Chapter 102
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 102
The woman who opened the door entered with confident, purposeful strides. She paused, her eyes sweeping across the room before she headed for the bathroom.
"Please, stop," Barbara pleaded, but the woman didn't even deign to reply.
From the pitch-black darkness of the wardrobe, Seo-ah peered through the narrow crack between the doors. Through the gap, she caught a glimpse of brilliant blonde hair. The woman was clearly searching for something. After checking the bathroom, she closed the door and her gaze shifted toward the wardrobe.
A chill ran down Seo-ah’s spine.
Her heart pounded as if it would burst. Please, she prayed desperately. But the woman approached the wardrobe anyway, and Seo-ah gritted her teeth. The impending reality loomed before her like a nightmare. She never should have hidden.
But it was too late for regrets. Her eyes fixed on the approaching woman, Seo-ah quickly wrapped the scarf the wolf had given her around her neck. She had just looped it twice and pulled her hair free when—
The doors were thrown open, and light flooded in.
Squinting instinctively, Seo-ah looked at the person standing before her. The name Barbara had used came to mind.
The Marchioness.
That’s what Barbara had called her. This must be Oscar's mother.
"..."
"..."
Silence fell.
The maids from the House of Jerome stared, startled, at the sight of Seo-ah in the wardrobe. Dismay washed over the faces of Barbara and the other Wolves.
Charlotte let out a cold breath. Looking Seo-ah up and down, she gave a scoff of disbelief. "How poorly is this manor being managed that someone can just hide in a place like this?"
She crossed her arms elegantly and shot a sharp look at the maids she'd brought with her.
"Drag her out."
At Charlotte's command, her maids moved at once. Seo-ah, still standing in the wardrobe, watched the strangers with bewildered eyes. She instinctively glanced at Barbara, wondering what to do, but a firm shadow blocked her path.
It was Barbara.
"Marchioness," she said, her tone firm. "This young lady is His Excellency's guest."
Barbara stood like a defensive wall before Seo-ah. A mocking voice replied, "A guest? Hiding in a wardrobe? And in Oscar's private space, no less? She looks more like a thief to me."
"I will take full responsibility. I understand your suspicion, but this young lady is truly His Excellency's guest..."
"I have no need for your responsibility, Barbara Wald."
"Marchioness."
"Step aside."
"Please believe me—"
Slap!
Before Barbara could finish, Charlotte slapped her across the face. The sharp crack of the blow pierced Seo-ah’s heart.
Her chest tightened, fearing Barbara would be struck again. Her own cheek stung as if she were the one who had been hit. Even so, the wolf shielding her didn't budge. Instead, she spoke again, her voice unwavering.
"She is His Excellency's guest."
Charlotte trembled with rage at Barbara's defiance. She had already slapped her three times, yet the woman's expression hadn't even flickered. Far from flinching, she dared to stare right back at her, fearless.
A murderous intent crept into Charlotte's violet eyes. She spat her words out slowly.
"So what if she's Oscar's guest? This is my manor. How dare you obstruct me when I am removing a suspicious person from my own home?"
"Please calm down. I will explain about this young lady..."
Charlotte, who had been glaring at Barbara, suddenly began to laugh. Her elegant laughter echoed off the walls of the small room. After a long moment, she tilted her head and asked, "Calm down? What mother in this world could remain calm after finding a stranger hiding in her son's room?"
"..."
Even then, Barbara did not back down.
In the eyes of the wolf sworn to 'trust no one in the manor and protect Oscar,' Charlotte was not to be trusted.
Charlotte was not ignorant of this. She didn't know Ernst had given Barbara a specific command, but she could clearly tell that Barbara did not accept her as Oscar's mother.
She had always found that intolerable.
Who do you think you are to accept me or not?
She gritted her teeth and swung her hand with all her might.
Slap!
You seem to think that just because you were by his side as he grew up, you've become his mother.
Slap!
I am the one who carried him for ten months and gave birth to him.
Slap!
I am the one who should reap the rewards.
"How dare you bring up Oscar in front of me?"
Barbara's hair was a mess from the repeated slaps. Her face was turning red, but her palm remained extended behind her, shielding Seo-ah.
Every time Charlotte struck her, the Outsider behind her tried to move. She seemed to feel responsible for the situation and wanted to resolve it herself. How ridiculous, Barbara thought. How could an ignorant Outsider possibly handle Charlotte von Reinhardt, a woman even I find difficult to stop?
Barbara firmly held her back, signaling for her to stay put and do nothing foolish.
Infuriated that Barbara still refused to yield, Charlotte swung her hand again.
Slap!
"...!"
For the first time, the force of the blow knocked Barbara's head to the side. But a moment later, she straightened it as if nothing had happened.
Seo-ah stared, wide-eyed, at Barbara's rough, calloused palm, then lifted her gaze. The lean, powerful back reminded her of Theresia, who had once stood just like that, facing a wall of flames.
That day, her master, who hadn't even flinched when her arm was blown off, had held Seo-ah back with her one remaining hand—just as Barbara was doing now.
Stay put.
I'll handle this.
But how had her master ended up? She had known, yet not truly understood, that those words—'I'll handle this'—were built on sacrifice. Theresia had been like a finely forged blade; it seemed impossible that she could ever break.
Foolishly, she had only realized after her master collapsed that even she was a mortal who could die. The image of the blade sinking deep into Theresia's side was still vivid in her memory.
Flames flickered in her brown eyes.
That day... if only I hadn't hidden like a fool, staring at your back. If only I had stood by your side.
Charlotte massaged her wrist, which was aching from slapping Barbara so many times. Clenching and unclenching her hand, she turned to one of her maids.
"You. Take over for me. Keep hitting her until she moves."
At the command, the eyes of the Wolves, who had been forced to watch their superior be assaulted, burned red with fury. They clenched their fists until their knuckles turned white, but they were powerless to intervene. Faced with Charlotte's violence, the most they could do was send word to Oscar.
A well-built maid from the House of Jerome stepped before Barbara. She rolled up her sleeves and drew back her right hand.
Seeing this, Barbara relaxed her neck and gritted her teeth, bracing for the blow. The maid took a deep breath.
What would happen next was obvious.
Some of the Wolves chose to look away.
Barbara would endure it. She always did. Even if her lips split and her eardrums ruptured, she would bear it without a single frown. To a wolf who had survived countless battlefields, this kind of abuse was nothing. But that didn't make it right.
Charlotte's violence would only end when Barbara's face was a swollen mess, just as it had once before.
The Wolves held their breath, steeling themselves for the sound of the blow. But it never came. Instead, there was only a soft gasp.
They snapped their eyes back to Barbara.
"Ah..."
They, too, let out a collective, quiet gasp.
The Outsider Barbara had been shielding now stood in front of her.
Barbara's eyes, which hadn't so much as twitched through the repeated slaps, widened in shock for the first time. Before she could be stopped, the Outsider had slipped past her, fearlessly placing herself between the maid and Barbara.
Everyone's eyes turned to her.
Barbara and the Wolves looked at Seo-ah with bewildered eyes, while Charlotte stared at her, her violet eyes flashing.
She was a woman wearing a scarf that didn't match her clothes. Sandwiched between the tall Barbara and the stocky maid, she looked exceptionally fragile. And though she had a mysterious aura about her, her lowered head gave the impression of timidity.
First impressions led to swift judgment. A sneer formed on Charlotte's lips. But then, the woman who had been timidly bowing her head looked up. The moment her gaze, which had been fixed on the floor, locked with the maid's, the sneer on Charlotte's face froze.
"...!"
She had only lifted her head, but it was like watching a withered flower miraculously bloom. The very atmosphere around her seemed to shift.
Not only Charlotte, but everyone looking at Seo-ah froze for a moment.
But Seo-ah herself was frozen, too. In the heat of the moment, driven by the memory of her master's end, she had moved to block the attack. Now, her mind went completely blank.
She had stepped forward, but what now? What was she supposed to do? Cornered, with no way out, her thoughts instinctively turned to him.