“…Do you have any sense of shame as a woman?”

“I do, but…”

Serena trailed off at Magnus’s words.

“You should know that it’s dangerous to be alone in a room with a man.”

“You won’t do anything, right?”

Serena said confidently.

Because he hated Serena Lavernia so much.

Also, she knew that Magnus would never act carelessly with his body unless it was someone he truly loved.

‘I’m not even a count’s daughter.’

In conclusion, Serena was in no danger of being pounced on.

“Why do you think that?”

At this point, Magnus couldn’t help but feel upset about his repeatedly shattered pride.

He had never been treated like this anywhere else, which made it worse.

Besides, until she refused to sign the divorce papers, didn’t she vehemently reject being in the same room with him or him entering this room at will, saying bizarre things like, “Your face is my type, so I might pounce on you if we’re together”?

“…Didn’t you say my face was your type before?”

Serena thought Magnus had much stronger self-love than she expected.

‘Ah, is he a narcissist?’

He’s still young.

Thinking this, Serena smirked.

Because it was a look of seeing something quite ridiculous and trivial, Magnus clenched his fist once again.

“It is my type. But I don’t do affairs…”

Serena said, shaking her head.

Magnus was dumbfounded.

Because they were still married! Even if they weren’t, there was no way it could be considered an affair.

“Cheating…, which part of our relationship could possibly be considered an affair?”

“Hey, I’m just preemptively stopping you from regretting it later and beating the ground. Teenager.”

Serena gave a thumbs up.

That made Magnus’s cheek twitch with anger again.

“…Forget it, we’re not communicating.”

Magnus turned around, feeling upset.

Regardless, Serena was peacefully lying on the bed.

“……”

Snap,

The sound of his already half-broken pride breaking once more could be heard.

* * *

Serena vividly realized that she was a person with less motivation than she thought.

And that the two professors who had been with her were even more vicious humans.

They had been wringing out motivation from the unmotivated Serena as if twisting her guts!

Even though she had already been squeezed dry, with only the peel left after all the pulp was taken, they had extracted even from that peel!

Having thought that far, Serena prepared to go out early in the morning, filled again with rising anger and desire for revenge.

Because it was time to implement the second of her several plans.

“Hmm.”

As soon as she finished lunch, she took a carriage and arrived at the Lavernia mansion.

‘It’s been a while.’

It was a huge mansion not much different from her memory.

Her appreciation was brief.

Because she was already a pitiful modern person whose thick peel had been completely squeezed out.

“Oh, w-welcome! Lady Serena! Wh-what brings you here without any notice…”

The butler of the Lavernia mansion, ‘Slay’, who had turned pale at the news of her arrival, grabbed a handful of stomach medicine, and still not enough, drank a glass of demon juice before rushing out, bowed at the entrance.

“……”

Serena saw a familiar face she hadn’t seen in a long time, no. She saw the back of the head of a familiar face.

‘Hmm.’

She was moved.

So, to savor that human feeling a bit longer, she looked at Slay for an even longer time.

After all, the butler who had taken care of her since childhood naturally evoked a different kind of fondness.

‘Wh-why is she looking at me like this? Did I do something wrong?’

However, for Slay, it was just terrifying.

It wasn’t just once or twice that household items were damaged due to her misdeeds, and the number of servants who resigned was about to exceed a hundred.

Slay recalled that when she was in the mansion, no matter how many job postings he put up, no one came for interviews.

Thanks to that, the budget for hiring servants only increased dramatically.

There was no reason or justification for Serena Lavernia’s misdeeds.

It was just that each day was determined by her mood.

‘Just how bad is her mood that… she’s not even telling me to raise my head?’

Slay soon felt like crying at the hot gaze that showed no sign of leaving the back of his bowed head.

In fact, tears were already starting to form.

‘My stomach hurts…’

Slay, over 40 years old, was a sensitive person.

Very.

Unlike Slay, who would think, ‘What has that butterfly lost that it spreads its wings and flies so vigorously, not avoiding this strong gust?’ when seeing a butterfly flying through the wind, Serena was the type of person who would answer, ‘What a stupid butterfly.’

For her, empathy and sensitivity were things she could only feel towards fellow assistants cleaning up after the professor’s mistakes.

Even a dry desert was better than her.

Because she was simply satisfied with her own humanity, feeling the emotion of nostalgia from meeting the butler she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Why? Can’t I come suddenly?”

Slay was startled by that dry question.

He fluttered his whole body like a bird about to take flight, forgetting his dignity.

“No! Not at all, that’s absolutely not what this old man meant.”

Slay quickly shook his head.

No matter how much he had cared for and raised her in this mansion since she was young, he was afraid of Serena.

Of course, he knows that as someone serving the Lavernia family, he shouldn’t have such feelings.

But instinctive fear was unavoidable.

When Serena was in a bad mood, she would line up the servants and slap their cheeks, and mess up the work he had painstakingly organized.

And she would do it just when he was feeling elated inside, thinking he had almost finished the work!

Not only that, she would often throw tantrums demanding impossible-to-obtain items, and it was a daily occurrence for her to smash everything from precious heirlooms to furniture.

How bad must it have been for all the decorations in the historic marquis’s house to be made of only unbreakable materials?

Then he saw her painting over the portraits of Lavernia’s past heads of household that he had been caring for with all his heart!

Anyway, he had become a bit more comfortable recently after she got married and left the family.

He had started to replace the decorations with more luxurious ones again, and hired and trained new servants who had become quite proficient in their roles.

This was the result of Slay’s tearful efforts.

Perhaps because of this? Although Slay is currently 40 years old, he looks older than his age.

Everyone who sees his face thinks he must be in his late 50s.

There was even an incident like this.

In the capital, there’s a social club where butlers from influential noble families often meet regularly to exchange information.

Slay is also one of the members of that club.

It was when his membership was approved and he attended the meeting for the first time.

There, Slay met ‘Pamel’, the head butler of the Kelahinum ducal mansion, and from their first meeting, Pamel treated him with great respect and courtesy.

Although it was a bit uncomfortable to be treated so politely by someone much older, he tried to think of him as a good person.

However, when Pamel called him ‘older brother’, Slay felt like the world was crumbling.

He felt very sad for his youth that had disappeared without a trace.

That’s because there was a 14-year age difference between Slay and Pamel.

“That’s a relief.”

He was shedding tears inside, recalling even his sad past, when he tensed up again at that voice.

“Yes, yes. Of course.”

Slay answered, extremely tense.

‘Do you mean it’s a relief because my head would have flown off if I had answered wrong?’

Although he knew she didn’t have the authority to fire him, as the head butler of the Lavernia mansion, Slay still took a deep breath.

Because even though she didn’t have the authority to fire him, she did have the authority to swing her hands or throw the expensive decorations that filled the mansion.

“Then I’ll escort you inside, young lady.”

“Okay.”

Slay was once again relieved that Serena seemed to be in a good mood today.

However, unlike the extremely tense Slay, Serena was currently thinking nothing.

Even when she asked if it was okay to come suddenly, it was simply because she was really curious.

She wanted to confirm whether she needed to contact and get permission in advance before visiting, even if it was her family home.

Her saying it was a relief was also meant literally.

It meant something like — It’s a relief that it’s not improper behavior.

Of course, her accumulated notoriety gave room for even ordinary language to be interpreted in various ways.

‘Wow, this feels a bit nostalgic.’

Feeling memories she had long forgotten slowly surfacing, she entered the Lavernia mansion with a calm face and at a leisurely pace.

And there were servants standing with solemn expressions, seemingly prepared to face an enemy army, having made all preparations.