The Eldest Son's Contempt
The appearance of Grünewald’s eldest son. Only then did Odeliana remember that there had been more family members beyond Blair.
Even after the daughter who had been recuperating in a distant land returned home, neither their parents nor any of her siblings had shown their faces even once.
“What sort of filthy act is this in broad daylight?”
Filthy act?
Odeliana belatedly shifted her gaze. A man and woman sitting side by side on the bed, frozen in what certainly looked like a rather passionate embrace to any outsider. It was the perfect tableau to invite misunderstanding from an uninvited guest who had burst in without warning.
Blair, who had come with Hermann, gaped like a fish, too stunned to speak at the scene before his eyes. Hermann took his place and roared.
“I heard you picked up some pretty boy from the streets. Did you bring him in with this in mind from the start?”
Odeliana rose from the bed with perfect composure. Naturally, Mathias supported her at her side.
“What is it they say—people only see what they want to see? What exactly do you think Mathias and I were doing? He was simply comforting me while I cried.”
“And that comfort took the form of vulgar physical contact, it seems.”
She knew it looked like a misunderstanding. If Blair had pressed the issue, she would have had no defense even with ten mouths to speak with. They had not actually been pressed together on the bed, yet she had certainly left room for suspicion.
Even so, it was not Blair but Hermann—who had never once shown his face until now—berating her, and that was simply laughable.
“I said it was a misunderstanding. So stop there. If you had any right to lecture me, it might be different, but I would appreciate it if you refrained from pouring out your vulgar fantasies when you are little more than a complete stranger to me.”
“…What did you say?”
“This is my residence. No one may enter without my permission. Is barging in without the owner’s consent considered refined behavior, brother?”
Hermann raised his hand. In that instant Blair came to his senses and swiftly stepped in front of him.
“Enough, brother!”
“Blair, get out of my way this instant.”
“Odeliana is a patient. No matter the reason, how can you raise your hand to her?”
Hermann scowled and snarled irritably.
“Did you not see it yourself!”
“As Odeliana said, it must be a misunderstanding. He is the one who saved her life, after all. It seems she finds him far more trustworthy than the other servants. Keeping him close is likely because she has not yet grown accustomed to this unfamiliar environment…”
“Enough with your nonsense. Dragging a man onto one’s bed is indecent no matter what excuse you offer.”
It was absurd enough to make her want to leap with laughter. They had never even acknowledged her as a member of this household, yet they demanded the modest conduct of a noblewoman. Did they possess a conscience, or had they misplaced it?
“What propriety can you expect from an uneducated wretch like me? Tsk.”
“Odeliana!”
Blair tried to stop her, but Odeliana merely scoffed at Hermann.
“I’m the madwoman who never received even basic education and was abandoned in a faraway place, aren’t I? What exactly are you hoping for? You gave me nothing, yet you expect me to behave like a normal person? Applying the standards of a sane person to a lunatic is pointless to begin with, is it not? If you’re going to say anything, at least do something for me like Blair and then open your mouth. And even if I truly had pressed my belly against my squire, what business is it of yours?”
Talking about noble dignity—how laughable. They had no right to speak of such things. Coldly speaking, they had no right to discipline her either. Because they were not her family.
“Odeliana, that’s enough. Brother, please calm yourself.”
Hermann looked at Blair with cold eyes.
“Foolish boy. It is because you are so spineless that things have come to this. You shield that vulgar, disgusting girl and earn only Father’s wrath.”
“Brother… I still don’t understand what I did wrong. Odeliana was being abused by the servants there. Why is punishing servants who committed crimes suddenly a problem…”
“Believing the claims of a deranged girl was the first mistake. The servants in that place had looked after her since she was an infant. You made personnel decisions without even listening to their side of the story. You call that proper?”
“Stop using the word ‘girl’ like that! Brother, Odeliana is not an outsider. She is our sister! She is not insane! This child was clearly being abused. Do you have any idea how… how wretched it was? If you had seen it with your own eyes, you would never speak like this!”
Odeliana, who had been listening silently, let out a short sigh.
So that’s why he was placed under house arrest… because of me.
Blair had acted with perfectly reasonable judgment. Yet the family had apparently taken issue with it.
At this point he could have simply washed his hands of her, but Blair remained wholly occupied with defending Odeliana. His voice carried genuine desperation as he insisted she was not a lunatic, that she was their blood sister, and that banishing her from the family on account of her disability had been wrong from the start.
“I have no such sister. You should be the one to cut ties with the child the family cast out. Instead of devoting yourself to this girl, look after Orlétte. What possible benefit could you gain from concerning yourself with a creature like her that you would do something this stupid? Do you wish to be driven out of the family as well?”
“……”
“Not insane, you say. As if that behavior was something a sane person would do. Stop causing unnecessary commotion and come out. Do not show your face here again. And you—do not stir Blair up any further. Nothing will change no matter what you do. So cease these pointless actions and continue living as you have until now, quiet as a dead mouse. If you incite Blair to cause another disturbance, I will not let it pass.”
With a roar like a beast, Hermann turned on his heel. He left in such haste that it was clear he wanted to spend not a second longer in the room. Once he was gone, only heavy silence remained. Blair let out a long sigh and covered his face in distress.
“I showed you an ugly sight. I’m sorry.”
Even in the midst of this, the kind man apologized. It was Hermann who had torn through the space, yet here he was apologizing. If anyone should apologize, it was her.
“Because of me… you’ve earned the hatred of your family.”
“No, Odeliana! That’s not it.”
“I wondered why there had been no contact all this time. Humans are such fickle creatures; I even thought perhaps you had grown tired of me… In the end, you’re the one who suffered because of me.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. Mother and Father seem quite angry that I unilaterally replaced the servants. That’s why I was placed under house arrest, but that’s all there is to it.”
“But that was something you did to protect me.”
“Even so, the decision was mine. Cutting them off without discussion, failing to report it to the family—those were all my choices. Mother and Father held me accountable for the process, not the outcome. So please, Odeliana, stop thinking any of this is your fault.”
Leaning on Mathias’s arm as she sat in the chair, Odeliana gazed quietly at Blair, who bit his lip in regret.
How could brothers born from the same womb be so completely different? They would have grown up in nearly identical environments, yet one brother trembled with fear that his younger sister might be hurt and took every sin upon himself, while the other looked at her with open contempt, as if she were less than an insect. He seemed disgusted merely by sharing the same air.
And what of the remaining one?
Orlétte—the other blood relative she had yet to meet since arriving in this house. In her previous life, the woman who had been her husband’s mistress. Now, her twin sister.
“I understand that Mother, Father, and my eldest brother despise me. That leaves only my sister. What has she been doing that she hasn’t shown even the tip of her nose?”
“That’s… she isn’t home at the moment. It seems she’s volunteering at a relief center.”
“Volunteering?”
Odeliana could not hide her sneer. A cruel woman in whom not the slightest trace of mercy or compassion could be found. Even as she lay dying, Odeliana had seen it clearly—the demonic woman’s cold smile, drunk on victory, as she reveled in the sight of the dethronement stained with blood. And now she was told this same woman was volunteering at a relief center?
Ah, yes. There had been a dazzling title used to refer to her. Another name that symbolized her in high society.
The Saint of Leveln.