Chapter 6
“…What did you say?”
Zachary’s face hardened.
“Are you that desperate to take my place?”
I stared them down again, deliberately enunciating each syllable like I was doing them a favor.
“That comment earlier—wasn’t it because you were hoping I’d lose control and cause a scene?”
As I sharply pointed out his true intention, Zachary’s lips trembled.
“Right. Because only then could you take my position and finally become the official noble you so desperately want to be…”
I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Zachary, boiling with rage at my words, lunged at me.
His charge felt like it was happening in slow motion.
I wasn’t dizzy anymore. The argument had almost sobered me up.
Calmly, I reviewed the plan I’d prepared in my head as I watched Zachary reach for my collar.
It was a plan I’d formed the moment I realized Elia’s body still retained memories.
‘Elia may have lost her swordsmanship, but she wasn’t clumsy with her body.’
I couldn’t fight someone like Carlos, but I still had enough physical ability to deliver a surprise blow to someone who underestimated me.
“Today I’ll show you what I’m made of, Elia!”
Just as Zachary’s fingertips brushed my clothes—
I dodged him nimbly and kicked him hard in the shin.
“Uuugh!”
Zachary lost his balance and fell to the floor with a ridiculous cry.
“Oh my goodness, Zachary!”
“My son!”
Ginata and Lady Doris rushed toward the fallen Zachary in a panic.
Lady Doris lifted his upper body, and blood started to trickle from Zachary’s nostrils.
“ELIA! What do you think you’re doing?”
Seeing her precious son bleeding, Lady Doris screamed in fury.
“How dare you harm your brother’s face? I’ll make you pay dearly!”
“Brother? Elia Elvington and Zachary Doris are not siblings, ma’am. And I haven’t done anything wrong.”
I looked down at Zachary and Lady Doris coldly.
“He lost his temper and charged at me first. So what excuse are you going to use to punish me?”
“What did you say? Ha! You think that’ll stop me from punishing you?”
A nasty glint flashed in Lady Doris’s eyes.
“I’ll call the Marquis.”
She said it like she was playing her ultimate trump card.
There was only one man in this estate referred to as “the Marquis.”
“Who do you think my husband will believe—you or me?”
The very same Elvington Marquis.
Since Elia had gone down a wayward path, the stern and upright Marquis had become stricter with his daughter than ever.
Rather than listen to Elia’s side of the story, he believed that hearing multiple accounts and calling witnesses was the fairest way to determine right and wrong.
Lady Doris exploited this habit.
She constantly lingered near Elia, acting as a “witness,” embellishing Elia’s mistakes and painting her character in the worst possible light.
Elia, disappointed by her father who always sided against her, became more rebellious, and the vicious cycle continued.
Eventually, the Marquis began blaming Elia for every disturbance without even questioning it.
“Go to your room immediately, you foolish girl! And this time, it won’t be just ten days of confinement!”
Lady Doris shouted, full of confidence.
But too bad for her—this time would be different.
“Oh, and about your husband—my father, that is.”
I walked over to Lady Doris, heels clicking, and bent slightly to whisper.
“He’s been watching us this whole time.”
“What?”
Lady Doris’s face instantly froze in panic.
She frantically looked around for the Marquis.
I silently watched her flounder, then finally glanced up toward the stairs.
“He’s right up there.”
When she followed my gaze, her eyes trembled violently.
At the top of the stairs stood the Marquis of Elvington, gripping the railing, his face stiff with icy disapproval.
“What,”
The suffocating silence broke as the Marquis finally spoke.
“What is all this commotion?”
His deep voice filled the hall like it had weight.
The servants quickly bowed their heads. Lady Doris bit her lip hard.
I watched with interest as her eyes shook uncontrollably.
‘Now, how will she try to spin this?’
Given the Marquis’s stern and rigid personality, the smartest move would be to admit Zachary’s fault and bow her head.
But she still didn’t seem to realize that I had changed.
“Elia…!”
Lady Doris suddenly shrieked.
“Elia injured Zachary! Just because he had the nerve to point out she was drinking like a hooligan!”
She glanced at me.
Clearly, she was banking on me shrinking back in fear before the Marquis, just as I always had.
‘So she thinks I’ll back down again. Then I should show her—things are different now.’
“Is that true, Elia?”
Despite having witnessed the entire scene, the Marquis still asked me directly. That was his rigid sense of justice at work.
All eyes were on me. Especially Mary, who looked at me with deep concern.
‘At least someone in this house truly cares about me.’
That gave me a little comfort as I opened my mouth.
“That’s not the truth.”
I stood tall, my voice firm and unshaken.
At that moment, the atmosphere shifted.
I felt Lady Doris falter, saw the Marquis raise one brow.
“What do you mean it’s not the truth!”
Ginata, still holding her brother, screamed.
“Father! Elia is in the wrong again! Please punish her!”
Hearing Ginata’s plea, the Marquis’s face twisted in conflict.
I almost laughed. How could someone be so blindly distrustful of his own daughter?
“Marquis.”
I called him by the formal title Elia always used.
His brow twitched at the stiff address.
“I know you’ve been watching from the start. So you must know I didn’t attack Zachary first. Do I really need to say more?”
“Hmm.”
The Marquis let out a troubled sound.
“I heard you were out drinking again with that worthless group of yours.”
Before judging the current incident, he pointed out my earlier behavior.
“Yes.”
It felt unfair, but I didn’t argue. I knew excuses would only make things worse.
He despised petty justifications and valued action over words.
So I needed a different approach.
Something bolder. More direct.
“I drank and made a scene.”
My honest confession shocked everyone in the house—including the Marquis.
Right. Admitting fault this calmly? The old Elia could never.
I took a deep breath, preparing to surprise them even more.
“But midway, I came to my senses and left early. I won’t be spending time with that group again.”
Another long silence followed.
Everyone looked at me like they didn’t know what was happening.
I kept my composure and met their stares.
I had turned over a new leaf.
“This isn’t some trick. I’ll retrieve the heirloom sword I pawned at the gambling hall too.”
Thinking of Carlos, who had suspected me, I added a line to clear any doubts.
“From now on, I’ll stay disciplined and focus on the knight order’s duties.”
And subtly expressed my intention to keep my position as commander.
“I know it’s hard to believe—because of my past behavior.”
I looked straight at the Marquis.
And, determined not to die like in the original story as a disgrace, I spoke with all my heart.
“But I’ve truly changed, Father.”
The word “Father” made him flinch visibly.
“So this time, please don’t judge me based on my past—but only by what happened here, today.”
His gaze, once fixed on me, now turned toward Zachary still lying on the floor and the two women beside him.
The Marquis was rigid—but he wasn’t a fool.
He knew how deep Elia’s wounds ran, and how cruel it was to mock a “knight who lost her sword.”
Several minutes passed in tense silence.
Then finally, the Marquis opened his mouth.
