Chapter 62
“Miss! Oh no, what should we do? Your feet are a mess!”
Lize panicked, rushing to apply some herbal extract she had found in a corner of the toilette room.
“Thank goodness! There’s some here! I’ll put it on your wounds right away!”
But I stepped back two paces to avoid her hand and quickly grabbed her wrist.
“No, Lize. Don’t use that medicine.”
I whispered as quietly as I could.
“Why are you lowering your voice?”
Though confused, Lize automatically dropped her tone to match mine.
“Shh. The one who put tacks in my shoes is eavesdropping just outside the door.”
I pressed a finger to my lips.
Lize still looked puzzled.
But a moment later, the skin on the tip of the finger that had touched the extract peeled and began to swell. Lize gasped in shock.
“Who would dare… to do something like this to you, Miss…?”
Though furious, she did not raise her voice.
“Who else but Courtney,” I said flatly. Such insidious tricks could only be hers.
It had surely been her who had secretly stuck a pin in my chemise last time. And when we were children, wasn’t she the one who ground Clonia fruit into my tea and food—just to watch me wheeze and choke on my allergy?
“Lize, are you good at acting?”
When I smiled at her, she nodded firmly, then deliberately raised her voice.
“Kyaaah! Miss! This wasn’t medicine after all! Your wound—it’s swelling terribly! What should we do!”
“…”
“Your feet are ruined… Oh heavens! It’s festering already!”
She doesn’t need to go that far…
Hearing her sobbing and wailing so naturally, I was honestly a little overwhelmed.
She’s better than me… Lize is a genius.
“Miss, you must sit down. Don’t move! There’s so much foul fluid—please wait, I’ll fetch the physician at once!”
At her words, the faint presence outside the toilette door vanished. Courtney had likely run off to the housekeeper’s office.
For her, the pleasure came from tormenting me without being caught. Exposing herself would ruin her fun.
Lize soon returned, this time carrying real herbal extract and bandages.
“I brought what I keep as an emergency supply. The household physician might be in on it too.”
“Well done, Lize.”
“That wretched woman. Should I just drag her in by the collar?”
It would be satisfying, but it would only create trouble. I shook my head.
“There’s no evidence. Catching her won’t do us any good.”
Courtney never left proof. She tormented me only up to the point where she wouldn’t incur Fernand’s anger. The fact that she targeted only the soles of my feet proved it.
Painful, but leaving little trace. If Fernand couldn’t see it, I had no power to punish her.
The ending was always the same. Lize, more upset than I was, carefully applied the true medicine to my foot and wrapped it in clean bandages.
“What a shame about the shoes, though. Madame Sara must have put a lot of effort into making them.”
The tacks had been fixed inside with some kind of sticky plant resin.
And I had bled so much that the white shoes were stained red. They would never be wearable again.
“Don’t worry, Miss. If it’s Mother, she could make the same pair in three days. The real problem is that you hurt your foot right before the ball.”
Lize pressed her lips tightly together in anger.
“Your foot is ruined, yet we can’t even punish Courtney.”
“Lize, it’s not that there’s no way at all to punish her.”
Her eyes lit up instantly.
“But to bring Courtney down at the ball, I’ll need your help. You’ll be very busy. Can you handle it?”
“Of course! If it means we can punish her, I’ll endure anything.”
The punishment I had in mind was harsher than what Lize imagined.
I smiled at her. Now that I had confirmed her acting talent, I had nothing to worry about.
The day of the ball arrived.
From head to toe adorned in finery, the Countess strode proudly toward the front gates of the estate.
“You’re here, Mother.”
Already waiting inside the carriage, I rose and lifted my skirt slightly in greeting.
The Countess frowned the moment she saw me.
Is that loungewear? Or is that supposed to be a ball gown?
Far too plain. To her eyes, it didn’t look noble in the least.
“Heavens, what kind of appearance is this? How rustic.”
Her tone was scolding, tinged with arrogance.
“These days, even debutantes don’t wear pure white gowns. Yet you—such a blatant white? Are you trying to boast of your poor taste?”
And yet, her gaze was caught for a moment by the thin blue ribbon tied just beneath my bustline.
That single ribbon gave the silhouette an oddly graceful allure. Still, in her eyes, it was nothing more than a pretty nightgown.
“Clicking my heels beside you like this will only ruin my dignity.”
But the greatest offense was that a mere puppet like me had dared to choose a dress on my own.
Without Fernand’s permission, how insolent.
Normally, she would have shrieked and shouted. But with lower servants nearby, she restrained herself.
“Go upstairs and change. Wear the pale yellow gown Fernand once liked.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Mother.”
Her face stiffened.
She had thought my arrogance had been beaten out of me after being thrown into the dungeon. But seeing me resist now only dragged that nightmare back to the surface.
“I injured my foot rather badly.”
I lifted my skirt slightly to show the bandages wrapped around my foot.
The Countess’s face flushed with rage.
“Have you lost your mind? Did you just refuse my order?”
“Mother.”
“I don’t care if your foot is hurt or shattered! How dare you defy me—”
But as she screamed, she caught sight of the coachman’s startled face. He looked at her as though seeing a stranger.
Not just him—other maids and servants who had come to see us off were wearing the same unfamiliar expression.
“…”
Few in the household had ever seen the Countess shout at me.
She swallowed hard and forced the corners of her mouth upward.
“Society favors extravagance these days. If you look this plain, people will laugh at you.”
Her voice turned unnaturally sweet.
“You agree, don’t you? Don’t worry about your foot, I’ll support you. Come now, let’s go upstairs together and change.”
She extended her arm to me, planning to correct her insolent doll in the toilette room.
But just then, as I slipped my arm into hers, a servant came running through the side gate.
“Madam! The master and young master are nearly here. They’ve sent word to prepare dinner at once!”
…What?
“They weren’t supposed to arrive for at least two more days!”
