beta
Realistically, if I was the butler, I would put two and two together when there were people who were searching for Lariette and assume she ran away to a safe place so that she won't be captured at his estate and frame her as someone who didn't want to make the duke feel guilty.... Yeah the duke was frantic when he returned and she wasn't around, but it's not like the butler knows she ran away because she thought she was going to die? I might've left some info out, but this is my view of how the butler should've behaved.
Fire all the maids, why would they hold a grudge against Lariette? It's not like she acts like a tyrant in front of them