Chapter 19
The nanny stared at me and the pendant, her face showing she couldn’t believe what she was seeing or hearing. When I thrust the pendant right up to her face as if to prove my point, her breath caught instantly.
“M–me…? Did Duke Meterio really give this to you, Milady?”
“If you want, you can check right now.”
“That… that can’t be…”
“When I mentioned yesterday’s rudeness, he gave it to me without a word.”
Watching her expression crumble in despair gave me a slight sense of relief—just enough to ease my irritation a little, but not nearly enough to clear it completely.
“And yet you chased me out of Vallienor! How could Milady do this to me? After all I’ve done raising you…!”
“Raising me? You spent your time neglecting and discriminating against me. I still can’t forget the cold look you gave me when I left for the annex.”
The nanny, pale-faced, turned her accusations toward Davina.
“Lady Davina, is what Miss Ariel said true? Are you just going to stand there and watch me get thrown out?”
Davina’s soft hand lightly grabbed my pinky. It was a plea for help.
“Are you trying to make me into a liar now, after doing the same to Davina?”
“You’re the liar, nanny! I hate you!!”
A sharp, high-pitched voice cut through the air. The room filled with tense silence.
The nanny’s face collapsed even more as her eyes fixed on Davina’s silver hair.
“Milady… are you siding with Miss Ariel over me, someone who has been with you all your life?”
“Yes! Sister said I’m precious even outside Vallienor. But you always told me I was useless!”
Davina took a deep breath, then shouted her final, prepared line with all her might:
“I–I don’t need a nanny like you either!!”
“Ah, Milady… how could you say such a thing…”
The baroness’s voice shrank, a shadow of the pride she had displayed yesterday.
“I won’t listen to your excuses. If you’re so wronged, take it to the Duke. My father will decide what’s right and wrong.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
A voice cold enough to freeze lava rang out. My father—the ultimate villain—burst into the room.
From his massive frame radiated a deadly aura.
If I had told him earlier that the nanny had tried to poison me, her head would have been separated from her body long ago.
“Father!”
I bit the inside of my cheek, letting my eyes glisten. A climax always needed a little extra dramatic seasoning.
While I greeted the Duke warmly, Davina trembled behind me. Understandable—if I hadn’t known his true nature, I might have been plotting my escape too.
The nanny crumpled to her knees as if faced with a mother bear defending her cub.
Her trembling body and fear-clouded eyes showed she’d already lost the ability to think clearly.
I glanced at Mikhail, who entered behind my father. His aura was almost as menacing, but it softened the moment our eyes met.
“I won’t listen to excuses. Let’s finish this quickly,” the Duke said, cracking his fingers as he approached the nanny.
She couldn’t even scream for mercy—just shook and drooled, terrified.
Seeing that he might actually separate her head from her body right now, I quickly raised my hand to stop him.
“Father! Don’t kill her! I want to give the nanny a chance to repent. She’s served Vallienor for a long time—shouldn’t we give her at least one chance to rehabilitate?”
Of course, this saintly act was fake. If she died now, there’d be no point to the performance I had staged. Better to keep her alive and let her contact her backers.
“Do you mean that?”
“Yes, Father. Give her the chance to serve Vallienor again. At the very least, handing her over to Mikhail for experiments would be more useful than simply killing her.”
At my villainess-like suggestion, both men smiled in satisfaction.
“Milady, I happen to have a poison I’m testing,” Mikhail said.
“Of course. I figured as much.”
As we exchanged words, Davina hurried to say the line she had forgotten.
“F–Father! Don’t kill her! Let her keep her life!”
Faced with pleas from both daughters—the one who looked like his late wife and the one who resembled himself—the Duke’s expression soured. Refusing them would be difficult.
“Fine. From today, Ariel, you are the mistress of Vallienor. I’ll leave the baroness’s punishment to you.”
“Thank you, Father. First, I’ll strip Baroness Caitlin of her title and demote her to a lowly maid, giving her the dirtiest tasks—cleaning toilets, septic tanks, horse manure, and so on. And also…”
“Also?”
The Duke stared at the nanny with eyes full of menace, clearly unsatisfied with my sentence.
“Baroness, Davina and I will hear your apology. If you’re still capable of speaking.”
At my words, the baroness’s jaw quivered as she struggled to force the words out.
“…L–Lady… I–I’m sorry… hic… for overstepping… and… being rude to you both… Th–thank you… for sparing my life…”
It was a bare-minimum, formulaic apology—unsatisfying, but the best she could manage.
“Davina, are you okay?”
“Mm… yeah, whatever.”
Davina looked down at the nanny coldly, then turned away. But my father, unlike us, was far from satisfied.
“Your tongue is truly useless,” he said coldly.
Before anyone could stop him, something grotesque happened that would never appear in a wholesome story—something was ripped out from the nanny’s mouth.
Children shouldn’t see this…!
I instinctively covered Davina’s eyes, but it was too late for me—I had already seen it and let out a squeaky scream.
“Hiccup!”
Startled, the Duke asked,
“Ariel, was it too frightening? I showed you something you shouldn’t see.”
I steadied myself and replied mechanically,
“…No. I’m a Vallienor too. You’re amazing, Father.”
“…Really?”
My praise made him smile shyly—an insane sight, given what he’d just done.
“Mikhail, you’re there, right?”
“Yes, Milady.”
“Do something about her quickly.”
We had to keep her alive, after all.
After emergency treatment, the baroness was dragged away by the Duke and Mikhail. I didn’t ask where—they wouldn’t be taking her anywhere pleasant.
Davina and I returned to our room and had a very late lunch, both of us eating ravenously.
“Good job. Your acting was great earlier.”
“Really? You looked really pretty too.”
“…The acting?”
“…You’re pretty.”
So that’s it. I was just a pretty face. My method acting had gone unappreciated.
After clearing our plates, we naturally decided on a nap. The cat lay unmoving in the same spot like part of the furniture.
“Sister, when will Liri wake up?”
“Not sure. Feels like it should be soon. Let’s just sleep for now.”
“Mm. I’m so tired.”
Warm sunlight blurred my vision. Through my fading sight, I thought I saw a black shape move. I opened my eyes wide in surprise, but Liri was still in the same place, breathing faintly.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Milady, may I come in?”
“Come in.”
I ran barefoot to greet Mikhail, happy to see him. I had many questions and things to discuss.
But when I saw the stack of documents in his hands, my feet automatically stepped back.
Like a soulless office assistant, he had prepared work for the new mistress.
A chill ran down my spine, and a strange sense of betrayal boiled in my chest.
“…What’s this?”
“These are documents the mistress must handle.”
“You don’t mean I have to start today, do you?”
I had just finished dealing with a villain, and now he expected me to take on household duties?
“Just start with one at a time, as much as you can.”
“What hours?”
“From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lunch is one hour, with a thirty-minute afternoon break. Since today is already late, we’ll just do a bit of work and some basic study.”
…So he had imported the capitalist work schedule in full.
Sighing, I opened the top document—a sealed invitation bearing a family crest, just like in romance novels.
“To congratulate Lady Ariel on her recovery… invited to tea… Do I have to personally send rejection letters for all of these?”
“You are correct, Milady.”
At his instant reply, my chest tightened.
