A Beast's Patience
Adela stroked Odeliana's hair and clicked her tongue as if in pity.
"Don't you think it's time you stopped pretending to be a duchess, you pathetic family disgrace who couldn't even inherit the Gruisevald name? You've received neither the title nor any real power, yet you still don't know your place?"
“……”
"Why do you suppose the master and his wife summoned you back to the main estate? To punish me for what I've done? To protect you?"
Adela yanked the litter forward with force and flung the door open. Her rough handling suggested she was hoping Odeliana would tumble out. The young woman, who had nearly rolled off, stared at Adela with sunken eyes.
"It's all because you, my lady, coaxed the young master into some foolish scheme and irritated the master. An untamed beast is easier to control when you keep it right in front of you. That place is simply a larger prison. It's no different from here at all. Do you understand? You'd best steel yourself. Not even the young master who dotes on you so much will be able to help you there."
Odeliana, who had been silently turning Adela's words over in her mind, curved her lips into a faint smile.
"I know all that without you reciting it line by line."
“……”
"There's a limit to treating someone like a fool. No matter how fragmented my memories might be, I'm not so lost that I can't tell right from wrong. Anyone can see how despised I am in this household simply by watching how all of you treat me."
"No. You, my lady, have no judgment whatsoever. And that's not all. You're in a state where normal thought itself has become impossible. Even insanity should have its limits. To go around picking up such worthless filth..."
Adela touched the back of her neck. In that instant, an unfamiliar bruise came into view.
It hadn't been there the day before. Odeliana blinked once, then let out a burst of laughter.
"How stupid. It seems you laid a hand on my sweet puppy and got bitten for your trouble."
This was no ordinary bruise. The mark spread wide across her skin, as though someone had strangled her. In the flicker of fear that passed through Adela's eyes, Odeliana instinctively understood that something had transpired between her and Mathias.
"Be careful. Keep that up and you might truly get bitten until you can't even scream."
Adela, snapping back to her senses, flushed with rage and ground her teeth.
"That filth and you, my lady, will both suffer terribly the moment you set foot in the Gruisevald ducal residence."
"Try it, then. I'll teach my puppy to tear apart anyone who dares raise a hand against me. We'll see whose neck gets ripped out first—yours or the one who tries to strike my dog."
Adela said nothing more. Instead, she glared with icy eyes and quickened her steps. Though stairs lay just ahead, she made no effort to slow down.
"A disobedient mutt needs the whip. Some people only learn after they've been beaten."
Her eyes brimmed with murderous intent, as if she had resolved to kill her outright.
Yet Odeliana remained largely unmoved. She showed no fear and made no attempt to leap from the litter. She was certain she would not die.
The instant the stairs loomed directly before them, Adela released her grip on the litter. But someone else seized it in her place and gently caught Odeliana's forward-lurching body.
"Are you all right, Master?"
"I'm fine. It seems Adela's hands slipped. She is getting on in years, after all."
She had known Mathias would catch her safely. After all, she understood that he never strayed beyond a certain radius, whether in Anatolia Castle or here.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, I wasn't hurt."
"Protecting one's master is a squire's duty, is it not? I simply did what was expected of me."
"Indeed. Whereas some people can't even manage the basics."
Still nestled obediently in Mathias's arms, Odeliana looked up toward the top of the stairs. Adela's face had gone deathly pale. For the very person who had shoved the litter down the steps to look so shocked suggested the act had been nothing more than a momentary impulse.
"Since the litter is ruined, we will travel like this."
Mathias's voice was flat and rigid as his gaze shifted toward Adela. The moment their eyes met, she convulsed and fled like a startled animal. The sight of her clutching her own neck as she ran was almost comical.
"That woman truly meant to kill you just now, Master."
"I know. It may have been an impulse, but her killing intent was sincere."
"Give the order and I will remove her from your sight immediately."
"Such a pious face, yet you speak such brutal words."
"She is dangerous to keep close. Is it not better to eliminate risks before they bear fruit?"
Perhaps he was right.
Even if pushing the litter down the stairs had been an impulsive act, it ultimately sprang from a genuine desire to kill. It was laughable. After spending her whole life tormenting her as the perpetrator, what possible grudge could make her want to kill so badly?
‘If anyone should hold a grudge, shouldn’t it be me?’
"Once something happens, it will be too late. It cannot be undone. Wouldn't it be wiser to cut off any future trouble at the root so there are no complications afterward?"
It was only natural for someone who had survived in the slums to develop such wariness. That was a place where you had to eliminate anyone who posed a threat if you wanted to live. She could understand why his thoughts immediately led to killing. Yet if he simply cleared away everything that irritated him, how would this life be any different from the last?
"If you keep killing and harming others simply because they annoy you, it will become a habit. I at least hope you don't acquire such tendencies at a young age. Breaking a habit is no easy thing. Mathias, the place you live in now is not Kobeck. It means this is not a world where you must steal and harm others without exception in order to protect yourself."
If he was going to live as a knight, it would be impossible for those hands to remain unstained by blood. Adding Adela's blood to the tally might not seem like much, but in this life, she wanted him to wield his sword as a true knight. Not to hurt others, but to protect something precious.
"It is not yet time. For now, it is best to lie low and hold your breath. There's nothing to gain from stirring up trouble unnecessarily. I despise Adela as well, and I consider this incident an unforgivable sin. However, she belongs to my mother. If she were to vanish without a sound, matters would become terribly complicated. You might even fall under suspicion."
There was no need to shoulder the burden of killing such a foolish woman. The Mathias of this moment needed to stay low and bide his time.
"Just wait a little longer. The right moment will surely come."
A reply arrived from Duke Gruisevald after a week.
Not only did it grant permission to bring Mathias along, but it also contained the welcome news that arrangements had been made for him to continue serving as her squire. The moment the letter arrived, they decided on the journey to the capital and completed all preparations in a mere two days.
On the very day the trip was confirmed, Odeliana instructed Mathias to take the carriage to the nearby village market and sell off the bulky bolts of fabric and bundles of medicinal herbs. He left the house at dawn and returned with gold coins.
There were no wealthy patrons here willing to pay a fair price, so she planned to dispose of the remaining precious metals and jewels once they reached the capital.
"Keep a close watch on her for me."
"Do not worry. I will not let her lay a single finger on them."
Throughout the two days of packing, Adela had eyed the jewelry box with open greed, but she could not break through Mathias's impenetrable surveillance.
And so, on the day of departure, Odeliana left behind the residence where she had stayed for roughly a month and climbed into the luxurious carriage.
Off to the capital. To the place where those two wretches who had driven me to death were waiting.