“What did you just…”

“You don’t even have the right to speak a word to Kyle, yet your mouths are so noisy.”

“N-no, what are you talking about!”

It was the truth.

As mere maids, they didn’t have the status to even dare speak to Kyle.

‘And yet they go on about telling the young master this and that. It’s too ridiculous to bear.’

Once the snort escaped, the smile wouldn’t leave her lips.

The maids’ faces flushed bright red at this unprecedented situation.

People who speak carelessly tend to lack substance, so it wasn’t particularly surprising.

“We’ll have to tell the Madam!”

That damned “telling.”

In the end, they were people who had nothing of their own.

But while before it had been meaningless sarcasm, this time the words had bite.

No matter how much Olivia hated dealing with low-class types, when it came to matters involving Serena, she’d come running with double the fury.

Even while finding it annoying that they reported every little detail, she’d rush out barefoot to punish her.

That was why Serena had endured all manner of insults until now.

She’d only said one word to the rude maids as a member of the Count’s family, but those things always came back as unbearable beatings.

Even when their words tore at her heart, it was better than having her skin torn and bleeding, so she endured and endured again.

‘But that doesn’t mean I don’t get beaten anyway.’

The three of them happened to be in the wardrobe room, preparing to meet Hayden.

The hand that walked over lightly and grasped the doorknob quietly locked the door.

“I’m going to punish you two now.”

She spoke in a whisper with a relaxed smile.

Undeniable grace clung to her smoothly curved lips.

“…What are you talking about!”

The two who’d been momentarily dazed by the gentle instruction rebelled.

One shrieked incomprehensibly at the top of her lungs, while the other tried to push Serena aside and open the door.

Serena grabbed the hair of the woman pushing her and threw her down.

The maid, unable to even react to the sudden attack, collapsed right there.

“Kyaah!”

“Erica!”

Screams burst from both their mouths simultaneously.

As the surroundings grew chaotic, a familiar ringing assaulted her eardrums.

Soon after, a headache that made it impossible to think straight began stabbing her brain like needles.

But she didn’t stop.

If she couldn’t overcome the pain, she’d never escape this life.

She deliberately softened her gaze even more kindly.

Their furious glares turned fiercely toward her.

“I’m going to beat you now. If you want to fight back, I can’t stop you, but let me give you some advice for your own sake.”

As she recited slowly in a calm voice, even the air seemed to stop moving, growing quiet.

“No matter how much I’m hated, do you think the Count would be pleased to hear that someone bearing the Ashterton name got beaten up by mere maids?”

The difference in status was clear.

The maids, who knew full well they could only torment Serena, could only run to Olivia, but couldn’t directly harm her, ground their teeth.

The sight of them flushing red and blue with confusion and indignation was quite a spectacle.

After snorting and swallowing their anger for a moment, they came out with the obvious retort.

“If you hit us, the Madam won’t let it go!”

“Right, she won’t let it go.”

Her blue eyes moved elegantly, briefly turning toward the floor.

Just as the maids felt momentary relief at that fact, her clear gaze trapped the two of them.

“But she doesn’t let things go even when I don’t hit you, does she?”

She had nothing to lose.

She pulled her back away from the door she’d been leaning against and slowly approached them.

If they were normal people, they’d accept their punishment obediently by now, but with these types, they might attempt to fight back.

Brainless humans inherently lacked the ability to think about consequences.

‘Not that it matters.’

She was used to physical violence.

If this incident could shut their detestable mouths, she didn’t mind taking a few hits.

With that thought, her heart felt lighter.

She’d never see them again once she left the Count’s estate anyway, but still, just once.

Just once in her life, Serena wanted the other person to know she was angry.

The moment her unhesitatingly raised hand headed toward one of the maids’ cheeks—

CRASH.

The firmly closed door opened with a heavy sound.

Reflexively turning, familiar brown hair entered her vision.

Along with an equally familiar look of contempt.

“What’s going on here?”

A bone-chillingly cold voice cut through the silence.

‘Why again.’

He was usually so hard to see, yet he’d been causing trouble since the day before yesterday.

Breaking down doors, no less.

After being interrupted twice, irritation surged more than any other thought.

“I was educating them.”

“You? Them?”

It was a natural question for Kyle, but quite an infuriating one for Serena.

When a master punished servants, no questions were necessary.

The sight of him so brazenly asking while punishing her, a fellow Ashterton, with such a nonchalant face was pathetic.

“Yes, I need to prepare to meet His Grace the Grand Duke, but they kept talking about other things, so I was giving them a warning.”

“…Was today the day His Grace was coming?”

Kyle, briefly taking his eyes off her, muttered.

That seemingly distracted appearance was a somewhat unexpected reaction for Serena, who was used to him being like a well-honed blade.

An incomprehensible silence flowed between them for a moment.

Not wanting to remain in the same moment as him for even a second, Serena, unable to endure long, spoke first.

“I’ll handle it myself…”

“No, there’s no need. I’ll take care of it.”

“What?”

She found herself asking back at the absurd statement.

No matter how much he was the master of the estate, Kyle wasn’t someone who’d involve himself in mere maids’ affairs.

So for him to step into what she was doing—

‘He’s blatantly disrespecting me.’

Saying she had no right to do such things, that she was in a lower position than those maids.

Kyle Ashterton showed it in that way.

‘I’m sick of this.’

Sick of it beyond endurance.

Even when she’d encountered him two days ago, Serena had prioritized getting out of the situation.

What mattered was escaping this terrible hell.

How deeply she hated Kyle had to be hidden away for now.

Even now, acting that way would be right.

If she dragged Kyle into this, things would only get more complicated, so Serena knew very well that quietly listening to him was the better choice for later.

But.

She didn’t want to do that.

She wanted the maids to know she was angry beyond endurance, and she wanted Kyle to know she hated him enough to scream.

Their existence was so utterly sickening to her that she couldn’t bear it without speaking up.

The answer to the dilemma she’d agonized over all night, the answer she couldn’t reach even while deciding to punish the maids—

Like a massive iceberg submerged in the abyss rising up, it surfaced.

The lower lip she’d been biting hard since Kyle appeared finally parted.

“I don’t want to.”

“…”

His reaction was slight.

So slight you couldn’t notice it at a glance—he responded quietly to her defiance.

Not only were his firmly set lips unmoved, but not even a single eyelash trembled.

But Serena saw it.

His rage burning fiercely enough to devour her at any moment. Having feared him all her life, it was clearly visible to her alone, impossible to hide. His complexion darkened even further.

The feeling of meeting eyes with a statue silently watching her in a temple submerged in darkness enveloped Serena.

The strange eeriness flowing from him slowly captured her.

His cruelty that had crushed her all her life.

“They’re my maids. I’ll punish them.”

The deeper her fear of Kyle grew, the greater her resentment toward him became.

Something she’d been suppressing tore through her chest, climbed over her throat, and surged up.

Strength entered his firmly clenched jaw.

Though he tried not to show it befitting his noble status, it meant her statement had thrown him off.

‘Not even funny.’

She wouldn’t be afraid anymore.

She chewed the soft flesh inside her mouth and deliberately ignored the ringing in her ears, repeating it to herself.

She couldn’t have the life she wanted if she feared such things.

To completely escape from them, she couldn’t be swayed by them anymore.

Kyle, who’d been meeting her wide-open eyes without avoiding them, finally spoke.

“Something like you.”

Murderous intent flickered in his eyes watching Serena.

“You dare defy me?”

Step—he moved one step closer.

Instinct was unavoidable, and her legs trembled so much she could barely stand.

But she held on with all her might.

While he took another step closer, Serena didn’t avoid him until the end.

“Then you should be the one punished.”

Kyle, who’d soon approached right in front of her, raised his rough palm.

“…His Grace the Grand Duke will be coming.”

At the same time, she spat out the words like chewing them.

His eyebrows twisted at the unexpected words.

“What did you say?”

“I said His Grace the Grand Duke is coming. His Grace Hayden Havernian, this country’s one and only Grand Duke.”

After saying that much, his entire face visibly contorted.

A bitter smile hung on Serena’s lips as she looked at him.