Now This Family Belongs to My Mother Chapter 33

It was that night. Rustle, rustle. Someone sneaked into my room after all the lights were out. It was someone I had been waiting for. Karen is here.

 

Karen checked on me, thinking I was asleep, and started doing something. I quietly opened my eyes in the darkness. Karen was hiding something in my room. After hiding the item, she let out a sigh of relief and left the room.

 

Karen, you foolish thing.

 

I got up from my spot and checked what Karen had hidden. A cold smile spread across my face. This must be Stella’s doing. I was certain about it. I had anticipated that Stella would try to use Karen to get revenge on me. After all, she had pretended to be kind, as if all her grudges had disappeared, just to catch me off guard.

 

Karen’s actions aren’t surprising either. She’s always been reporting my affairs to Stella.

 

Even though Stella ruined her leg, Karen’s rebellion was always short-lived. Cowardly Karen could never truly escape her real master, Stella. I no longer felt any sense of betrayal by that. After all, I kept Karen around for this very moment.

 

I took out the item Karen had hidden. Karen, thank you so much for acting just as I expected. So, I planned to return this to Karen.

 

* * *

The next day, the entire Blanche mansion was in an uproar. It was because Hubert’s cherished golden bust had disappeared. The golden bust was a sculpture of Hubert’s late wife. He had displayed it on his desk in the study, always keeping it in sight. The size was only about the size of a palm, but the carving was so delicate and beautiful that it caught the eye of anyone who saw it.

 

“Find the bust immediately!”

 

Hubert, usually composed, was visibly agitated. He had dearly loved his late wife. The bust had been sculpted as a way to endure his grief after her death.

 

The servants whispered among themselves.

 

“Who would dare touch that? Even the cleaning maids aren’t allowed to handle it. He insists on cleaning it himself.”

 

“There’s no way any employee in the house doesn’t know about it. No one would have moved it by mistake.”

 

“Then who stole it?”

 

“My goodness!”

 

“How bold!”

 

Whoever stole the bust wouldn’t escape severe punishment. Everyone knew how ruthless the consequences could be when Hubert was enraged. Even those not guilty felt a chill down their spines.

 

“Have none of you seen the bust?” Hubert asked, gathering the entire family together.

 

“How could I have touched it, Father?” said Gale.

 

“Same here. I haven’t even been called to Father-in-law’s office recently.” Diane said, pretending to be sorrowful.

 

“I don’t know anything either.” Juliet, the cousin who had been in seclusion until now, spoke in a small voice. She was a pretty girl with blonde hair and green eyes, but her upturned eyes and weak, soft voice gave her a gloomy appearance. Hubert didn’t seem to suspect her either, as he shifted his gaze to the other grandchildren.

 

“I-I don’t know! I was with my friends all day yesterday!” Nicholas hastily defended himself. It seemed he had been diligently gathering investors.

 

Once Nicholas’s alibi was confirmed, Hubert’s gaze finally landed on me and Stella. “Epirosa and Stella came to my office yesterday, didn’t you?”

 

“Yes, but when I last saw it, the bust was still there,” Stella replied.

 

“I didn’t touch the bust either,” I spoke truthfully.

 

But Hubert’s eyes didn’t leave me or Stella. “Is that true?” Hubert asked in a terrifying tone. It was a voice so chilling that it made my hair stand on end.

 

I nodded. “Yes, Grandpa. It’s all true.”

 

Hubert lifted his head as if he understood and looked at the servants standing behind him. “I’ve given everyone a chance to confess. From this moment on, if the culprit is caught, there will be no mercy for them…”

 

“Your Excellency!”

 

It was then. Someone burst out from among the line of servants standing behind us. It was Karen. She knelt before me, bowing her head to the ground, and cried out tearfully.

 

“Your Excellency, please forgive me! The one who stole your bust is… my mistress, Lady Epirosa!”

 

“What?” Hubert looked at me in shock.

 

I didn’t avoid his gaze, meeting it head-on as if to prove my innocence. Hubert’s gaze then shifted to Karen, who was sprawled on the floor.

 

“Yesterday, when Your Excellency summoned us to your office, Milady hurried me, saying we had to go early. I thought it was because she wanted to be polite, but…” Karen turned her tear-streaked eyes to me. “When it was just the two of us, Milady rummaged through your office, then said she liked the bust and took it! No matter how much I tried to stop her, she wouldn’t listen!”

 

I quietly stared at the shameless Karen. When my cold, emotionless eyes met her, she flinched. She probably thought I’d be flustered or lose my composure. Karen quickly avoided my eyes and pressed herself even lower to the floor.

 

“Epirosa, is what this maid says true?”

 

“It’s not true. Not a single word of it.”

 

“Then are you saying this maid is falsely accusing you?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“T-That’s not it!” At my firm response, Karen shook her head desperately. Seeing that I neither reacted with surprise nor panic, she grew even more frantic. “I saw it with my own eyes!”

 

“But Karen, you’ve never been alone with me in Grandpa’s office. We arrived at the office later than Stella, remember?”

 

“What are you talking about, Milady! You rushed me because you wanted to sneak a look around the office!” Karen lied without batting an eye. It was as if she had rehearsed the lines multiple times.

 

Hubert turned to look at Stella. “Stella, is it true that you arrived later than Epirosa?”

 

Stella responded with an innocent expression. “Yes. I came later than Epirosa. You can ask my maid, and she’ll tell you the same thing.”

 

A kind voice that sounded devoid of malice, and a face filled with concern. For anyone unaware of Stella’s true nature, they would be completely fooled.

 

The truth was, Stella had arrived first. She stole the bust herself and is trying to frame me. This trap had been set by her from the very beginning, waiting for me to fall into it.

 

Hubert’s piercing gaze turned toward me. “Everyone is testifying that you’re the culprit. What do you have to say for yourself?”

 

“I’m innocent. You can search my room if you want.”

 

At my words, Stella’s eyes gleamed. She must think I’ve walked right into her trap.

 

“In that case, I’ll have my personal servants search your room thoroughly,” Hubert ordered his servants to search my room. The servants rushed upstairs to my quarters.

 

Diane looked at me with a smug expression, believing this was payback for when her and Stella’s rooms were searched recently.

 

It was a while later.

 

“Your Excellency, we have searched for Lady Epirosa’s room thoroughly!” The servants returned.

 

“The bust?” Hubert asked coldly.

 

“The bust…”

 

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the servant’s lips.

 

“We couldn’t find it.”

 

I smiled quietly. I could see Stella trying to hide her shock. Karen, on the other hand, couldn’t even conceal her surprise.

 

I approached Karen. “Karen, I don’t understand why you tried to frame me. It’s a serious crime for a maid to falsely accuse her master.”

 

At the mention of serious crime, Karen jumped in panic. “T-T-That can’t be! I clearly saw Milady stealing His Excellency’s bust with my own two eyes! I’m sure the bust is in Milady’s room!”

 

“Are you saying Grandpa’s personal servants failed to search my room properly?”

 

“T-That’s not it! If they couldn’t find it, I can personally show where—”

 

“You’ll personally show us?”

 

“Yes, I—”

 

“Grandpa, Karen seems suspicious.” I interrupted Karen and looked at Hubert.

 

“Karen, you seem to know exactly where the bust is in Epirosa’s room. Almost as if you were the one who hid it.” Hubert seemed to think the same.

 

Karen turned as pale as a sheet.

 

“Search the entire mansion thoroughly from now on! Especially take a close look at Karen’s room!”

 

“Y-Your Excellency!” Madam Mona, Karen’s biological mother and the head maid, fell to her knees. “My Karen would never steal the bust. You know how loyal we, mother and daughter, are to the Grand Duke’s family!”

 

“That’s why I’m ordering a thorough search. To prove Karen’s innocence, we must investigate meticulously.”

 

“But…!”

 

“Didn’t Epirosa, Karen’s mistress, go through the same?”

 

Madam Mona couldn’t say another word.

 

Hubert, who had been watching her, spoke. “Mona, you are refraining from participating in the search. Since your daughter is involved, your personal feelings might interfere with the investigation.”