RAMHM Chapter 22

Why Aren't You Kneeling?

The Grand Ducal Estate's dining room was silent enough to hear a pin drop. The servants uniformly hung their heads low while holding pitchers of water, wine bottles, water glasses, napkins—their heads drooping even lower than their supporting hands. A murderous atmosphere.

"That hand—won't you tell me what happened?"

"I just...... hurt it a little while arranging flowers."

I had touched flowers, after all. With those flowers, I'd beaten the walls of the count's estate all over. Thinking it was you, Novian. I swallowed the last words with the water in my crystal glass. He narrowed his brow suspiciously, then gave up and gestured toward the prepared dishes.

"I don't even know what you like, and since you came earlier than expected, I ordered them to prepare everything..."

Despite being accomplices who'd conspired to kill his own wife, had they never shared a single dinner? He wasn't even surprised I'd arranged flowers, didn't know what I liked. The maids at the count's estate would have checked my forehead the moment I said I'd arranged flowers.

Instead of answering, I pretended to survey the table while actually examining the necks of the maids standing around. As expected, not one maid wore a necklace.

"It looks delicious, thank you."

This time I smiled as if genuinely pleased. I saw cracks appear, however faintly, in Novian's composed face.

"......Eat."

He said it in a rough voice but didn't eat anything himself. I sliced the enormous cut of meat before me into tiny pieces. Nothing was going down my throat either, so I had to at least make a show of doing something. While doing so, I scrutinized even the maids near Novian—something seemed off. The Grand Ducal Estate's presumptuous servants had all feared Novian to some degree, but not like this. Moreover...

Those are dark bruises.

Maids and servants alike—glimpses of wrists and napes showed livid bruises. Some even limped. Some turned pale the moment our eyes met and bowed their heads deeply.

Clang.

When I noisily set down my fork, attention focused.

"The atmosphere is really unpleasant."

"Is it?"

Neither denying nor confirming my words, he turned his head toward butler Gaspar. The man who'd been fidgeting anxiously by the entrance went to a turntable in the corner and started the music. Grand, magnificent music. Romantic, sweet music. As he cycled through songs, when appropriately calm music played, Novian nodded. Not toward Gaspar—toward me. A gesture suggesting I might now feel like putting something in my mouth. As if.

How could food go down my throat looking at your face?

But I nodded as if satisfied and resumed the charade of slicing and pretending to eat meat. Eventually, a meal where no one was sated continued to its end.

While being escorted elsewhere after the meal, I realized the unpleasant atmosphere wasn't limited to the dining room servants.

Is it because of that day?

My jewelry that I'd retrieved. Had they all been beaten when the culprit couldn't be found? Stealing an aristocrat's private property could result in punishment up to having one's wrist severed.

In this Grand Ducal Estate, neither I nor Novian had ever ordered beatings or such punishments. In my case, I hadn't even known such theft occurred in the estate, and even if I'd known, the butler wouldn't have properly obeyed my orders anyway.

Novian, too, hadn't known about affairs within the estate. Perhaps during his time staying at the estate, he'd seen the true nature of these Grand Ducal demons.

If so, it made sense. There were certainly servants who deserved severe punishment. For example...... that butler Gaspar with his eyes that looked dipped in oil and extracted, smiling slyly at the slightest opening.

I whipped my head away. Fortunately or unfortunately, no one had lost a wrist, but most seemed to have suffered harsh beatings—flinching whenever butler Gaspar passed or Novian's gaze touched them. Among them was Annie. The maid with faded wheat-colored hair who'd tormented me most closely for two years.

Already half out of my mind since yesterday, I smiled brazenly at those who trembled while stealing glances at me. Bliea's flamboyant appearance and sparkling white teeth were truly useful at times like this. When my eyes met Annie's murky purple ones, she trembled violently.

Ah...

I'd thought facing Annie would terrify me more than being surrounded by maids before, but—

She's nothing.

Looking down at her trembling in her healthy body, she seemed trivial and pathetic beyond measure. Had I truly cowered before such a shabby maid? Watching Annie shake with what might be rage or fear, I realized this was exactly what I'd wanted to see.

I'm not Adrienne anymore.

Bliea is allowed to be pleased by such things. She's allowed to cast aside the lofty dignity of nobility. And I didn't find them pitiable in the slightest. In this estate, the most pitiable thing was me.

"What's wrong?"

"Just a moment."

I'd been silently following where Novian led up the stairs when I suddenly stopped. My blood suddenly boiled. A desire to discharge somewhere—right now—the power and rage overflowing through my body. I released Novian's hand and walked toward Annie, whom we'd just passed.

"You there."

Annie, who'd kept stealing glances at me, squeezed her clasped hands tightly and quietly raised her head.

"!"

"You know me, don't you?"

"What's wrong?"

"Answer her."

Novian stood beside me, greatly flustered by my unexpected action. I looked down at Annie, fanning myself leisurely. Annie's lips only twitched, unsure whether to say she knew me or not.

Even if other maids didn't recognize this face, Annie not recognizing it made no sense. Novian pressed close to my body and discreetly pulled my arm. I looked at him somewhat irritably. That look seemed to provoke him—I saw him flinch.

"What do you think is the reason your master personally summoned me, the wife of his vassal, to this estate?"

"!"

Several nearby servants gasped and looked up at me. Though officially invited, anyone with sense would know Novian and I had an ambiguous relationship, that I was a noblewoman resembling Grand Duchess Adrienne. The loose tongues of the Grand Ducal Estate's servants, who knew neither up nor down, would be especially light compared to others.

In the past, I wouldn't have said such things for Novian's dignity, but the current me could say anything. With this healthy body, competitive spirit rose that I could win against anyone in a fight.

"You know neither up nor down—or did you go deaf as well?"

I pushed Annie's forehead firmly with my sharply folded fan. Thunk. Staggering Annie barely caught her balance and stood straight. Her eyes trembled with confusion and rage. Her face quivered as if convulsing, looking disbelieving.

"Madam."

Novian spoke as if to stop me, but his words didn't reach my shallowly excited ears. I only said this:

"This girl. At the Grand Duchess's memorial banquet, she dared to be rude to the mistress of the Acacia house, a loyal vassal of the Grand Ducal family."

"That's not true. It's not! I! Your Grace! Please believe me! I first saw this madam in the Grand Duchess's bedroom that day!"

"......Many eyes are watching, so first......"

"I also suffered such humiliation where many eyes watched."

Grand Duchess Adrienne kept her mouth shut for dignity's sake, endured the torment. Inside the Grand Ducal Estate, as long as whatever happened didn't leak outside, it didn't matter. If they were servants I couldn't change by my own will anyway...... Back when I could do nothing alone, being hated by the people my body had to depend on was terror itself.

"You invited me to this estate as an apology, thank you."

"Countess."

"But I've never received an apology from anyone. Surely the Grand Duke, an Imperial, couldn't apologize on behalf of a mere maid. I only need an insignificant apology from an insignificant girl—that's sufficient."

"......"

Novian looked troubled but seemed to have expected this to some degree, keeping his mouth firmly shut. Indeed, Bliea Acacia clearly hadn't been an easygoing woman.

"For a man to intrude on women's conversation... that's against the rules, isn't it, Your Grace?"

"......Report to the butler when finished."

"Yes, Your Grace."

Novian yielded the space as if resigned. In an instant, only butler Gaspar, me, Annie, and a few maids remained on the second-floor stairs. Annie trembled violently, tears falling. Her face flushed bright red with an expression of maddening injustice.

"His, His Grace is an upright person, so no matter how you tempt him with such lies, he'll never fall for it."

The content she ground out between her teeth was absurd. I widened my eyes and covered my mouth with my hand, laughing.

"Oh my, I see. So that's why he left you so uprightly in my hands and pretended not to know."

"I don't, I don't believe it. That Madam is His Grace's mistress or hidden lover... such ridiculous..."

Clenching her fists, tears dripping, her wretched appearance was exactly that of a betrayed legitimate wife.

"Here's another fool just like Grand Duchess Adrienne."

I spoke coldly without hesitation. Annie's face, crying miserably while absurdly saying she didn't believe in Novian's infidelity! Could there be a more disgusting sight than this?

"Madam...!"

Gaspar, who'd been watching, took a sudden step forward with a horrified expression.

"What is it?"

"How could you say such things within the noble Grand Ducal Estate...!"

How can these Grand Ducal Estate servants be so ignorant of their place? I twitched my eyebrow and sneered at him.

"What are you to interfere? Even the Grand Duke understood my words that it's against the rules for a man to intrude on women's conversation. Fool."

Gaspar, whose face was always oily, widened his eyes in shock and gaped like a fat carp. Nearby servants stood with ambiguous expressions—pleased yet fearful—covering their mouths with both hands, eyes round.

"Madam, insulting me is insulting this Grand Ducal House!"

"What are you?"

"I am one who has been with the Grand Ducal House of Trovika since that historic moment of its founding..."

"You seem too stupid to understand...... Let me ask differently. What do I look like to you?"

"!"

"Insulting me—who are you insulting?"

The defiance vanished instantly from Gaspar's eyes—he who'd seemed to know about Novian's and my relationship from the start. He probably knew better than anyone in this estate. That Bliea Acacia was his master's mistress. Who he'd be insulting by insulting her.

When the Grand Duke left, Adrienne had no one to take her side, forced to depend on servants. Bliea didn't need such things.

"When finished, send someone to ring the bell. Madam."

Gaspar ground his teeth and disappeared with a half-bow. Someone who'd reigned like a king in the Grand Ducal Estate without the Grand Duke must find it humiliating to be so thoroughly disgraced before the servants.

"Well then... shall we finish what we were doing?"

In a space where no one could stop me, Annie's murky eyes stared at me vacantly.

"Wh, what were we doing..."

"What are you doing?"

I pointed precisely at the glossy, polished floor with my folded fan and smiled.

"Why aren't you kneeling?"