Killian wouldn't kill the maid, because Julietta had already said something. However, even if he did, she would be a little bit sad because she couldn't present the maid as a witness, but she didn't feel too guilty at the thought.

She was afraid of getting more and more numb. 'If this kind of decision repeats itself, can I think so little of a man's life, like Prince Francis and Christine?'

Julietta looked down at the maid crawling on the floor with emotionless eyes.

If she did something bad, she should be punished accordingly. She had to feel painfully how much she had done wrong. Because she had threatened Julietta's life, her life should be threatened.

Killian's angry sword fiercely splintered the wind and pa.s.sed by, touching the neck of the maid.

The maid thought she was dead and couldn't even scream... then screamed frantically when she saw her pony-tail cut and fall to the floor.

Killian put the sword in the sheath, and gave a fierce beating to the screaming maid who was crawling on the floor. Then he threw the sword he was holding toward Ian. "I want to kill you like this, but I'm saving you because I have something to use you for. If you don't do what I tell you to do properly, I'll send you to another world."

Killian warned the trembling maid, grabbed the hand of Julietta where she was standing against the wall, and entered the bedroom.

Despite Jane's sobs, Julietta felt strangely calm, and held her thoughts tightly. The position she was about to rise to in the future was one where she should not show any awkward sympathy or mercy.

She looked up at Killian, who was still furious because he could not resolve his anger, and dismissed from her thoughts the scene of the maid who had begged and crawled on the floor.

"Your Highness, are you all right?"

"I managed to put up with it when I wanted to kill her."

"Good job. You know she's an important witness."

'Do you really think he did a good job?' Julietta asked herself silently.

"Are you all right?" Killian looked down at Julietta, who looked strange somehow.

"... I don't know. I just thought it would be okay if you killed her..."

Killian strongly hugged Julietta as she with unfocused eyes about not feeling any emotion.

She was hurt by what had been continuously happening. She seemed to have closed off a part of her mind to protect herself.

So had Killian after he had lost his mother. He had lost something, but he had lived without knowing what he had lost. It wasn't until he met Julietta that he got it back.

Killian hugged her in silence and swept her back relentlessly. The thin body in his embrace was quiet without any resistance.

Frightened, Killian shook her body sideways, whispering. Julietta was shaken as if she was flooded by the waves, and spoke after a long time. "I thought it was done by Prince Francis."

But that was only half the truth. The other half was led by her half-sister Christine.

Julietta had constantly imagined revenge on Christine since the abduction.

'Would I make her suffer the same thing, in like manner? Or do I go slap her cheeks and let her beg for her life, saying that I know all what she's done? Or do I file a formal complaint and let her be punished?'

Sometimes the terrible memories of that day that came to her seemed like they would never go away. It was upsetting enough to wake her while she was sleeping, but it was more painful that she could not share this feeling with anyone.

Julietta could not ignore Marquis Anais. The moment she put the blade of revenge on Christine, the aftermath couldn't help but reach the Marquis behind Christine. So, she had been pressing for revenge, but the reward was death. She was sick of Christine. She was angry that she was the only one going through this.

However, she felt uncomfortable, because the price was that she had taken another person's seat. Did she really deserve to be angry? Her mind was so complicated that her anger was focused on Jane.

'I wish you would be dead. Die instead of Christine. Did you try to kill someone, even though you were ordered to kill? You had no ill favor or spite with me, but you tried to kill me because you were ordered to? You're the worst. Die! Die! Die!'

Only then did she notice that the anger which she could not bring out with any words had acc.u.mulated in her heart. She hated his cowardice.

'Why can't I get revenge on Christine in an imposing manner? Because of the man who is my father? Because of someone who has no connection with me?'

No, it was because she had intercepted the man Christine loved, even though she was a subst.i.tute who took another's position. If she hadn't shown up, Christine could have married Killian. In fact, it had been said in Bertino Castle. If she hadn't loved Killian, she would have felt a little less guilty, if it were just a business relations.h.i.+p like before.

But she fell in love with this arrogant man. Then she thought that all this was done out of her own greed. She tried to make Phoebe the Duke's illegitimate child instead of Regina, fearing Regina would threaten her position. Now she wanted Christine to die. The more she tried to have, the more she should not be swayed by compa.s.sion; she brainwashed herself.