[You sent for me, madam……?] (Thomas)
The butler told him the mistress wanted him, and Leonardo’s attendant Thomas went to the room he was given.
Inside, the Duchess and the heir are sitting with hard faces and a cold air about them. Both pairs of eyes go through him. The air is drawn so tight it stings, and his fingers shake a little.
[——Thomas. I have something to ask you.] (Duchess of Linden)
Her voice comes low, and he swallows. A bad feeling aches dully somewhere under his ribs. Even so, to refuse his employer is an impertinence he is not permitted. He puts on as much calm as he can manage and answers.
[Yes, madam…… Whatever I am able to answer.] (T)
[Good. Then — Leonardo has lately become close with someone in particular. You are always at my son’s side, are you not? So you will know.] (D)
There is nothing whatever behind the statement. But Thomas’s face stiffens and his eyes go aside a fraction, and that settles it for both of them. Someone has been working on Leonardo.
[Th-that would be…… As for those Lord Leonardo has been friendly with…… lately, perhaps the son of a certain count, or a viscount’s son……] (T)
His eyes wander and the words come far too fast. The Duchess sees the lie for what it is.
‘How very easy to read.’
[I see. And who else?] (D)
[What? Wh-who else, madam……] (T)
[……You will have noticed, I think, that Leonardo’s recent conduct is so appalling that it cannot be anything but someone’s influence. It is very like watching my husband change while he was devoted to the concubine. Who is it, I wonder, who has been doing my son this harm? You would know.] (D)
He holds his breath and drops his eyes. His mouth shuts hard, and she watches him work out how to answer, and sighs.
[Tell me honestly. ……Or is your loyalty given to Leonardo and to nobody else?] (D)
He swallows again. Nothing comes out.
[You appear to be under a misapprehension, Thomas.] (D)
Her voice sharpens a degree, and his shoulders jump with fear.
[Your master is not my son. It is me. Have you forgotten that the appointment of servants rests with the mistress of the house? You serve that boy because I ordered you to. Be clear about it.] (D)
She says it quietly and there is weight behind every word of it. Thomas goes down onto his knees without meaning to and looks at the floor.
[Did you not hear me?] (D)
She asks again.
There is no answer.
The air in the room settles and gets heavier. The fire cracks in the grate, and the sound goes through the silence without any mercy in it.
[F-forgive me……] (T)
It is barely a voice at all. Beside his mother, the heir lets out a long breath.
[A servant who cannot obey his master is a great nuisance. I had hoped to keep this civil. If you insist on being this stubborn, there is nothing for it.] (his elder brother)
Thomas’s face brightens at that and he looks up — into eyes as cold as ice.
[…………!!] (T)
There is cruelty in them, and the moment he sees it he knows, by instinct, that this is very bad. It is already too late. The corner of the heir’s mouth goes up.
[I shall have to take a slightly rough approach. Mother, leave the rest to me. It is too strong a thing for a lady to watch.] (B)
He claps his hands once. Several footmen come in quietly from beyond the door.
[You called, young master?] (Footman)
[Yes. Tie Thomas up, all of him, and leave him lying in the cellar room. Lock it from the outside so he cannot get away.] (B)
The footmen bow respectfully and say that they understand. Then several of them get hold of Thomas, who is staring at nothing, lift him, and start for the door.
[——N-no! Let go of me! Young master! Young master, I beg you, forgive me!] (T)
[Be quiet. ——Madam. Young master. By your leave.] (Footman)
They bow with him still on their shoulders and go out at a good pace. Thomas’s screaming carries all the way down the corridor. Neither the Duchess nor the heir moves an eyebrow.
＊
Thomas had served Leonardo since they were both children, and his loyalty to him ran deep.
Had it stopped there he would have been a devoted attendant and nothing more. The trouble was that he was blind about everything Leonardo did.
He was the one person Leonardo opened up to, and he knew his master did not want to accept a marriage without love. So he could not help wishing that his master would be joined to someone he could love with his whole heart.
Which is why he was glad when Leonardo found his dearest in Sherry, and why he had been so gloomy about his being tied to Chloe, a political match with no love in it. He never once tried to check the meetings with Sherry, or the way Chloe was treated as nothing. If anything he believed completely that it was the natural thing to do.
That included what would come after Leonardo married into House Calendula: poisoning Chloe and taking his beloved Sherry as the second wife. He has been preparing the poison for it already. That is how much he wishes for his master’s happiness, and only his master’s happiness.
Thomas held that lovers being joined was justice, and that a political marriage was evil.
So he has never had a single doubt about removing Chloe. That his beloved Leonardo should be happy was the thing most worth honouring, above anything else — and he never doubted it.
Until now.
[Stop thrashing about, Thomas. All you do is work the ropes into yourself and make it hurt. Keep still.] (Footman)
The cellar room in House Linden has no window; nothing in it opens. For generations it has been the room where criminals are questioned and put to the torture.
Thomas is in the middle of being tied up in it, hand and foot, by the footmen.
[——Stop it! Stop! What are you going to do to me!?] (T)
[Who knows? Ask the young master. We only did what he told us.] (Footman)
He twists and struggles and it makes no difference to them. They go on binding him, evenly, without hurrying.
[This is madness……! Why should this happen to me? I have done nothing!] (T)
[As I said, ask the young master. …… Right, that’s him done. Come on, then.] (Footman)
They do not listen to any of it. The job is finished, so they start to leave.
[Hey! Wait! You mean to leave me in a place like this!?] (T)
[……Ah. Better gag him, I suppose. It would be awkward if he did away with himself.] (Footman)
One of them brings a gag to his mouth, gets it on, says right and stands up.
[Well then. Off we go, this time for certain.] (Footman)
They leave him lying on the floor tied at every limb and file out through the door. Nothing he says gets any response at all. The last man out shuts it, and the lock turns over with a clunk.
[Mm…… mmm——] (T)
‘…… No. You cannot be serious.’
The gag will not let him talk to himself either. He stares at the door, blankly. In the dimness, with only a candle for light, he begins to wonder whether he has made a mistake there is no coming back from.
‘Why…… how has it come to this? What are they going to do to me——!?’
The young master of the house he serves said he would take a slightly rough approach.
It is not credible that tying him up and leaving him here is all that was meant.
He imagines what is likely to happen to him now, and a chill goes straight down his back.
