her eyes.
Mary's family was a merchant that went bankrupt. Her mother had a weak body and died because her medication was not maintained when her family went bankrupt. Her father had a debt from different people that grew up in numbers due to interest and couldn't pay. Then he decided to commit suicide. Count Harriston is one of his debtors. She didn't have siblings, and her relatives were nowhere to be found when her family fell. Count Harriston brought her to the mansion and made her work as a maid to repay her father's debt.
Ashley smiled at the woman in front of her. She is the only one who kept on encouraging and keeping her faith in a better future. If not for Mary, she may have fallen into despair and left this world early.
The interrogation continued until noon at the Count's office. Elizabeth's maid, Mia, was the first to be interrogated since she was the closest and the last person who saw her. The Count and Countess, together with their butler, housekeeper, and the chief of the knights, led the interrogation.
"I-I don't know anything. S-she just asked me to prepare a cloak. That's all." Mia said as her brown eyes formed tears. "She just kept sending a letter to a man I don't even know."
"A man? Where do you deliver it?" The Count asked furiously.
"A-at a pub in town. T-the owner is the one who received it." Mia answered while shivering. The Count called the butler.
"Carl, tell the knights to go to the pub in town. Interrogate the pub owner. If he refuses to say anything, give him money."
"Yes, Sir." Carl bowed to him and walked out of the room.
The Countess approached the maid. "Since when did she send letters to a pub?"
"E-ever since…" Mia hesitated to answer, but when she saw the angry face of the Count, she continued what she was about to say. "Her return from the royal ball."
The Countess held her forehead and leaned as if she had fainted. Her maid supported her and assisted her onto the nearest chair. The Count gnawed his teeth as he listened to Mia's words.
'Ungrateful child. She was just my child, yet she did this to me. Her engagement with Owen had been finalized already. I need to find that insolent daughter of mine.' The Count thought.
The next ones to be interrogated were the fired knights.
"Sir, please forgive us. We never meant to sleep during our shift. We've been working here as night guards for years; we had never slept while on duty before." Said one of the knights.
"Isn't it because you all were drunk last night?" the Count angrily said.
"Sir, we didn't drink any liquor last night. We just ate the food the maids brought to us that made us drowsy." Another knight said.
The next one they interrogated was the maid who brought the food and the chef who cooked their food.
"I-I didn't put anything in their food. I just delivered it to them as usual," said the maid.
"They said that the food made them drowsy." Ask the Count.
"But I will never do something like put something on my masterpieces." Defense of the chef.
The interrogation had ended by the evening. The dining room was filled with a heavy atmosphere as the Count and Countess ate. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of the dining room.
"Sir, the knights we sent to the pub have returned." Announced by the butler.
"Let them in," said the Count in a heavy tone.
Soon the knights entered the dining room. They bowed to the Count and the Countess.
"We have returned from the pub. They said it was a man named Oliver Lewis King, a knight from the imperial palace," said the knight, who is the head.
The Count slammed the table in the dining room. Everyone got startled, including the Countess and the maids in the corner. He said it in an angry tone. "Did you find them?"
"Unfortunately, the owner said he hadn't shown up for a week." Replied the head knight.
"Find them. Bring Elizabeth back alive and then kill the knight." Said the Count to the knights, then he dismissed them. He looked at the Countess with blazing eyes.
"I must have spoiled your daughter too much, so she became insolent." The Count said so with a disappointed tone. The Countess sat with a dark expression on her face in her dining chair. The Count continued to eat his meal until it was empty.
"How should I handle the situation involving Count Lottway's son now?" He said as he stood up. "We need to find her, or else the deal with the Lottways will be off."
The Countess faced him. "Then how about your bastard child? Marry her to them as a replacement for my daughter."
"Who—?" Then he remembered Ashley. He immediately called his butler. "Carl, where is she?"
"Pardon, sir?" the butler asked.
"My other daughter," said the Count.
"Oh. Milady must be upstairs in the attic room." Carl answered him.
"Attic? She is using the attic as her room?" asked the Count. The Countess glared at the butler, but the butler seemed not to be affected by it.
"I need an explanation from you later. But for now, call Ashley to my office."
"Yes, Sir."