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Chapter 11
“Sniff, sob… peanuts, puhah, peanuts…!”
Ah, this is driving me crazy.
A ‘refined lady’ would never burst out laughing like this in a public place.
At the moment her true self—hidden beneath a perfect mask the whole time—was revealed so clearly, a strange light flickered in Victor’s eyes.
Yes, he liked Ibel’s face when she laughed like this.
Her acting was remarkable without question, but did she really need to keep it up even when they were alone together?
The way she wiped away tears as she smiled brightly, her trembling eyelashes, her parted lips—it was all so…
Victor swallowed the rest of his thoughts.
It was too embarrassing to even form them fully in his mind.
“I’ll, hic, I’ll eat well.”
“So you really do like peanuts. I was worried my memory might be wrong.”
“I’m really curious—what would you have done if I didn’t like peanuts?”
Ibel asked cheerfully as she picked one up and brought it to her mouth.
Watching her crunch away happily, he shrugged.
“I suppose I would have given them to some poor birds that failed their hunt. My situation wouldn’t have been much different.”
“Oh… my. There are too many to finish anyway, so let’s scatter some before we go.”
“Let’s do that.”
“And make sure to buy beer too. Peanuts go best with beer. Though the birds wouldn’t know that taste.”
Soon, birds gathered around the two of them.
After confirming that plenty of people had already cast curious glances their way, Victor suggested they head back.
Their objective had been achieved—more than sufficiently.
The fact that one of his goals today had been ‘to make Ibel laugh’ was a secret no one would ever know.
[Mysterious Woman—A Secret Meeting with the Grand Duke of Bayern?]
[Shocking! The Grand Duke of Bayern on a Daytime Date!]
[Was the Grand Duchess Already Decided?]
The next day, as if by prior arrangement, every newspaper began distributing extra editions.
The endings of most of those countless articles were similar.
‘So who is this mysterious lady?’
No gossip paper dared to make reckless guesses, because the Grand Duke of Bayern had maintained an impeccably clean record when it came to women.
“She wore a modest yet sophisticated dress, presumed to be from the capital’s most famous shop, Madame Roujean’s… Just what is going on?!”
The endlessly reproduced articles eventually reached even the Grand Duchy of Bayern, far from the capital.
Genevieve Bayern, who had unfolded the newspaper while having her hair done in the morning, was startled and hurriedly searched for her glasses.
Reading each line carefully, she was dumbfounded.
He had suddenly disappeared without even stating his destination, so she had been at ease.
She assumed he had gone out on another mission.
She thought his claim that he would not leave the territory was a joke—or an empty promise!
“How dare… how dare he try to bring in a mistress of the house without my knowledge?!”
Crunch, crunch.
Only after drawing blood from biting her nails did Genevieve stop the ugly habit. Rage surged to the top of her head, yet she had nowhere to release it.
“Ha! Honestly, to think he would pull something like this!”
It was in the nature of news articles to exaggerate the truth.
They had to be overstated to sell well.
So the claim that this mysterious date would become the Grand Duchess was clearly a wild leap. And yet—
‘Why do I feel so uneasy?’
To Genevieve, the Grand Duchy of Bayern was everything.
It was where she had grown up running about as a child, where her parents’ presence lingered everywhere. No matter where she turned, everything was familiar.
She was in the place where she belonged, managing the household just as her mother had.
And since Sersanna was dead, she firmly believed it was her duty.
But what about Victor’s attitude when he visited not long ago?
Managing a household was such a tedious and difficult task, yet he showed not even the slightest bit of respect for it!
Fuming, Genevieve practically threw the newspaper aside and stood up.
‘Whoever it is, just let him try bringing her here. She must have attached herself to Victor to swallow up Bayern whole. I’ll make sure to teach her a harsh lesson.’
It was a few minutes later that the butler approached the still-fuming Genevieve.
“Lady Genevieve, I have something to discuss regarding the donation amount for the upcoming charity exhibition. The sum you designated is quite unreasonable…”
“Ah, Willen. I’m feeling dizzy right now, so I need to rest.”
“…But it’s morning.”
“You know a lady’s dizziness can’t be helped. My nerves must be acting up again. Take a look at this article.”
The butler, who nagged her endlessly over a trivial amount of money, was one of the people Genevieve disliked the most.
Shoving the newspaper at him, she left her seat and headed to the garden to clear her mind.
‘The charity exhibition is something I’m hosting. Naturally, my donation should be the largest. I carry the name of Bayern—at least that much is necessary to maintain dignity.’
It was disappointing that no one seemed to understand even that.
‘I’m not doing anything that harms the family, after all.’
How exhausting.
With a sigh, Genevieve tried to steady her mind and body by gazing at the flowers, determined to maintain a pure spirit.
But then—
Splash!
“Kyaaaah!”
Water poured down from somewhere, soaking Genevieve completely.
At the grotesque laughter that followed, she trembled with fury.
“You! Damian!!! It’s you again!”
Damian, who had been giggling as he looked down at her, suddenly withdrew his head from between the railing bars.
Feeling her blood boil, Genevieve stormed up to the second floor.
As if to provoke her further, Damian hadn’t even left yet. The bucket sat neatly beside him.
“If it weren’t for you—just you—everything would be so much better! Because of you, my condition keeps worsening! I should have sent you to a mental institution this time and fixed that vile behavior!”
Victor, who usually overlooked most of her words, had been unusually firm about this. That brat, that monster, that wicked fairy—he should have been locked away in a hospital.
What drove Genevieve mad was that Damian’s madness never surfaced when Victor was around.
“Get over here this instant! All of you, seize him. If you fail, you’ll all go hungry together!”
Damian stuck his tongue out at the raging Genevieve and quickly ran off. But he was soon caught by a few servants loyal to her.
“Aaaah! Uaaah!!!”
“Be quiet!”
Smack!
Under the guise of discipline, Genevieve vented her anger by striking Damian across the cheek, then flinched at the vicious glare directed at her.
It was always like this.
Trash left behind by Sersanna.
Whenever she looked at this inhuman child, a deep-seated disgust and nausea welled up inside her.
“Yes, beasts only listen when they’re starved.”
Staring into his blazing eyes, Genevieve smiled cruelly.
“Lock him in solitary. For two days, give him nothing but water. Let’s see whether you become obedient or not.”
“Aaaah!”
The child struggled violently, screaming as he was dragged away.
If Victor had witnessed this scene himself, he would have been horrified…
‘But he’s not here right now, is he?’
Eyes burning with venom glared at Genevieve.
For a brief moment, she flinched at the ferocity, but soon shook her head as if accustomed to it.
And she thought that when Victor came down next time, she would ask him to increase the amount of money she could use.
