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Chapter 324: The End of Calumny

With a panicked expression, the head maid accelerated the whipping.

Thanks to her whipping, the young maids collapsed, blood oozing from their backs and arms.

"Don\'t slack off! Compared to the suffering I\'ve endured, this is nothing!!"

"I-It hurts..."

"Quiet!!"

Nevertheless, Anne continued to whip wildly without any regard.

"Frey is on our tail! If he arrives, we\'ll all be slaughtered!"

"Hooot~!"

"But this damn bird...!"

As the owl swiftly descended from above, targeting her forehead, the head maid, with a pale, frightened expression, lowered her head.

Her forehead was already bleeding profusely.

"H-Head maid..."

"What? What is it?"

"We can\'t dig any further..."

"What do you mean?"

The head maid, knowing that digging this secret passage was her only hope of surviving, looked shocked upon hearing the words of the other maids, and asked.

"There\'s some strange barrier... No matter how much we dig, the shovels just bounce back."

"This is...?"

In front of them, a magic circle filled with geometric patterns appeared.

Although the head maid was unaware, the ancient magic activated within the castle still prevented anyone from escaping.

It was part of Frey\'s scheme to only deliberately break through the magic on the front gate.

"M-Move!!"

"Ugh, aah..."

However, the head maid could not accept that this was the end, and snatched a shovel from another maid with a pale, scared expression.

- Crash, Crash...

"Eek! Agh!"

Then, she began to wildly attack the barrier in front of her.

"Break! Break quickly!!"

Somehow, feeling a chilling presence approaching from behind, her movements became more frantic.

"Please! Please, quickly... Ouch!"

However, it was all in vain and she stopped soon after.

"Uh, ugh..."

In the first place, even when she worked at the Starlight Mansion, she always made all sorts of excuses to shirk from her duty as a maid, earning glares from the other maids and Kania.

Moreover, after she became the head maid, she lived a luxurious and extravagant life with nobles who were infatuated with her beauty. Her hands, which had never done any dirty work, became very soft.

- Drip...

"Damn... it hurts..."

With no skill or technique, her hands naturally became covered in blood from the futile digging.

"Head maid, what should we do?"

"Y-You said we could escape this way! You said we can trust you!"

"I-I don\'t know either!"

The head maid trembled with a dizzying sensation of pain coursing through her hands. Then when she screamed at the maids who started to rebel due to the spreading fear…

- Step, step...

"All of this is because you all slacked off... Huh?"

From behind her, footsteps began to approach.

- Step, step, step...

"Ah, aaaa..."

The head maid screamed her lungs out and froze in her place when she heard the approaching footsteps. But soon, she regained her senses and grabbed the shovel lying on the ground with trembling hands.

"D-Don\'t come any closer."

A dark silhouette was approaching from afar.

"Don\'t, I said don\'t come any closer!"

Either out of sheer terror or madness, or perhaps possessed by a ghost, the head maid wildly swung her shovel at the dark silhouette.

Suddenly, she stopped swinging the shovel and her eyes widened.

"Hoot~!"

Simultaneously, the owl above her made a pleased noise and flew forward..

"Good job, I\'ll give you a treat later."

"Hoot~♪"

Just moments ago, that creature seemed ready to tear her apart ferociously. Now, it was gently handled and perched on the shoulder by the person who had approached.

"There are things I need to do right now."

Thus, the dark silhouette revealed herself from the darkness while caressing the owl, bathed in the moonlight.

"Lady... Serena?"

It was none other than Serena.

"Ah, hello...?"

Believing she was doomed to a terrible fate by Frey, the head maid opened her mouth with a glimmer of hope despite her bewildered expression.

"D-Do you remember me? I\'m Anne, who used to work as a maid at the Starlight Mansion."

"Yes, I remember you very well."

"O-oh, you do. Ah, haha..."

As Serena spoke amiably, the head maid began to relax and looked relieved, wiping the cold sweat from her forehead.

"B-But why are you here..."

- Slap...!!!

"...Keheuk!!"

However, the next moment, Serena\'s hand flew sharply across her cheek.

"I remember you… Very, very well."

"Ah..."

"And all the things you\'ve done since you left the mansion."

Anne, clutching her cheek, collapsed to the ground as Serena began to look down at her with a cold gaze.

"I would have preferred to deal with this quietly by myself... but my husband insists on seeing you in person."

"H-Huh?"

Serena muttered to herself.

"Miss Anne, the women\'s rights activist, fancy meeting you here."

"...!!!"

Suddenly, someone revealed themselves from behind Serena.

"I\'m a huge fan!"

"Hiiii, eek... Ikkkk..."

Frey appeared all of a sudden, wearing a pleased expression as he approached her.

"Could you please give me an autograph?"

He was shaking a copy of Anne\'s autobiography titled,

[What Happened to Me That Day]

.

.

.

.

.

"Guh...!"

Anne, utterly disgraced, clutched her stomach and gasped for breath as she sank to the ground.

"I-it hurts... It hurts..."

With tears streaming down her eyes, she spoke in a trembling voice.

"T-This is... This isn\'t right..."

"What do you mean it’s not right?"

"Well, I\'m not sure either..."

Serena, who had just delivered a powerful punch to Anne\'s stomach, tilted her head and asked, while Frey also mirrored her gesture and spoke.

"Frey used to call me over whenever he was bored and punched or kicked me in the stomach. Once, he hit me so hard, I vomited blood and collapsed. Of course, he beat me twice as hard because I dirtied the floor that day."

Then, Frey began reading her autobiography aloud.

“See, we just did what you wrote here, right…?”

"Aha! I get it!"

As Serena clapped her hands excitedly upon hearing his words, Frey wore a puzzled expression.

- Thump...!!!

"Keheuk..."

She smiled at him, then she suddenly kicked Anne\'s stomach with all of her might.

"You wrote that Frey punched OR kicked you, right? I only punched you, so that’s why you said, ‘This isn’t right’."

"Aha!"

Realizing what she meant, Frey clapped his hands.

"As expected, Serena is very smart."

"Of course. Whose wife do you think I am?"

"Wife? Come to think of it, there\'s a passage about that too."

As Frey flipped through the massive autobiography, which was as thick as a dictionary, he fixed his gaze on a page and began to read.

"Frey always asked me to become his wife. Whether he fell in love at first sight or just saw me as another form of entertainment, I don\'t know, but he tried to trap me with all sorts of honeyed words."

"...Ha."

"But I was prepared to die, and I refused every time. Because the moment I became his wife, my residence would change to the basement of the mansion. There… there are a lot of sex slaves who naively agreed to become Frey’s wife...”

Having read up to that point, Frey paused and turned his gaze to Anne with a chilling expression.

"Ugh, ugh... T-That\'s... I mean..."

Anne was caught off guard by the sudden recitation of her own ‘novel’.

"...Because of my refusal, my bones were crushed as he kicked my ankles until I couldn\'t walk. But I never accepted his proposal, even if it meant I would die. I refused to bend to his will."

"You truly are a remarkable person. I had no idea."

As Serena murmured in agreement, she slowly approached Anne.

- CRACK!!!

"Kyaaaaaaaa!!!"

And then, she ruthlessly began to stomp on Anne\'s ankles.

"It hurts!! Why are you doing this!!! Even after all that, you people–"

"And in the first place, having my ankle bones broken wasn\'t much of a pain for me. I felt more pain from my dignity being insulted."

"..."

Anne, who had been writhing and screaming, looked at her autobiography with a pale expression as Frey read the next page calmly.

Her book was like her child, the book that changed her life forever, but now she wanted to rip it to pieces and burn it.

"But eventually, the end came."

However, the autobiography remained in Frey\'s hands, and his recitation was nearing its climax.

"One day, Frey took advantage of my minor mistake and reached out his cruel hand toward me."

"W-Wait a minute. That\'s a bit exaggerated..."

"Frey grabbed me by the hair in the garden and dragged me around like a dog, and started kicking my stomach."

"N-No, that\'s not true! I wasn\'t dragged around! I exaggerated because it was the highlight– Keukkk!!"

As Anne desperately tried to explain, she was seized by Serena and dragged through secret passages by her hair.

"Aargh! It hurts!! My, my hair! My h-hair! Ugh! Gahhh!"

As a faithful fan of Anne’s novel, Serena began to mercilessly kick Anne’s stomach, which made Anne stop talking and began to spew out saliva and bile.

"Frey, who dragged me to the basement, tied me up roughly and slowly unzipped his pants."

"N-No! That\'s...!"

"I resisted fiercely, but Frey broke my will with a strong knee to my side. He was so adept at it, as if he had done such things many times before."

"Gah..."

Thus, Frey\'s recitation led to the climax.

"I ended up lying on the floor, helpless, while Frey violated me with his disgusting hands and tongue. After five terrifying and chilling minutes, he brought his thing under me..."

"P-Please..."

"...Since that day, I could never welcome spring again."

Finishing the recitation with a tearful expression, Frey closed the book and looked at Serena.

"It\'s such a sad story, Serena."

"I know, right."

"By the way, do you know that this is based on a true story?"

"...Really?"

Surprised by this revelation, Serena widened her eyes and lifted Anne up by her hair, asking her a question.

"But why is my ring like this?"

The black ring on Serena\'s left ring finger was turning white as it touched Anne\'s skin.

"This is a ring made of the stone of purity... Why is it turning white when it touches her??"

"Is that so? What\'s going on?"

Hearing those words, the eyes of the surrounding maids, who were watching the scene in horror, turned to focus on Anne.

"A-Ahhhh..."

At first, their eyes were filled with dumbfounded looks, but soon those eyes began to show various emotions.

“No…”

The young maids and some other maids were looking at her coldly, while those in the same predicament as her appeared even more terrified.

"T-This is fake..."

"Anne! Isn\'t it curious? How can you be a virgin and yet were raped?"

"It\'s fake! This ring is fake..."

"The Saintess was not Ferloche, but Anne! A raped virgin! This is more miraculous than a virgin conception!"

"Ugh..."

As Frey shouted, he approached her with a smile, causing Anne to tremble in fear.

“Isn’t that right, Anne?”

"Uh..."

"Do you consider helping up a maid who fell and spilled coffee on the carpet to be a rape?"

"..."

"How on earth did you write such a novel? What kind of imagination do you have? Did you have paranoia?"

Frey looked straight into her eyes and muttered in a cold voice.

"What did I ever do to you? Did you ever go into the basement? Do you even remember my father, who picked you up from the street? Why on earth..."

"Eek..."

"Hooo."

Then, as soon as she felt his breath, she closed her eyes tightly and screamed. Frey looked at Anne with a dumbfounded expression.

"Don\'t delude yourself. I wouldn\'t touch something like you, even if you offered yourself to me."

"..!"

"Do you think I would like a slut like you, who used to sneak out to flirt shamelessly with nobles and distinguished guests?"

With that said, Frey stepped back with a disgusted look on his face.

"W-what..."

Anne was even more shocked because she never imagined she would be treated like that by Frey.

"Hey girls, are you hurt badly? Here\'s some medicine. I\'ll apply it myself."

While she was still dazed, Frey approached the young maids and began pouring medicine into his hands.

"P-please... save me!!"

"Uh, uh... Uwaaah..."

"F-Frey... Frey is in front of my eyes..."

"This is a good deed, isn\'t it? Why are they reacting like this?"

Of course, being covered in blood and wounds all over his body while emitting a silvery smoke mixed with the blood, he didn\'t get a favorable response.

"Let\'s go."

"W-where... eukk."

Serena, who was watching him with affection, soon grabbed Anne by the hair and, with a cold expression, began dragging her outside.

"All of you, come along."

The other maids stared blankly at the head maid, who was dragged miserably along the ground in her fine maid uniform, as if her luxurious life were merely dreams. They snapped out of it when a cold voice sounded from in front of them.

"As the lady of the house, I guess I need to do some weeding."

"..."

The maids\' expressions began to darken.

.

.

.

.

.

"Cough...!"

Emerging from the secret passage, Serena threw Anne into the palace lobby.

"Ugh... Ugh..."

She was writhing on the floor with her whole body in shambles, but soon began to crawl somewhere.

"Over there, if I just go over there..."

The exit to the palace was right in front of her.

If she just went out there, she could survive.

"Where are you going, Miss Anne?"

"...!"

However, Serena blocked her way.

"W-Why are you doing this to me?!"

With tears welling up in her eyes, Anne began to scream.

"What did I do wrong? Frey is the bad one! He\'s the worst villain in the empire, isn\'t he? He insulted me just because I...!"

“Oh my. What happened to the young maids who were hospitalized in the imperial hospital with ‘serious illness’ or gone missing and labeled as runaways? I guess all of that was done by a ghost?”

"..."

"A person who claims to contribute to women\'s rights while actually lowering them more than anyone else. What a hypocrite."

But Serena\'s cutting words left Anne speechless.

- Crack...

In fact, Serena was poking her collarbone, so much so that she couldn’t talk.

"Ugh....!"

After being tortured for a while right in front of the exit, Anne gritted her teeth and crawled forward with all her might.

If I just get out... If I just get out of here...!

For some reason, there was a crowd in front of the exit.

Some of them had cameras, undoubtedly journalists. They seemed to have come to cover the events at the palace today.

For Anne, it was a golden opportunity.

The media is still on my side... If I expose what happened today... if I expose...

"Go on."

"...?"

Anne, who had been crawling forward while muttering to herself in anger, quietly tilted her head when Serena sighed and spoke.

"I said, get out."

"Eek!?"

"Ugh, aaah..."

At the same time, the maids who had been weeded out by Serena were also dragged into the lobby by her subordinates.

"I\'m relieving you of your positions. From now on, you\'re no longer part of the royal family and are now commoners. Leave immediately."

"H-huh?"

"Well, if you want to stay here and atone for your sins, we can do that but..."

Tapping her fan against her hand and murmuring quietly, Serena added with a gleam in her eye.

"If you leave here, you\'ll never be able to come back, no matter what happens."

"..."

"Now, choose."

As Serena spoke with a grin, the maids who had been watching her closely all raised the corners of their mouths and began to rush out together.

"I-I\'ll go too...!"

Seeing that, Anne hurriedly crawled out, fearing that the door might close.

"Pfft… Ahahahaha"

Then suddenly, she burst into laughter.

"How foolish... Seriously... Hehe..."

She had at least expected to lose an eyeball or suffer the disgrace of being truly raped by Frey.

But just getting exiled?

Rumors of Serena\'s sharp intellect were definitely exaggerated.

Once I\'m out, I\'ll hold a press conference... and then flee to another kingdom. With the profits from my autobiography alone, I can live luxuriously for the rest of my life.

With a wide smile on her face as she neared the entrance, she increased her pace.

And from today on, I\'ll continue to write as an anti-empire.

But then her gaze suddenly turned sinister.

Daring to bring such disgrace upon me... Frey, Serena. I\'ll never forgive you...

In her mind, the plot for revenge was already unfolding.

Frey and Serena, suffering backlash for her published journal. Herself stands tall as the leader of the anti-empire faction.

"You\'ll regret it for the rest of your life if you leave..."

Thanks to her overarching fantasy, she didn’t hear the chilling word muttered by Serena.

- Flash… Click…

However, as soon as she emerged outside, the flashes from the magical recording device began to illuminate her face, Anne\'s expression instantly turned gentle.

"Ugh, ugh... E-everyone..."

However, as she was about to start her public opinion warfare with tears in her eyes…

"Miss Anne! Is it true that your autobiography\'s contents were fabricated?!"

"Over ten Viscounts and Count noble families are involved in scandals, what do you think about that?!"

"What\'s your reason for abusing the maids and covering it up at the imperial hospital?!"

When the reporters pointed their magical recording device at her on the floor and bombarded her with questions, Anne began to wear a blank expression.

"Miss Anne! Please answer!"

"Is it true that you committed embezzlement and corruption with Lord Chamberlain?!"

"The publishing house that released your autobiography has announced a lawsuit, how do you feel?!"

"What... What is this..."

The reporters, who usually greeted her with warm smiles, now stared at her with cold eyes, aggressively waving their magical recording device in front of Anne’s bloodless face.

"...Good day."

"Ah, huh?"

"You really managed to entangle our son quite well."

As the head of the Clana faction pushed his way through the reporters and looked down at her with a face contorted in anger, she let out a strange voice and faltered.

"I’ll do my to show you hell, within the bounds of the law, of course."

"..."

"Of course, I only speak for myself. All the families wronged by your actions are itching for it too."

He spoke clearly while addressing reporters, then he walked quietly and whispered in a low voice.

"See you soon, in the back alleys."

"...!!!"

Although it was just a few words, it was enough to throw Anne into terror.

"Miss Anne! Please answer!"

"Miss Anne!!"

"Ugh, ugh..."

Just like that, she froze in her spot, surrounded by the maids who had rushed out with her and bombarded by the journalist’s questions.

- Creakkk...

All their gaze suddenly turned as someone opened the door and came out.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the press! Let\'s have an interview!"

It was Frey, who had cleaned himself of the blood covering his body, but still emitted a strong stench of blood and silver smoke.

"Ah..."

Anne looked at him and reminisced about the past.

"Waaaah..."

"Hey there, why are you crying here?"

"My... my mom disappeared..."

"...Why does this kind of thing never stop?"

In her mind, she recalled Frey\'s father, who once extended his warm hand to her as she sat starving to death in the alley behind the market.

"Are you my new friend? Hello!"

"Hello~!"

And the memories of young Frey and Aria, who greeted her warmly despite her commoner status.

The only place where she felt absolutely safe, where even the debt collectors chasing her mother\'s debts couldn\'t reach her, and where she could eat warm meals for the first time in her life.

"You spilled again? You clumsy bitch."

"I-I\'m sorry!"

And she remembered how, despite his harsh words, Frey never actually laid a hand on her.

"P-Please..."

Unconsciously shedding tears, Anne reached out to the hem of Frey\'s pants.

"P-please save me."

Soon, she began to plead earnestly.

"I-I was wrong. I want to go back to being a maid... no, a slave. I-I\'ll serve for the rest of my life, I promise..."

"But I\'m a commoner, though?"

"...Ah."

But by then, it was already too late.

"Please ask Aria. But I don\'t think she\'ll take back a traitor who abandoned her benefactor."

"P-Please..."

"Everyone, it\'s too noisy here. Let\'s go over there and talk."

Her life had already become a living /genesisforsaken