"You still refuse to speak, do you?"

Just as Penelope raised the axe again, ready to bury it into the nearest wooden pillar to prove her point, a frantic voice suddenly sliced through the courtyard.

"Penelope!"

She froze.

When she turned to see who was calling, desperately hoping it wasn’t the one person she had absolutely no patience for, she immediately regretted being right.

William stood at the entrance of the courtyard, his chest heaving from exertion. He took in the chaotic scene— the shattered vault door, the terrified baron and his family, and Penelope standing at the center of it all, holding a wood-chopping tool.

When he heard Penelope had shown up without the Marquis, he immediately made his way over, but this was not the spectacle he had been expecting.

Hurrying forward, he offered a brief, reassuring glance to the Baron and his family, who looked profoundly grateful for his sudden arrival, before turning his full attention back to Penelope.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his voice a mix of horror and desperate disbelief as he stared at the axe in her gloved hand. "Do you see what you are becoming? What that monster is turning you into? The Penelope I know would never do something so savage!"

"So what?"

Penelope didn’t hesitate.

The moment he dared to take a step closer to her, she swung the axe upward in one swift motion, pointing the sharp, iron blade directly at his throat.

"Like you said," she replied coldly, "the Penelope you knew would never do something like this. That’s because she’s dead. She died a very long time ago. I am not that Penelope you once knew, so you should be afraid like everyone else."

Penelope looked at him as though he were nothing more than an irritating stranger.

"I don’t know what sort of price your father had to pay to get you out of that tower, but stay away from me. And stay out of my family matters as well. This does not concern you in the slightest."

"Penelope," William started, his voice cracking slightly. He looked past her shoulder, tracking the intimidating presence of the elite Aelgard guards and the cold, mocking glare of Elias before returning his pleading gaze to Penelope. He stepped right up to the edge of the blade’s reach, his possessive denial taking over. "Can you please just explain to me what is going on? After everything we have both been through together, don’t you think I deserve an explanation for this?"

William did not believe she would actually be able to kill him. He stood his ground, a sickeningly confident look in his eyes, completely blinded by his own arrogance and the memory of the girl who used to weep for his attention.

Penelope narrowed her eyes at him, genuinely wondering why he was still stubbornly pushing her boundaries. William never loved her anyway, he had loved her obedience. So why was he constantly always up in her face now? He was becoming an incredibly difficult pest to get rid of, and she had to actively grip the handle tighter to resist driving the iron blade straight into his throat.

Not because she feared the consequences.

She knew her husband would effortlessly cover up her tracks if she murdered someone on a whim, but she also didn’t want to stress Vincent over a piece of filth who wasn’t even worth the effort of having his blood cleaned off the cobblestone.

Using the tense standoff as a perfect distraction, Mirabel looked between William’s and Penelope, jealousy burning deep inside of her. She quietly took a step back, slipping away from her parents’ sides and disappearing from view entirely.

Penelope slowly lowered the axe, resting the blunt head against the stone floor, though her posture remained entirely lethal.She looked at William straight in the eye, her gaze stripping away every ounce of his unearned confidence.

"You want an explanation, right?"

She raised the axe again. "Aren’t you the one who stood before the court and lied to everyone about my chastity? Isn’t that enough reason to despise you for the rest of my days? How does a man confess his love to a woman, only to go around and stab that same woman in the back as soon as it becomes convenient for him? Answer me."

"I...I know I was wrong," William immediately tried to explain, his eyes darting frantically to the tool. "I only did it because I thought it would allow us to be together again. It was the only way to free you from that man. If you would only look past your anger and try to see things from my perspective."

Genevieve finally found her voice, crossing her arms as she sneered from behind her husband. "Every single one of us knows how much William means to you, Penelope, so stop with your ridiculous pretense. You are only acting out because your pride is wounded."

Penelope turned to her icy glare directly at her stepmother. "If you hold him in such high regard, Lady Genevieve, then perhaps you should allow him to marry that precious daughter of yours instead. Since you think so highly of him, he should make a wonderful addition to the family."

That instantly shut Genevieve up.

Her jaw snapped tight, her face flushing with deep mortification at the suggestion of marrying her own daughter off to a disgraced nobleman.

Penelope scoffed, turning her attention back to the older couples. She coldly lifted her hand, pointing the blade directly at the traumatized Baron and his wife.

"I’m guessing you two invited him here today," Penelope said, her voice dripping with venomous amusement."I see. Did you truly think a pathetic little boy like him could stop me from reclaiming my inheritance?"

Being referred to as a pathetic boy struck William like a physical blow.

Him?

A pathetic little boy?

His hands curled tightly into fists as humiliation burned through him beneath the watchful eyes of every guard and the very family he had rushed here for. He had expected anger, regret, even a lingering resentment from her, but this cold, castrating indifference was a weapon he had no armor against.

"You really expect me to leave my dashing husband for this?" She openly mocked, her gaze ruthlessly eyeing William from head to toe, lingering on his stiff posture. "Looking back, I genuinely cannot understand how I tolerated you for so long. You were manageable, at best."

"Penelope–!"

William’s anger was about to get the absolute better of him. Blinded by humiliation, he took a menacing step forward, but Penelope instantly snapped the axe back up, the sharpened iron edge gleaming inches from his throat.

The entire courtyard froze.

"I dare you to touch me," she whispered, her eyes practically inviting him to make the mistake.

William went rigid.

At this point, the elite guards subtly exchanged looks behind her back. It was becoming blindingly obvious that their Marchioness did not actually need them for protection, and they looked profoundly impressed to have someone this fierce as their new Lady. She was, in fact, the perfect fit for their commander.

While the standoff held the courtyard captive, Martha quietly slipped back to Elias’s side, casually holding a small pouch of pastries. At first, he instinctively ignored it, trying to maintain his stoic, professional guard, before the sweet aroma hit his nose and he realized she had actually returned with snacks.

"Where on earth did you get those?" he muttered under his breath, sounding genuinely incredulous.

Martha simply shrugged, popping one of the pastries into her mouth.

"I asked one of the kitchen maids," she replied as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Then she tilted the pouch slightly toward him. "Want some?"

Elias palmed his face with a low groan. But then again, it was Martha; he really ought not to be surprised by her eccentric behavior anymore.

"Guards!" Penelope’s sharp voice rang out, cutting through the tension. "Seize the three of them and search the entire estate. Leave no stone unturned until you find where they hid my mother’s belongings."

At her command, the elite guards moved with terrifying synchronization. They immediately restrained William, Genevieve, and the Baron. James’s guards stiffened instinctively at the sight, but none dared to intervene in this matter. No matter whose territory this was, the authority of the Marchioness of Aelgard far outweighed that of a mere Baron.

"Let go of me!" William struggled furiously, but he was no match against trained elite soldiers.

Only then did Penelope’s sharp eyes scan the restricted group, noticing a distinct vacancy.

"Wait, someone is missing," she said, her brow furrowing as she looked around the empty corners of the courtyard. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Where is Mirabel?"

Before she could call out a search, the frantic, desperate sound of Mirabel’s voice echoed from the main entrance of the manor, accompanied by heavy, dragging footsteps.

Everyone turned at once.

Penelope’s eyes widened the moment she saw the object clutched tightly in her sister’s hands.

It was the box.

The iron box that should have contained her mother’s land deeds, inheritance record, and personal ledger.

A look of alarm instantly dawned on Penelope’s face for the first time that day. If the box was still here, was Mirelda... not able to get her hands on it?

Oh no.

"This is what you want, isn’t it?" Mirabel snapped hysterically, having had enough of Penelope.

Before anyone could stop her, she threw open the box and yanked out the bundle of documents inside.

The instant Penelope rushed toward her, Mirabel tore the papers straight down the middle.

Riiiiip

The sound seemed to echo through the entire courtyard.