Chapter 67 …
“Just what do you think I am? You little brat!”
I wanted to snap that out, but quarrels were too bothersome, so I just frowned and turned my back sharply.
Camilla and Lissian quickly followed my side.
I took one hand of each and walked ahead.
Holding Lissian’s hand was a habit… but with Camilla, somehow it made me feel reassured.
“Please, don’t go wild again…!”
If the same situation happened again, I might have to use my training skill on her.
After a while, we arrived in front of the house. As soon as I opened the door, the spirit waiting inside ran out.
“Master! Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? Master told me to guard the house, so Nini held on and waited…! Waaah~!”
“Uh, yeah.”
I comforted the crying spirit roughly and went inside. Even if Ninabel had intervened like earlier, it wouldn’t have helped much.
I tried to have Camilla sit on the sofa first, but she refused, saying she would stand.
She looked much calmer now, which brought relief. She didn’t seem likely to go berserk again.
“So much for the guild’s tank… more like a berserker…”
I shivered as I glimpsed the axe blade gleaming blue over her shoulder.
Turning around, I saw Raul and Michelle standing awkwardly in the narrow entrance, hesitating.
Michelle still looked slightly dazed, and Raul had an expression as if he were dreaming some mysterious dream.
“Lady Michelle, come sit over here.”
I tapped a stool and spoke. Michelle walked over blankly and slumped down weakly.
Clearly, she wasn’t in her right mind.
It was probably best not to provoke Camilla and Michelle’s past here.
“Fighting in my house is absolutely not allowed…”
Hoping they would sort things out later, I took an advanced potion from my inventory and sprinkled it on Michelle’s wounds little by little.
They weren’t deep, but there were over thirty of them. Camilla had carved human skin with her axe. It was utterly horrifying.
“All done.”
“…Th-thank you.”
Michelle finally lowered her head, seemingly coming back to her senses.
At least she had more decency than Raul. She genuinely looked grateful to me.
Michelle quickly got up and stood close to Raul, trying not to even glance at Camilla’s side.
I couldn’t tell if it was out of fear or for some other reason.
Meanwhile, Raul’s gaze was fixed on Ninabel floating idly in midair.
Frowning slightly, he pointed at the droplets and asked,
“Is that… a spirit?”
“Yes, it’s a spirit contracted with me.”
“You contracted it with you?”
“Why, are you surprised that a villain like Muriel Terni has the power of purification and even contracts with a spirit?”
“……”
Raul parted his lips silently, letting out a long sigh. He ran a hand down his face, his expression complicated.
I sat on the sofa and gestured to the seat across from him.
Now, it was time for the main matter.
I took the divorce agreement I had temporarily stored in my inventory and placed it on the table.
Then I spoke calmly.
“As I said, all you have to do is sign. No strange clauses, so don’t worry.”
I gestured for him to examine it.
Raul glanced at me reluctantly and picked up the divorce agreement.
As he read the few sheets, his expression slowly hardened.
He murmured in disbelief, not taking his eyes off the paper.
“Are you really going to split the assets like this?”
I lifted my chin and crossed my legs, responding coldly.
“The jewels from the Terni family? I don’t care. You can keep or sell them as you like. What I want is a complete separation from you. That’s all.”
“……”
Raul put down the divorce agreement and stared at me with eyes full of confusion.
He seemed to ponder something silently, then spoke again.
“If you want a divorce, the blame lies with you. I will make the Terni family responsible if possible.”
“Making the Terni family responsible? I like that.”
I clapped lightly and smiled.
Raul frowned slightly, seemingly flustered by my reaction.
‘Did he think I would be angry if he blamed the Terni family?’
Now was the perfect time to shatter his misconception.
Whether he believed me or not didn’t matter anymore.
‘I don’t need your trust anymore.’
Even the day before I returned to the farm, I dreamt of Muriel.
In the dream, “I” desperately tried to earn Raul’s sympathy.
No matter how many times he ignored me, I clung again and again…
Endlessly suspected, slandered, and hurt.
But now, I didn’t have to do that anymore.
I knew how foolish it was to cry for someone who distorts your image.
The world was bigger than I thought, and there were plenty of people who could look at me without prejudice and stand by my side.
‘If only I had realized that sooner…’
‘I’ wouldn’t have died either.
“Complain as much as you want. I’m curious how the Terni family will react.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you understand? I’m completely separate from the Terni family.”
Raul’s eyes widened at that.
He slowly furrowed his brows, suspicious that I might have a hidden agenda.
Sorry, but there isn’t one.
I smiled and drove the point home.
“Do you still not get it? When did the Terni family ever care about me?!”
Then I burst into laughter, loud enough for him to hear.
It was either joyful to the point of madness or ridiculously funny.
I must have looked completely insane to him.
Raul’s pupils reflected even deeper confusion.
I continued in a voice with laughter in it.
“Now you’re curious. When I tried so hard to make you understand, you didn’t even listen.”
“Are… you insane? What nonsense are you saying…?”
Ah, poor Raul Winterberg.
If he realized he had been taking out his frustration on the wrong person all this time, how devastating it would be to someone so obsessively moral.
I looked him in the eyes and spoke calmly.
“Once, there was an orphan named Muriel.”
“…An orphan?”
“Yes. She had no one to rely on and scraped by doing menial work at the Terni dukedom.”
Did Raul sense some ominous sign from the story?
His eyelashes trembled slightly.
“One day, the Duke noticed her. She couldn’t do much, but even at a young age, she was beautiful.”
“……”
“The Duke cherished his daughter Juliette and didn’t want to use her as a pawn in arranged marriages. But he needed at least one child to exploit and sell for the family’s gain.”
“……”
“Here’s a secret: at that time, the Duke had a sexual dysfunction.”
I leaned forward slightly and whispered. Raul flinched.
The room was silent; only my calm voice echoed softly.
“So the Duke thought: if I can’t have children, I’ll adopt this girl and raise her as my own.”
“……”
“So she could be used instead of Juliette, as needed.”
Treating children like pawns was common in aristocratic society.
The Duke was unusual in that he genuinely loved his children.
Even if he treated his adopted daughter, me, as a tool.
“A famous astrologer visiting the Terni domain advised the Duke that to revitalize the family, he should take in an adopted daughter to bear the family’s misfortune.”
“……”
“Warning that the sins accumulated from previous generations would bring a great calamity soon.”
I don’t remember the astrologer’s name, but he seemed highly respected among the nobility.
The Duke believed him and adopted me as planned.
“Because I was born sickly, I was disguised as the cherished daughter the Duke raised in secret. After that… well…”
I trailed off, summarizing various incidents.
How I was treated in the Terni family, what the eldest son Kabil and his sister Juliette did to me.
Though faded, scars still remained.
I lifted the hem of my blouse from under my skirt to reveal them suddenly.
Raul and Michelle flinched, Camilla remained expressionless, and Lissian…
“….”
He didn’t need to make that face.
He had seen the faint scar on my side before.
He never asked what it was or how I got it.
I reached out and grabbed his hand firmly, one hand still holding up my blouse to show the ribs underneath.
Raul’s gaze remained fixed on the scar on my abdomen. I spoke to him calmly.
“It’s from an arrow that pierced me.”
