* * *

There really were people in this world who made you wonder how someone could be so full of malice.

‘Serena Lavernia’ was the most vicious and frightening person ‘Lotty’ had ever seen since becoming the successor to the head butler of ‘Kelahinum’ ducal mansion three years ago.

He had never seen someone so overflowing with malice before.

While everyone makes mistakes in life, ‘Serena Lavernia’ was a person who knew no forgiveness.

Just the rumors circulating in high society were enough to send chills down your spine.

‘To think such a person is in a marital relationship with our always upright master…’

Lotty shook his head.

He had heard from Head Butler ‘Pamel’ that divorce proceedings were underway, but they had met with opposition from the Duchess.

‘Serena Lavernia’ was refusing to sign the divorce papers.

In exchange for covering up the terrible deed of trying to poison the master’s siblings, he had demanded a divorce.

Because of this, the angry master had banished the Duchess to an unused annex.

‘Really, I wish she would just divorce quickly.’

Lotty thought this as he counted the number of supplies and wrote it in his notebook.

The boy greatly respected the head butler who had taken him in, and he also respected the master whom the butler had served for a lifetime.

However, when he heard people badmouthing even the Duke because of the Duchess, he couldn’t bear it.

It was said that the number of servants and maids she had fired since entering this mansion was in the dozens.

Mr. Pamel had struggled to provide them with severance pay and generous bonuses.

In high society, it was commonplace for her to slap someone’s cheek, insult them, pour wine on their head, or throw glasses.

She often administered excessive punishments, and there were many rumors about how she had done many dangerous and rude things to ‘Lady Rosia’, who is now the Crown Princess, especially during their days at the academy.

Like putting knives in props, putting rose thorns in shoes, or drugging food.

And there were so many other rumors circulating.

“Ugh, I hate it.”

Lotty shook his head as he finished organizing the supply list and left the storage room.

Actually, despite saying all this, Lotty had never directly faced the Duchess.

It was because Mr. Pamel always dealt with her personally. Though he had seen her from afar.

‘Next was the food storage.’

The boy had just finished noting the necessary supplies in his notebook and took a step.

To get to the food storage, he had to cross the mansion’s entrance and go near the dining room, but the entrance area was strangely chaotic.

“…I said I came to see him.”

“I’m sorry, but the Duchess cannot enter the mansion without the Duke’s orders at present. I will relay the message when he returns.”

Duchess?

Lotty’s eyes widened.

He had heard that she hadn’t moved from the annex since being banished.

“…This is troublesome, I didn’t expect things to be this way.”

Lotty felt a surge of anger at the voice that sounded truly troubled and annoyed.

Who’s the troublesome and annoying one here!

It was very unpleasant.

‘How many incidents has she caused in the mansion so far!’

The boy walked briskly towards the woman confronting the guards, his fists clenched.

“I believe this is our first greeting, I am the butler Lotty. Duchess, what brings you here?”

“Hmm?”

Serena, who had been standing in front of the mansion with her arms crossed, pondering, looked at the boy who had suddenly appeared.

The tailcoat neatly worn from head to toe, the notebook and pen in his hand, his claim to be a butler seemed to be no lie.

‘But was the head butler this young?’

No, he wasn’t.

He was around 40 even when Serena was still in this world.

11 more years have passed, so he must be well into his 50s and approaching 60 now.

‘Ah, a successor.’

Usually, the successor to the head butler would be taught by the previous head butler for at least 5 years, sometimes even over 10 years.

The boy in front of her looked about 17 years old.

With green eyes and light green hair, the child looked quite young.

There was clear hostility in his eyes.

‘Still a long way to go.’

To Serena, with 18 years of slave experience, it was rather cute malice.

Because every morning she saw even worse malice when she looked in the mirror.

And Serena was too worn out to be upset by such a youngster.

When you spend a long time suppressing anger in extreme situations of rage, most of your emotions erode, leaving only a handful of sand-like fragments.

If this kid rolled around as an assistant for just a year, hiding emotions would be a piece of cake.

‘I’d like to recommend it.’

Because then you can smile happily while shaking a rattle and flattering, all while cursing inwardly.

Having instantly assessed her opponent’s capabilities, Serena smiled brightly.

It was a smile intended to make a good impression on the cute future head butler who held some power.

‘He should have some authority.’

Flinch.

Lotty’s shoulders jerked greatly upon seeing Serena’s smile, and the corners of his lips trembled.

Serena had overlooked one thing.

The fact that her face was not suitable for smiling.

Like all who played the role of a villainess, her smile looked quite… wicked.

“I came to see him.”

“Him?”

“Ah, Magnus von Kelahinum. My husband.”

At the overly casual address, strength momentarily entered Lotty’s eyes.

“His Grace the Duke is currently out on an inspection and is expected to return in the evening. I will inform him of the Duchess’s visit.”

‘Oh, not bad.’

She thought he would snap back in anger, but surprisingly, despite the emotions showing in his eyes, the boy was calm.

Now she could see why he was already a sub-butler.

The makings of an excellent future slave that professors would covet were visible.

Serena inwardly licked her lips but soon spoke while hiding her true thoughts.

“I came to say that I’ll comply with what he requested before.”

“…You’ll comply?”

“Yes, the annex is cold and I’m hungry. So I was thinking of waiting in the reception room until he returns.”

“……”

At my explanation, the boy furrowed his brow as if pondering. His tightly closed lips suggested hesitation.

“Can I ask a favor?”

Lotty deliberated.

Wondering why this person was acting so docile again.

She’s really a person with extreme mood swings. Because she can be in a good mood and then suddenly turn bad.

“This isn’t something I can decide, so I’ll go speak with Mr. Pamel and return.”

“Hmm, alright.”

She suddenly felt how much she was disliked.

In the end, unable to enter and turned away at the door, Serena leaned against the wall next to the entrance, moving aside so as not to obstruct traffic.

Serena had decided to do only four things in this world.

She would no longer labor without compensation.

From now on, she would live comfortably with moderate work and moderate income.

First, proceeding with the divorce.

Second, going to the ‘Lavernia’ family house to retrieve the emergency fund account she had hidden under the carpet in her old room.

Third, cleaning up the mess from what she had done so far.

Ah, she didn’t mean to clean up everything she had done.

However, there were a few things that had caused ‘Serena Lavernia’ to fall so far.

Simply having bad public opinion wasn’t a big problem.

As long as she held a noble title, the possibility of commoners harming her wasn’t very high.

She had discarded her sense of morality long ago during her life as a slave.

Clearly, it was a bit pitiful, but she didn’t want to feel guilty for things she hadn’t done.

Her husband, Magnus, would have paid a generous amount of hush money.

However, the poisoning incident was problematic.

In the original story, Serena was greedy. She had a personality that wouldn’t be satisfied until she got whatever she wanted.

A person like her, unable to overcome her jealousy, used poison twice.

Despite having a fiancé, she fell for the Crown Prince and messed with this novel’s female lead whom the Crown Prince liked.

The saintess who was the Crown Prince’s fiancée, was so lucky that even if she walked around penniless, her pockets would be full by the end of the road.

The other time was when she messed with the late-born children of the former Duke and Duchess of Kelahinum.

For the first incident, the female lead, who’s a saintess, not wanting to make a big deal out of it, said she would forgive if she received just an apology, but Serena refused.

The Crown Prince wanted to punish her for the attempted murder of an imperial family member right away, but since the current Emperor was suffering from an incurable disease and was unstable, this incident was buried for now.

But a year later, after the Emperor passed away, this incident was brought to the surface.

At that time, the Duke could no longer endure and tried to forcibly divorce Serena, and these two incidents exploded together.

The incident of trying to poison the Duke’s twin siblings ended in failure.

However, because of that incident, the Duke was furious to the point of his hair standing on end and demanded a divorce instead of burying the matter.

‘Serena agreed at that time, but…’

When the Duke actually presented the papers, she refused to sign.

And after being banished to the annex, I returned to this body.

‘…I wonder if I’ll keep wandering around every time I die from now on?’

I died and was reincarnated, then possessed this body after falling from a carriage and having a big accident.

And after going along with that damn professor’s antics, my body was shattered to molecular pieces, and I came back here again.

“……”

Her suspicion gained some plausibility.

Yes, let’s not die.

Let’s die lying in bed, closing our eyes after living a full life.

It was at this moment that one more resolution was born for Serena.