Chapter 15
Ferdinand was in a foul mood. Part of it was because his mother had arbitrarily thrown Odette into the underground prison, but more than that—
“Mother, why are you acting out like this?! Why are you using the toy you gave me however you please?!”
It was because he couldn’t understand himself for snapping and throwing such harsh words at his mother. He had no idea Lize had put a truth serum in his honey water.
“Damn it. Mother going off the rails isn’t even new. I always endured it just fine—why did I suddenly lose it this time?”
Rolf had stepped in to smooth things over quickly, but Ferdinand had clearly seen the displeasure on his mother’s face. The expression of someone thoroughly disappointed in him.
“Looks like I’ll have to coddle her for a while again. How long will the cold shoulder last this time?”
Just thinking about it gave him a splitting headache.
His mother was the type to become anxious to the point of fainting if she couldn’t maintain control over the count’s household. Constantly ignored by high society due to her background, she had to seize at least the family’s power completely to feel secure.
As the daughter of a loan shark, she’d always been treated like a ghost in social circles. Even the count himself had publicly disrespected her, siding with the crowd.
She only began to be accepted, little by little, as part of the nobility after she gave birth to her heir, Ferdinand.
“My son, you mustn’t ignore your mother. You were born from my womb—you can’t do that… I can forgive anything, but never humiliate me in front of others.”
If you ended up on her bad side, she’d never forgive you. Knowing this, Ferdinand had always hidden his scorn for her in fear.
“Ah, screw it. I’ll just smooth things over later. For now, let’s fix Odette’s attitude first.”
Just then, the footmen knocked on the drawing room door.
“Young Master! We’ve brought the young lady!”
“Come in.”
According to Rolf, Odette had acted extremely arrogant and insolent. Her verbal abuse was so intense that his mother had no choice but to lock her in the underground prison.
“Everyone leave, except Odette.”
Seeing Odette in plain, drab clothes made it seem like his mother hadn’t entirely exaggerated.
“Right. If I just make up with Mother properly, she’ll forgive me. I’m her son, after all—how could she not?”
Thinking that, Ferdinand looked down at Odette, who knelt on the floor of the drawing room.
He immediately scowled and pointed out her clothing.
“Where the hell did you get that drab outfit?”
“Good morning, Brother.”
“You have pretty clothes—why are you wearing something so rough and unrefined?”
“It was a gift.”
Ferdinand’s brow furrowed deeply at her response.
The fabric was clearly high quality. The design was elegant, and the subtle details at the cuffs and hem followed current fashion trends perfectly.
No doubt it came from a top-tier boutique. Which meant it wasn’t the kind of dress someone would gift without ulterior motives. It was obviously more expensive than the dresses he had bought her.
“From who?”
“From a very charming gentleman.”
“This is why women need to be disciplined. Spoil them too much, and they’ll end up fawning over some trash of a man.”
“Brother, don’t say that. He was introduced to me by Mother.”
‘…What?’
Ferdinand looked like he’d just been smacked on the head.
“Mother introduced him to you?”
Odette smiled sweetly in response.
Of course, the charming gentleman in question was Lize.
‘Well, technically, it’s true Mother introduced us.’
Choosing a maid and managing her was ultimately the mistress’s responsibility. With feigned excitement, Odette even blushed as she said it—relishing the way Ferdinand’s face twisted with disgust.
“Mother introduced you to that worthless bastard?”
“Yes. She graciously gave us her blessing to be together forever.”
It wasn’t even a lie. On the day before her execution, Mother had said it sarcastically:
“That wench Lize is dead too, so you two trash can be together forever in the afterlife.”
Odette’s tone gave no hint of falsehood.
Ferdinand’s face filled with betrayal. Odette pressed on.
“Yesterday, Mother even agreed to disown me. I was thrilled. Being with a commoner, my noble title only felt like a burden.”
That made Ferdinand’s expression twist even further.
Come to think of it, Lady Becker had been ranting about that yesterday too. That the madam had talked about disowning the young lady, and Odette had reacted with surprising calm, as if she’d expected it.
‘I thought that was nonsense—but now, hearing Odette, it all makes sense.’
Ferdinand ground his teeth in fury at his mother. After creating such a mess with a fake purifier, how could she talk about disowning Odette?
‘If she does, I’ll be executed for murder!’
What enraged him most was that she had tried to dispose of his favorite toy without asking.
“Ferdinand, Odette is yours from head to toe. Do with her as you please—train her or discard her. It’s your choice.”
That’s what she had said when she first gifted Odette to him. Not that she ever honored her promises.
‘Especially when she let that damn Paula do as she pleased.’
Ferdinand loathed seeing any marks on Odette’s body that he hadn’t made himself.
While the other high-ranking staff avoided leaving visible injuries, Paula always left hideous welts with her riding crop.
‘And yet Mother never punished her—instead, she told me to be patient?!’
She had called Odette his doll! And she wouldn’t even scold a lowly maid for damaging it? Clearly, she had no intention of keeping her promises to him.
‘I even begged her not to use the underground prison, but she ignored that too. Damn it. What am I supposed to do at the Founding Festival now?!’
All the resentment toward his mother, which he had barely held back thanks to Rolf’s persuasion, surged up again.
‘Now she wants to disown Odette so she can marry a commoner? This is about my life, and she didn’t even consult me?!’
In the household, “disownment” was code for when the countess and senior staff bullied Odette. They had reported it to Ferdinand several times.
But he had long forgotten those reports. He neither listened to nor remembered the stories of the lower staff.
As a result, he misunderstood “disownment” as literal disownment.
Burning with rage, Ferdinand wanted to wake his mother and confront her immediately—but unfortunately, he had to head to the Imperial Palace right away.
Thanks to Crown Prince Johann being at risk of going berserk, the palace was unusually submissive right now. If they wanted to wring a diamond mine or two out of them, both he and his father needed to be there.
As he tried to push down his boiling fury, Odette spoke.
“You don’t oppose it, right? You always go along with whatever Mother wants.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“You’re the one who’ll become a viscount. The one who’ll be the emperor’s son-in-law. Not Mother. Yet you always obey her.”
Only then did it hit Ferdinand like a blow to the head.
‘Why am I afraid of her disapproval?’
Mother always repeated it like a mantra:
“You’re my greatest achievement. The finest thing I’ve ever created.”
Which meant the power was his, not hers. There was no need to beg for her forgiveness.
‘It doesn’t matter whether she forgives me or not.’
In fact, she should be the one begging forgiveness—for daring to use his doll without permission!
With this realization, Ferdinand abandoned his plan to apologize to his mother.
“See? No matter how angry she gets, the maids and butlers still watch your reaction more than hers. Except Rolf and Paula, of course.”
At those words, Ferdinand realized something.
“Sir, please don’t fall out of favor with the madam. She’s a cold woman. You must always keep her pleased.”
The reason he had spent his whole life groveling—believing the real power lay with her—was because Rolf had always whispered in his ear, It’s all for your sake, sir.
Now that he saw the truth, Ferdinand’s eyes snapped open. With the eyes of a man enlightened.
The real power in this house belonged to his father—and to himself. His mother was nothing more than the daughter of a vulgar loan shark, leeching off noble blood.
As befits her greedy bloodline, she even tried to steal Odette, whom he had been given as a gift.
“Brother, you never oppose Mother, do you? Just like her, you’ll give your blessing, right? I want to be happy with him.”
“Hah. Did you really think I’d give you permission, Odette?”
Newly awakened, Ferdinand called the footmen. Then, pointing a finger, he ordered:
“Find out which boutique made this dress, and track down the bastard who gave it to her.”
“Brother…”
Odette’s face turned pale with fear. Seeing her like that made his insides churn with rage. How dare his doll choose another man?
“And inject her with four—no, five—doses of Mengele. Then dump her in the drawing room. She needs to be corrected.”
“Please, don’t do this. You can’t tear us apart when we have Mother’s blessing!”
“Lock Mother in her room, too! If she refuses my orders, I’ll believe she’s nothing but another of her butler’s dogs!”
“Brother!”
Odette’s voice was heartbreakingly desperate. Ignoring her pleading, Ferdinand gestured to the footmen to drag her away.
Having made his decision, he returned to his room and began dressing for his outing.
‘I should add marriage to the princess as a purification condition—on top of the diamond mines.’
Was he 14 years older than the princess? She wasn’t as pretty as her brother, the crown prince, but she was good enough. Besides, he already had Odette as a plaything.
He hummed as he buttoned his coat, his movements light.
“Ha, what a relief. I finally feel like I’ve regained my dignity.”
Indeed, Odette was right. The future count, the imperial son-in-law—it wasn’t his mother. It was him.
And he would make sure that daughter of a loan shark understood that very clearly.
