The Heroines Who Framed Me Are Clinging to Me

Chapter 40 - Reunion with Claire

"Lady Claire, it’s morning."

Harold Trading Company’s Eastan branch.

With the butler’s knock, Claire sluggishly rose from her bed.

A simple breakfast, consisting of a salad and a few pieces of meat, was soon prepared on the dining table.

Claire, now up, asked the butler,

"Did you check the food?"

"Yes, the maid in charge has already tested it…"

"But the sauce looks different from yesterday, doesn’t it?"

"Is that so? I’ll go and check with the kitchen."

"No. You try it."

"...Pardon?"

"I said, try it."

The butler’s brow furrowed ever so slightly as he heard her words.

Claire didn’t miss this subtle change in his expression.

"You have only two choices. Eat it, or kneel down right where you are."

Claire’s finger pointed directly at the butler.

The butler, as if feeling wronged, began to move toward Claire.

"My lady, I’ve served you for over ten years. If you can’t trust me, then…"

"Don’t move. You know better than anyone the extent of my magical abilities."

"You’re aware, aren’t you? My entire family has served the Harold family. I have no reason to betray you…"

"Stop it!"

Claire shouted as if she were having a seizure.

Step.

The butler’s footsteps halted.

Claire swallowed nervously and spoke in a trembling voice.

"It’s one of the two. Either you eat the food, or you kneel down right now."

The butler looked at Claire with a sense of disbelief.

It was a look filled with pity, as though he were gazing at someone who was ill.

"Lady Claire, it seems you’re very tired. You’re not acting like yourself."

That gaze, as if he were treating her like she was insane…

Maybe the butler was right.

He had served her for many years, and she trusted him enough to bring him to Eastan.

It was true that she was extremely tired.

The fact that she could be attacked at any time, anywhere, had driven her mind into a dark corner.

Maybe she was going mad.

As the doctor had said, maybe this cursed "Mana Sensitivity Syndrome" was slowly eating away at her sanity.

But despite it all…

"Don’t come closer. Just eat it. Everything will be solved if you eat it. So, eat it!"

Claire believed in her own reason.

Even if her mind crumbled, logic would still function.

Even if her emotions shattered, as long as her brain was working, she could still think.

That’s the kind of person she was.

"Very well, as you command."

The butler knelt down on the spot.

It was an action he had never shown in the ten years he had served her. He picked up the sandwich from the plate.

Even as he brought it to his mouth, there wasn’t the slightest hesitation in his actions.

— Flinch.

\'Am I truly going mad?\'

Claire’s eyes wavered.

In that instant.

— Fwoosh!

The butler’s body suddenly lunged forward.

On his arm, a symbol of the Blood Sect glowed white.

Claire unleashed the spell she had prepared in advance on him.

It was a fire spell, released in shock without proper control.

— Fwoosh!

The scent of burning flesh filled the air momentarily.

Only a pile of blackened ashes remained on the floor.

"Aah…"

Thud.

Claire collapsed into her seat, overwhelmed with despair.

◆

Rumors began to spread.

Gossip about the true master of the trading company spread quickly through the branch due to its shocking nature.

"They say Lady Claire has gone mad."

"I heard she spent millions of krones on some quack doctor in Eastan just recently."

"Isn’t it strange that she’s staying in Eastan? Why would she abandon the imperial capital to come to this remote backwater…"

The danger of rumors lies in their distortion of the truth.

Claire’s actions were being twisted and given wings by these rumors. But just as the unsettling rumors about Claire began to circulate,

— Whoosh!

A scorching heat enveloped the building.

It was so intense that it seemed the place was on fire.

Alarmed, people rushed to Claire’s quarters.

"L-Lady Claire! What on earth happened!"

They alternated their gaze between the charred remains and Claire.

They looked at Claire as though she were a monster, hesitating to approach.

"…No."

Claire muttered.

Her mind wasn’t functioning properly due to the shock.

The realization that the butler who had served her was actually a traitor.

And the fact that the servants who were supposed to support her were now looking at her as if she were an insect.

Everything was too overwhelming to process.

Even the Mana Sensitivity Syndrome she was suffering from pushed her further into a panic.

"N-no, that’s not it. This person, he tried to kill me—!"

"Th-this person? Could it be that those ashes are Butler Cain…?"

"Th-that’s because!"

Claire’s eyes trembled violently.

She abruptly stood up and bolted out of the room.

\'Damn it, damn it.\'

Where should she go?

It had been a long time since she had felt such panic.

Not since the days when all the porters and laborers who supported her in the Hero Party were killed.

Back then, Lee Han had helped her.

He had comforted her and set her straight.

But Lee Han wasn’t here now.

She had to find him.

She had to find Lee Han.

Driven to the brink, Claire wandered aimlessly.

At some point, she arrived at the headquarters of the Seven Kill Squad.

"I-Ilsa! I need to see Ilsa!"

Despite her desperate tone, the man at the reception desk replied calmly.

"Madam Ilsa is currently occupied and doesn’t have the time to meet with you, my lady."

"Wh-what do you mean! Do you know how much money I’ve given you people? You can’t do this! I’ll pay more, just let me see her right now!"

"However, she did leave a note."

"A note?"

"Yes. It’s information about the location of Lee Han… Would you like to hear it? Though it does come at a rather steep price."

Claire clung to the staff member as if she were a drug addict.

"P-please. I’ll pay whatever it takes. Just give it to me right now."

"The price will be double the original request fee. Is that acceptable?"

"I said I’d pay whatever it takes. So please…!"

A slight smirk appeared on the staff member’s lips as Claire clung to him.

Twice the original fee.

Even for the vice leader of the Harold Trading Company, that amount was surely unaffordable. Everything was going according to plan.

But there was no way for Claire, who had lost her mind, to realize this.

The staff member handed her a small note with a smile.

"You should be able to meet him if you go to this address."

It was a piece of paper with the address of the Social Science Research Institute.

◆

[Social Science Research Institute]

Three figures sat at a table in front of an unnecessarily large reception desk.

"Lloyd. How much longer do we have to wait?"

The village chief drummed his fingers on the table in frustration.

It was understandable.

— We’re going to raid the place called the Seven Kill Squad that attacked your village. Please come with us.

After hearing those words and coming to the institute, they had been waiting for three days now.

And yet Lloyd kept saying,

"Just a little longer. Someone will let us know when it’s time for us to move."

His assurances were nothing more than convenient excuses.

Whatever that was supposed to mean.

But Lloyd was Lloyd.

Since the village chief and Yulia trusted him, they waited.

On the fourth day.

Yulia, tapping her fingers on the table, finally spoke.

She was gritting her teeth.

"Lloyd. How much longer are we supposed to wait?"

"Just a bit more."

— Bang!

Yulia slammed the table in frustration.

"You said it was urgent before! I can’t take it anymore."

"I agree."

The village chief chimed in from the side.

"Lloyd, if you don’t want to go, then I’ll go alone! Follow me if you want!"

As she stood up, the chief also rose from his seat.

"A warrior doesn’t wait. I’ll join you."

Just as the two were about to storm out in anger,

— Knock, knock.

There was a knock at the door of the institute.

"Let’s go."

Lloyd stood up calmly.

He walked past the village chief and Yulia, who were both left speechless, and approached the door.

"Who is it?"

"...I have a request."

A feeble voice answered from the other side.

It was a familiar voice.

Lloyd bit his lower lip.

It was the first time he had heard this voice in this lifetime.

— Revenge. The time for revenge has come. Will you just stand by and watch? I’ll lend you my strength. With it, you could blow that girl’s trading company sky-high. Just take my hand.

Ortega’s voice echoed for the first time in a while.

Lloyd reached into his pocket and pulled out a sedative, biting down on it.

\'I should probably buy more soon.\'

There weren’t many sedatives left.

It seemed like he needed to start being careful about overusing them, but for now, it was better to focus on the matter at hand.

Swallowing the bitter taste of the sedative, Lloyd opened the door.

— Creak.

The door slowly swung open.

The first thing that caught his eye was the bright red hair.

A color both intense and familiar at the same time.

Thump.

Lloyd’s heart jolted as if it had been punched. But that was why he had taken the sedative. Soon, the trembling in his heart subsided.

"Is… is this the Social Science Research Institute?"

In contrast, the other voice was trembling uncontrollably.

Eyes once bright green had lost their light.

Her weight was so unbalanced that she seemed ready to collapse at any moment.

A familiar, deeply familiar appearance.

Lee Han’s childhood friend, a companion in the Hero Party, and one of the individuals had driven him to his death.

Claire Harold.

She stood at the door.