Doah recalled the maid’s face.

She first read the maid’s physiognomy through the forehead to ascertain her luck during her youth. It was narrow and flat, the sides were hollowed, there was not much flesh and it looked immensely gloomy.

That was to say, when she was young, she did not benefit from her parents and no wealth passed through her hands.

‘With mousy eyes like that and a red tip of the nose, the light doesn’t look good. Her ears are as thin as paper like wide-spread wings, the same as having no earlobes, indicating scantiness. Since her lips are tugged up and crooked because of her sharp mouth, she has a physiognomy pointing towards poverty.’

If she would ever run a business, each and every time it would go to bust. If she would ever try to gamble, each and every time it would all blow off.

She had no inherited property, and it was also difficult to acquire her own property and she had insufficient means to do it.

‘As a result, the chances of alleviating her poverty is through stealing.’

Above all, with the shape of her head curving forward, there was a tendency for them to seem as though they’re looking sideways without looking straight ahead.

A person like this would be quite rash with their actions because they couldn’t see anything far away, focusing their attention on only immediate pursuits.

‘So, it has to be you.’

Phrenology¹ was not an area of study that judges a person only based on their appearance.

In particular, it wouldn’t be good to take one glance at someone and conclude that, ‘Your face isn’t good.’

Apart from one component of the face, there were many things to consider all at once, and it was a harmony of features, colors, radiance, voices, gestures, postures and expressions.

Not only should someone’s innate nature be comprehensively taken into account, but also their mind, their thought process, and their attitude that they had acquired throughout their life.

In other words, if the person’s mindset had changed, then the reading of their physiognomy would be completely different.

‘In that sense, you didn’t even show any effort into changing your innate nature.’

This fate was something that could be changed any time depending on one’s efforts.

It was rather fortunate that Doah could pinpoint the culprit right away.

* * *

The following night—

As light suddenly poured through the door, Doah frowned.

It was light from the lamp that Salvier was holding.

“Ha.”

He smiled in disbelief as he saw Doan lying on the floor.

“Do you know your place now?”

“……”

“Why aren’t you growling and lashing out like a mongrel?”

The only part of Doah that moved were her eyes, which stared at him.

In the first place, she didn’t even have any strength to get up. She had starved all day.

Without lifting a single finger, she moved only her cracked lips.

“I found the culprit.”

“Don’t talk any nonsense. I know it was you who stole it.”

Salvier didn’t even give her a chance to explain. In his mind, it had already been determined that Bunny was the thief.

‘This second son of the duke is twelve this year, right?’

He was so tall and broad that he looked to be about fifteen, but even so, he was still a child.

‘You rely on your intuition far too much.’

No matter how much he was born with this intuition, such a thing could be wielded correctly only through much practical experience accumulated.  It wouldn’t be good to go with your gut at such a young age and run headfirst into everything.

Before he’d be able to conquer the world and grab the bull by its horns, the chance might just run away first.

‘If I give him such advice in this kind of situation, it would be my neck that he’d grab.’

Doah had laidback thoughts.

“Take her out.”

Salvier commanded without delay.

At his clipped command, the maids behind him moved in unison. They grabbed Doah’s arms and dragged her out forcefully.

Melissa. Sara. Emma.

They were Ophelia’s favorite maids.

“So, shall we get started?”

The method of branding slaves was simple.

If you tear a magic-infused scroll in front of the person you want to brand as a slave, that would be all that would take.

Then, a vine pattern indicating that someone was a slave would be engraved on one’s neck, as though it was a leash.

‘And it would be impossible to go against the master’s orders.’

Not just that. There would also be no hopes of escape.

That’s because both a subservience spell and a tracking spell would also be engraved.

Melissa dragged Doah forward and forced her to kneel right before Salvier.

“Don’t move.”

Doah slowly raised her head.

He was staring down, looking exactly at Doah as he held the scroll tightly—like he would tear it at any given moment.

‘Are you really going through with it?’

In fact, it looked like he was still half unsure.

Doah wondered if he would really do something so inhumane. It was impossible to imagine that a person from modern times would do this.

‘Narrow-minded, inflexible, would not compromise at all once he’s decided…’

Doah was convinced that when she looked into Salvier’s eyes as the fire in the lamp was reflected inside it, his eyes glinted with a burning red light.

That was the truth.

He really just did whatever he wanted.

Gritting her teeth, Doah jumped to her feet.

“Kyaak!”

Melissa faltered back. She had let her guard down when she saw that Doan was staying still without any hint of rebellion.

“You’re making such a loud racket when you can’t even control one thing?”

Salvier lightly clicked his tongue.

Then, he abruptly reached towards Doah with frightening speed.

“You.”

However, Doah turned to Salvier and spoke.

Pointing exactly at him with one finger.

“…What?”

Salvier paused for a moment.

And he doubted his own eyes and ears.

Did she just point at him and impudently call out to him?

“This crazy…”

Now convinced that this was not merely an illusion, his expression quickly became distorted. His face had changed so suddenly that it was like a difference of night and day.

Then, Doah casually moved her finger to the side, pointing towards the person behind Salvier.

“You stole it.”

Then, in an instant, a cold, frigid silence came.

“Pardon?”

The one Doah pointed at was Emma, who hesitated as though flustered.

“What do you mean…”

Emma looked perplexed.

And, she looked towards the other maids without saying a word, exchanging gazes with them and silently asking, ‘Are you talking to me?’

It was no wonder that this was the reaction. Of course, Emma was the only maid who continued to help Bunny.

¹ Phrenology – a theory of human behavior based upon the belief that an individual’s character and mental faculties are correlated with the shape of their head