ITMLWWKM 07

Episode 7

I was just as angry, so I glared at Bill and Ron. But in truth, I had hoped they would come at me like this.

I let out an exaggerated sigh and said,

“Yeah. Of course people won’t believe Karsian.”

Karsian trembled in outrage. I stepped in front of him, shielding him behind me, then said,

“Is that all?”

“……P-pardon?”

“The reconciliation water. Is that all you’ve got? Then I’ll drink it instead. That means we’re settling this, right?”

“W-w-what…!”

“Then this ends here.”

My words made Karsian gasp, and Bill and Ron’s eyes went wide.

“Young Lady!”

Susan, who had been watching from behind, rushed out, but I stretched out an arm to stop her.

“Answer me. This ends here, right?”

Bill and Ron faltered, flustered, but soon snickered and held the bowl out to me.

“Yes. Sure.”

“As long as you can drink all of it.”

They must have thought I was bluffing, that I couldn’t possibly drink this filthy water.

But what could they know? To me, who had once stood on the execution platform, this sort of dirty water was practically holy water.

I had drunk rainwater trickling down filthy prison walls. I survived several days in conditions so bad that I was grateful even for that.

When I grabbed the bowl Ron handed me, Karsian and Susan both screamed.

“Don’t drink it!”

“Young Lady, no! I’ll bring someone right away!”

But I only turned my head, gave them a smile, and in full view of everyone, drank all the dirty water. Though they called it filthy, honestly, it was closer to water that had simply had a rag dipped in it without soap. And since it was still morning, it was fairly clean.

I even flipped the empty bowl upside down to show them. A single leaf fell out instead of water drops.

“Enough?”

Bill and Ron stared at me, mouths agape. Karsian and Susan were struck speechless.

Taking advantage of Bill’s frozen state, I snatched the recording magic device from his chest.

“Ah! That—!”

Bill reached out in panic, but I quickly stepped back, switched it off, and tossed it to Susan. Startled out of her stupor, she hurriedly caught it.

“As you said yourselves, you’re just mere servants. So where did you get such an expensive recording device?”

“That, well…….”

“Obviously from Father’s office, right? You stole it, didn’t you?”

“N-no! We didn’t!”

“Really? Then I’ll personally hand this to Father and ask, ‘Have any recording devices gone missing lately?’”

Bill’s face drained of color.

“Let’s see… Wow! It was recording. That means there’s a full record of you bullying Karsian, who’s been entrusted to our marquess household, and forcing *me*, the eldest daughter, to drink filthy water. If I take this to Father and say, ‘These servants committed insubordination. Please make sure they can’t find work anywhere,’ what do you think Father will do?”

Our marquess family values its gentlemanly image above all else. There’s no way Father would overlook two servants doing something that could tarnish that image.

Realizing this, Bill and Ron immediately dropped to their knees, their arrogance vanishing without a trace.

“P-please! Please forgive us just this once, Young Lady!”

“Young Lady, we were wrong!”

Before I could even say anything, they pressed their foreheads to the floor on their own.

Looking down at them, I said,

“I don’t think you should apologize only to me.”

“S-sorry! Young Master Karsian!”

“We were wrong!”

“Karsian was telling the truth, wasn’t he?”

“Yes! I stole Young Master Karsian’s rake as he was passing by and injured him with it!”

“And we handed the rake back and told him we’d break it if he let go!”

So that’s why Karsian couldn’t let go of the rake. If it broke, he wouldn’t be able to work in the stables and would be punished.

“We’re truly sorry, Young Master Karsian!”

“We deserve death. Please forgive us just once!”

Bill and Ron begged with their heads bowed. I told them the decision would rest with Karsian.

Karsian thought for a moment, then took the bowl from me and scooped up some dirty water.

“Drink.”

“……H-huh?”

“I’ll forgive you if you two split it.”

“……W-what?!”

Bill and Ron were horrified by Karsian’s calm words. I was surprised too. I hadn’t expected him to say something like that.

“Why? The Young Lady of this house, Latia, drank it. You’re servants—you can split it.”

“B-but…”

“M-Master…”

Bill and Ron looked at the dirty water with tearful faces. Karsian tilted his head.

“Don’t want to? Can’t? Should I take this magic device to the Marquess right now and tell him, ‘I can’t endure this mistreatment anymore’…?”

“I-I’ll drink it!”

“I’ll drink it, gladly!”

Bill grabbed the bowl before Karsian even finished speaking and gulped it down.

“H-hey! Leave some for me!”

Ron panicked and slapped Bill on the back, afraid of getting into trouble alone. They showed us the completely empty bowl.

Confirming it, Karsian said flatly,

“Don’t do this again. And tell the other servants too. Don’t bother me.”

“Y-yes sir! We understand!”

“We’ll make sure to tell them!”

Bill and Ron bowed over and over before fleeing.

I watched their retreating backs when—suddenly—whump!

“Young Lady!”

Susan ran to me and wrapped me in a tight hug.

“What on earth—why would you—!”

She was crying too hard to speak properly. I realized too late how thoughtless I’d been. I didn’t mind drinking it because I had the memories from before regression, but Susan had no such context.

“Did I scare you? But really, it looked pretty clean. And it’s still morning, so the cleaning water couldn’t have gotten too dirty.”

“Even so, Young Lady! How could you drink that…!”

Tears welled in Susan’s eyes as she anxiously checked me over.

“No, this won’t do. You must take medicine right away. What if you get sick? Hurry!”

“W-wait, Susan!”

I wanted to talk to Karsian, but Susan dragged me straight to my room.

Under her intense watch, I drank five glasses of clean water and took medicine in case anything happened.

Human bodies aren’t as fragile as people think. I’d survived worse, like drinking filthy rainwater. But Susan was so worried for me that I couldn’t help but sit on the bed smiling like a fool.

I completely forgot to mention that the leaf that fell from the bowl was an herb that *purifies dirty water.*

While searching for the baby bird earlier, a leaf with purification properties had stuck to my clothes. I noticed it by chance, realized what it meant, and volunteered to drink the dirty water. Of course, the water Karsian made Bill and Ron drink didn’t have that leaf.

That evening, I asked Susan to return the magic device to Father.

Along with a letter saying,
“According to Susan, there are people speaking ill of our family outside the estate. I think I know why. I tried provoking someone, and they confessed right away.”

Of course it was a lie, but Father would be alarmed. He was obsessed with our family’s gentlemanly reputation. When I said I trusted Karsian, Father praised me for “skillful coaxing” and gave me an amethyst necklace.

It was the first thing in my life that was truly *mine.*

And the next day, Bill and Ron were nowhere to be seen in the estate.

—

A few days later, I went out to the garden with Susan again to look for the baby bird from my memories. The container of its favorite feed was empty.

“Another bird must’ve eaten it.”

“Maybe it came and just ate the feed. This feed is made from dried grass roots, so ordinary birds don’t like it much.”

Worried I might be upset, Susan tried her hardest to comfort me.

“Then I’ll just leave more feed. It must be doing well.”

With a bittersweet feeling, I turned away. But then—

“Just once—please, just once, let me speak with him! Even just a catalogue is fine! I’ve brought only the very best medicinal herbs!”

“Hey! Do you think you can make a scene here? Get out at once!”

“Tsk! No matter how kind our Marquess is, even he won’t deal with peddlers like you!”