The rustle of fabric filled the silence between us.

Isen tilted his head slowly, a question forming.

“Misunderstand?”

“Coming all this way just because you were worried, for no other reason. Anyone else would surely misread your intentions.”

“Is that so? I hadn’t realized it would cause that kind of misunderstanding. But you know, Evie. You’re allowed to misunderstand me like that.”

Isen rose from his seat and stroked my hair gently.

“Because you’re the woman I love.”

I wondered idly whether my future would have been different if I had married that man instead of Dertosse. I pushed the useless thought aside and knocked his hand away.

“I’m saying this just in case, but let’s not fall in love with each other.”

“What do you mean?”

“Love… I’m tired of it. Just act like we’re in love. That’s more than enough.”

I had no desire to ruin things because of something as clumsy as love.

At least this time, I would not die for a love with a predetermined end. The sole purpose of my life was to bring this family to ruin.

“Quite a clean rejection.”

“There’s no need to act yet. Just make sure you handle whatever I pass along through Mary, without a single mistake. That will be the foundation for both your revenge and mine.”

Only then did he turn and walk toward the window.

“As you wish.”

With that brief reply, he stepped up onto the windowsill. There was something almost dreamlike about it. The way he looked down at me was so warm, so brilliantly beautiful.

“Keep the window closed when you sleep.”

“Is that your way of worrying about me?”

“Who knows.”

He gave a small smile and stepped out through the window. At the same moment, a thud rang out. Wondering whether he had made a grand exit only to stumble, I got up and walked to the window.

“You’re finally up.”

“Oh…?”

“I had a feeling you wouldn’t close the window otherwise.”

He stood on the other side of the window, expression unchanged, and pointed at it with one finger.

“……”

“Close it before you sleep. Don’t get sick. I’m not saying this because I’m worried about you. I’m saying it because it would get in the way of our plans.”

Unlike a moment ago, he kept his expression firm as he moved away from me. He said what he said, but there was no way I didn’t know that Isen was saying it out of genuine concern.

Someone’s sincere worry, the first I had ever received, slowly melted a corner of my heart that had been blinded by nothing but revenge.

“But… I won’t fall in love.”

I watched him grow smaller in the distance and swore by the moonlight, again and again.

If there was such a thing as a god, I prayed and prayed to not let me be swayed by something as clumsy as love again and make the same mistake.

* * *

Three days passed from that night.

Remarkably, nothing happened in the meantime. Mother was still locked in her room and causing a scene demanding to be let out, but the knights faithfully held their post in front of it. Only a few maids went in to help her and came back out badly hurt.

The butler also became remarkably well-behaved after that. I had let it go when he handed over the list of handmaids on the same day, but then he went on and on, volunteering all sorts of unnecessary information about them that I hadn’t even asked for. He was starting to look like a loyal dog handing me a chew toy I couldn’t even use, wagging his tail.

The maids, too, began going out of their way to attend to me after that day. They started washing the clothes and bedding I used to wash myself, and they even began treating Karla, who had become my personal maid, with kindness out of envy.

Before, I could only manage to eat in a corner of the kitchen after helping the family with their meals, just as the maids did. With no one to help me or feel sorry for me. But now, if I said I wanted to eat in my room, they brought everything to me on their own.

Thanks to that, today as well, I finished my meal alone and was enjoying dessert at my leisure.

“To think they’d change this easily.”

“You seem quite comfortable. So when do you plan to begin your lessons?”

“Well. Mary. With Mother on the verge of being thrown out, do I really need to take lessons?”

“But you must. That is the reason I am here.”

Mary, the only one in this place who paid no mind to my mood, poked at me as though deliberately trying to provoke me. The maids couldn’t hide their startled expressions because of it.

But not a single one of them stepped in to stop Mary. Almost as though they were making it clear they had no need to risk themselves for my sake.

“Aren’t you afraid of me, Mary?”

“In what sense?”

“In various ways?”

“Neither afraid nor frightened. I have been teaching etiquette to the young lady since my time at the ducal house, so I have crossed quite a few nobles the wrong way. I even came close to losing my life because of it. So there is nothing left to fear.”

I looked up at her quietly.

“The only thing I fear is the thought that someone might fail to learn proper etiquette despite being taught by Mary Soltian.”

The maids who had been pretending not to listen while rolling their eyes all brightened at once.

They still believed Mary was on my mother-in-law’s side. So seeing her hold her own against me without backing down must have felt like a breath of fresh air. Not knowing that even this was part of the act, the loose-tongued maids would carry the news throughout the entire marquis’s estate. That was exactly what I wanted, so I played along with Mary’s words just enough.

“But I have no desire to learn. Mary, the moment Mother gets sent off to the villa, I’m sending you along with her. You may have been sent by the young lady, but if you don’t suit me, I’ll replace everyone.”

“Are you hoping that will frighten me?”

“That’s right. I want you to be frightened and do as I say. The marquis’s estate is mine.”

“I’m afraid I have no intention of doing that.”

I made a show of displeasure at Mary’s words and set my teacup down hard.

“We’ll see how long you can keep that up, Mary.”

I snapped at her, but she said nothing. I didn’t continue the conversation either. Only the maids nearby smiled. Foolishly. I hadn’t expected them to fall for something this simple.

Just then.

One of the maids who had been straightening the curtains smiled and pressed herself up against the window. I wasn’t the only one who noticed the odd reaction, as the other maids couldn’t take their eyes off the window either. The way they stirred about, they looked almost joyful, like people who had caught a glimpse of hope.

Just then, the sound of a horse’s whinny drifted in through the open window.

‘Is someone arriving?’

The people who came here were limited. And seeing the maids’ smiles, I had a good idea of who it was.

‘Probably my sister-in-law.’

I could guess without even looking. Most likely the eldest sister-in-law, Illia. She was someone who came without fail once or twice a week. And if she couldn’t reach her mother, Illia would be the first to come looking.

“Looks like someone has arrived. Everyone’s glued to the window and won’t budge.”

I knew perfectly well but played dumb and nudged them along. The maids who had been clustered at the window like a swarm of ants finally stepped back one by one.

“No, it’s nothing. It just looked like there was something on the windowsill…”

“Right. Then everyone may leave now. I’d like to rest.”

“Yes.”

They ground their teeth looking at me. To them, I was probably the villain. Seemingly unable to remember what they had done themselves, the maids were quick to let their hostility toward me seep through.

Even though I was the marchioness, the maids had put me to work without a second thought. With my mother-in-law and the handmaids looking down on me, it was only natural that the maids followed suit.

When I thought about how they hadn’t washed so much as a single piece of my clothing, it made sense. They hadn’t caused me direct harm the way the handmaids had, but they were bystanders all the same, and no different from the rest.

I had even been reduced to eating whatever scraps others left behind. That was something that had happened to me both in the past and now.

‘And yet here they are, acting like they’re the ones who’ve been wronged.’

They were truly cut from the same cloth as Mother. It reminded me once again that the saying about still waters running deep was not without reason.

In the meantime, the door closed. Mary and Karla were still standing in the room, but I paid them no mind and walked slowly toward the window. Outside, a carriage that had not yet pulled away came into view.

The Chenples marquisate’s carriage.

Only three people rode in that carriage.

My mother-in-law, Rose Chenples. The marquis, Dertosse Chenples. And the eldest sister-in-law, Illia Nolrn, who had married and become the Baroness Nolrn and yet still rode around in the marquisate’s carriage.

It was amusing that things were unfolding exactly as I had expected, without the slightest deviation.

Every single person who had stood by and done nothing while my child and I were killed, I would destroy them one by one. My sister-in-law in particular, who had tormented me relentlessly, was one of the people I needed to make suffer the most.

So I had simply been waiting for her to arrive. She would go to my mother-in-law first and then come straight here. I even felt a flicker of anticipation for what she would say and how she would rage.

About thirty minutes passed like that, and at last the door swung open without a knock.

“You crazy b*tch!”

Throwing all pretense of manners out the window, my sister-in-law flung the door open and stormed in, pointing her finger at me right from the start.

“Tell me. Have you completely lost your mind? Does it make any sense that Mom is about to get thrown out because of a worthless little wretch like you?”

“Oh! Sister.”

I watched the screaming Illia and quickly rose to my feet with a startled look. Nothing about her was any different from before. She shoved me back, just as she had been waiting to do, and came at me with full force.

“Oh, you’re here?”

“Oh, I’m here? I’m heeere?? You seem awfully relaxed, don’t you? Our mom is on the verge of collapsing right now!”

If my mother-in-law was a madwoman, then the eldest sister-in-law, Illia, was a lunatic.