Chapter 2

The moment the face of the man who had remained expressionless all along unexpectedly fell apart had been so surprising that, somehow, his troubled expression did not seem likely to leave her mind easily for some time. But that thought lasted only for a moment.

“My handkerchief!”

It seemed she had left behind the handkerchief Neris had personally embroidered with her name and gifted to her at the gallery. The sharp rejection itself could not be helped, but once she realized that she had also lost her treasured handkerchief, Lizette at last grew depressed as well.

Step.

That was when it happened. From the corridor came the sound of someone’s footsteps. The footsteps drawing closer and closer to her room were not those of just one person. Lizette’s expression froze.

Along with a sinister foreboding, the footsteps stopped right nearby.

“Lizette, I’m coming in.”

A familiar voice sounded from beyond the door, as though informing rather than asking. Through the door, which opened without hesitation as if Lizette’s permission were unnecessary, two people appeared. Her stepbrother Graham, and a maid from the mansion.

“……Brother.”

“Lizette, don’t you think this makes no sense?”

“Young Master, I was wrong!”

Right before Lizette’s eyes, Graham all but hurled the maid down onto the floor. With a heavy thud, the maid’s body rolled across the ground. But the maid thrown to the floor, as if her back did not even hurt from the impact, immediately got back up, dropped to her knees on the spot, clasped both hands together, and begged fervently.

“Tell me what you did wrong.”

“Ah, I, I did not check where Miss was going when she went out.”

At the maid’s words, Lizette’s head swam. Even if he did not know the destination itself, it seemed Graham had found out that she had gone out. Even though she had moved quietly, avoiding the times when Graham was home, trying as much as possible not to be noticed.

‘Just how far does his grip on my life extend.’

Regardless of the chill Lizette felt, Graham interrogated the maid in a dry voice.

“That is all?”

“I, I knew how precious Miss is to you, Young Master, and yet I did not report that Miss had gone out alone!”

The maid trembled and begged like someone half out of her mind. Graham crouched in front of the maid and met her gaze, then raised his hand high.

‘Why is he raising his hand? Surely not…….’

At the ominous intuition, Lizette drew in a breath without realizing it. Heat rose hotly at the back of her neck. Without hesitation, Graham swung his hand, and Lizette’s unease soon burrowed into her ears as a vivid sound.

Smack!

As his large palm struck the maid’s cheek, a skin-crawling sound of friction tore through the air. Seeing the maid’s body topple sideways, unable to withstand Graham’s force, Lizette squeezed both eyes shut without realizing it.

“I, I will make sure this never happens again.”

One could close their eyes, but that did not block out the sounds. Every time his large hand touched the maid’s delicate skin and created that sharp sound, the maid begged and begged again in a tearful voice.

Lizette felt as though she could not breathe. It was like having a nightmare with her eyes open.

“……Brother, please stop!”

Unable to endure it any longer, Lizette grabbed hold of Graham’s arm. At the warmth of Lizette’s body as she clung tightly to his arm, Graham’s unpleasant smile deepened all the more.

‘This is it.’

It was his first time trying to shake Lizette’s heart in this way, and Graham was thoroughly satisfied. He had expected it, but as expected, Lizette had no hesitation in begging him for the sake of nothing more than a mere maid.

‘As expected, it works.’

Graham’s heart, which had been filled with anger at the fact that Lizette had slipped out of his control as she pleased, was now replaced by satisfaction. His younger sister had always been affectionate and soft-hearted. He had thought that if he used that point, he would be able to control Lizette easily, but this exceeded even his expectations.

“Lizette, what use is a maid who is negligent in caring for you? If she is a careless maid who takes her eyes off you even for a moment, then it is only proper that she be punished.”

As always, Graham’s words oppressing Lizette sounded plausible on the surface. At his voice, speaking as though the corporal punishment was still far from enough, Lizette, pale-faced, looked over the maid’s face.

The maid’s cheeks were swollen all over, left and right alike. Lizette hated this entire situation so much it made her shudder, but first of all, stopping his violence had to come first.

“Miss, please save me!”

Realizing that appealing to Graham was useless, the maid clutched at Lizette’s legs and pleaded. It was surely an instinctive act. The maid before her had completely forgotten that she must never dare lay hands carelessly on a noble’s body, and clung to Lizette.

‘So it ends up like this again.’

Lizette bit down hard on her lip. The ways Graham displayed his superiority were different every time, but as had always been the case until now, the one who always ended up losing was Lizette.

“……I’m sorry for going out on my own. There was a book I wanted to buy, and because the weather was good, I only wanted to go quietly by myself.”

“If you put it that way, well, shall I let it pass just this once. You there, you may leave now.”

“Miss, th, thank you so much!”

The maid, bowing her head again and again in thanks, hurriedly left for fear Graham might change his mind. Watching her, Lizette clutched at her chest without realizing it.

She had gotten through this one instance like this again, but what remained was not relief, only the suffocating feeling of being caught in a trap she could not escape.

‘It’s sickening and horrible.’

Lizette could not understand why Graham was so obsessively attached to her. Whenever she thought of Graham, her chest felt stifled, as though a heavy stone had been set upon it. He was the only one in this household who showed her any interest, but Lizette did not welcome that interest in the slightest.

“Lizette, it would be better if you paid a little more attention to my feelings. There is nothing more upsetting than you failing to understand my heart.”

“…….”

“I treasure you very much.”

There was exaggeration mixed into Graham’s voice as he cheerfully went on about his affection.

Graham’s words that he treasured Lizette had once been true. To a young girl who had never received anyone’s love, the affection given by a brother who approached her kindly had been rather sweet and something to be grateful for. There had even once been a time when she thought it was salvation that had come at the end of loneliness.

But that feeling did not last long. At some point, Lizette began to feel discomfort in Graham’s gaze toward her. At first she thought it was a misunderstanding. But as that feeling repeated itself, Lizette became certain. What Graham extended to her was not the kindness of an elder brother.

By the time Lizette became sure that something was wrong, much time had already passed. Graham gradually became bolder, and from time to time, under the guise of accident, his touch would brush against Lizette’s body in ways that made her uncomfortable.

“Hmm? Lizette?”

When Lizette gave no answer, Graham’s low-set voice pressed for a response. The line of Graham’s eyes curved faintly. It was a gentle smile, but within that smile, Lizette felt a chill like a beast sizing up its prey.

“……I’ll make sure there is nothing for you to worry about, Brother.”

Lizette answered in a listless voice. She had nothing else to say. All she had to do was say the words Graham wanted to hear.

Now that Graham had properly begun even his training as the heir, there was no one in this mansion who could stop him. In the mansion without her father and stepmother, Graham was the clear authority.

Of course, even if the two of them were in the mansion, it would not make much difference.

“That’s right, Lizette. It would be troubling for you to wander outside the mansion as you please. You understand that now.”

Graham drew out the end of his sentence. At his manner, so full of intent, the scene from a little earlier repeated itself in her mind.

‘I know. If I say I don’t, you’ll just make me understand again, so how could I not know.’

He knew exactly what Lizette feared. Unfortunately for Lizette, Graham was quite clever, and he usually used that decent mind of his to tighten the noose around Lizette’s neck in meticulous and calculated ways.