Chapter 21 The Doom Of The Villainess
"Lady Rhiannon..."
In the prison, Kaine calls out his master's name.
In his palm, he clutches a crumpled red ribbon.
The ends of the ribbon are frayed, showing signs of being awkwardly sewn back together multiple times.
It was a ribbon his former master had whimsically gifted him.
'Rhiannon Mimi Clahsen was exiled for adultery. However, on the way, she threw herself into a valley and took her own life.'
Yeah, that's what the guard solemnly announced just a little while ago.
The moment Kaine heard it, he collapsed and wept bitterly.
He felt dizzy from his own helplessness.
For a long time after that, Kaine sat in the dusty prison room, thinking about the past.
The only way he had left to mourn Rhiannon's death was to reflect on the past and regret it.
He wasn't even allowed to lay flowers at Rhiannon's grave.
"What went wrong..."
Kaine asked himself over and over.
It seemed like it all started with something trivial.
Kaine recalls that one day, it began with a hysterical remark from his master, Rhiannon Mimi Clahsen.
"That woman Sarah Belts is getting way too cozy with my fiancé, Prince Werner!"
When Kaine heard that, he clicked his tongue in bitterness.
It was the first time he had heard the name Sarah Belts.
However, he had heard so many bad things about Rhiannon's fiancé, Prince Werner, that it felt like he had heard it a million times.
He knew all about how he skipped tutoring to go hunting and how he treated those below him with blatant arrogance.
To Kaine, Werner was a detestable rival.
That aside, Rhiannon was doing her best to scold Werner for his childish thoughts and sometimes even reprimand him.
She always said that was the role of a fiancée.
Kaine thought it was really annoying.
If he were Werner, he would always be by Rhiannon's side, praising her beauty and showering her with love.
At the very least, he wouldn't be a pain like that arrogant Werner.
Anyway, thanks to Rhiannon's diligent efforts to educate her fiancé, Kaine thought Werner's personality had improved a bit.
But now, there were issues with women.
It was a completely hopeless situation.
(That girl, Sarah Belts, must really have no sense if she's going after that guy. She's probably just a fool attracted to his title as a prince.)
Kaine thought to himself.
Of course, Rhiannon was fiercely opposed to Sarah.
Rhiannon was a count's daughter, while Sarah was a viscount's daughter, so the power difference was clear.
Normally, it would be expected for Sarah to back off.
However, Sarah turned out to be a more troublesome opponent than Rhiannon anticipated.
No matter how many times Rhiannon warned her, Sarah shamelessly kept trying to get close to her fiancé, even going out of her way to provoke Rhiannon by increasing her contact with Werner.
The flirtatious glances and the not-so-ladylike body touches became a daily occurrence.
Unable to hide her irritation any longer, Rhiannon started to take out her frustrations on Sarah with small acts of harassment.
These included leaving Sarah's name off invitations and gossiping with her entourage.
Kaine didn't think to scold Rhiannon for her harassment.
He even thought it was a deserved consequence for a shameless woman trying to steal someone else's fiancé.
After all, in the world of nobles where power struggles were common, harassment was just part of the game.
There were worse things out there.
Plus, considering Rhiannon's competitive nature, it was only natural for her to push back like this.
Even if he scolded her now, it wouldn't change anything.
So, Kaine quietly pretended not to see Rhiannon's harassment.
However, as time went on, the situation started to get weirder.
Kaine clearly realized that "something was off" after the incident at the royal tea party.
Even though he wasn't there, he heard everything from a devastated Rhiannon when she returned from the party.
She told him that during the supposedly pleasant tea party, out of nowhere, her fiancé Werner started loudly berating Rhiannon and her friends.
"You guys have been sneaking around and harassing Sarah, huh?!"
Rhiannon and her crew were shocked and confused.
They never expected to be publicly accused like that.
Plus, some of the harassment claims were completely unfounded.
Sarah had staged it all.
And to make matters worse, the stunts she pulled were dangerously extreme.
Of course, Rhiannon and her friends fiercely denied it.
But no matter how much they insisted, "That's not true," Sarah and Werner just laughed it off.
The nobles at the tea party believed Sarah's words and took the opportunity to criticize Rhiannon.
Reluctantly, Rhiannon and her friends had no choice but to leave the scene.
From that point on, Rhiannon's situation took a turn for the worse.
She lost her place in high society.
The sycophants who had been so eager to please her started abandoning her one by one to save themselves.
The final blow to Rhiannon's downfall came from an incident in the royal library.
By chance, Rhiannon and Werner ran into each other there and ended up arguing.
Rhiannon had every right to use the royal library as the royal fiancée.
But Werner provoked her by saying, "Who do you think you are, using this library like a royal?".
Their argument gradually heated up.
Kaine, waiting outside the palace, heard from a servant that the two were fighting and rushed to Rhiannon's side.
Just as Kaine arrived, Prince Werner made a cutting remark.
Query: "I only got engaged to you for your money, and I'll never love you for life!".
The moment Rhiannon heard those words, she crumbled.
Kaine instantly sensed that Rhiannon's pride, which she had desperately worked to uphold as a suitable match for the prince, had shattered into pieces.
Unable to forgive that, Kaine lunged at Werner.
"Stop it, Kaine. The guy is a prince!"
Stubborn and proud, Rhiannon calmed the furious Kaine with a steady voice, bravely acting as if "nothing had happened" at all.
It was as if her shattered pride didn't exist anymore.
However, because of her behavior, the suspicious Werner only grew more doubtful.
"Why can you act normal even when I'm getting along with other girls? Normally, you'd be going crazy with jealousy. Could it be that, even though I'm your fiancé, you're having an affair with another guy?"
Consumed by suspicion, Werner searched frantically for Rhiannon's supposed lover.
The one he pointed fingers at as the affair partner was none other than the butler, Kaine.
Among the gossip-loving nobles, the rumor quickly spread that "despite being engaged to the third prince, Rhiannon, the only daughter of the Clahsen family, is having an affair with her butler, Kaine Ricciardi.".
In the end, the rumor gradually grew, embellished to sound like the truth.
Everyone believed that Rhiannon and Kaine were having an affair, and no one stood by Rhiannon's side.
Of course, there was no evidence of any affair between Rhiannon and Kaine, as such a thing simply didn't exist.
However, ultimately, they were accused and captured in the palace hall based on a flimsy reason that "the two always wear the same color ribbon as proof they are lovers.".
The charge was that, despite being the third prince's fiancée, she had committed infidelity.
To put it plainly, it was the crime of adultery.
Rhiannon, completely heartbroken, no longer had the strength to fight against the overwhelming tide.
She neither admitted her guilt nor claimed her innocence, and was exiled from the country.
The day before her exile, Kaine was allowed to see her for just a moment.
Up until then, Rhiannon had been holding it together, but as soon as she saw Kaine's face, she burst into tears.
"I'm sorry, Kaine. My (Watashi no)せいで, I'm sorry."
In front of the now emaciated Rhiannon, Kaine could only choke on his words.
He had so much he wanted to say.
And yet──...
"Lady Rhiannon, it's not your fault."
The words that Kaine barely managed to squeeze out were short.
And that became the last thing they said to each other.
Soon after, Kaine was thrown into a cell.
While he waited for his sentence in prison, Rhiannon was swiftly exiled, and along the way, she took her own life.
Sorry for the dark turn! Another dark story is coming up next.
Next time, it'll be about Sarah and Kaine's past lives.
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