“So you’ve decided to send her away after all.”

“Yes.”

“When will she be able to return? Ah. Of course, I’m not asking out of my own curiosity. I thought the lady of the house would want to know…”

“Originally, I had planned to have her return as soon as the child was born, but… after yesterday’s incident caused a miscarriage, I won’t allow her to return until I conceive again and that child turns ten. I can’t keep her nearby when she poses such a risk.”

His face grew heavy as he gave a slow nod.

His expression shifted in a way that suggested he understood, to some degree.

“I see.”

“Tell the lady of the house as well. That because of yesterday’s incident, the number of people attending to her has been reduced even further. And that because she may endanger the next child I conceive… I intend, as much as possible, to never allow her back into the main house again. Make sure you also tell her that Dertosse has entrusted all authority to me.”

“Yes.”

“And regarding Illia…”

Once the matter of the lady of the house was settled, the butler looked at me with an expression that had lost interest.

“In my heart, I would like to hold a Noble council and charge her with causing the miscarriage of a noble’s child, but since Illia is Dertosse’s sister, I don’t think I can go that far.”

“Bringing it to a tribunal over an internal family matter could indeed damage public opinion.”

“So I’m not sure this will amount to a punishment, but… I intend to strip Illia of every benefit she has received as a member of the marquisate.”

At that, the butler looked at me with a puzzled expression instead.

“That is…”

“It’s something I’m already doing, of course. But from now on, it’s different. I’m going to expel her from the family. Have this document signed by the lady of the house.”

“Yes…?”

“I’ll remove her name from the marquisate’s family register. If I leave things as they are, Illia will pull something like this every time I become pregnant again. If the lady of the house agrees to this… I won’t send her to the villa. I’ll take it to mean she at least feels some remorse toward me.”

The butler met my eyes with a deeply troubled expression.

“But I don’t see how that would be possible. There is no way the lady of the house would cast out her own daughter…”

“If she won’t cast out her daughter, then the lady of the house will be cast out permanently. Tell her to choose between the two.”

In any case, there was nothing left to take from Illia. I had already cut off everything she had. So pursuing damages against the Nolrn barony wasn’t a viable option either.

This was the best course.

“…I will relay the message, but…”

He was still skeptical. And understandably so. It was an absurd thing to ask. Surrendering one’s own child to save oneself was not something people ordinarily did.

But the person in question was Rose Chenples. She was a woman who put herself before her family. The fact that she had tried so hard to keep me from becoming her son’s daughter-in-law, the fact that her son had grown to his age without ever having a single romance, all of it had been because she did not want it.

She had wanted to extend her life as the marchioness for as long as possible.

That was why I was certain the lady of the house would abandon her own daughter.

“The choice is the lady of the house’s to make. So make sure you relay what I said just now first.”

“…Yes. Then will you keep Lady Illia here in the meantime?”

“I have to. Nothing has been decided yet. I’ll keep her here until the lady of the house makes her decision. Of course, tell the lady of the house as well. That I cannot wait indefinitely.”

I smiled at him.

“You’ll need the documents, so have someone else go to the noble tribunal right now and bring back the necessary paperwork.”

“…Understood.”

“It would be best not to get any other ideas. The head maid has already come over to my side. If you refuse to do this, I can go through her instead. You understand what that means.”

“……”

“Then move quickly. My patience doesn’t stretch very far.”

It was a warning that any foolish thoughts would get him dismissed on the spot. The butler nodded as though he had understood my meaning at once. Under ordinary circumstances, expelling a blood family member from the household would have been impossible. But in the empire, it was possible.

‘In the past, the lady of the house used this to threaten Dertosse as well.’

With words like: if you don’t listen to me, if you take Evian’s side, you’ll be expelled from the family. Because she was someone who could actually do it, Dertosse had been powerless against her alone.

Ironically, that system had been established so long ago and was so rarely used that the lady of the house didn’t know the law well. That was why she hadn’t been able to stop Dertosse and me from marrying. If she had known, she would have already wielded it the moment he brought me to this house saying he intended to marry me.

It was the eldest sister-in-law, Illia, who had tipped the lady of the house off about the existence of that law and told her she could use it to threaten Dertosse. Ironically enough. I intended to use the very weapon she had once wielded to tighten the noose around Illia’s own neck.

In practice, there were occasional cases of parents expelling a child through this process. It was typically done when someone had gambled away fortunes or caused such serious harm to the family that they could no longer be kept as a member of it.

Because it severed all family ties completely, it was only carried out in the most extreme cases. In practice, when someone was expelled from a family, a noble tribunal stripped them of even the right to use the family name, so they could never bring harm to that family again.

“Then you may go.”

I waved my hand at the butler, who was still hesitating. The butler, thoroughly deflated, let out a sigh and answered compliantly.

“I will… follow your instructions.”

With that answer, he went straight outside.

The mere act of drawing up the documents would render the sister-in-law completely powerless. And the relationship between the lady of the house and her daughter would deteriorate beyond repair.

The lady of the house, facing expulsion from the family because of her own daughter, was about to erase that daughter’s name from the family register entirely for the sake of her own security. 

By the time the day came for me to leave this household, they would have crossed a point of no return because of this.

‘And the matter doesn’t end there.’

By drawing up those documents, the lady of the house would think she could remain in the estate, but I intended to repeat the cycle every day, saying I would send her away and then saying I wouldn’t. Giving her hope and then taking it away.

In the end, knowing the lady of the house’s temperament, she would surely fly into a rage and go looking for Dertosse. Not that Dertosse would ever go to her, of course. And in the meantime, most of the assets the lady of the house held would no longer be hers.

I stretched my arms high above my head.

I could see Karla and Mary watching me, still looking uneasy.

I watched them quietly for a moment, then looked out the window. About ten minutes passed, and I saw a servant rush out and board a carriage.

‘Now the time that had been standing still will begin to move, and the time for revenge draws near.’

Isen had just sent word that he was making his move, and the miscarriage had come to pass.

The time had come for those who, in the past, had not hesitated to take another person’s life in order to sustain their own, to finally face their reckoning.

I didn’t move from that window for some time, until they were gone.

* * *

And exactly one day later, early in the morning.

The butler brought me a single document.

I had just finished a simple meal and was thinking of taking a walk for the first time in a while, when the document placed before me turned out to be a sworn declaration that Rose Chenples would permanently remove from the family her own daughter, and the first daughter of the Chenples marquisate, Baroness Nolrn, Illia Nolrn.

Looking at the lady of the house’s seal and signature, stamped clearly on the page, I smiled brightly.

“The lady of the house has done it.”

Even as he held the document out to me, the butler couldn’t wipe the look of disbelief from his face. Since it was something no ordinary person could ever do, he seemed to have taken quite a shock as well.

“Why do you look like that?”

“You seemed to be in quite a bit of despair.”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Butler. This is good news for you. It means the lady of the house you care so much for gets to stay in this household. So smile. Anyone watching might think you have some kind of connection to Illia.”

Only then did he smile, his cheeks trembling with the effort.

“Not at all. I’m delighted.”

“That’s right. Someone who deserved punishment has simply received it.”

“Yes…?”

I folded the document he had given me neatly and placed it in the desk drawer. I locked it securely with two keys, then rose from my seat.

“So, butler, keep your expression in check from here on out. I’m going to go see Illia now. You’ll come with me, won’t you?”

“Yes…? M-me as well?”

“Of course. There’s no telling what she might do this time… the butler should naturally come along to protect me, shouldn’t he? And I’m curious to see what choice she makes this time.”

I passed him as he stood there blankly and gave his shoulder a light tap.

“Then lead the way.”

“…Yes, understood.”

Whether he had decided there was no other choice, the butler did his best to keep a smile on his face as he slowly led me along. Stepping outside for the first time in a while, the atmosphere of the marquisate had shifted considerably from just a few days ago. The maids were still gathered in front of my room door.

But their expressions looked quite uneasy. And that wasn’t all. Several of the maids held sheets of white paper in their hands.

‘Do they think that if they return the documents to my room, they’ll face no punishment?’

It was truly baffling. Their thoughts were so transparent that all I could do was laugh.