Chapter 28
Yudis’s face twisted with anger at Berne’s words, but he didn’t even look back at her.
At that moment, a maid hesitantly stepped forward.
“Duke, Duchess… Young Master Yubel won’t stop crying.”
At the mention of Yubel, Berne’s furious face softened a little. He stood up and said,
“Yes, I must go see our Yubel. Josef, come with me.”
Josef, who had calmly stayed seated during the whole mess, nodded quietly.
“Father, I want to see Yubel too…”
Trying to lighten the mood, Boris lifted his head and spoke.
But that only made Berne yell again.
“You! Before you go on about sword training, go learn your manners again! Don’t even think about going near Yubel until then. I’m afraid your stupidity might rub off on him!”
He stormed out of the room as if he couldn’t stand it anymore.
Josef walked over to Boris and whispered in his ear.
“Brother, I’ll try talking to Father for you.”
“…Josef…”
“Don’t worry. Just focus on your sword training. I told Father to let you challenge Oscar. If you beat him, Father will recognize your talent.”
“What? You mean Oscar Tradi? And Father agreed?”
Josef patted Boris’s slumped shoulders and nodded.
“Yes. So make sure to grab the chance I gave you.”
Boris looked down at his younger brother and slowly nodded, comforted.
“Mother, I’ll go check on Yubel now.”
Josef bowed politely to Yudis, who was still hugging Boris, and followed Berne out of the room.
Yudis glared in the direction Berne had left.
She slowly straightened up, brushing away the hair that had stuck to her face from the heat of anger.
In the silence of the ruined dining room, only her son’s sobs echoed faintly.
After fixing her clothes, she walked over to Izana, who was still sitting quietly—but no longer crying.
“You…”
Yudis felt a chill down her spine and bit her lip.
The girl’s eyes were completely dry, as if those earlier tears had been fake.
“…Go apologize to Boris. Now.”
Izana nodded without resistance and bowed her head to him.
“I’m sorry, Young Master.”
Then she stood and calmly walked past them.
“Wait.”
Yudis stopped her.
“Until you master proper table manners, you’re banned from joining any meals. I’ll assign you a tutor. Unless you perfect your etiquette, forget about going anywhere.”
Izana looked back briefly, then quietly walked away.
***
Later That Evening
Starting that night, I began learning table manners from the head maid.
As someone from 21st-century middle-class life who ate everything with just a spoon and chopsticks, the complicated etiquette of this fantasy world—mixing medieval and modern European styles—was annoying.
But…
‘Memorizing stuff is kind of my thing, actually!’
It only took me two days to memorize it all.
There were over a dozen kinds of utensils in front of me. The table was full of colorful dishes from land, sea, and air—at least fifteen different items!
I carefully began eating.
Use the utensils from the outside in, break open the crab shell with a hammer, scoop out the meat using the third spoon…
“Wah! Mmm, delicious!”
I happily smiled after successfully getting a chunk of crab meat.
But the head maid, Baroness Closer, frowned deeply and shook her head.
“I told you not to make sounds while eating. That’s a failure. And what was that word—‘delicious’ in such a strange way?”
Ugh!
“It was just an exclamation!”
“Still, it’s inappropriate. That’s a failure. Again.”
And just like that, I was kicked out and sent back to my room.
After a few more tries, I realized she had no intention of ever passing me.
It wasn’t her fault—it was clearly something Yudis had told her to do.
So after that, I stopped trying so hard.
“Young Lady! You can’t just inhale pudding like that!”
“Please use your spoon! Don’t drink soup straight from the bowl—!”
I began purposely failing my lessons. Every time, Baroness Closer was shocked and ran to tell Yudis what had happened.
A week passed like that.
In the meantime, the underground storage where we found Ragria was completely sealed off.
Some of the items there were so dangerous that even skilled mages couldn’t identify them right away.
The mages were shocked that such a dangerous place had been left unattended for so long.
And still—no one had figured out who screamed down there or who knocked me out.
So, one night, I snuck back into the Duke’s office and summoned the vault spirit again.
I needed to ask about the scream.
『My young enemy… do you know who I am?』
“You’re the star that fell into the sea. Now tell me what’s in the basement. Who made that scream? If you don’t—”
『Do not go into the basement.』
“Why not?!”
『Do not go into the basement.』
“…Ugh.”
『Do not go into the basement.』
That’s all the spirit kept saying—over and over like a broken record. It refused to tell me anything else.
‘Ancient magic said it was just a child, though…’
I thought about going back to the basement, but it had been sealed off tightly.
And if I went alone and something happened to me, it would be really bad.
So for now, I decided to wait and watch.
Meanwhile, everyone in the mansion kept ignoring me.
But this time, it wasn’t because of Berne’s orders.
***
“Anyone who talks to her will die. Even bowing is off limits. If you dare bow to that girl like you do to me, I’ll break your neck.”
***
It was because of the small tyrant, Boris Rohia.
Since the disastrous dinner, Boris hadn’t dared lay a hand on me in front of the Duke.
Instead, he started bothering people around me—starting with Loti.
“Young Lady, Baroness Eldowen visited today. I think there are rumors about you.”
Loti, her legs bruised from Boris’s kicks, was treating her wounds while chatting.
“I heard the Marchioness say some things about you during a social gathering. The Baroness hinted she heard you’re much smarter than the rumors say. Actually, the Eldowen and Rohia families don’t get along. And guess what the Duchess said in response?”
“She said I couldn’t even learn table manners?”
“Gasp! How did you know?! Were you spying on them again?”
Loti’s eyes widened in panic.
“If you get caught, we’re doomed!”
I shook my head in disbelief.
“I could’ve guessed that with my eyes closed…”
“Anyway, it seemed like the Duchess was trying hard to deny the Marchioness’s words—that you’re smart and healthy.”
“She needs an excuse to keep me out of society.”
Gasp!!
Loti took a sharp breath.
“The Duchess is really evil!”
“You weren’t exactly nice either, remember?”
“Aww…”
Loti tried to act cute.
Ugh, not cute at all.
“Is there anyone here who doesn’t know she’s evil?”
I pointed to the scar on Loti’s face. She shrugged awkwardly.
“Well… I did get dragged to the Duke’s bedroom. I can’t complain…”
Right. I had forgotten.
I lost all motivation to keep up the silly conversation.
Waving my hand, I asked,
“Any other news? Like surprise visitors from the Northern Empire? Or a sudden trip coming up?”
Loti shook her head.
Then she seemed to remember something and raised a finger.
“Oh! But something else did happen. There was a poisoning case in the estate.”
At the word poisoning, I jumped up.
“Poisoning?! Was the corpse black and shriveled?!”
“Wha—how do you know that?! You have been sneaking around again, haven’t you?!”
I rushed to the window, threw it open, and took in the cold air.
‘Archduke Orsheus didn’t come to stop it… Damn it. Dozens—no, hundreds—are going to die.’
