Chapter 16
The moment the footmen who had injected Mengele left the parlor, Odette’s sobs stopped.
“Pretending to be in pain? That’s child’s play.”
She had played every possible role during her two years of eluding the male leads.
Besides, ever since she had touched the Night Glory, her fever had been rising inexplicably, so she didn’t even need to act that hard.
“For now, I’ve put out the fire.”
Calmly, she sat herself upright and settled into the plush parlor chair. Unusually serene for someone who had supposedly been injected with Mengele.
That was because she hadn’t just stolen the berserk suppressant when she snuck into the underground storage. While she was at it, she had also switched out the Mengele vials—with her mother’s precious green beauty serum.
“That stuff’s absurdly expensive. Even Mother uses it sparingly—and she took five vials all at once.”
The color was identical, so it would’ve been impossible to notice the swap with the naked eye. If Mother ever ended up taking it, it would be exposed soon enough…
“Well, who knows when Mother—confined to her room—will ever get to use that injection again?”
A faint smile appeared on Odette’s lips. The relationship between Fernan and his mother was only going to get worse from here.
She had swapped out most of the Mengele with the beauty serum, but had hidden a few vials in the secret passage for future use. She could inject herself at any time if necessary.
“It won’t be a problem if I don’t take it for a while anyway.”
The idea that Mengele’s scent only lasted 24 hours had been a misconception of her father’s.
In reality, for the entire two years she’d been on the run, the male leads had continued to smell her artificial rose scent.
“So you’re a fake purifier. No wonder your scent is so disgusting.”
She’d heard those words even in the moment of her death.
“The real noise in this mansion starts now.”
Locking up her mother—who held total control over the household’s affairs—was just the beginning.
Odette’s true goal was to create a situation where Mrs. Becker could freely take charge in the mansion.
“The work Mother did is essential for running the estate. Fernan can’t do it himself.”
Managing a noble household was no easy task. And it was a thankless one at that, rarely earning recognition for the amount of work it required.
Lazy and arrogant Fernan could never handle it. In the end, he’d have to delegate it to someone trustworthy.
“I need Fernan to give authority to Mrs. Becker.”
Normally, the butler would be the one to handle such things, but he was already aligned with her mother—so he was out.
If the housekeeper and head maid decided to side with Fernan instead of her mother, they might be more logical candidates than Mrs. Becker…
But would they be able to hold their tongues and avoid criticizing him? Odette smirked faintly.
She was actually looking forward to cleaning the mansion after her short break.
Odette stepped onto the grand staircase and headed to her room. Her limbs felt heavy—her fever from the Night Glory had risen to a dangerous high.
But her face showed no sign of discomfort. There was a time when she had to run across a desert with a broken ankle. This was nothing.
“But I’m not even a purifier. Why is my body reacting to the Night Glory?”
There was no way a fake purifier like her could be experiencing an awakening fever. Maybe it was a curse for villains who dared touch the protagonist’s things?
“How unfair. Even the plants discriminate.”
Odette chuckled emptily and came to a halt in front of her bedroom. Just then, she heard the giggling voices of maids from inside.
The door wasn’t fully closed, and through the crack, she could see into the room.
Her own bed—being used like it belonged to them. Maids were sprawled out on it without a care in the world.
“Don’t you think Lady Odette is a bit creepy? Unlike Master Fernan, she’s got a twisted personality. Kinda vulgar, too.”
“Totally agree, Head Maid.”
“You girls wouldn’t know since you’ve never served her directly, but I have. She’s a total terror. Always screaming and hitting people.”
“I heard that from Paula too! She said her hair was yanked out dozens of times and her body was covered in bruises.”
“How cliché. Aren’t they tired of this by now?”
Only the senior staff knew the truth—that Odette was a fake purifier and an adopted daughter.
But even the lower-ranking maids and footmen, who had no clue about the real situation, looked down on her.
That was because when the servants were hired, the butler secretly investigated whether they harbored enough hostility toward the “villainess Odette.”
The butler Rolf regularly indoctrinated the footmen, while the head maid Dolly brainwashed the maids.
Only the most thoroughly brainwashed ones were promoted to footmen.
They were told her tantrums were unbearable—that locking her in the underground prison or injecting her was a sorrowful but necessary act.
What was unfolding in her room right now was just another extension of that brainwashing.
An initiation ritual for new maids at the count’s house. You could almost call it the “Mock Odette Club.”
It wasn’t hard to guess why today’s meeting had been called. They wanted to vent their frustrations over Odette’s recent defiance.
Odette stifled a sigh as she watched the head maid and housekeeper prop their shoes on her pillow and dip cookies into milk.
“Not only did they invade my space uninvited, they have no manners.”
Unaware that Odette was watching from the doorway, the new maids eagerly agreed with everything the head maid said.
“Honestly, who would like a villainess like her? Just because she’s a purifier doesn’t mean we have to worship her. Not that she ever actually purifies anything.”
“Oh my, I thought I was the only one who felt that way! So everyone hates Lady Odette.”
“You’ll have a hard time finding someone who hates her more than I do. I wish she’d just die already.”
Nothing spreads like mockery. At first hesitant, the new maids began mimicking and ridiculing Odette’s mannerisms.
They had never even spoken to her, yet repeated slanderous stories made up in third-rate gossip rags, imagining her behavior as monstrous.
As if competing to see who could do the most outrageous impersonation.
Watching it all, Odette let out a bitter scoff.
“Even in this new life, I’m living the same as Han Su-wan.”
The life of Han Su-wan—adopted just to impress investors.
“Mom, even the cleaning lady doesn’t like her. She says I eat gracefully, but Han Su-wan looks like she’s shoveling food into her mouth.”
“Oh my, that’s exactly the right expression. Even if she uses perfect table manners, she still looks disgusting. That girl has a talent for being unlikable no matter what she does.”
A life where she was constantly compared to the real thing, mocked for being fake. The more she tried to earn love, the more she was laughed at.
“I’m sick of it. I’m honestly about to vomit.”
Odette twisted the corner of her lips and stepped into the room, deliberately slamming the door shut.
The head maid and housekeeper, legs stretched out on her bed, and the other maids playing around nearby, all turned to her with wide eyes.
“……! M-Milady.”
“Oh dear.”
Clang. A maid dropped a hot teacup in shock, and it shattered on the floor, spilling its contents onto Odette’s dress.
Odette recognized the maid. Her name was Malea.
Despite their surprise, the maids exchanged glances and snickered without even bothering to change posture.
A deep sense of camaraderie forged from shared mockery.
“More than anything, seeing the head maid and housekeeper act so brazenly must’ve made them think this was perfectly okay.”
The housekeeper and head maid, confident Odette wouldn’t make a fuss, stomped on her pillow with their shoes—deliberately, as if to show off.
They assumed she’d grovel and bow her head again like always.
But unfortunately for them, Odette had every intention of raising a proper ruckus this time.
“Actually, this works out. I needed to fix their habit of barging into my room anyway.”
She was going to use the secret passage in her room frequently from now on. There couldn’t be people storming in unexpectedly like this.
“And conveniently, the one who spilled tea on me was Malea. I should blow this up as much as possible.”
Right now she was just a rookie maid, but soon she would become one of her mother’s closest attendants. That’s because her mother lacked an eye for art, while Malea—daughter of a fence—had a sharp eye for valuables and jewels.
“With her keen instincts, she quickly multiplied Mother’s assets and became her trusted maid.”
Odette, after finishing her quick mental calculation, spoke in a cold voice.
“You spilled tea on my dress, Malea.”
She couldn’t pass up the golden opportunity to destroy her mother’s future source of income.
