Chapter 105
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 105
“You can’t tell?”
“No.”
Her pride was already bruised from being the first to speak after hours of silence, but the curt reply she received was utterly draining. Charlotte dismissed the maids with an irritated wave of her hand and asked again.
“Does Oscar treat you well?”
“…Everyone in this mansion treats me with kindness.”
The woman answered with a look that seemed to ask why on earth she was being asked such a question.
Where on earth did her son pick up a creature like this?
The fake smile lingering on Charlotte’s face gradually faded. Irritation began to seep into her eyes, which had lacked any real warmth from the start.
There was still no word from Oscar, which was only to be expected. While it was surprising that he had let a woman into his private space, she couldn’t imagine him rushing back out of concern for some hidden plaything.
Was the woman before her truly nothing? Would there be no repercussions if she simply ignored a creature of such insignificance?
She shook her head. One must never allow the seeds of doubt to sprout. When uncertain, it was always best to act.
As Charlotte rose smoothly from her seat, the quiet giggles of the maids ceased instantly, as if by magic. A maid who moved like Charlotte’s own limb stepped up to her side.
“What are your orders, My Lady?”
Charlotte spoke, her eyes fixed on the bewildered Outsider.
“Begin.”
It was a sudden command, completely out of context. Yet the maids who had accompanied Charlotte moved instantly, as if they had been waiting for that very order all along.
Inside the central hall, the only ones who failed to understand her command were the Outsider and one of the maids Charlotte had brought with her.
The maids of the Jerome family moved without hesitation, as if this place were the residence of Count Jerome itself. They shut the wide-open windows and drew the curtains. When they attempted to close the doors leading to the central staircase as well, Barbara, who had been standing at the entrance watching the confrontation, immediately protested.
“Marchioness!”
“Close the doors!”
“What is the meaning of this?”
“I am the mistress of this estate! I have no reason to explain my intentions to a mere servant. Close those doors immediately, and make sure no one opens them!”
The maid who had previously tried to slap Barbara stepped confidently in front of her.
“Did you hear? The Marchioness ordered the doors closed.”
With that, she pushed the massive doors shut with all her might. The heavy doors swung closed, cutting off the final view of a flustered Seo-ah rising to her feet as Charlotte stepped toward her.
A vein throbbed on Barbara’s forehead.
The aura of the veteran wolf, who had remained calm even when slapped, finally turned menacing. Emotion welled in her navy-blue eyes, and the murderous intent she had carefully concealed—a relic of her military background—began to shimmer around her like a heat haze.
The Jerome family maid, who had dismissed Barbara as a mere head maid, turned pale as she watched the wolf close in on her.
It wasn’t that Barbara had seemed easy to deal with, but Charlotte’s authority had felt far more imposing. That was why the maid had thought nothing of trying to slap her. However, the true nature of a wolf who had survived for decades was not something a mere maid could withstand.
Those who survive for a long time are strong. Those who survive in harsh environments, even more so.
The old wolf bared her fangs.
“Tell me everything you know about what your mistress intends to do in there.”
Her legs suddenly gave out, and the maid stumbled back against the door. Just as she parted her lips, trying to force out a voice that refused to come—
“Ahhh!”
“…”
A scream echoed from behind the firmly shut doors.
Barbara, who had been staring down the maid, froze and turned her gaze to the door, holding her breath.
“Mmph, mmph!”
The muffled groans of a gagged woman and the sound of merciless beating penetrated the heavy wood.
“Senior.”
The anxious wolves behind her called out. Abel ignored the maid entirely and stepped forward to force the door open, but it was locked from the inside and wouldn’t budge. He turned to Barbara, his face contorted with anger.
“Senior!”
Barbara stood as still and silent as if nothing were happening. Though Abel had turned to her in a rage, the moment he saw her quiet composure, he stopped.
He realized that Barbara Wald was calmly assessing the situation. Yet, despite her serene expression, the thick blue veins on her wrinkled neck were pulsing violently for the first time in years.
*
The curtains were drawn, and the doors were shut. The red drapes plunged the central hall into a crimson darkness.
Charlotte approached Seo-ah, who had jumped to her feet in shock. In the reddish gloom, Charlotte’s violet eyes gleamed with a terrifying intensity.
Seo-ah had no idea what was about to happen and was at a complete loss for words.
“Ahhh!”
A chilling scream erupted from one side, making Seo-ah whip her head around.
“…”
One of the maids Charlotte had brought was collapsed on the floor, clutching her cheek. The slap was only the beginning. A relentless, merciless beating rained down on her before anyone could intervene. The one being beaten and the ones delivering the brutal blows had, until moments ago, all been laughing and chatting right behind Charlotte.
“Are you careful with contraception?”
Amidst the indiscriminate violence in the crimson darkness, Charlotte’s gentle voice was chilling enough to send a shiver down Seo-ah’s spine. Seo-ah slowly, stiffly, turned her head to face her. The woman’s violet eyes looked dark red in the dim light.
“Mmph, mmph!”
Muffled groans filled the air, but Charlotte seemed entirely deaf to them. She lifted Seo-ah’s braided hair, which reached her waist, and stroked it with her thumb.
When her elegantly veiled question was met with silence, she simply decided to be more direct.
“So this is my son’s taste.”
“M-Marchioness, gasp!” the maid being ruthlessly trampled cried out desperately. But her groans were drowned out by even greater violence. In the vast hall, where even the clinking of teacups had once sounded amplified, the maid’s whimpers now echoed like a hollow refrain.
Thud, thud!
The crimson darkness, the groans, and the rampant violence brought back memories of the night of the attack. Her hands began to tremble.
“Why… why are you doing this?”
“Do you need money?”
“Marchioness.”
“Girls like you are common. I’ve seen plenty. You seem to be hoping for some crumbs to fall from the Marquis of Reinhardt’s table, but if it’s money you want, I can give you plenty. What do you say? If you do a few things I ask, I will make sure you are handsomely rewarded.”
Seo-ah was speechless.
Charlotte chuckled softly and opened the small bag she had brought. Pulling something out, she placed it on the table and pointed at it with a sharp fingernail. Then, she leaned in close and whispered in a barely audible voice.
“Feed this to Barbara Wald.”
Seo-ah’s eyes trembled.
“What is this…?”
“I despise that woman.”
Seo-ah’s eyes narrowed as she stared at the medicine bottle, which caught a reddish gleam. She murmured, her face filled with utter incomprehension.
“She is the one who serves His Excellency most closely.”
“And?”
Charlotte tilted her head, looking equally uncomprehending, before suddenly bursting into soft giggles.
“Ah, do you think this is poison?”
“…”
“What a suspicious child. This is medicine that is good for the body. It is a precious remedy that even the Emperor of Rioher himself takes. Since she serves my son so devotedly, she deserves some good medicine. But she is such a distrustful woman.”
Charlotte whispered directly into her ear.
“If you succeed in getting her to take it, I will give you five hundred million Kerte.”
Pulling away, she looked around at the ornate walls and continued, “Take what I offer and leave quietly. This is no place for you.”
She hadn’t expected the woman Oscar brought home to be like this, but it changed nothing. At best, she was just Oscar’s toy. Especially if Barbara had tried to hide her.
“Do you know what became of the women my son used to play with? I’m only telling you this out of pity, as a fellow woman.”
Charlotte fabricated lies out of thin air.
“Can’t you see it for yourself? Nothing matters to him. Even if someone like you disappears, he’ll forget all about you by the next day. He’s been like that since he was a child. Perhaps that’s why he never cried or whined.”
Though it was nice that he wasn’t noisy, the muttered afterthought drifted into Seo-ah’s ears.
“How noisy. Quiet her down, will you?”
“Yes, Marchioness!”
Blaming the groans of the beaten maid for the noise, Charlotte pulled another item from her bag. She set it down next to the first medicine bottle. The two vials looked identical.
“And this one, feed it to Oscar. If you succeed, I will likewise give you five hundred million Kerte.”
Charlotte whispered softly to Seo-ah, who had frozen completely.
“Why look so surprised? I told you, this is very good medicine. Do you have any idea how much a single bottle like this costs?”
“…I am merely a guest.”
Her raspy, barely audible voice was drowned out by the maid’s tearful screams.
“Ahhh, ah! Please, stop… Stop, mmph!”
Seo-ah stared at Charlotte, who was urging her to feed the medicine to Oscar.
Are you not his mother?
If you are the parent who gave him flesh and blood, who bestowed life upon him…
“…If it is medicine that is good for the body, shouldn’t you be the one to give it to him, My Lady?”
“He won’t take it if I do. That’s just how sons are. They never listen to their mothers. So, you do it for me. One billion Kerte for giving it to both of them—isn’t that a fair deal?”
If she was a parent, shouldn’t she at least refrain from saying such things to a complete stranger? To present something indistinguishable from poison and offer money to have it fed to her own son—wasn’t that something that should never be said, even as a joke?