I Raised the Beast Well

Belinda waved to the servant behind her – a sign that she wanted to talk privately with the duke.

Although he wasn’t her servant, he took the order because of her higher status.

The duke sat down and raised his teacup with a trembling hand.
However, he coughed before he could drink any because of Belinda’s next remark.

“What did you do to my sled?”

Belinda’s doubts turned into conviction when she saw his reaction.
No matter how much she thought about it, it was strange.
They were dogs in charge of the royal family’s sleds, so surely they would have selected the best trained ones.
Their violent reaction was a sudden, unexpected incident.

Belinda recalled that day at the forest cabin, then remembered how long Duke DeHill spent looking at her dogs.

It could’ve been a trivial thing, but the fact that he was Adelai’s closest ally and had negative feelings for her troubled her.

“The dogs were running around like crazy, with bloodshot eyes! It was like they were drugged or something!”

Mazetto’s past words were also very concerning.

She was testing the duke.
If he gave a nonchalant response, she’d leave, but otherwise…

“I didn’t do anything to the sled! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

The Duke sprang up from his seat and answered with a bit too much excitement.

It wasn’t difficult for Belinda to read the horror and embarrassment in his eyes.

After all, how many years had she spent in the back alleys?

Reading people’s emotions was an art form, one she had to understand to avoid the innkeeper’s blows.

Belinda put down her cup.
As expected, her suspicions seemed to be correct.

“Did it bother you that I humiliated you?”

“No, no, that’s not true at all!”

“It must have made you feel very bad.”

“No! Absolutely not!”

Duke DeHill shook his head as she went on.
The self-control of the powerful man, who had always lived an easy life, began to disintegrate when faced with an unforeseen situation.

“You must have tried to kill me because you felt so bad.”

The duke’s eyes widened and he urgently waved his hands around.

“As far as killing?! I would never! Huck….”

He stopped talking and took a step back.
He realized the meaning of what he’d just blurted out without thinking.

Belinda had led him to confess his sins with his own mouth.

She nodded and sat up.

All her doubts were resolved.
She never meant to ask him what he had done – she didn’t doubt that for a second.

Maybe he was just a fool who’d fallen for Adelai’s tricks.

Turning around, he desperately shouted at Belinda.

“Please forgive me! I didn’t do it out of malice! I never meant to do it!”

Belinda turned around and stared at him as he kneeled on the floor and put his forehead against it.
Both of his hands were shaking.
Knowing the gravity of his crime – murder of the toyal family – he couldn’t even keep his body in check for fear of being pushed out.

Belinda left the room without saying a word.

Even after she left, the duke couldn’t get up.
He was frustrated.

As soon as she left the room, Belinda’s expression hardened.

Duke DeHill wasn’t acting alone.
It could’ve been one of Adelai’s tricks.
She could have found out if she pushed the duke further, but he didn’t reach his limits.

It didn’t matter – the truth would be revealed anyway.

The half-blood princess and the princess who earned all of her father’s love.
After the facts were revealed, would the Emperor throw Adelai out for her?

No.
Maybe it would be the other way around.
Even if he’s started showing affection for her, it was nowhere near that level.

Knowing that, she decided to keep it under key and lock at first.
However, the resentment in her heart was too great to forgive.

She recalled Lucy’s crying and Aymon’s face as he collapsed into a hug.

She made her person sad.
She tried to kill her.

Adelai.

Belinda swished the name around in her mouth and took a quiet step, her lips sealed.

***

Adelai calmly shouted towards the door as she wandered around the room nervously.

“Call in Count Otoman.”

Soon, the Count entered the room, where she was standing by the second-floor window looking down at the royal family’s tearful reunion.

Sensing someone behind her, Adelai turned around.

“I should kill Belinda right now.”

“Princess.”

The count looked up and saw Adelai’s face, frozen with anger.
She sweeped the curtains shut to block the view.

“We could use Joseph to control the leopard who was with the lowly princess! So that the beast kills her!”

Count Otoman turned around to make sure the door was closed, then shook his head.

“The jewel hasn’t settled into Joseph’s stomach properly yet.
What if he manipulates the Shinsu into starting a rebellion, knowing my power? When we can’t control him, he’s just as dangerous as the Shinsu.”

“Just kill them, then! Kill them all!”

Adelai picked up her dress and huffed.
In spite of her nervous yelling, she knew that it wasn’t the right time yet.

The jewel planted in Joseph’s stomach was connected to the one she’d swallowed, but they weren’t properly established yet.

It was boring to wait until the jewels could root properly and their lives would be connected, letting Adelai use him freely.

It was obvious why they’d used the jewel, the price of which could’ve bought a mansion, in such a man – so she could control him effectively before telling him he was the only person who could control the Shinsu.

They had no way of knowing if he’d become a dog that bit its owner.

Adelai took a deep breath to calm herself down.

Even with her status, if it got out that the incident stemmed from her malice, she’d be in danger.

She wished Belinda had died.
Her returning alive just complicated the situation, without Adelai gaining anything.

“We should kill the DeHill siblings first, princess.
We have to get rid of any seed of uncertainty.”

“The siblings? They’re my people.”

“It’s better than killing the royal family.
If you go for Belinda, who’s already in danger, and really kill her, wouldn’t His Majesty start investigating?”

Adelai thought about Count Otoman’s advice for a moment.

Soon, she realized he was right and nodded.
She’d been impatient and tried to make a hasty decision.

“All right.
We have to stop the DeHill siblings before they cause a fuss.”

They’d kill them with no rush, when the opportune moment arose.

After Belinda disappeared, Adelai thought she was dead and tried to take it easy, but…..

The slightest slip can put me in big trouble.

Seeing the reaction of the Emperor, her father, would be an extraordinary feeling.

If they discovered her trails, she’d have trouble fixing the situation.
She’d have to be the emperor in the future, and she didn’t want any blemishes on her track record.

The best opportunity to kill the siblings would be the moment when they stopped hiding behind the shield of being a duke’s children.

“Yes, we should kill them first.”

Count Otoman had been silent for a while, thinking about something.
He bowed his head.

“I’ll take care of it right away.”

It wouldn’t be difficult to cover up the murder with an accident.
Finishing them off properly so no one could trace it to them would also be easy.

The count left his seat.

Left alone, Adelai massaged her temples, as if she had a headache.
She bit her tongue as she thought of Ruberos and Claire DeHill, the siblings she’d just told the count to kill.

They might have been on my side, but it can’t be helped.
There’s many others out there.

Trying to rationalize her decision, she drummed on the chair’s armrest.
The wrinkles on her forehead smoothed out and she stood up.

***

During a two-day extension of their stay on the peninsula, Belinda fed Lucy herself.
It wasn’t something a princess was supposed to do for her maid, but she didn’t care.

Belinda held her hand as she ate and when she took walks outside.

As if she couldn’t believe that she’d returned, she held onto Belinda’s hand in pain, as if it was her last lifeline.

Just like Aymon, Lucy was devastated by her absence and seemed to have developed trauma.

However, Belinda stuck to her the whole two days, smiling and reassuring her until she relaxed, like ice melting after a long winter.

While Prince Lart breathed a sigh of relief, Aymon, unhappy with the situation, sulked.

Two days ago, he was jealous of the emperor hugging Belinda, and now he felt like he had to compete with her maid.

He was dumbfounded by his own behavior.

The route back to the empire was smooth.
At least it seemed smooth – they went back by the same route they came and stopped to rest once in a while.

The unfortunate incident happened towards the end of the journey.

It happened while they were passing through a road high in the mountains.
After the usual 20-minute rest, the DeHill siblings approached the edge of the cliff for some reason.

The servant explained that they must have gone to admire the view.

And that was the end for them.

They went to look for them since they’d been gone for a long time, but only found one of Claire’s gloves caught in a bush.

They didn’t even find their escort driver.
After searching for the siblings all day long, the knights came to a sad conclusion.

The DeHill siblings had tripped and fallen off a cliff, along with the escort who tried to save them.

First Belinda, and now the DeHill siblings – it was proving to be a difficult trip in many ways.

The Emperor consoled the duchess with a somber expression, along with Adelai.

“This might be no comfort at all, but… I’ll take very special care of Berthe DeHill, who’s next in succession, for the sake of my dead friends.”

The duchess wept loudly at Adelai’s words, wetting her handkerchief.

Adelai’s expression was more cruel than ever.