VYDCR Chapter 8

Jeff looked at me with a face that seemed to say not to worry.

“Please do not worry. His Grace has given special orders and sent a personal maid to the East Wing to take care of you, my Lady.”

“A personal maid?”

“Yes. You will be able to meet her once you arrive at the East Wing. You may look forward to it. She is a good person.”

“Okay.”

After that, while chatting about this and that with Jeff, we arrived at the East Wing.

“The head butler has come out to receive you.”

When I stood at the entrance of the East Wing with Jeff, the head butler and the servants were lined up neatly and bowed their heads politely.

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at them.

[Contempt]

Because above all of their heads, the word [Contempt] had appeared.

It was something I had expected anyway.

That they wouldn’t look kindly on me in the East Wing.

If it were Ivelotte, she might have shrunk back and lowered her head, but not me.

I had come to the East Wing after being properly acknowledged.

However, above the head butler’s head, the word [Curiosity] appeared.

That was a little surprising.

“Welcome, my Lady. I am Sebastian, the head butler in charge of the East Wing.”

“Nice to meet you. Please take care of me from now on.”

“Welcome to the East Wing, my Lady.”

At that moment, I felt a chill from Sebastian.

There was a creepy aura coming from him that I couldn’t feel from the others.

“My Lady, if anything difficult happens, please come find me anytime, alright?”

Jeff bent his knees to match my eye level and looked at me, with the words [Worry] and [Regret] appearing above his head.

I had felt it before, but Jeff was kind to me.

I thought he pitied me.

“Sir Jeff, please do not pity me. I do not want to receive something like that from someone of the Ducal House.”

“My Lady…”

In truth, I disliked anyone pitying me.

Whenever someone looked at me with a pitiful gaze, it made me feel miserable.

I steadied myself and looked at the head butler.

“Please guide me to my room.”

“Yes, my Lady.”

I turned my back on Jeff and entered the East Wing.

Was this what it felt like to enter a tiger’s den?

The moment I stepped into the entrance of the East Wing, I felt a chilling sensation.

As expected.

Whoosh!

A mass of flames flew from somewhere and brushed past the side of my face.

“Hey.”

A silver-haired boy walked down the stairs in the center of the hall.

He looked quite ferocious.

“So you managed to crawl your way in here?”

The boy who had come down the stairs and stopped in front of me looked at me with a contemptuous gaze.

Above his head, the word [Contempt] appeared, revealing his emotions to me.

I knew who he was.

Valdes Von Blackeyed.

The second young master of House Blackeyed.

He was someone who possessed the nature of a ferocious beast.

“Don’t misunderstand just because you came in here. That doesn’t mean the House has acknowledged you. You’re still a defective thing.”

I looked up at him with a calm face.

He was about a head taller than me.

His growth was exceptional for someone who was supposedly nine years old this year.

Ricardo quietly whispered to me.

— Do you want me to teach him a lesson?

‘No, it’s alright.’

Even if his growth was exceptional, a child was still a child.

My self-control wasn’t so shallow that I would fall for such a provocation.

“It seems you are very dissatisfied that I came here.”

“I hate you so much I could kill you.”

“But what can you do? Now that I will be living in the East Wing, we will run into each other whether you like it or not.”

I smiled faintly and continued speaking.

“If you hate it that much, then you can just avoid me.”

“What? You little… do you have a death wish? Why would I avoid you?”

“Then don’t.”

“You little!”

Valdes grabbed me by the collar.

“What, are you going to hit me? If you’re confident, then go ahead.”

“You think I can’t do it?”

“Go ahead and try.”

“Ugh!”

Just as the enraged Valdes raised his large hand, a woman with wine-colored hair jumped down from the stairs and pulled me away from Valdes’s grip.

“What is going on?”

“Move.”

“I will not move. Please stop this.”

“Licia, you!”

“Young Master…”

Licia looked at Valdes with a sorrowful expression.

“You know it isn’t the young lady’s fault.”

“How is it not? Because of that defective thing, Mother died!”

At an age when he should have been growing up in his mother’s arms, Valdes had lost his mother.

So he could only remember her through portraits.

Because Ivelotte was born, his mother died.

That was why Valdes hated Ivelotte.

Valdes’s eyes reddened.

“You think I’ll let it go just because you’re protecting her? Just wait. I’ll make sure you regret coming to the East Wing!”

Bang!

Still fuming, Valdes summoned a spirit and hurled flames that smashed the entrance door of the East Wing before disappearing.

Seeing that, Sebastian let out a sigh.

He was practically a complete tyrant.

“My Lady, are you alright?”

I quietly looked at the woman who was checking my body with concern.

“Who are you?”

It was someone I had never seen before, yet above her head the words [Worry] and [Relief] appeared alternately.

“Oh my, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Licia. I have been assigned as your personal maid, my Lady.”

“My personal maid?”

“Yes. I will be serving you here from now on. If it is alright with you, I will guide you to your room.”

I nodded and took her hand as we went up the stairs.

My room was on the second floor.

The East Wing consisted of five floors. Alex lived on the fifth floor, and the fourth floor held the library and the classroom where lessons were held.

The third floor was used by Valdes, and I would be using the second floor.

“This is the bedroom.”

When the door opened and I stepped inside, there was a wide open window and a bed large enough for several people to lie on.

When I opened the door connected to the bedroom, a dressing room appeared.

Perhaps preparations had been made in advance, because various dresses were already hanging in the dressing room.

“It was prepared in a hurry, so it is still lacking, but the dresses and accessories will be supplemented soon.”

Licia introduced the spaces on the second floor that I could use.

There was also a tea room where I could drink tea, a playroom, and a study.

Licia was very kind to me.

But I couldn’t trust her.

In this Ducal House, the only person I could trust was myself.

‘I must not rely on anyone.’

As I repeated that to myself, Licia led me back to the bedroom.

“Please rest for a while. I will bring lunch.”

I answered by simply nodding.

Left alone, I looked around the spacious room.

Now I would be living in a space dozens of times larger than the small room I had stayed in at the annex.

Even so, I didn’t let my guard down.

There was no one here who looked kindly upon me either.

***

Licia had been the Grand Duchess’s personal maid and bodyguard.

She had once been a knight of a noble House, but she had been dismissed after reporting her superior’s corruption.

No one would accept her after that, but the Grand Duchess had taken her in.

The Grand Duchess had been a very kind person.

Licia also respected her character.

However, the Grand Duchess chose the child over her own life.

Everyone opposed it, but she didn’t change her mind.

In the end, she gave birth to the child and died.

Everyone who loved the Grand Duchess grieved. Licia as well.

If only the child hadn’t existed.

The moment she saw the newborn child, the hatred she felt was unbearable.

Even though she knew she shouldn’t feel that way, she hated the child.

So after the Grand Duchess’s funeral ended, she left the Ducal House.

She returned to her hometown and lived quietly.

Then one day.

She was living while teaching swordsmanship to the children in the village when a letter arrived.

It was a letter from the Ducal House after seven years.

The sender was Jeff, the Grand Duke’s aide.

She had known Jeff well when the Grand Duchess was still alive.

Even now, they occasionally exchanged letters asking after each other’s well-being.

But the letter that came this time wasn’t a simple greeting.

It was filled with stories about Ivelotte.

[To Licia.

I never imagined that the day would come when I would ask you for such a favor.

Of course, there was also His Grace’s order, but right now I need your help.

More precisely, it is because of the young lady.

I am ashamed to say this, but the young lady’s situation is not good right now.

There was a problem at the annex where she had been living.

Things that cannot be spoken of aloud happened to the young lady there, so I hope you will come and take care of her…]

Jeff laid out the story at length, trying to persuade her.