“H-how, how could His Highness be here…”

Before Timothia’s despairing words could finish, Joseph and the knights burst into the room. Joseph, despite his large stature, was very agile, and he quickly subdued them within a matter of seconds without the need for any knights.

“Your, Your Highness, it’s a conspiracy! Sir Butler, Gemma!”

As the bound Timothia held onto the doll’s legs with a pitiful expression, the knights’ faces grew even more ferocious as they listened.

‘It must be a huge shock to be betrayed by someone they trusted.’

As they entered Stella’s room, Karentina once again explained that all of this was Timothia’s doing, but the imprisoned people remained skeptical, so she had no choice but to show them.

‘If we had been a little late, it would’ve been a disaster.’

Even though, in her haste, she threw the shoes she had been wearing, she breathed a sigh of relief that Stella hadn’t suffered even for a moment.

“Sir Butler.”

“Yes, Princess Lorraine.”

“I think we should keep those two locked up in a special place until His Highness arrives, so could you please guide them to the Blizzard Room?”

“Blizzard Room?”

Joseph tilted his head as if puzzled.

“Young Lady! Please! Please save me! I only did as this woman and the Duke told me to do.”

As the butler cried out, Karentina turned her head coldly.

“My father, the Duke, has passed away, and the next Duke is my older brother. So, who is this Duke I don’t know?”

The butler realized that he had made a mistake and quickly shut his mouth.

“If you go deeper into the prison where the knights were earlier, you’ll come across a place marked with a snow crystal symbol. You should keep them there.”

“Is it different from a regular prison?”

“Yes, it’s a very special place.”

The Blizzard Room was a prison where only the head of the family and their direct relatives could open the door, and it concealed murderous devices.

“There’s a magic stone in that place that could inflict mental anguish slowly.”

Karentina smiled brightly at the butler and Timothia, who were lying on the floor with their heads held high.

“They will tell you everything, begging for mercy even at the first level of torture. So, I wonder what the highest level is like?”

Timothia and the butler’s faces turned even paler, bordering on an ashen hue.

Despite the fact that she had no real intention of using the magic stones in the prison, she wanted to instill a sense of anxiety and despair of knowing when they would face torture.

Karentina clenched her fists, still remembering how Uncle Maurice had threatened to confine her there.

The succession within the Lorraine family, who owned most of the magic stone mines distributed in the empire, wasn’t a mere matter of inheritance by birthright. It was because only those with true noble bloodlines could handle special magic stones. Her uncle, who was also a direct descendant himself, harbored resentment for being expelled from the direct line, and he took out his frustration on Karentina.

“Young Lady! Please, not the Blizzard Room… Please spare us!”

“Take them away.”

The knights bowed their heads at Joseph’s command.

“Young Lady! Young Lady!”

“Your Highness!”

As the sobbing voices of the butler and Timothia gradually faded further down the corridor, her tense emotions loosened slightly.

‘Let’s let them rot in prison for now, and when Ignis comes, they’ll experience hell.’

She was sure that Ignis would effectively deal with them.

The next moment, Joseph approached, scratching his head.

“Princess Lorraine, I sincerely thank you for your help… and I apologize for earlier.”

“If it weren’t for you, we would all have died.”

As the people from the Crown Prince’s entourage, including Joseph, bowed deeply after they finished their words, Karentina waved her hand.

“I’m actually grateful that you indulged my stubbornness.”

When a warm glow spread across their faces, a corner of her heart felt strange. It was somewhat fuzzy, and it felt like something was welling up.

“It hurts…”

 
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