SSS Chapter 6

The next day, to strengthen my resolve, I took out the cleanest clothes I could find from the closet and put them on.

‘They’re all just maid uniforms anyway.’

As I casually brushed the dust off the hem of the black skirt, I recalled the problem I had been thinking about last night — how to prove my true identity.

But calling it a problem was almost meaningless, since I already knew the definite solution.

It was to use the magical artifact owned by House Valentis — the Red Stone.

‘Though the process will probably be difficult and complicated.’

That was why I had gone to meet Dave, hoping to find an easier way, but the result had been a complete failure.

‘So I have to find a way to survive on my own.’

My life’s savior was no one but myself. I steeled my heart as I looked at the roaring lion statue beyond the window.

                                                                                    ***

The “Red Stone” was a magical artifact made using human blood.

It was such an important item that dropping the new Head’s blood onto the Red Stone during the succession ceremony was considered an essential ritual.

Its usage was very simple — one only had to hold it in their hand.

To outsiders, it was nothing more than an ordinary stone, but when someone connected by blood to the Head of the House held the Red Stone, the jewel would emit a red glow.

The closer one’s blood relation to the current Head, the brighter the jewel would shine.

Because of that, it was also useful for determining the legitimacy of a child with uncertain parentage.

‘Like my case, for example.’

Eight years ago, the Red Stone had been used to determine the same thing. Yet Nelia had been declared a bastard.

What kind of trick had my uncle used back then? To come up with a plan, I needed to understand the situation in greater detail.

“Wait! You can’t go in there.”

As I was about to step into the main building of the mansion, two servants inside blocked my way.

“They said you’re banned from entering the main building for the time being. Did you already forget that?”

“I know. But still, let me in. I’m here to see the Count.”

“What? You? To see the Lord?”

The servants who heard me burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs.

“You think he’s your friend or something? That you can just see him whenever you want?”

“But I really have to meet the Count. I have something important to tell him.”

“You really did hit your head hard, huh? The Lord isn’t someone you can just meet because you want to. Get lost right now.”

“Do you even know what I’m trying to say before you stop me?”

“What?”

“Maybe my memories got mixed up when I hurt my head… but I suddenly remembered something important about House Valentis.”

I put on a serious and grave expression, as if I wasn’t just making it up.

“It’s something the Count should know. If something happens because I couldn’t deliver the message, can you take responsibility for it?”

The most effective way to move low-ranking servants was to bring up the question of responsibility.

“Th-that’s…”

As expected, the servants’ faces turned serious, and they began whispering among themselves. Then one of them went inside the main building.

I spoke again to the remaining servant as if I didn’t know what was going on.

“So what will you do? Should I just leave now? Are you fine with that?”

“Wait a bit. The guy who went in is reporting to the upper floor.”

“Really?”

After a few minutes of standing there, looking equally displeased, someone came out from the mansion.

It was a middle-aged man with a curled mustache — the current butler of House Valentis.

“You idiots! You came running to me over such a ridiculous lie?”

“But sir, Nelia did use to be the Young Lady of the House once, so…”

“That’s exactly why I’m calling you an idiot! What kind of important information could a thing like her possibly have for the Lord?”

Watching the butler scold the servant, I let a cold smile curl on my lips.

‘Well, should I call this a reunion after a long time?’

When the Head of House Valentis changed from my father to my uncle, most of the mansion’s employees had been replaced.

But there were still a few who remained — the butler and the head maid, Marilyn.

And now, those two had become the highest-ranking servants in the household.

How could mere low-ranking servants have climbed up so high?

Because they had lied for my uncle, spreading the false rumor that my mother had committed adultery, and in return, they were rewarded with their current positions.

‘And I heard there was one more person who added to their words.’

But that person had moved to another household and become a deputy butler there.

Disgusting, cowardly opportunists, all of them.

“Well, since you’ve come all the way here, I might as well hear what you have to say. Nelia?”

The butler, putting on airs, approached me.

“So, what is this information you said you’d deliver to the Lord? Of course, someone like you could never meet him in person.”

Of course not. I hadn’t expected to face my uncle directly anyway.

The person I wanted to meet from the start was the man standing before me — the butler.

If I had asked the servants from the beginning to let me meet the butler, they would have brushed me off and ignored my request.

Because I had mentioned someone as high-ranking as the Head of the House, my business was treated as important, and my words were passed along to the butler, one of the higher-ranked servants.

“Then will you, the butler, tell the Count? Tell him that I’m not a bastard, but truly the biological daughter of the former Head, Carter Valentis.”

“…Surely, you’re not calling that kind of nonsense important information, are you?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. It is important, isn’t it?”

When I replied shamelessly, the butler’s face began to flush red.

“You little…”

He took a deep breath and then shouted at me.

“How dare you try to play tricks on me! Do you need to hit your head again before you come to your senses?”

“It’s not a joke. So give me House Valentis’ Red Stone. Then we can be sure, can’t we?”

“The Red Stone? That’s the best you’ve got to rely on?”

A mocking smile appeared on the butler’s face as he said that.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but the verification using the Red Stone was already completed eight years ago. The Lord even called an emergency meeting for it. I still remember that day as clearly as if it were yesterday.”

‘Oh, I see. Is that so?’

Just as I’d hoped, the butler started talking about what had happened back then. 

I spoke again to draw out more details.

“I don’t remember any of that. So you’re saying I held the jewel, but it didn’t glow?”

“Of course. That’s why it was concluded you were a bastard.”

“Th-that’s a lie! There’s no way—!”

No way indeed. In my original world, around the age of fourteen, I had once touched the Red Stone out of curiosity.

Even then, the moment my fingertips brushed against it, the jewel had shone brightly. There was no reason it would be different here.

“I don’t believe it! You didn’t even see it yourself, did you? I’ll find someone who was at that meeting and confirm whether what you’re saying is true!”

I exaggerated my movements and pretended to storm off, but the butler grabbed my arm.

“There’s no need for that. I was there in the conference room myself. I saw it happen with my own eyes.”

“What? Really?”

I had suspected he might have attended as a witness to the supposed affair, but when I feigned ignorance and asked, he smirked and raised his chin arrogantly — confirming it.

“…So the Red Stone really didn’t glow, huh.”

I stopped pretending to be agitated and deliberately lowered my head weakly.

Then I spoke in a resigned tone.

“Then can you tell me what the situation was like during the meeting? I can’t remember it, and it’s hard for me to accept it as it is.”

Pretending to be pitiful, I even hung a single teardrop at the corner of my eye.

“Maybe if I hear about it, I’ll start remembering. If you just tell me that, I’ll understand and stop bothering you. Please.”

“Hmph.”

The butler stroked his mustache in irritation, but at the mention that I wouldn’t bother him anymore, he seemed to make up his mind quickly.

“Fine, I’ll tell you.”

‘Good!’

I silently cheered at the butler’s agreement.

“Alright, that day…”

Speaking slowly as if recalling the past, he began to tell the story. I perked up my ears, focusing on the butler’s voice.

“It was a gathering of the House’s elders and retainers. On the Lord’s orders, I brought the Red Stone into the conference room.”

Hearing up to that point, I frowned slightly — just enough that the butler wouldn’t notice.

He hadn’t held the position of butler back then, so why would they entrust such an important task to a mere servant?

I wanted to snap back at him, but I couldn’t interrupt his story, so I kept listening for now.

“And then I handed it to you, who was standing in the center of the conference room. But the Red Stone in your hand didn’t emit any light.”

“…”

“And so, you were declared a bastard and thrown out of the conference room…”

“Wait! That’s it?”

I cut the butler off. Was that really all?

“Wasn’t there perhaps a magician in the room who interfered with the activation of the artifact?”

“A magician…? Why would a magician attend the conference? No such thing happened.”

The butler flatly denied it.

Judging by the brief look of confusion that crossed his face, he didn’t seem to be lying about the absence of a magician.

‘Based on what the butler said…’

I lowered my gaze and sank into thought. It didn’t take long for me to figure out what trick my uncle must have used.

‘The Red Stone was a fake.’

There was a reason my uncle had assigned a mere servant like him to carry it.

If someone with Valentis blood had touched the Red Stone, it would have been obvious that it was counterfeit.

Besides, the butler had said he handed the Red Stone to me directly, without anyone else handling it in between.

‘Isn’t it common sense to first verify whether the artifact is genuine?’

The verification process itself had been flawed. To think that something as serious as the family’s honor and Neria’s life had been handled so carelessly.

‘And the elders and retainers of the House just sat there and watched?’

A bitter feeling rose in me, though I couldn’t completely fail to understand their position.

The power within the household had shifted from my father to my uncle, and young Nelia had no influence whatsoever.

In that situation, they probably hadn’t wanted to point out the issue and risk falling out of my uncle’s favor.

‘Because what mattered wasn’t the truth.’

A bitter taste filled my mouth.

Still, thanks to what I’d heard from the butler, I now had a clear goal.

‘First, I need to find the real Red Stone.’

Find it, and prove in an official setting that I carry the blood of the Valentis.

Only then could I clear myself of the stigma of being a bastard and reclaim my true identity.

I drew several scenarios in my head. But the process was not going to be simple.

‘I can’t move rashly without a plan. I won’t be able to do it alone.’

That meant I needed to form allies who would cooperate with me.

Someone like a retainer who could provide information about the Count’s family, a knight with fighting ability, or a maid who could act as my hands and feet.

…But would anyone be willing to side with me so easily?

Right now, I wasn’t a noble.

There was no reason for anyone to help a penniless person who offered no benefit to them.

Thinking of the hostile looks people gave me, I swallowed a sigh.

“Since you’re staying quiet, I guess that means you understood what I said.”

The butler seemed to have completely misinterpreted my silence, smiling in satisfaction.

“Now that you’ve realized your place, get lost already.”

“Wait a moment, Nelia.”

I had already planned to return to the annex without being told, but just then, someone appeared, stopping the butler’s order to throw me out.