A Cruel Beast’s Leash - Chapter 23.2

“So what?” Irvan viciously snarled. A heavy silence immediately fell inside the room, the air was taut with tension.

Emma held her breath, scanning the room. As soon as she saw the panicked faces of the women, she understood Miller’s hesitation. It was because they had the higher status of a handmaiden, and not a mere chambermaid. And if they were truly handmaidens, then they serve a different master.

They wouldn’t be able to explain themselves to their master for revealing their bodies to strangers. Despite not knowing who their master was, Emma could deduce they would have a higher status than the butler Miller.

When Miller still looked hesitant, Irvan’s thunderous voice cut through the room. “Do you not hear me?”

Aside from the three women, Emma was the only other female. She had to do it. Emma breathed shakily, before finally raising her slightly trembling hands. “If it’s not too much, I’ll do it.”

“You?” Irvan looked at her in askance.

She nodded before standing up and approaching the women. “Yes. Since I’m the same sex as them anyway.”

Upon hearing her reasons, Irvan pointed with his chin towards the women. “Good Emma. Lift those women’s skirts. Are they wearing underwear or not?”

When Emma went nearer, she could see the handmaidens were all young and slim beauties, not the type suited for chores and hard work. At first glance, it seemed as there were only chosen for their pretty faces.

“Excuse me…” Emma quietly said as sheawkwardly bowed her body. She hurriedly lifted the hems of each of their skirts, filling with embarrassment each time. It was as Irvan had speculated. They were all bare. None of them had put on underwear.

“How are they?” At Irvan’s question, Emma, who had straightened up, slowly shook her head. The smile on his handsome twitched and became distorted.

“So you took off your p*nties in order to clean prepely. Why so? Are you all running low on underw*ar? I guess your master doesn’t pay you enough that youc an’t buy even basic necessities such as this. Are you still going to try to get out of this mess?”

As his words became colder as his gaze, the butler abruptly got up and dropped to his knees on the floor, his head plastered on the cold ground. “Please forgive me, Master! I didn’t know!”

“Oh, you didn’t know,” said Irvan, sounding sarcastic. T

he next moment, the butler started banging his head on the floor.  “I swear, Master! I really didn’t know!”

Irvan offhandedly nodded. “All right, that’s possible. The maids have covered their bodies in robes, so checking them didn’t cross your mind. Then, are you also unaware they have been drugging the alcohol?”

“Even if I had ten mouths, I am still ignorant of this matter!” the butler pleaded. “Master, we just brought food from the kitchen.”

“Master, please forgive us!”

“Please spare us!”

All of the men who’d been standing behind Miller got down on their knees and started begging.

Emma was taken aback that they had called Irvan ‘Master.’ ‘Irvan was their Master? Not a mere cabin keeper? Furthermore, the Master of what title?’ Her curiosity got deeper, but despite that, she could gleam no words containing special information in the aftermath. There were only desperate pleas for life and unceasing bowing.

“All right then,” Irvan said with an impatient nod, disdain was visible on hs face. “I came here for treatment, yet different matters have aggravated me in many ways. But since it’s been a while since I’ve been in front of a Lady, I’ll generously let this slide.”

“Th-thank you!”

The men bowing on the floor yelled out in voices, full of emotion. Some of the servants expressed their gratitude to emma, one after another, as if Emma was their angel of salvation.

“But it would be best to end the pointless treatment,” Irvan began, cutting off their jubilant cries. “Since my condition has neither improved nor declined, I’m returning.”

“Uh, but Karina…” the butler began.

“What?” Irvan pointedly said with a raise of an eyebrow.

The butler quickly clamped his mouth shut. “N-nothing, Sir.” Then after a moment, he added, “But if you wait a moment, I’ll send someone to pick you up, Sir.”

“Is it necessary to cause such a hassle?”

Irvan stood up from his seat and walked. Then, he snatched away a robe held by the servamts and and gave it to Emma.

“Put it on, Emma,” he said.

“……”

Upon noticing that her own clothing was no different than the other women, she took it and put it on.

Irvan nodded appreciatingly. “All right, now we go.”

Having put on her outwear, she fixed her eyes on Irvan’s back, who had taken the lead, and quietly followed him. The moment they had stepped out of the front door, however, they had no choice but to stop. Outside, the sudden neighing of a galloping horse mixed with the screaming and yelling of people pierced through the air.

“It’s an attack! A monster!”

“Arrrrgh!”

“How!? In broad daylight!”

There was carnage as soon as they had exited the front door. The men screamed and readied their fighting stances.

“I think it’s because of the smell of blood in the air,” Irvan nonchalantly commented.

People frightened to death were scurrying away, and from far away, a monster the size of a house ominously stood on two feet, viciously attacking people. And it wasn’t just one. There were several of them.  As soon as the fierce bloodthirsty monsters thrashed the men with their claws, Emma felt a chill travel down her spine and her body trembled.

The creatures that were making a mess were three or four times larger than the normal ones. The ones with the red, glossy eyes were clearly werewolves, whom Emma had only heard of in stories and fables.

“Hmm…” With a displeased look on his face, Irvan narrowed his eyes towards Miller, who was closely following behind him.