Chapter 29………………………………………………
With Terrence on my left and Laura on my right, I stormed straight into my quarters without hesitation.
“Miss, just a moment…!”
The head maid, as if she still had something to say, trailed after us like a shadow.
“Ugh, damn…”
I almost swore out loud the moment I saw the room again.
I thought there’d be one or two at most!
Red eyes stared at me from every direction. One, two, three, four…
There were eight portraits of Liena hanging in my room.
Eight!
As if it wasn’t enough to be forced to see Liena’s face endlessly while living in House Cassius, now I had to see her even inside my own room. Just imagining it made my stomach hurt.
Truthfully, this wasn’t even the first time they’d caused trouble with portraits. Liena’s followers were like fanatical worshippers, desperate to spread their love for her like a contagious religion.
I’d suffered through it plenty over the past two years. At first, I didn’t mind much—Liena was the heroine of a novel I liked.
But…
There’s a limit.
The novel had only shown a tiny slice of reality, and I surrendered in less than a month.
Even though I’d gained good evidence earlier, what the head maid said in the grand hall just now was not something I could shrug off.
And remembering how the servants had practically forced me to admire these portraits and say only nice things…
My chest burned.
Behind the head maid, three maids finally peeked out hesitantly.
They were the ones I’d intended to punish over this portrait problem. They looked terrified I might lose control and slap the head maid.
As if.
I knew a method far more effective than that.
“There certainly are a lot of portraits. Are they all gifts for me?”
The head maid answered,
“Yes. They are recent works by promising young painters supported by House Cassius.”
“Since they were given as gifts, they are mine. I may not be the mistress of this house, but surely I have the right to handle my own belongings as I wish?”
“…Yes, well. If you were displeased, I will remove them at once.”
“I see. Then take them all down and place them on the floor.”
At my unusually commanding tone, the maids slowly began removing the portraits from the walls.
Eight Lienas piled up in the center of the room—her childhood, her adolescence, her current adult beauty.
My next order was painfully simple.
“Break them.”
The head maid and the maids stared, unable to comprehend.
“Miss…?”
“What did you just—?”
BANG!
A ruthless kick landed squarely on Liena’s face in the painting, shattering the frame and canvas in one blow.
“Like this?” Terrence asked with a smile, carrying out my command before the words had even settled.
“AAAAAH!”
The head maid’s scream echoed through the room.
She lunged forward wildly to shove Terrence away, but he didn’t budge. Instead, she turned toward me, furious.
“How dare you—”
“Silence!”
In moments like this, you had to seize the initiative. I roared back even louder, switching my tone entirely.
“Do you truly not understand the unforgivable sin you’ve committed?!”
Being accused instead of accusing left the head maid momentarily shaken.
“…What sin?”
“Not only did you commission such blasphemous portraits, you dared hang them in my room! You and these paintings deserve to lose your heads where you stand!”
The maids helping her froze in terror at being included.
“Still you don’t understand? Look carefully at those deceitful images! Tell me—between the woman in the painting and the real Lady Liena… which is more beautiful?”
The head maid hesitated, but answered like a devoted follower.
“Of course the real lady. A portrait can never match her true beauty.”
“Exactly. These are nothing but crude imitations—a fake attempting to mimic her. And they weren’t even painted from life.”
Liena hadn’t visited Cassius recently. And even if she had, she wouldn’t waste her short vacation modeling for amateur painters.
“It’s obvious. They copied other portraits, or relied on memory. A fake imitating a fake… a blasphemous object born from incomplete recollection!”
At that moment, one maid gathered courage.
“Is it really blasphemous? Paintings are usually—”
“Silence!”
Opposition had to be crushed at the bud.
I launched into an impassioned tirade, my voice sharper than even I expected.
It wasn’t difficult.
The frustration and loneliness Liandro had forced on me… the years of being ignored among these mad people…
And above all—
The feeling I had when I heard Laura’s story… beaten and driven out for such a ridiculous reason, simply because her master had no power.
That became the source of the fierce anger pouring out of me now.
“How dare you say ‘that’s just how it is’ when it concerns Lady Liena? Must she be treated like ordinary people? Is she the same as everyone else?!”
“N-no…”
“Then tell me. Why should I overlook you hanging these damned things in my room? Why shouldn’t I destroy them? Speak! Speak!”
“I… I…”
“I’m giving you a chance—why can’t you answer?!”
The maid, overwhelmed, began to sob.
“Sniff… I’m sorry, Miss. I spoke out of turn. Please forgive me.”
I exhaled slowly, then moved to the next strategic step.
After the whip comes the carrot.
“Truthfully, I wish to gather every impure painting in this estate and burn them all. But though misguided, I understand this is your way of serving Lady Liena… so I shall show mercy.”
“…Ah… thank you?”
Half-dazed by my dazzling nonsense, they bowed politely.
Then, like a priest delivering divine judgment, I declared solemnly:
“This is rightful punishment. At the very least, those that have entered my possession must all be destroyed.”
Terrence’s merciless kicking resumed.
Liena’s followers stared blankly.
It seemed my plan was working.
An eye for an eye. Fanaticism must be answered with fanatic logic.
Unexpectedly, Laura stepped forward too.
Trembling, she grabbed one portrait and smashed it against the corner of the desk.
“I… I suffered because of this!”
…She must have had a lot bottled up.
After all, she’d been beaten for taking the blame when a portrait was damaged during a struggle.
“NOOOOO!”
Only now did the head maid come to her senses. She wailed and dropped to her knees before me.
“Miss, please stop them!”
“Head maid… do you even understand what you’re saying?”
I narrowed my eyes.
“You, a mere servant, dared plaster my room with these wicked images. When I rejected your ‘gift’ before, did you find my refusal amusing?”
Honestly, this was the first time I’d ever seen her this submissive.
It felt… good.
I leaned into my fanatic act with enthusiasm.
The head maid rubbed her hands together desperately.
“I understand now. How great my sin truly was…”
What else could she do?
I was breaking my own property—she had no authority to stop me.
And she certainly wasn’t eloquent enough to counter my absurd logic.
“I repent completely. For asking the painters to make them… and for ordering them placed in your room…”
The three maids followed her lead, kneeling as well.
“We’re sorry!”
“Please forgive us!”
Tears spilled from the head maid’s eyes.
“However… even if these portraits fail to capture her true grace, and may even be sacrilegious objects…”
“….”
“To my unworthy eyes… they are still beautiful. I cannot bear to watch a likeness of her be shattered…”
Terrence and Laura had stopped, watching.
“Please, just once, show mercy! Punish me instead! Not with a switch—beat me with a club if you must!”
“That won’t do. I’m not the mistress of this house, so I have no right to punish you.”
Despair filled her eyes.
She had trapped herself in her own words.
She bowed even lower, pressing her forehead to the floor.
“That was arrogant of me. I have acted insolently toward you for far too long. No apology could ever be enough. You may punish this impudent servant however you wish—yes, you may!”
“Hmm. If someone so close to Lady Liena behaves like this, what does that make me?”
“No, no… I’m nothing but a servant. I will remain like this until your anger eases even slightly.”
At this point, I considered stopping.
No matter how much resentment I held, seeing her sob like this softened me.
Besides, compared to the Cassius family themselves, she was minor.
But even if I was going to forgive…
“There is someone else you should apologize to. Someone who deserves a more sincere apology than I do.”
The head maid lifted her head slightly.
I nodded toward Laura.
“Laura was beaten and driven out unjustly simply for doing her duty. If she cannot forgive you, neither can I.”
“…I truly am sorry, Laura.”
The head maid apologized, and Laura, calmer now, listened quietly.
I left them to it and leaned toward Terrence, whispering:
“I acted kind of weird earlier, didn’t I?”
“I never realized you loved Lady Liena so much, my lady.”
“N-no! It was acting!”
“I know.”
“…Is teasing me that fun?”
“Yes. A little.”
“A little?”
“Quite a lot.”
This man…
He admitted it with a smile, so I couldn’t even argue.
Well, whatever.
If the dangerous mischief of a villain in the novel could be released in a healthier way…
That wasn’t so bad.
