"I caught and personally brought back the trash, young miss. You can do with him whatever you desire…oh my! The Duke is here as well? What a coincidence! I did not even see you until now."

Mary made a happy noise as she threw Viscount Emmerich's body on the ground before Layla.

For a minute, no one moved, too stunned to recall what happened. They all knew Mary was unhinged, but she had never been this rude to their master.

They knew their master cherished Mary, so no one attacked her. But that did not mean they were not cautious with her.

"Is this Viscount Emmerich, the person responsible for all the kidnappings? If so, then I will take over this case now. You did well until now, Mary. Would you like to say something about it?"

The Duke asked, turning to Mary and ignoring Layla outright.

It was a little insulting, but considering that Layla was just a kid, while Mary had been a maid of the Duke (and a contract partner as well), it was the logical choice.

Layla kept a neutral expression on her face, not to express how she felt about all this, but the same could not be said about Mary.

"Oh my! I don't appreciate you talking to my lady like that, Duke Lockhart. Seeing that you invalidate my young miss's effort makes me feel irritated and annoyed.

If you continue to be like this, then I would have to consider this as a provocation and fight back against the injustice my young miss is facing. Would that be alright with you?"

Mary asked in a smiling voice.

Her light voice did nothing to hide the anger and annoyance she was facing.

The guards were instantly on alert with their weapons and ready to charge Mary. Those poor fools thought that they could take Mary out if they tried.

'What a foolish thought, but I understand where they all come from. In their eyes, Mary is no different from an ordinary trained human maid. I am interested in knowing how the Duke would treat her threat.'

After all, unlike these fools, the Duke knew the truth. But he masked his emotions and turned toward Layla instead.

"Layla, ask your hounds to sit back. If they attack now, then I will take it as a provocation on your side and declare war on you. Is that something you want?"

The Duke was meticulous in his threatening. One could see why he was one of the final villains of this world.

He had a presence that could not be undermined. He was cold and ruthless, only caring about his profit and what he could gain from a transaction.

That was why Layla listened to him this time and raised her hand. She signaled for Mary to sit down and for Raizel not to try whatever he would do.

Even if they made it past all of the Duke's guards, Layla felt they wouldn't make it to the Duke this time.

And if that was going to be the case, she could rather not make the Duke her enemy for now.

"None of my people intend to harm you, Duke Lockhart. They are just a little tense since your guards threatened my safety. As someone with loyal guars, do you understand what I am talking about?"

Layla asked, her eyes meeting the gaze in front of her. The Duke did not say anything but did not make a fuzz.

The matter was dropped after that, and the Duke sat back on the sofa to sip his tea.

Viscount Emmerich tried to escape while no one was paying attention to him, but Raizel noticed him and decided to move to bind the Viscount up.

The duke noticed, but he did not comment on it. He continued to sip the tea silently until a guard ran inside hurriedly.

"D-Duke Lockhart, the temple and Cardinal is here. He is demanding for us to hand over the sinners to him. What should we do now?"

The guard asked in a hesitant voice.

As a religious believer, he greatly respected the temple and the cardinal. However, as a soldier of the Duke, he knew that the Duke's orders came first for him and all his comrades.

Besides that, the duchy did not have a nice relationship with the temple. He was afraid there would be a conflict in which people would be forced to choose a side.

"I see! The cardinal is here as well? It is about time he showed up. This is fine! I will go and talk to the cardinal on my own. Mary, you take care of the cleanup.

It was nicely done to warp up this case.

Layla, I will reward you for this world. Send me a formal letter about what you want as your repayment, and I will give it to you."

The Duke promised, and his word was enough to make all this hassle worth it.

With this, Layla had achieved her first goal. But she did not relax until the Duke left the mansion with his soldiers.

Only once he was gone did Layla breathe a sigh of relief and let the tension in her body bleed out. She went sag, and Mary gave her tea and snacks to pick up her mood.

"This ended well, right, My lady? Now, what would you like to do next? Shall we head back home?"

Mary asked in a gentle voice. She looked happy that everything was over, but Layla also saw regret in her eyes.

Mary was likely unhappy because she had not gotten to destroy and kill as much as she wanted.

But she would have to be satisfied with this much for now.

"For now, we will return to the competition site and see what is happening. We should make sure not to let any loose ends remain, or it could end badly for us. Make sure we take care of the dirty and all."