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Chapter 12
“Te-testimony? I… I don’t know who told you what, but I greatly respect Her Grace the Duchess, and, as I said, I’ve always considered her… friendly—”
“This is Naomi Wilton’s testimony.”
“…What?”
She, fumbling for excuses, froze and spoke in a dumbfounded voice.
“Naomi… she wouldn’t… she couldn’t…”
Naomi Wilton was present when Melissa mocked me using Killian’s affair as an excuse and was also Melissa’s cousin.
One of the knights surrounding Melissa opened a letter in front of her.
“This letter was sent by Naomi Wilton.”
“T-this is…”
Melissa only rolled her eyes back and forth, unable to speak. Judging by the fact that her excuses had completely fallen apart, it seemed everything written in the letter was true.
The knight clicked his tongue and handed the letter back to Killian.
I quickly reached out toward him.
“Give it here. I want to see it too.”
But Killian swiftly tucked the letter into his chest and, unusually avoiding eye contact, tried to calm me.
“There’s nothing in it worth knowing.”
“If it’s that kind of content, I especially need to know. Ignoring bad news only leads to bigger trouble later.”
“…Do you really need to see it?”
“Yes, give it here.”
When I said it with wide eyes, he reluctantly handed over the letter.
I quickly read through it.
“Melissa has harbored resentment toward Her Grace the Duchess for the past five years.
She wanted to enter the social circles of the empire and pressured Count Frey to introduce her to the Duchess. She was delighted to visit the House of Ramirez, but was turned away coldly.
Since then, she has constantly slandered Her Grace.”
That’s about when it happened.
“Stop.”
Killian snatched the letter away. The remaining contents were all slanders about me.
But I had already skimmed most of it.
“She acts arrogantly relying on the House of Ramirez, supposedly the most beautiful woman in the empire but no better than a fierce dog, her temper is vile because she was motherless…”
Having heard such things countless times, it didn’t really hurt.
But I did get a bit curious. I looked down at Melissa, crouched on the floor.
“…You came to visit the House of Ramirez?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t remember it at all.”
“Of course. To you, it must have been something you forgot immediately.”
Melissa, apparently forgetting Killian’s presence, glared at me in indignation.
No, even if you glare like that, I really don’t remember.
I was an illegitimate child, notorious for my foul temper, so almost no one ever came to visit me.
I remember most acquaintances, after all.
‘Even if she’d heard Count Frey’s name, she only got to know him when she came to the North. So how exactly was I introduced to her?’
Before marriage, the Count controlled every aspect of my life—where I went, who I met, and who I contacted.
My personal maids monitored me first-hand and reported every detail to the Count.
‘It’s almost a miracle that Killian’s proposal even reached me.’
Even then, the maids thought it was a joke, so it reached my hands. Had they thought it was real, they would’ve shown it to the Count first or destroyed it early on.
“Ah… could it be.”
I asked Melissa again.
“Even if Count Frey introduced you, you wouldn’t have come to see me without reason. Did you perhaps send a letter?”
Melissa twisted her lips upward.
“Ha. So you remember now?”
Her face was flushed red as she grabbed at the grass in the garden.
“Your Grace surely replied first, welcoming me and saying I could come anytime. But when I actually visited, you acted as if you didn’t know me!”
Melissa shouted as if she vividly remembered the day. From her trembling shoulders radiated deep shame and anger.
“You forgot the promise, so what? It’s not the end of the world, but I don’t want to associate with a minor family like yours, so just go away.”
Her tone was dramatic, like a stage actress.
Just as I had returned her words to her at the party, Melissa seemed to be repeating what I had said to her five years ago.
“And then you threw me out in front of the city gates.”
Her words didn’t seem metaphorical. Her blue eyes were boiling with fury.
‘Unbelievable. She went through that?’
Melissa and I were the same age, so five years ago she was seventeen.
At such a delicate age for a noble lady, the household knights and staff had thrown her out in front of the mansion gates.
It’s no wonder she hated me.
‘But.’
I never ordered her to be thrown out, nor did I read the letters she supposedly sent. The replies she received were surely from my maid, acting on her own.
Without my permission.
‘Hah. I guess I was living too comfortably in the Count’s mansion. I forgot they sometimes played tricks like that.’
Not just Melissa, my maids had often sent letters on their own to make my life difficult.
That’s how I once got splashed with tea at a tea party.
It was a celebration of a young lady’s engagement. She trembled when she saw me and poured tea over me.
“Shameless! Why are you here? Are you here just to see a pearl necklace on a pig’s neck?”
“I don’t understand what you’re doing… or what you’re saying.”
“You don’t even remember writing the reply yourself, do you?”
“Reply?”
“Your denial is top-notch. Hah. Feeling sorry for an illegitimate child being shunned, I played along, but lowborn blood shows its nature. Don’t even speak to me.”
“What did you say? Hey!”
Confused, I had created a patch on the young lady’s head before her engagement ceremony.
And the House of Ramirez paid for the engagement as an apology.
Even though I never sent the letter, it had been ‘marked as sent by me,’ saying “wearing a pearl necklace on a pig’s neck is ridiculous.”
The maids seemed to enjoy tormenting me while manipulating nobles they couldn’t usually control.
Melissa’s case must have been one such incident I wasn’t aware of.
‘Haa…’
I sighed deeply in my mind.
I don’t deny that my temper is fierce.
Red Witch?
Well, sure. Some might call me that.
But the cause of such a nickname wasn’t entirely mine.
‘Half of it was probably a collaboration between my maids and the House of Ramirez.’
The problem is, who would believe this story?
Even if I tried to explain directly, no one would believe me. This had been going on for over ten years.
‘Even if I were Melissa, I probably wouldn’t believe me.’
I spoke slowly in a state of despair.
“Melissa. Repeat what you just said.”
“Does Your Grace enjoy making people repeat themselves?”
“Yes. It’s my hobby.”
Melissa frowned at the casual response. But when Killian flicked his foot as if urging her, she quickly repeated what she had said.
“You forgot the promise, so what? It’s not the end of the world, but I don’t want to associate with a minor family like yours, so just go away. …And then you threw me out.”
I had deliberately asked her to mimic the tone she remembered, but it was pointless.
The result was predictable.
‘As expected, it’s Kaya.’
Kaya was the Countess of Ramirez’s confidante and one of the maids who particularly hated me.
“Why are you making me do this?”
Melissa asked, kneeling but holding her head high.
I clicked my tongue.
“Melissa Frey. You held onto those words for five years and never thought it was strange?”
“Huh?”
“I didn’t say it myself. My maid passed along words like ‘go away.’ But… did I use that tone?”
“What are you saying…?”
I never used formal speech with girls my age or younger nobles. Except for being illegitimate, I was the highest-ranking among my peers in the House of Ramirez.
At first, I hadn’t learned etiquette, and sometimes used formal speech to gain favor…
But all I got in return was neglect and ridicule.
“So now you blame the maid for the tone?”
“I’m not blaming anyone. It’s true. I didn’t even know you visited.”
“You think I would believe that?”
“Believe it or not, it’s your choice.”
Melissa seemed even angrier. Her face, which had been openly expressing rage, became expressionless. Her eyes were cold, filled only with hatred, staring through me.
Just like five years ago, she thought I was pretending not to know and teasing her.
‘I said it sincerely.’
I sighed inwardly. No matter how much I begged her to believe me, it was useless.
No one believes me.
Belief is entirely up to the other person’s heart, and I rarely win people over.
‘See, everyone thinks I’m just being unreasonable.’
The knights looked down awkwardly, and Melissa appealed to Killian in disbelief.
“Does Your Grace believe what she’s saying?”
“I do.”
…Huh?
I quickly turned to Killian with a sharp motion. What nonsense was this? But his expression was cold enough that I couldn’t doubt it.
Melissa blinked in surprise.
“W-what? You believe her?”
“Why wouldn’t I? Someone asked me to believe their drunken memory doesn’t count.”
Killian shook the letter full of my slanders.
“Now that it’s clear you harbored malice toward the Duchess, this testimony is even more credible.”
“No, Your Grace first made a mistake and didn’t apologize, so of course I was angry! This is a mutual fault—”
“So you’re saying the testimony is true?”
“W-well…”
“Or do you want to claim you’ve been drunk every day for the past five years?”
Melissa couldn’t find words and fell silent. Killian set down the letter, stood, and squatted in front of her like a petty thug, resting his arm on his knee.
“Melissa Frey. No matter what you say, the fact remains: you slandered and defamed the Duchess over a long period.”
The aura from his broad, strong back was menacing.
“Go back and tell your Count. From now on, all trade with the House of Frey is to be stopped in Argos.”
Melissa, unable to meet Killian’s eyes, suddenly lifted her head.
“No, Your Grace! Please revoke that order!”
Argos was the trading guild run by Killian, mainly dealing in military supplies and foodstuffs. Essential in the North, especially during winters with heavy snow and monster attacks.
Stopping trade with Argos wouldn’t immediately cause huge losses, but in the long run, the Frey family might stumble.
No guild would dare trade with the family he had blocked, and other nobles would cease contact, making the Frey family’s decline inevitable.
Foreseeing her family’s future, Melissa clutched my skirts.
“Your Grace, I was wrong! Please, spare me!”
