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Chapter 19
In the world I used to live in, there’s a saying:
You hate the sister-in-law who tries to stop you more than the mother-in-law who hits you.
And that was exactly the role I was about to play.
Not long after Olivia headed toward Cedric’s office, the door burst open.
“Elia!”
“Eliaaa!”
Cedric and Calib rushed in side by side, shouting my name.
Were they together?
That was unexpected.
In the original story, the brothers were deeply affectionate toward one another. But because they respected each other so much, it was said they only shared meals together.
It was their firm resolve not to intrude on one another’s time so as not to incur resentment.
So the fact that they had been together… well, it didn’t matter much.
“You’re here…”
I spoke in a weak voice and rose awkwardly to my feet.
After Olivia left, I had sprayed water on my face with a mist sprayer.
It was to look as if I’d broken out into a cold sweat.
Seeing me like that, tears welled up in Calib’s red eyes.
Oh? I thought he was just playing along with the act… but Calib, you—
…you really don’t know?
I shot Cedric a quick glance.
He was staring grimly at my feet, but sensing my gaze, he looked up at me.
Then he shook his head lightly.
“Calib and I both know.”
That’s probably what he meant.
Huh? They know, and yet they’re still this worried?
I stared at Calib in surprise, hiding my thoughts.
Was this why he was destined to deceive the entire Empire and deal a crushing betrayal in the future?
Perhaps his talent was already beginning to show.
Calib turned his fierce gaze on the servants bowing their heads and shouted:
“Fetch the doctor again, immediately! I need to know what happened here!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Olivia, who had been dazed by my performance, hurriedly ran out.
Cedric gently patted Calib’s head, as though to soothe a frightened child, silently saying “It’ll be alright.”
But unlike the tenderness of that gesture, his voice was chilling.
“Bring in Lady Jeril Babylon.”
“Yes, understood.”
Edwin, who had been watching us gravely, gave a short bow and left.
Before long, the doctor and Jeril arrived.
The doctor looked utterly baffled, while Jeril’s face was already flushed red.
“To be summoned so suddenly, not invited but summoned!”
That’s what her expression seemed to say.
I made my shoulders tremble pitifully, pretending to be frightened of her.
Cedric wrapped his arm gently around my shoulder as he addressed Jeril.
“Lady Babylon. I heard you began teaching my fiancée etiquette lessons today.”
“…Yes. By the young lord’s order, I was assigned to the task.”
Jeril answered stiffly, holding her back straight.
Her gaze lingered briefly on Cedric’s hand resting protectively on my shoulder.
“There’s one thing I’d like to confirm about those lessons.”
“What is it?”
“Is it true that you had Elia walk around in high-heeled shoes?”
Jeril’s mouth opened slightly, then shut.
She had realized why she’d been summoned here so suddenly.
Her eyes naturally shifted toward me.
I flinched and leaned closer into Cedric, as though shrinking away from Jeril’s terrifying gaze.
Seeing this, Calib quickly moved as if to shield me.
Jeril’s face twisted in distaste, but only for a moment.
“Yes, it’s true, Lord Cedric. But that was an essential part of the curriculum.”
Jeril replied calmly, as though she had never faltered.
“I do admit I was hasty. But… in my judgment, Lady Elia seemed very relaxed during the lesson, so I thought it would be fine to advance the pace a little.”
It was my mistake in judgment.
She lowered her brows in a show of regret, pressing a hand to her chest.
She looked as if she were about to apologize, so I acted my part, squeezing out a strained, trembling voice.
“That’s right, Lord Cedric. Miss Jeril’s words are all true. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.”
Cedric glanced down at me.
I looked up at him with the most pitiful expression I could manage.
“I was careless. After all, she said my walking posture wasn’t pretty.”
Jeril, who had been nodding, thinking I was defending her, suddenly froze.
“She said she’d demonstrate, and she walked so gracefully and comfortably. I couldn’t help but let out an admiring laugh.”
“Yes, brother. Miss Jeril’s walk was so beautiful, it brought joy to anyone watching.”
Calib, sharp as ever, jumped in to back me up.
“I wanted to walk like her too. So when she gave me those ‘stiff, high heels that hadn’t been broken in at all,’ I was happy.”
I lowered my eyes innocently, as if speaking the truth.
My long lashes fluttered gently.
“If I practiced walking in those shoes, could I become as elegant as Miss Jeril? Could I abandon my clumsy ‘commoner’s walk’ and move gracefully instead? That’s what I thought…”
I deliberately slipped the word commoner in there.
So it would sound as though Jeril had shamed me for being one.
Then I lifted my gaze slightly, casting a frightened glance at Jeril, as though I couldn’t even bear to meet her eyes—before looking back up at Cedric.
“She told me to wear ‘heels thinner than my little finger and taller than my palm’ and walk in them for nearly three hours. I couldn’t refuse.”
I heard Jeril draw in a sharp breath.
“N-no, Lord Cedric, this is…”
Jeril hurried to defend herself, but it was too late.
“Hah.”
Cedric let out a cold laugh, turning toward her.
I couldn’t see his face, but Jeril, frozen in place, looked utterly terrified.
“You knew Elia had never worn heels before, and yet you subjected her to such a lesson….”
Cedric shook his head in disbelief.
“I can hardly believe someone who graduated at the top of the Academy’s etiquette program would use such a teaching method.”
Jeril’s lips moved soundlessly.
But Cedric gave her no room.
“I was already concerned Calib’s curriculum might be too advanced for his age.”
“Wh-what?”
“I wonder if your lessons are truly appropriate. I also heard you occasionally struck Calib.”
“T-that was sometimes necessary as part of education…!”
“Yes. Calib called it ‘just discipline,’ but…”
Cedric snapped his fingers. Edwin immediately brought forward a crystal orb.
Skillfully, he projected the stored image onto the wall.
It acted like a magic projector—common in romance-fantasy stories.
Then Jeril’s sharp, cutting voice filled the room.
‘If you remain this stupid, you will never become a great duke!’
Slap! Slap!
Jeril struck Calib’s calves mercilessly.
‘You can’t even solve problems this simple?’
‘You must never speak of this. What could be more pathetic than a student slandering their own teacher?’
And then the verbal abuse went on.
Without thinking, I pulled Calib into my arms, covering his ears.
‘This is all for your sake. Do you think this is easy for me?’
‘If you remain so ignorant, you’ll only become an obstacle in Lord Cedric’s future. Is that what you want? To be abandoned even by him?’
What the orb revealed was nothing less than Jeril’s abuse of Calib!
At Cedric’s signal, Edwin stopped the recording.
Jeril, who had no idea it had been recorded, stared at the projection in shock.
Cedric spoke, his voice trembling with restrained fury.
“Do you still intend to call this ‘just discipline’?”
“R-recording a lesson without permission is…”
“It holds no legal power, but it’s proof enough of what my brother endured.”
Cedric deliberately glanced at my legs.
“Forcing lessons unsuited to the student proves a lack of qualification as a teacher.”
Right on cue, I let out a weak groan.
“And for you to go so far as to nearly cause necrosis in your student’s feet… you have no right to be called a teacher.”
“N-necrosis?”
Thud! Jeril turned to Cedric in shock.
“As of today, you are dismissed.”
“Lord Cedric!”
“There will be no letter of recommendation. The reason for your dismissal will be… ‘excessive punishment.’”
“W-wait! I am from House Babylon, a marquis family! You cannot do this on a whim!”
Jeril spoke boldly.
From that alone, it was easy to guess how the Babylon family had leveraged its name to interfere in the Duke of Indigentia’s affairs everywhere.
And in saying this, Jeril had given Cedric the perfect opening for his counterblow.
“Yes, the House of Babylon is indeed highly esteemed and the foremost vassal of the ducal family.”
But Jeril, too flustered, didn’t realize what she’d just done.
“Then should you not set an example for the people?”
“…What?”
“For thirty days, the details and outcome of this matter will be posted at the gates of both the ducal estate and the townhouse in the capital.”
Jeril’s eyes widened in horror, her mouth gaping.
She stood stunned for a moment—then shrieked.
“Defamation! This is slander!”
