NOVEL WEB Chapter 79: The Reveal
Sheila felt her guilt sweep away the more she spoke. She was just an unimportant person, a maid. What could she have done? That was why she suggested it to Mrs. Malin. She was just trying to protect herself and her mistress. She hadn’t done anything wrong! She hadn’t done anything wrong!
“Ha? Can’t see the mayor? Then you should have gone to the Sacred Temple for help. If you couldn’t go in person then you could have sent an anonymous letter. Even if you are just a maid, the empire ensures that every citizen has a certain amount of education, so don’t even try to say you can’t read or write.”
“I… I… I couldn’t! I couldn’t risk exposing myself. It would have put my mistress in danger!” Sheila was pale and obviously frightened, but it was also just as obvious she used other people for her own selfish ends.
Jier interrupted her before she could say anything more. “You deliberately egged Mrs. Malin into a confrontation with Mr. Wenda by telling her he was an imposter didn’t you?”
“No! No!” Shelia shook her head furiously. “Mrs. Malin didn’t confront him about anything. She only came to speak to Mr. Wenda about Miss Clara. Maybe she discovered something while she was talking to him. All I know is that Master Wenda went out that night. Then the next day, news of Mrs. Malin’s murder made the headlines.
Mr. Wenda accused Miss Clara of the murder because he was afraid she would recognize he was a fake. He had to get rid of her somehow. Mrs. Malin’s death gave him the chance to strike first!”
“So that’s why he dismissed all the original servants. He didn’t want any of them becoming suspicious,” murmured Jier. “In order to maintain his disguise the imposter Wenda had to get rid of those familiar with the original Mr. Wenda. He used marital discord to drive Mrs. Malin away, but it was more complicated with Miss Clara. The only way to push her out of the estate and out of his life was to marry her off. But he found another option when he murdered Mrs. Malin. If Miss Clara was charged with the crime and sentenced to prison, then he wouldn’t have to interact with her anymore. The chances of her discovering he was an imposter would have dropped to practically zero.”
Sheila didn’t deny anything Jier said. All she said was, “Please don’t hurt Mistress Dusha. She is innocent in all this. She has no idea Master Wenda is an imposter. She really doesn’t know anything!”
Wolf looked at Sheila as she spoke. He didn’t want to admit it, but even though she was incredibly selfish, he couldn’t deny her dedication to her mistress.
It was just that her methods were horrible. So many people suffered because of her. If she hadn’t suggested Ms. Dusha was in love with someone to Marlon, then Wenda would not have been murdered. If she hadn’t meddled with Mrs. Malin’s visit, Mrs. Malin would still be alive and Miss Clara wouldn’t be accused of murder. Not to mention there was that maid that died in her place.
There was no denying her blind loyalty played a role in everyone’s tragedy. This kind of person, the kind who courted disaster and pushed others to take the fall disgusted him.
“You really believe your mistress doesn’t know anything? She’s been in love with Mr. Wenda for twelve years but she couldn’t tell there was something off about him?” Jier doubted Dusha was as innocent as her maid claimed.
His words stunned Sheila. The point never occurred to her. How was it possible that she could detect something off about Mr. Wenda but the person in love with him for twelve years couldn’t? Was her mistress really as clueless as she believed? Did her mistress know about Mr. Wenda? Had she been an accomplice to Mr. Wenda this entire time?
Sheila was shocked. She had thought she was the only one who knew, but it sounded like her mistress knew about it too!
“Take us to the imposter. It’s time he paid for the pain he’s caused.” A vengeful light flashed through Wolf’s eyes as he spoke.
Sheila led the way. She knew this was it; there was no turning back. If they failed to defeat the imposter, then he would know she knew his secret and he would kill her the same way he killed the other maid: sucking her body dry of blood.
They finally reached Wenda’s study. He was ostensibly reading inside, but who knew if he was just pretending.
Sheila ran away the moment they reached the door. She planned to escape with her mistress while they distracted the imposter Wenda.
It wasn’t like her departure escaped Jier’s notice. He knew, but he didn’t care. They were there to capture the asura.
Before opening the door Jier exchanged a glance with Feng Wu. The message was clear: run away if it’s too dangerous. Feng Wu nodded so he knew she understand his message.
When Wolf opened the door, they saw Wenda sitting at the desk with a book in one hand. Wenda’s face turned cold and mean at the sight of them.
“Who are you? How dare you break into my estate!”
Wolf laughed. “Your estate? I didn’t know the asura could own property in the human world.”
“What?!” Wenda was shocked. He’d successfully hid among humans for so long, how was his identity discovered?
“You haven’t gone to your cave in a while so you don’t know this, but your blood pool was discovered. You need to bathe in blood at regular intervals if you want to stay in the human world. The blood of virgins is particularly potent. It goes a long way in extending your stay.”
Wenda knew he was exposed when they mentioned the cave. He’d been so careful of the municipal authorities by only hunting girls from rural villages. Now in retrospect he should have hunted farther away from Rime-Frost.
It was a good thing Wolf didn’t know what Wenda was thinking otherwise he would have dispensed with talking and gotten down to business.
Wenda’s face paled. “I know you’re investigators investigating Clara’s case. How much did Clara give you? I’ll give you ten times as much. Money is not a problem.”