Chapter 9

When he first saw her swapping the books, Edmund thought Cassia was just trying to mess with Moretti.

‘Cassia and Moretti are fighting over who controls the villa.’

And he was just a tool caught in between.
Both women trying to prove loyalty to the Duke and win more power.

There was no denying Moretti had been his enemy.
For years she beat him, locked him up, and forced him to eat poisoned food.

But what about Cassia?

In his mind, Edmund recalled her words and actions over the past month.

“Is it strange for a wife to visit her husband?”

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“Of course I came to save my husband.”

And Cassia still kept bringing him safe meals.
The food from other maids was always poisoned.

‘Only the meals from Cassia were safe.’

Leaving aside everything she said or did in between, the results were too obvious.

The governess who tormented him the most—Moretti—was gone.
Now he didn’t have to tremble in fear before every lesson.

It all pointed to just one thing.

“…!”

Edmund flinched. He shook his head, trying to drive away the dangerous thought.

‘I can’t be sure yet.’

His chest went cold. What had he almost allowed himself to think?

‘In this place… trusting someone? That’s impossible. I must never do that.’

He had been locked in this villa since he was seven.
In that long time, he had experienced horrors beyond count.
He had been betrayed so many times that it wasn’t worth keeping track.

‘I can’t trust. I mustn’t trust.’

Yet the very fact that he had to remind himself of this only meant one thing:

That somewhere deep down, part of him wanted to trust her.

But Edmund fought desperately to deny it.

The situation after Moretti was expelled could be summed up in one phrase:

‘It’s my world now!’

Yes. All the villa’s authority naturally came into my hands.
The ring of keys I now carried was proof of that.

Jingle jingle!

I shook them, and the bright sound rang out joyfully.

‘Ah, the sound of victory is the best!’

It was only a small victory, but it still felt great.
Getting rid of Moretti was the first step of my bigger plan.

And the change in everyone’s attitude was huge.

When I walked through the hall, the servants parted like the Red Sea.
They bowed sharply, bending their waists ninety degrees.

“Good morning, Little Madam.”

“Did you rest well last night?”

“Do you need anything? Any orders for us?”

Everyone scrambled to please me, their eyes full of fear.
Of course—they had all seen me drive Moretti out, earn the steward’s thanks, and take control of the villa.

‘Now the true power of this villa… is me!’

But honestly, their groveling wasn’t satisfying. It was ridiculous.

‘Shouldn’t they be showing this respect to Edmund, the real master, not me?’

Like the steward before, all the Duke’s servants treated Edmund as if he were invisible.
They provided the bare minimum of care, but no warmth, no kindness.

The entire household had joined together to isolate and torment one child.

‘And Edmund lived in this for over six years? No wonder his personality is warped.’

Even the horrible orphanage I grew up in wasn’t this bad.

My brows furrowed in anger.

‘All the more reason—I won’t let Edmund become the final villain!’

This was my pride as a would-be teacher.
Sure, I had only studied in the college of education for a few months and only tutored before, but still!

Lost in thought, I found myself at my destination.
The nanny, pushing the food trolley beside me, set it down at the door and stepped back.
The maids, as arranged, quickly withdrew.

That’s right—today I was once again delivering Edmund’s breakfast myself.

I smiled brightly, pushing the trolley inside.

“Good morning.”

As always, Edmund stood tall and composed, even in shabby clothes that didn’t fit him.
His natural dignity and noble air could not be hidden.

‘Truly a pearl in the mud.’

I shut the door and rolled the trolley to him.

Edmund ate with his usual grace.

But after Moretti’s downfall, maybe it was just my imagination, yet he seemed especially cautious—testing each dish carefully as if checking for poison.

‘I thought he was starting to trust the food I brought… Was I wrong?’

I felt a little down.
After everything I’d done, wasn’t that too unfair?

But while I sulked, Edmund ate with surprising speed, finishing everything cleanly.
His elegant dab with the napkin contrasted with the spotless dishes.

Seeing that, I forgot my annoyance and couldn’t help but laugh.

“Pfft.”

Edmund’s eyes sharpened again.
With a clear, suspicious look, he suddenly spoke.

“I think I know your and my uncle’s true purpose.”

“Huh? What purpose?”

He spoke each word with annoying precision.

“You’ve taken away even my formal education. That must be the real goal, right?”

Oh. So that’s how he saw it.
Not wrong, if you looked only at the results.
With Moretti gone, even the sham of an education she gave was gone too.

‘In the original story, Edmund did suffer later from his poor childhood education.’

I remembered how desperate he’d been to cling even to Moretti’s shoddy lessons.

Feeling sorry for him, I glanced at his face.

But Edmund only scowled.

“Becoming an uneducated fool must be exactly what you and my uncle want.”

Cute face, but full of suspicion and venomous words.
Honestly, it stung.

‘Hey, do you even know how much I’m doing for you!’

But telling him the truth wouldn’t help.
He would only grow more suspicious.

His harsh attitude made my temper rise too.

So I grinned and shot back:

“Really? Then I guess you can’t trust the food I bring either. Fine, I won’t come again.”

“What?!”

His red eyes widened like a startled rabbit.
The look of someone whose carrot had just been snatched away.

I twisted the knife a little more.

“By your logic, I’m the Duke’s pawn who robbed you of your lessons. How could you ever trust the meals I bring?”

“……”

“You hated today’s meal too, right? But ate it only because you had no choice?”

“Th-that’s…!”

Watching him genuinely panic, I softened.
Threatening a starving kid with food—it hurt my Korean soul.

‘And he’s still just a boy…’

So thin, so small for his age.

I sighed inwardly. Fine—I’d be the generous one.

With a mischievous smile, I took my words back.

“But too bad for you. I’ll keep bringing you food anyway.”

“……!”

His red eyes locked onto me, wide with surprise.

“Even if you doubt me and insult me, it doesn’t matter. Only I will bring you meals.”

“…Only you?”

“Yes. Just like I’ve been doing until now.”

He understood exactly what I meant.

‘No matter how much you doubt me, no matter what you say—I’ll keep bringing you safe meals.’

At that, Edmund’s cold, stiff face finally crumbled.

I couldn’t describe it well—
but he was clearly fighting tears, trying not to show his feelings.

Pretending not to notice, I turned away.

Edmund bit his lip until he tasted blood.
Only then could he hold back the tears.

For six years, he had survived by trusting no one, relying on no one.

And yet—this was the first time anyone had said such words to him.

‘Even if you don’t trust me, I’ll still be here for you.’

The urge to cry and cling to her nearly overwhelmed him.

But he couldn’t.

He couldn’t believe.
He couldn’t reveal such a broken expression. It would only become a weakness.

All he could do as a child was endure.

When Cassia turned her back, Edmund felt relief.
At least she hadn’t seen his disgraceful face.

Then—

Clink!

A small metallic sound rang on the floor as Cassia walked away.

‘What was that?’

Edmund spotted a small key lying on the ground.
She had dropped it on her way out.

And outside the door, her deliberately loud mutter reached him:

“Ahem. Guess I’ll kill some time in the library today.”

Edmund realized at once.

The key was to the library.

Like a bolt of lightning, it hit him.

Cassia had secretly given him access to the library—behind his uncle’s back.