Chapter 74
PAAENG!
Demeyra blew her nose into the handkerchief Iris had handed her.
Watching her, Iris silently resolved to deduct the cost of that handkerchief from her next paycheck.
Demeyra resumed her rant.
“Isn’t it seriously infuriating? How could they do that to me? I knew Anthony was trash, but the three of them ganging up like that…”
“Oh, really?”
“Huuuh… how can people be like that? What am I supposed to do now?”
Sigh.
Iris instinctively sighed, which made Demeyra glare at her.
“Don’t tell me you’re not even listening? Sure, your status changed, but I went through all that humiliation to help you…”
“No, I was listening. I just don’t get why it’s so shocking to you.”
Iris responded calmly.
“Your status has changed. Did you really think nothing else would?”
“Well, yeah, but I didn’t think it would be this bad…”
“And dumping a drink on someone? That’s what you used to do to me all the time.”
“O-okay, that’s true…”
“You did a lot more than that, right? Locked me in a dark storeroom all night, dunked my head in a horse’s drinking water, threw food at me, tripped me, let rats loose in my room…”
“I… I already said I was sorry for all that…”
“That’s not the point.”
Iris cut her off.
“My point is—how could someone who did all that just sit there and take it now?”
“Huh…?”
Demeyra raised her head again, and their eyes met in the air.
“Seriously. You came up with all sorts of ways to torment me. Why can’t you do the same to them? Did all your creativity dry up?”
“……”
“Or was I just an easy target?”
Demeyra slowly shook her head in a daze.
Right. Why hadn’t she fought back? What had changed?
In truth, she had never thought of Iris as someone easy to bully.
To Demeyra, Iris was strangely unyielding—so much so that she bullied her because she wouldn’t break.
Demeyra had always been rude, no matter who she dealt with—weak or strong.
From the time she caught snakes in the Fenton estate to scare Bartol…
The only exception was maybe Anthony.
Even when she first entered high society as the ambiguous daughter of a quasi-baron, she talked down to people without a second thought.
“…The reason I’ve just been putting up with it…”
Only now did she realize: the only thing that had changed was her own position and mindset.
“You’re a guest I personally brought here. That alone is enough for you to be here. Breaking a few wine glasses or getting into a scuffle doesn’t mean you’ll be thrown out.”
Iris said firmly.
“And if something happens, deal with it yourself. I don’t plan to babysit you.”
She stared straight at Demeyra and added:
“Besides, you’re not someone who even needs help.”
Demeyra’s eyes widened.
“…Are you… acknowledging me?”
“Yeah. I acknowledge your rotten personality, your persistence, your aggressive nature that doesn’t know boundaries.”
“T-That’s just an insult…”
“That’s your weapon. So stop crying and deal with your problems. If you hate being disrespected, think about how to earn respect.”
“…Okay.”
Demeyra wiped her tears and nodded.
There wasn’t a shred of kindness in Iris’s tone, yet strangely, it felt comforting.
Demeyra took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
She tried to forget her current status and instead recalled the days when she used to bully Iris.
“…Got it.”
In an instant, dozens of mischievous ideas flooded her mind.
Raising her head, she muttered with determination.
Now she knew exactly how to respond.
“Hah, that was a bit refreshing.”
Anthony stretched with both hands behind his head.
“I’ve been holding in what I wanted to say to Demeyra Fenton for a while now. Thought I might need her later, but…”
“Ha, you’re the worst,” Louis laughed, patting Anthony on the back—until he noticed Anthony’s sharp glare and quickly withdrew his hand.
“You getting worked up ‘cause of your little brother? Touchy about the succession issue, huh?”
“Hmph. What power does Nael even have?”
Anthony replied coldly.
“Well, he is the master of the Pegasus, right? Though it was Duke Apellemion who tamed it that day…”
“That was just a woman’s cheap trick. It means nothing.”
Céline cut in, and Anthony shook his head coldly.
“I still thought it was amazing… Though the most mysterious thing remains Lady Serbë’s prophecies.”
Céline glanced at Anthony nervously and changed the subject.
“Well, she’s the empire’s clown now, isn’t she?”
Anthony sneered.
“She got called a fraud by both princes. What’s so mysterious about that?”
“There’s still the rumors about the curse. They haven’t gone away. Even our territory’s been seeing strange monster sightings lately. Supposedly a sign of the evil god’s influence.”
Louis said, his tone suddenly serious.
“I’m planning to keep an eye on her, too.”
Céline narrowed her eyes.
“There’s definitely something off. And our family is pretty intertwined with the Serbë line… Besides, I’m not thrilled that Duke Apellemion is getting all the attention lately.”
“Hmph, same here.”
Anthony smirked. He hadn’t forgotten the humiliation he suffered at the Pegasus exhibition.
“It feels good to have finally gotten back at that handmaid-looking wench—”
Plop—
Anthony suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Flick—
Someone brushed past behind them, quick as lightning, their hands skimming over each of their bodies.
“Huh? What the… huhhhhhhhk!”
“W-What is this… Aaaagh!”
“AHHHHHHH! KYAAAAAA!”
All three screamed as they frantically patted themselves down.
“A spider! There’s a spider in my pants!”
“Aaagh! It’s the size of a fist! It’s a venomous black spider!”
Anthony, pale-faced, jumped around shoving his hands down his pants, while Louis twisted and threw off his shirt mid-air.
Sure enough, each of them had a huge spider clinging to their bodies.
“Kyaaa! My hair! There’s one in my hair!”
Céline screamed and started yanking at her own head as spider legs wriggled across her forehead.
Her perfectly styled hair was ruined in seconds.
“I-It’s killing me! I’m going to die!”
SPLASH—
As the three of them flailed in terror, someone doused them with cold water from above.
“…Such disgraceful behavior from nobles.”
“D-Demeyra?!”
All three of their eyes went wide.
Holding a large jug, Demeyra had dumped cold water over their heads. Then she bent down and calmly picked up the three fallen spiders with her hands.
“Venom? Please. Like there’d be poisonous spiders in the imperial palace? These ones are just big, that’s all. No poison. And once they’re wet, they get sluggish.”
She casually walked to a window and tossed the spiders out.
She silently praised herself for the idea, remembering how the senior maid had her catch spiders every day during stable cleaning…
And how Kyle had once bumped into her and rambled on about the differences between poisonous demon spiders, normal venomous spiders, and harmless black spiders.
“Y-You… You did this on purpose?!”
“Who knows? If you don’t have proof, it’s not my fault.”
She shrugged at Anthony, whose pants were half falling down as he trembled.
“How dare you do this to us?!”
“Mocking nobles?! We’ll have you thrown in jail—”
“Try it, if you can. But we both know you don’t have the power.”
“What…?!”
“When you think about it… The old me, and the current you—aside from birth status, we’re no different. Neither of us had real ability.”
“You little—!”
“Go ahead and try to get revenge. Next time, I’ll put centipedes in your clothes. Then snakes. Then monsters.”
As the disheveled Louis and Céline pointed and shouted, Demeyra simply smiled again.
Their faces went pale, and they fell silent.
“If you want to bully me, go ahead. I’ll pay you back double. If that scares you, then you’d better treat me with respect.”
“……”
“Remember this: I’ve got nothing to lose now. So if anyone pisses me off, I’m going all out.”
She said it with a grin as she looked at their stunned expressions.
A powerful sense of satisfaction surged in Demeyra’s chest.
She wasn’t weak.
She wasn’t useless. At the very least, she could protect herself.
Most importantly, Iris had acknowledged her.
She had said Demeyra could solve her own problems. And that—that made her strong.
I still have my own druthers regarding the situation, but this works
Yup… throw in some lizards too