What Remains in the Damaged Place - Chapter 29

With just a single sentence, the Duke’s casual remark turned the situation from an accusation into an absolution. The balance of power, which had leaned toward Hayley’s favor, now shifted sharply in the opposite direction.

“But I wonder,” Valderion began again, his voice thick with sarcasm as he let out a puff of smoke, “what it means when someone claims that something I personally gave them was stolen.”

His words hung in the air, and everyone present knew exactly who they were directed at.

The situation had now completely flipped.

When Valderion’s golden eyes finally lifted calmly to meet the room, the intensity behind them was like a blade’s edge.

“That maid… the one who said she witnessed the theft.”

His tone, which allowed no escape, felt almost merciless as it closed in on Hayley.

“I say I gave it to her, while she claims it was stolen.”

Valderion leaned back against the sofa, his eyes narrowing as he glanced up at Hayley.

“What do you think, head maid?”

His lazy tone still carried a sharp undercurrent that could not be ignored.

“Between the two of us, who do you think is lying?”

It was less of a question and more of a verdict.

There was no room for doubt. Even if Hayley’s story were somehow true, when the Duke framed the situation like this, the head maid had no choice but to accept his words as absolute truth. In a noble household, the master’s word was as good as law.

“Th-that’s impossible!”

Just as the head maid was about to meekly accept the Duke’s will, a sharp cry cut through the air.

“I saw it! I saw that girl stealing, Master!” Hayley’s voice was frantic and desperate.

Hayley was panicking. She had been the one to place the box in Lirette’s room herself. Normally, she would have had someone else do it, but this time she had moved in secret to ensure the job was done right. There was no denying her involvement.

Which meant the Duke was the one lying.

“Why are you protecting Brilline?”

This scenario wasn’t in Hayley’s script. She had orchestrated events like this many times before, especially when she had worked for a baron in the past. With a few crocodile tears shed in the baron’s arms, she had always managed to remove her rivals without issue. In those cases, everything had always gone exactly as planned, in her favor.

So why?

Why was this time different?

Why wasn’t she the one being protected?

A realization began to dawn on Hayley.

“The new girl… They say she attends to the master at night.”

Her eyes, clouded by ambition and arrogance, suddenly began to clear.

And with that clarity, she started to see things she had missed before.

The head maid, staring at her in shock.

The Duke’s indifferent gaze, colder than it would be for even a stone in the road.

The distance between herself and the Duke, far too great to bridge.

And that same Duke’s gaze, slowly shifting toward the maid standing beside her.

Toward Brilline.

The maid who had been a thorn in Hayley’s side from the very beginning. The Duke’s gaze was fixed on her, filled with interest.

Affection.

The very thing Hayley had longed for all these years—the thing she had poured so much time and effort into achieving—had been effortlessly claimed by that girl.

How could this be?

She had waited for years, only to catch brief glimpses of him from afar.

The bitter truth crashed down on Hayley like a violent wave, filling her with fury.

Her hands trembled, clenched into fists so tightly they turned white.

Defeat and humiliation surged within her, tangling together in her chest, almost suffocating her.

“I… I swear I saw it…” Her face had turned pale, and she seemed to no longer know what she was saying. All she wanted was to deny the reality before her, as if doing so might change the outcome.

“It can’t be true!”

“Hayley, enough!” the head maid snapped, cutting off her desperate outburst.

The head maid quickly smoothed over her own expression, suppressing her anger, and bowed deeply toward the Duke.

“I apologize, Master. All of this is my fault.”

Valderion, observing the scene with the detached amusement of someone watching a petty farce, calmly removed the cufflink he had been fiddling with.

“I have no intention of keeping a liar in my household.”

The cufflink fell into a deep blue case with a soft thud.

Clink.

The sound of it rolling echoed through the room, but to Hayley’s ears, it might as well have been the roar of thunder. It pierced through her, chilling her to the core.

“Make sure she’s gone by the end of today.”

The Duke’s final command, though quiet, cut through the air like a blade, sealing her fate.

“Yes, as you wish,” the head maid responded.

“Why… why me…?” Hayley muttered, her voice barely a whisper.

Hayley stood there in stunned silence, staring at the Duke.

Her face was filled with desperate hope, as if she was waiting for something—some sign of mercy or interest. But unfortunately for her, Valderion had none. No matter how intensely she gazed, there was not a hint of emotion on his face.

He seemed as though he had merely taken care of a simple, routine task.

And that shattered all of Hayley’s hopeful imaginings and expectations, revealing a much harsher reality. Her once pitiful expression twisted into something far more bitter and vicious. Her once pleading eyes turned sharp, and her gaze snapped to the person standing beside her—Lirette.

And then, without warning, everything exploded.

“Hayley!”

In an instant, Hayley lunged at Lirette, her trembling body suddenly erupting into violence. It happened so fast that Lirette had no time to react.

“Ah!”

The cap securing Lirette’s hair flew off, torn away by Hayley’s ferocious hands. Her neatly pinned hair unraveled in an instant, and strands of silver, like petals of salvia flowers, scattered into the air.

But even that was short-lived, as Hayley’s wild hands grabbed fistfuls of her hair, pulling it viciously, as if trying to rip it out.

Normally, when attacked, a person’s instinct would be to resist, to fight back. But Lirette couldn’t move.

The memories came flooding back.

The feeling of someone overpowering her, the searing, hostile eyes—none of it was unfamiliar. It stirred up old traumas, memories of pain she thought she had buried. Her mind flashed to a voice from her past, soft yet cruel, that always lingered after every strike.

“Don’t resist.”

Each time she fought back, that voice would fall like a harpoon, reminding her of her helplessness.

“The more you resist, the more painful it will be.”

The phantom image of those cold lips, twisted into a sneer, flickered in her mind—like a hallucination, or a nightmare.

Golden hair.

Perfectly white teeth.

The venomous words dripping from those crimson lips…

“Oh my God, someone stop her!” the head maid shouted in horror.

Suddenly, the sound of a door opening sharply, then closing, rang out. The steady, authoritative sound of boots cut through the chaos, mixing with Hayley’s shrill, desperate screams as they reverberated through the room.

Lirette couldn’t even open her eyes, blinded by the claws raking across her skin.

But then, just as quickly as it had started, it stopped.

Hayley, who had been pinning Lirette down, was lifted away, her screams growing more distant as she was dragged off somewhere. Lirette groaned in pain, feeling the stinging sensation left by the attack on her face and neck. When she finally managed to open her eyes, she saw Hayley, now restrained by two knights, thrashing and screaming as they pulled her away.

“Get up.”

The low, effortless command reached Lirette’s ears.

She leaned on the strong grip pulling her up, barely managing to stand. No sooner had she gotten to her feet than her chin was lifted, forcing her head up.

Valderion, who had somehow moved to stand right in front of her, inspected her face, turning it left and right. He clicked his tongue at the sight of the red scratches marring her pale cheek.

“What are you waiting for? Remove her at once,” he said, his voice carrying an undercurrent of impatience.

The knights quickly obeyed without a word, dragging the still-screaming Hayley out of the room.

“Let go of me! Let me go!”

In the now-quiet room, the only noise came from Hayley’s struggling, echoing down the hall as she was forcefully removed.

Lirette watched in a daze, staring at Hayley’s disheveled form as she was hauled out. She was unable to process what had just happened.

“You’re injured…” the head maid said, her voice filled with concern.

Both the head maid and Valderion were staring at Lirette’s left cheek, where Hayley’s sharp nails had definitely left their mark. When Lirette raised her hand to touch it, a sharp sting spread from her cheek to her fingertips.

A faint gasp escaped her as she pulled her hand away, noticing the light trace of blood on her fingers. Her neck felt hot as well—likely scratched in the same manner.

“We should get that treated immediately…” the head maid began, but Valderion interrupted.

“Bring the medicine here.”

The head maid, who had been preparing to escort Lirette out, froze at Valderion’s command. She quickly composed herself and hurried to fetch the first aid kit, placing it on the table before stepping back.

During this, Lirette found herself guided to a nearby sofa by Valderion’s firm hand.

Her gaze wandered, and she found herself staring at the cap that had been tossed to the corner of the room. It had been knocked off during the struggle, lying pathetically on the floor. For some reason, the sight of it stirred a bitter feeling within her. She couldn’t explain why, but it felt like that cap represented her.

“Your mind is still elsewhere, it seems,” Valderion said, his voice pulling her back to the present.

Her chin was once again gently but firmly gripped, turning her face to meet his gaze.

Seated close to her, Valderion held her face steady, ensuring that she couldn’t look away. Slowly, her hazy eyes began to refocus, blinking away the blur of confusion.

Before she could say anything, she felt a cool ointment brush against her wounded cheek. Valderion’s fingers moved with precision, applying the medicine with care, as though they were an extension of the tool itself. The sting of the ointment made Lirette shiver slightly.

“…Did you know this would happen?”

The question slipped from her lips, a thought she had been holding onto for a while.

“What are you talking about?”

“That things would turn out like this.”