Chapter 006
Those Who Listen Well Have No Reason to be Scolded (2)
* * *
The state of my room was still an absolute disaster.
The annex where I resided was located less than fifty steps from the main building where Father and Rianna stayed, and the two were even linked by a connecting bridge. I didn’t know what its previous name had been, but they said it was renamed the “Rose Pavilion” immediately after I was born.
True to its name, roses trailing from the main building’s garden embroidered the path all the way to the Rose Pavilion. I heard this was the first command Father gave after buying the rose cultivation rights. Thanks to that, this place was always ranked among the most beautiful gardens in the Empire.
‘I wonder if he gave Odette the western annex out of a belief that he shouldn’t discriminate between his two daughters, or if it was at Rianna’s request…’
Regardless, since it was a place where Father’s gaze frequently fell, the garden still boasted its vibrant colors. The bitter reality was that my room looked nothing like the view outside. Ironically, the fact that he chose to wait for his mentally unstable daughter to walk out on her own—rather than knocking on her door—had likely contributed to this room remaining a dump.
“I need to clean up.”
“P-pardon?”
When Penny acted as if she had misheard, as if her ears were clogged, I emphasized it again.
“I said I need to clean my room.”
“Gasp.”
“That’s a very rude reaction, Penny.”
I arched an eyebrow, and Penny immediately straightened up, sputtering apologies. The sight was quite funny, so I decided to let it slide. Since she looked to be about thirteen or fourteen at most, I felt a strange sense of guilt treating her too harshly.
“Penny, go at once and see if the Head Maid has returned. If she’s back… tell her to bring the maids who were in charge of my room and come here immediately.”
“Yes! I’ll be back in a flash, My Lady.”
Penny, who was about to dash off, quickly turned back and mumbled that she had something to ask.
“Wh-what should I do if the Head Maid says she’s busy and refuses to come…?”
“……”
Look at these incredibly disloyal servants.
【 Pfft! Puhahahaha! 】
Penny asked with a look of sincere concern, and the ghost bastard practically split his sides laughing. I felt a genuine sense of shame… It was a suffocating reality. Where on earth could there be work more important than the orders of the master they served?
Penny wanted to know how she should act if the Head Maid refused, all for the sake of efficient work. Looking at her again, she really was a sharp child.
“……A whip.”
“Pardon?”
“Tell her I am practicing my whip skills.”
At my cold command, Penny shouted a bright “Yes!” as if she had reached a grand realization, and then scurried out of the room. Shing sprawled out on my bed, clutching his stomach and saying it hurt from laughing so much.
【 Ahahaha! Oh, man… The way this Bennetra household is running is really something else, isn’t it? 】
“……”
【 Hmm? What are you looking around for, darling? 】
“I’m wondering where I actually put that whip…”
Can’t you hear it? The sound of someone’s back being flayed open.
Once I was left alone with Shing, who was boldly occupying a lady’s bed, I decided to satisfy the curiosity I had been holding back.
“Shing. I have something to ask.”
【 You certainly have a lot of questions. 】
“The more one knows, the smoother things tend to go. I want to hear why you hold a grudge against Chesia. Can you answer me?”
I looked down at him, whose expression was difficult to gauge. Whether by coincidence or fate, it was a good thing that our targets for revenge overlapped, but a lingering unease remained.
To be honest, the Chesia I knew wasn’t the type of person to harm someone so brutally as to turn them into a ghost filled with resentment. Regardless of what he did to me, my fiancé was a famous figure whom every noble in the Arcanis Empire knew.
He held the position of the only son of the House of Montague, a family that had accumulated wealth through active maritime trade. More importantly, his father, Marquis Montague, was a long-time subordinate of the current Emperor and a man who had supported and partnered with the Empress Dowager, Karina Perisia, since the days she was the First Imperial Consort.
In other words, Chesia was the heir to a family with immense political influence.
‘And he does have a face to die for.’
My face crumpled as I recalled Chesia smiling at Odette while dressed in his finery. It was annoying, but I had to admit what was true. My fiancé was a renowned “face genius” and a man who showed such excellence in martial arts that he received his knighthood at the age of sixteen.
With a prestigious family and a distinguished appearance, topped with martial prowess, Chesia usually enjoyed being flattered. However, conversely, he was a man who shrank from taking on major responsibilities and feared stepping forward directly. He was always worried that even a minor mistake might tarnish his face or his family’s reputation.
So, I couldn’t help but be curious about the grudge Shing held against him.
【 Because the person who made me like this is Podcus Chesia’s mother. 】
“……What?”
Unlike my expectation that he would evade the question with wordplay again, Shing answered immediately. Though it was quite shocking.
【 So, shouldn’t I also take away her precious son? 】
Shing spoke with a somewhat joyful tone, saying he was looking forward to the expression she would make when she realized her son was dead. To think the reason he held a grudge against Chesia was that his mother had killed him.
— “How could such a deficient thing enter our family? It would have been better to pair him with Bonita instead!”
Chesia’s mother was a person I knew very well.
— “You simpleton. It’s because you’re like this that Chesia can’t open his heart and refuses to consummate the marriage!”
She was the woman who would raise her hand at me for missing a morning greeting. As if it were a lifelong regret that her precious son ended up marrying a “lunatic” like me, Lady Montague had been consistently abusive since the start of our marriage. Even I, who acted like a madwoman, had been busy bowing my head before the Marchioness because I didn’t want to ruin my life with the Chesia I loved.
‘Not that I endured it every single time.’
When it was particularly hard to maintain my sanity, I would barge into her and Odette’s cozy tea time screaming and flip the table, or throw a tantrum saying I would lock her in some villa in the west the moment Chesia inherited the Marquisate. Every time that happened, I would be locked in my room alongside Chesia’s curses, and when I came to my senses, I would fall into self-loathing while reflecting on my actions.
Recalling that miserable marriage, the humiliations of the past came back one by one, and I bit my lip.
“That woman who lives and dies for Chesia would certainly be grief-stricken. But is that all?”
【 What do you mean? 】
“If Chesia’s mother killed you, you should think about getting revenge on the Marchioness herself. Why did you specifically target Chesia?”
【 Haha. Sometimes, there are existences that one loves more than themselves, darling. She would probably rather I appeared to her instead. While boldly demanding that I at least leave her son alone. 】
I felt a slight shiver at the sound of Shing’s voice, explaining that this was the way to make the person who killed him the most wretched. Because he always spoke so lightly, I hadn’t been able to gauge the depth of his resentment, but through this brief conversation, I realized he wanted a truly thorough revenge.
【 So, Rose. Darling. Now I want to ask. What do you plan to do from now on? 】
I couldn’t say much in response to Shing’s question. It was because no proper plan had come to mind. When I first opened my eyes, I intended to start by breaking the engagement with Montague, but on second thought, wouldn’t that eliminate any point of contact with Chesia?
If that happened, it was obvious it would become very difficult to plan revenge against the bastard, so I couldn’t easily speak. Only “bad kids” are good at doing bad things. For a lady who used to be kind and innocent like me to suddenly screw someone over with a meticulous plot… isn’t that a development you only see in commoner novels like “I woke up as a delinquent princess!?”
I simply wanted to return the betrayal and pain I suffered back to them in the same way.
“My Lady, it’s Penny.”
At the sound of Penny’s knock, I hurriedly told her to enter. I didn’t know if she had actually said something like, “The Lady is practicing her whip skills!” or not, but the Head Maid and three other maids entered the room in a line.
To think there were only three servants in charge of this vast room. Facing another disappointment, I first asked the Head Maid.
“You must have heard early on that my confinement was lifted. Do you know why I called you?”
“I believe it is to tidy up your room, My Lady.”
The Head Maid gave the correct answer more submissively than I expected. Her name was Marahan Denaze. She was the one who had been in charge of this place since I was nine—since I began residing in the Rose Pavilion. She was also the one who had witnessed the entire process of a perfectly fine young master transforming into a notorious “mad princess.”
Given Marahan’s stiff personality, she should have ordered the servants to tidy the room at the very least, no matter how much the lady she served threw fits. That was why the spiderwebs in every nook were unexplainable.
“I imagine it was difficult for you to carry out your duties because I haven’t been well… but I never ordered you to show such negligence, so I wish to ask the reason.”
“……I beg your pardon, My Lady. We were simply following your wish to be left alone.”
My eyebrow arched automatically at her answer.
‘I said I wanted to be alone, but when did I say I wanted to live coughing in a dust bin?’
I shot a glare at Shing, who was snickering incessantly beside me, and tried to scold Marahan again.
“So you said no one should ever visit except for meals, and the interior should only be checked to a minimum during important events…”
However, I completely lost my wits at the reply that followed.
“Is that not what you conveyed to us through Lady Bonita?”
