"No!"

Frank refused Luna's request without a second thought, extending his hand toward her forcefully, "Hand Miss Celitia over to me!"

Luna instinctively stepped back, avoiding Frank.

"But... but Lily is very sick. If you won't let me take her back, what exactly are you trying to..."

"I cannot let you take Miss Celitia away."

Frank gestured, and the servants behind him spread out accordingly, surrounding Luna in a circle.

With nowhere left to retreat, Luna held the girl in her arms tightly. Tears continuously flowed from her eyes as she sobbed:

"I wasn't planning to take her away. Lily is this sick—where could I take her? I just wanted to carry her back to her room and find a doctor!"

Frank said in a heavy voice: "I don't care about all that!"

As an excellent butler, Frank had a keen grasp of his master's intentions.

Now that Young Master Olar was unconscious and witnesses were accusing Celitia as the perpetrator, Frank only needed to prevent Celitia from escaping and hand her over to his master for judgment to fulfill his duties.

Whether Celitia lived or died was not within Frank's scope of concern.

"Don't make me say it a second time," Frank lost his patience and stepped closer to Luna, "Hand Celitia over to me. Don't force me to use force, Luna!"

Luna stubbornly shook her head: "No!"

She continued backing away, but despairingly discovered that all possible escape routes around her had been blocked by the surrounding servants.

Her arm was lightly pinched. Luna looked down in surprise to see the girl in her arms opening her eyes, fine beads of sweat covering her forehead as she gasped urgently.

"Luna," Celitia paused to catch her breath before struggling to speak, "Listen to the butler. Hand me over. In this situation, you can't escape."

"What nonsense are you saying?" Luna's tears poured down torrentially, almost sobbing uncontrollably, "You're this sick—how could I hand you over?"

"Be obedient," Celitia took a deep breath, barely suppressing the trembling in her voice, "Be obedient, will you, Luna?"

"But... but..."

Even though Celitia said this, Luna absolutely could not do it.

Frank had no time to watch Luna struggle here and instructed the maid behind him: "Carry Celitia on your back!"

The maid stepped forward, reaching out to snatch the girl from Luna's arms.

Luna instinctively resisted but was pushed hard, her body becoming unsteady and nearly falling to the ground.

Afraid of falling down together with Celitia, she had no choice but to let go and watch helplessly as the maid took the girl from her hands.

"Wait!"

Luna couldn't care about anything else and lunged forward to grab the maid's clothes, "Where are you taking Lily?"

Frank answered impatiently: "To the basement dungeon, of course, to await the master's judgment!"

"The basement? How is that acceptable?"

Luna panicked, desperately clutching the maid's arm and refusing to let go, "The basement is so cold—Lily definitely can't withstand it! Please, at least let Lily return to the attic where she lives—"

"Let go!" The maid whose arm she was grabbing became angry.

Just as the two were about to scuffle, an furious voice came from the main gate of the courtyard:

"A whole crowd of people gathered here making such a racket—are you trying to turn the house upside down?"

Recognizing who had arrived, Frank was delighted and hurried over: "Master, you've finally returned. I have urgent matters to report to you!"

His gaze swept over the chaotic crowd ahead. When he saw Celitia being carried on a maid's back, her face pale, an ominous premonition suddenly arose in Charles Herbert's heart.

"What is it? Speak quickly!"

Before Frank could open his mouth, Luna suddenly pushed through the crowd, rushed to Charles's front, and fell to her knees with a thud.

"Master, please, Lily is so sick she's coughing up blood. Please let her return to her room to rest and find a doctor to examine her!

"If there's any punishment, just punish me instead. For the sake of Lily being your own daughter, and for the sake of the deceased former madam, please save Lily, I beg you!!"

"Get up!"

Charles was extremely displeased. Luna's words practically portrayed him as a harsh and ungrateful father. "Tell me clearly what exactly happened first!"

Frank hurriedly said carefully:

"It's like this—Miss Celitia had a dispute with Young Master Olar and knocked Young Master Olar unconscious with a wooden stick. We're currently sending people to check on the young master's injuries..."

He didn't mention the cause of the dispute at all. In Frank's view, it simply wasn't important.

Charles's expression changed dramatically. Before he could continue questioning, a sharp scream pierced the air, making his ears ache:

"Knocked Olar unconscious?! Oh goddess, my poor Olar, what suffering have you endured!!"

Lady Herbert shrieked hysterically, "I knew it, I knew it! That little bitch has always harbored resentment toward Olar, so she took advantage of our absence to take revenge on Olar!!"

Luna tried to explain to Lady Herbert: "It's not like that, Madam—"

Her words couldn't be finished before Frank cut her off: "Shut up! You have no place to speak here!"

"What are you standing around for! Quickly take me to see Olar!"

Lady Herbert completely ignored Luna, scolding the servants, then emphasized, "Also, lock that little bitch in the dungeon for me and watch her—don't let her escape! If anything happens to Olar, I want her life!!"

Charles rubbed his temples with extreme annoyance, suddenly feeling that whenever family matters involved Celitia, nothing good ever came of it.

He instructed Frank: "Do as Madam says and lock Celitia in the dungeon. Once Olar's condition stabilizes, I'll interrogate her."

The Herbert family had a dungeon for confining servants who had committed offenses, but with legal revisions prohibiting nobles from arbitrarily using private punishment, that dungeon hadn't been used for a long time.

"Master! This... this... this absolutely cannot happen!!"

Luna went crazy with panic, even wanting to lunge forward and grab Viscount Charles, but was quickly restrained by nearby servants.

Charles looked at Luna with annoyance: "This maid—lock her in a room too. Don't let her come out and cause trouble."

With a few sentences, he decided both their fates. Charles no longer paid attention to Celitia and Luna, hurrying after Lady Herbert's retreating figure.

"How could this happen..."

Luna's heart died completely. She knew it, should have known it long ago—Charles simply didn't care whether Celitia lived or died.

The girl being carried on the maid's back struggled to lift her face, slowly turned her head back, and gave Luna one last smile.

It's alright, don't worry.

She mouthed the words.

Luna saw this and only felt even more desperate.