Chapter 9
“…Unfortunately, I have no intention of doing that. And Andasia—if you want to accuse me of destroying that teddy bear, then at least put down the scissors in your hand before you start lying.”
Andasia was eight years old. Children that age tend to believe their thoughts are the most brilliant in the world. Andasia was no different. She must have thought that if she acted like this, I would tremble and lower my head in apology.
After all, every child she had dealt with so far must have reacted that way.
But unfortunately, I had neither the intention nor the inclination to do so. I had deliberately provoked both Andasia and Ruchel, carefully setting up this entire situation, waiting eagerly for them to cause exactly this kind of scene.
Perhaps that was why—when I calmly pointed at the scissors in her hand instead of panicking—Andasia’s face turned pale.
“W-What are you talking about? What scissors?!”
Startled, Andasia hastily hid the scissors she had been holding. But in her rush, she ended up cutting her own hand.
And right on cue, Ruchel came running in, panting.
“Father! Look at this. See how nasty she is!”
Ah… children really are adorable.
While Andasia destroyed the teddy bear and pressured me, her twin, Ruchel, had gone to summon Marquis Collin. Truly—adorable and dreadful. If I had really been an ignorant child, I might have fallen for something like this.
But I am not a child.
“What is going on?”
“Look! That teddy bear ended up like that! She pretended to be nice in front of you, Father, but look what she did!”
“Hoh… this is… what happened, Ruby?”
“Well, rather than asking me, wouldn’t it be better to hear it from the Marquis’s daughter?”
I pointed toward Andasia, who was still visibly flustered.
“W-What! F-Father! The teddy bear you gave me—th-that orphan trash ruined it. Look!”
As she spoke, Andasia quickly turned her body aside.
The teddy bear was torn in all directions, stuffing spilling out everywhere.
Marquis Collin gave an awkward smile as he looked at me.
“Ruby… did you do this? If you didn’t like it, you could have told me. I would have bought you something else.”
“Father, this isn’t the time for that. Just look at how violent she is—her blood must be filthy. Are you really going to let someone like that stay with us? What if we end up like that next?!”
“Ruchel.”
Before the Marquis could call her name, I spoke first.
“Ruchel.”
“What, you beggar?”
“If you’re going to stir up trouble, you should at least check your allies’ situation first. Don’t act like an idiot.”
“Y-You’re calling me an idiot?!”
“Yes. Honestly… children really are hopeless.”
I shook my head lightly, then turned to Marquis Collin.
“Marquis, it seems the children don’t like me. They did that themselves and are now trying to frame me. If I truly disliked it, I wouldn’t have tried to sew it back together myself.”
And I had no intention of hiding anything.
After all, if I wanted to crush them like bugs, I had to start applying pressure from now. I felt not the slightest bit of guilt. I had no intention of sparing even a shred of emotion for trash like them. If anything, I only hoped that today’s incident would serve as a spark to make them act even more recklessly.
“Father! You’re not actually listening to her, are you?!”
Andasia—who always called him “Father” and pretended to be mature—shouted loudly.
“That is…”
“Father is my father, so you should listen to me. And Ruchel and I both saw it—are you really going to believe her instead?”
“That’s right. I saw it too.”
At that moment, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Ruchel. Andasia. You don’t even realize that your own words are tripping you up. If I really did destroy that, then when exactly did the two of you see me do it? I went straight to my room after having dinner with the Marquis.”
“Well… b-before dinner!”
Ruchel shouted hastily, as if grasping for an excuse.
Andasia trembled, clearly afraid that her wrongdoing might be exposed, before immediately turning to pressure Marquis Collin.
“Father, look at her. She’s trying to frame us no matter what.”
“Andasia.”
“Marquis, do you truly believe that I destroyed it?”
With both Andasia and I speaking at once, Marquis Collin pressed his temples, clearly troubled.
“What matters is not who did it. I’ll just buy another one.”
“Father! That’s not the point. She’s dangerous! We absolutely cannot keep someone like her with us. We might end up like that!”
“Marquis, I don’t need the doll. But she’s making a baseless accusation. Even if they dislike me, shouldn’t there be limits?”
“Father, don’t listen to her. Someone like her—!”
Because she knew I was aware of what she had done, Andasia’s voice wavered, becoming noticeably more timid than Ruchel’s. She grabbed the Marquis’s arm and tried to lead him away.
But I caught her wrist—the very hand she had awkwardly hidden behind her back along with the scissors.
“Take a look. Whose hand is holding the scissors?”
The scissors she hadn’t yet discarded were clearly visible in her grasp.
The Marquis stared at it, his eyes widening in shock.
“Andasia. In your hand… that is…”
“I—I just picked it up because it was lying there!”
But it was obvious to anyone that she was lying.
“Andasia. Did you do this?”
“N-No. It wasn’t me. I just picked up the scissors. Father, are you really going to believe someone like her?”
“….”
At this point, it was impossible for Marquis Collin to continue taking Andasia’s side. It had been unreasonable from the start.
I drove the final nail in.
“Andasia, you may not have known this, but before dinner today, Marquis Collin personally took me to the dining hall. At that time, the teddy bear was perfectly fine. Your lie—no, the lie of you twins—was flawed from the very beginning.”
“….”
“If anything, you should have brought more people to support your story. At least then you could have forced the accusation to stick.”
This was bait—not just for today, but for the future. Having been cornered like this once, Andasia would come better prepared next time.
“…No. It wasn’t me… It was that ill-tempered orphan trash. Someone of noble blood like me would never do such a thing.”
“So noble blood acts this childish, I see. Well, it’s fine. I can overlook this much—it’s just children playing around. Some people are simply born with rotten personalities.”
The Marquis said nothing. In his eyes, there was even a hint of resentment toward his own daughter. No matter how much he cherished his children, Marquis Collin ultimately valued himself more.
And those very children had just dragged his reputation through the mud.
“I’m sorry, Ruby. I never imagined they would behave like this. Let me apologize on their behalf.”
At last, the Marquis spoke.
That apology wasn’t for my sake. It was a preemptive move—so that when I reported to the temple at the end of the month, I wouldn’t bring this incident up.
And he didn’t stop there. Leaning slightly forward, he added what was essentially a veiled threat under the guise of concern.
“But Ruby… I would be worried if something like this were reported to the temple and your life here came to an end. Didn’t you say you liked it here? That you were happy to finally have a family?”
“Don’t worry. I understand. Children are like that. I don’t plan to say anything. It was just a one-time mistake.”
“How kind of you.”
Marquis Collin sighed in relief and gently patted my head. Seeing that, Andasia’s expression twisted further with frustration. Ruchel, only now grasping the situation, quietly edged closer to Andasia.
“Andasia. Ruchel. We will discuss this matter properly later. I never imagined my daughters would do something so foolish.”
