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Chapter 9
“Speak the truth.”
I looked down at her and said coldly.
“Madam said… since I’m not the successor anyway, and I have little mana, there’s no need for me to attend….”
“Madam?”
My brows furrowed.
“Watch your words. The only true lady of this duchy is my late mother.”
“But still—”
“Do you want to lose your tongue?”
Of course, I had no real intention of cutting it out.
But from her perspective, I must have seemed like a messenger sent from hell.
“N-no, not at all.”
“Good. Anyway, that aside.”
I stroked my chin with one hand.
This was something I’d only just learned, but since I now knew I had a younger sister, I intended to adjust my plans slightly.
‘Not that I care to see that woman’s face.’
I already hated seeing the Duke and Claude, both of whom got a good beating in the original story, so I had no desire to confront Helena—the very definition of trouble, even in the novel.
Besides, one didn’t need parental permission to enroll in the Academy.
In Kanis’s case, she was a non-mage yet admitted into the Department of Magic thanks to the Duke’s influence—but that was a rare exception.
The actual admission requirements for the Academy’s Department of Magic were simple: any young person between the ages of 17 and 20 with mana.
The Swordsmanship Department required passing a combat exam, and the Political Science Department looked at family background. But the Department of Magic’s criteria were extremely straightforward.
The reason was obvious—people born with mana were rare. Even the faintest spark of talent was gathered up and trained.
Because the number of mages directly equaled national power.
So if what the maid said was true, Mei was certainly qualified to become a student.
I let go of my chin and murmured:
“All right, I’ve decided.”
I’ll secretly take her with me and have her enrolled.
“Wow.”
When I returned to my room, I found Mei dressed up like a proper young lady.
“We didn’t have any clothes that suited Lady Mei, so we chose one from the dresses you wore as a child, milady.”
“It really suits her.”
That wasn’t empty flattery.
Wearing a pale sky-blue dress, Mei’s beauty shone almost as brightly as Kanis’s heroine-boosted glow.
‘The Duke did at least pass down a good outer shell.’
Shame her insides were irredeemable trash.
Mei, flustered under my heated gaze, shyly clutched her skirt hem.
“L-lady…”
“What lady? Call me sister, like before.”
I took Mei’s hand, intending to sit her down.
“…!”
But then I was shocked by how frail her arm was.
“What on earth have you been living on?”
“Hic, sob!”
“Milady, if you press her like that with such a face, you’ll only frighten her,” Larisa advised calmly from the side.
“You have this naturally intimidating aura about you, just by existing.”
That girl had been scared stiff of me at first, but now that she’d realized I wasn’t harsh with her, she’d grown bold enough to speak her mind.
“Sorry. Mei, I wasn’t trying to threaten you.”
I deliberately tempered my mana as I apologized.
The ominous pressure that had been seeping from me receded, and Mei’s expression softened a little.
“It’s all my fault. I’m always so clumsy.”
But her next words made me clench my fists.
“And Madam always told me so. That since I’m neither the legitimate daughter like you, nor talented like the young master… I should live quietly, like air, unnoticed.”
Mei glanced at me nervously, then confessed further.
“She said if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be allowed to stay in this house anymore.”
‘Unbelievable.’
This damned ducal family wasn’t content with just trying to crush Kanis.
Now I understood why Mei never appeared in the original story.
So I met her eyes squarely and declared:
“Don’t worry. That won’t ever happen again.”
“…What?”
“For now, you’ll stay in my room.”
Of course, my “room” was practically the size of a penthouse.
I could easily spare one of the adjoining smaller rooms for her.
I pulled the bell rope by the door, and within seconds three maids appeared.
“You called, milady!”
They chorused in unison, as if competing for who could prove the most loyal.
‘…Did calling them by name work too well?’
They seemed… excessively eager.
With a wry expression, I gave my orders:
“Take Mei to the second-best room among the ones I have. Then contact a tailor to make her a few Academy uniforms.”
After thinking a moment, I added:
“Not the Duke’s exclusive tailor. Find someone else, and pay extra if you must—make sure the clothes are done within three days.”
“Understood!”
Their resounding reply startled me a bit.
I’d half-expected some resistance, given Mei’s position in this household.
As I watched them leave, I folded my arms.
‘They completely trust me. No—this is loyalty.’
Either way.
“Haah, I guess I wasn’t meant for an easy life after all.”
I grumbled, sprawling back onto the bed.
Meanwhile, the maid Anne—just expelled by Kanis—was trembling before Helena.
“What did you say? Repeat that.”
“T-the First Lady took that wretch Mei away with her….”
“Ha.”
Helena let out a laugh of disbelief.
She had disliked that girl from the beginning. Though younger by far, Helena had never liked Kanis.
They could never get along.
The legitimate heir despised by the Duke, versus the once-fallen noblewoman-turned-concubine, beloved by the Duke but scorned by society.
It was already an uneasy balance—and now, because of that legitimate heir, her own child might never step into the sunlight?
“Not content with blocking Claude’s path, now she’s even going to coddle that damned bastard child?”
Of course Helena ground her teeth.
If she’d been born to a powerful family instead of a ruined one, Kanis’s position would have been far shakier.
The Ducal House was an ancient magical lineage, producing mage-lords for generations.
The only reason a non-mage like Kanis hadn’t been cast out was because there was no legitimate replacement.
So Helena could not stand having her nerves pricked further.
“Tch.”
Her face twisted with irritation.
Anne’s legs shook, knowing how cruel Helena could be to servants.
Those icy black eyes—meeting them felt like facing a predator. Just yesterday, she had seen a fellow maid weeping after being whipped bloody on the calves.
And that had only stopped because the head maid intervened.
The head maid had been close to Helena even before her affair with the Duke, and was the only one who could restrain her.
But now, with even the head maid gone…
Anne squeezed her eyes shut and screamed inwardly:
‘What is wrong with this family?!’
She never should’ve taken this job, not even for double the pay.
Yet to her surprise, Helena didn’t strike her.
Instead, she shouted in fury:
“Summon that girl at once! I’ll lock her in the Reflection Room!”
“Young Lady, a maid is asking for you.”
“Hm?”
I sat up when Larisa entered suddenly.
“What for?”
“She’s from Lady Helena’s side.”
Larisa cast an annoyed glance at the door, like at a buzzing fly.
“No doubt it’s just another order to come or go. Shall I drive her off?”
Helena only wielded her power in this house because she had the Duke’s favor, and only over ordinary servants.
There was no way Larisa, a daughter of a prestigious count’s family—even if the second-born—would fear her.
“Yeah, chase her away.”
I was of the same mind.
The Duke was one thing, but Helena? I had no reason to humor her.
“Understood, then—”
“Wait, milady!”
Just as Larisa turned to go, a woman suddenly burst into my room.
A servant should never behave so rudely. My brows knitted as I looked over the brazen intruder.
‘That maid from earlier.’
The one who had shouted at Mei, then fled in terror when she saw me.
“Young Lady, Madam summons you! At once!”
Perhaps emboldened because I’d been suppressing my intimidating aura for Mei’s sake, the maid shouted with great confidence.
“She said if you don’t come immediately, you’ll be locked in the Reflection Room!”
The maid wore a smug expression, certain I’d be afraid of that.
But…
“The Reflection Room?”
What the hell is that?
