“Just shut your mouth and do it!”

“Oh. Could it be that the princess thinks… that I’m carrying a child or something like that?”

“What?”

The way her eyes wavered told me I had hit the mark.

A child. Regrettably, there was not the slightest chance of that. Not only had we not been together even once since the wedding, but my monthly bleeding had been coming along regularly.

Of course, since no one attended to me, I had handled it on my own, so no one in this household would have known. That my cycle was coming along just fine.

“Shut your mouth and do it.”

“Have Dertosse bring the princess back somehow, and tell her then. That there’s no chance of a child.”

“So that is what she thinks. But Mother… can I say for certain that it isn’t true.”

“What?”

I smiled and rubbed my stomach.

“You, how dare you…!”

“How dare me. Mother. Isn’t carrying a child a blessing?”

“In your filthy body… d, don’t tell me! That must never happen!”

My mother-in-law, who had been raging without getting her words out properly, moved her hand sharply to strike me just then.

“That’s enough.”

I was in the middle of wondering whether it would be more entertaining to take the blow or to grab her hand and stop it, when someone stepped between us.

“What?”

It was Mary.

I had known she was there from before, but my mother-in-law had been moving about so wildly that I hadn’t even been able to make eye contact with her.

“I’ll handle that. There’s no need for you to dirty your hands, my lady.”

Only then did my mother-in-law stop her fuming and looked back and forth between me and Mary.

But since Mary was someone the princess had gifted to the household, even Rose, who answered to no one, couldn’t treat Mary the way she treated me. If anything, something about the air Mary carried seemed to make Rose shrink slightly.

“……”

“With your permission, I’d like to begin the education now.”

“Education?”

“Is there a suitable room? One where no one will come.”

My mother-in-law, who had not yet calmed down, finally clenched her fist and walked ahead.

“Follow me.”

At those words, Mary looked at me, and I had no choice but to follow my mother-in-law.

A corridor filled with nothing but silence. Mary followed behind me without making so much as a sound. She even matched my stride, as though watching in case I tried to slip away somewhere else. Thanks to that, it was immediately clear just how exacting she was about propriety, exactly as the princess had boasted.

“This way.”

The rooms at the far end of the estate let in harsh drafts and were cold, so no one stayed in them. They weren’t used for guests either, and most of the time served as storage.

My mother-in-law’s footsteps stopped in front of one of those rooms. A shabby room I hadn’t even known existed. The worn-down room let out an eerie sound just from opening the door.

Once inside, my mother-in-law’s voice dropped to a calmer register.

“You may have come on the princess’s recommendation, but this is the marquis’s household. So I won’t stand on ceremony.”

“Of course.”

“Right. I am Rose Chenples.”

“It is an honor to meet you, my lady. Allow me to introduce myself again. I am Mary Soltian.”

My mother-in-law smiled with pleasure at the woman presenting herself so properly.

“Right, Mary. While you are here, you follow me. So make sure you never again interfere with what I’m about to do, the way you did just now. If you do, I will punish you severely.”

“I apologize. It will not happen again.”

“I can see why she’s a handmaid from a ducal household. Very much to my liking.”

“You are far too kind.”

They were getting along so well it made my nose twitch as I watched the two of them.

“So what happens now?”

“I have been ordered to educate the young mistress here.”

“Right. Some proper education was long overdue. The marquis’s household has been so busy all this time that there was never an opportunity…”

She trailed off and stared at Mary.

“Please do not worry. From now on, I will educate her to whatever degree you wish, my lady.”

“Just hearing that is satisfying. Oh yes, very satisfying indeed.”

Now I was the uneasy one. This was something I hadn’t experienced in my past life. What exactly had the princess ordered this woman to do?

“Then, young mistress. I will begin your education starting today.”

“…What kind of education?”

“I will teach you proper etiquette across the board. Slowly, the way one teaches a young child. For that reason, I would prefer the lessons take place with just the two of us.”

My mother-in-law’s face, which had been shifting between us with satisfaction, went cold and stiff.

“Why.”

Mary, who had said she would be educating me, pulled a small whip from inside her garment. My mother-in-law seemed to understand at once and let out a short laugh, then nodded.

“I see. Right. Of course. Whether it’s a person or an animal, if it won’t listen, you beat it.”

“So would you please step out.”

“Of course.”

“W, wait. Mother. She said she’s going to beat me!”

“Good for you. It seems you’ve finally met your match.”

“……”

Right. This woman lived for the pleasure of tormenting me.

It was bad enough that even on days when I couldn’t get out of bed from the ab*se, she would pour ice water over my body. Wasn’t this the same mother-in-law who said the fever was just because the room was too warm, then dragged me out and threw me into the snow? I let out a short laugh and looked at the door she had walked out of.

She was already gone from the room. I watched the door closing and met Mary Soltian’s eyes.

‘Right. This person might actually be better.’

Being whipped by my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law had been a regular occurrence.

The door shut with a thud, and Mary, as though she had been waiting for it, brought the whip she had taken from her garment down against the floor once. A sharp rush of air cut through the room, followed by a dull crack against the floor, and laughter drifted in from outside.

Not stopping there, Mary drove the whip against the floor at a steady rhythm and steered me toward the window. Before long I had backed up against it with nowhere left to go.

“I intend to do this properly.”

“…Who do you think you are? Do you think you have the right to hit me?”

“It seems I’ll need to educate that mouth of yours first.”

“W, wait…!”

The whip moved in an arc in an instant. I closed my eyes at the cool sensation of a whip, the first I had felt since turning back time. In that moment the whip made a sharp crack, and a small sound escaped my lips on its own.

But there was no pain.

I wondered whether I was too tense to feel it and carefully opened my eyes, and what spread before me was a sight I hadn’t expected.

“Why are you…”

The words came out on their own. The whip had clearly come down toward me in a threatening arc. But the one who had taken the blow was Mary.

Just then, Mary brought her long fingers to her lips.

It meant to be quiet. Mary, meeting my eyes, gestured toward the door. My mother-in-law was still on the other side. Because of that, Mary brought the whip down on herself several more times after that. With muffled groans to go along with it.

How much time passed like that.

Whether she had enjoyed enough of what she believed to be my suffering, the sound of footsteps that had refused to leave from outside the door gradually grew more distant. Mary, who had been lifting the hem of her skirt and bringing the whip down, lowered it again with an expressionless face.

For a while, neither of us said a word.

We only looked at each other, and silence was all that filled the room.

“I have come under orders.”

It must have hurt, but Mary withdrew her gaze from me and stepped toward me as though nothing had happened, then bowed her head.

“I have no idea what orders you’re talking about. Did the princess send you to spy on me?”

Even at the sharp words I threw at her with my guard up, Mary’s expression didn’t change. Instead she pushed her spectacles up with one finger, then drew something from inside her garment and held it out to me.

On the small slip of paper, only a single line was written.

“I permit you. Isen.”

“Ha.”

Now that a single line had made everything clear, I felt like laughing.

“But I was told you were close to Princess Rechel…”

“Yes. We are close.”

“Then what is this supposed to be? Are you a double agent?”

“A triple agent by now, perhaps.”

The casual way she spoke about being a spy nearly made my skin crawl. She was resolute in a way that suggested she had never once worn an expression in her life.

“……”

“That was a joke. I am Isen’s person.”

“The fact that you looked after Princess Rechel’s education since she was young, and that you are close to her…”

“I believe questions like those are unnecessary to carry out this matter.”

“…Oh. Right.”

I was at a loss for words for a moment in the face of that inexplicable presence of hers.

“Under Isen’s orders, I will be watching over you in real time. To that end, Isen sent me, someone who has kept watch over every aspect of Princess Rechel’s life for over ten years.”

“Should I say I’m honored.”

“Yes.”

How could someone be this stiff? She circled around me as though she had no concept of humor. Just then.

“It seems the time has come.”

“Time?”

Without any change in expression, she suddenly said those words and flung open the firmly shut window. Then she took hold of my arm and stepped back one pace. At that, a man came leaping in through the window.

It was Isen.