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Chapter : 3. A Daughter-in-Law Is a Person Too
This makes no sense. How could something like this…?
With a confused expression, I clutched my head, wrapped thickly in bandages.
Was this the possession people always talked about?
And of all things, why an extra—no, the insignificant daughter-in-law of a petty villain family…?
I wasn’t even given time to despair properly.
“Are you seriously not taking what I say seriously?”
The woman called my mother-in-law suddenly grabbed a fistful of my hair.
Not only did my scalp sting, but the wound on my forehead throbbed violently.
What do you think you’re doing to someone with a bandaged head?
I glared at her with narrowed eyes, utterly dumbfounded, and she screeched.
“What’s with that look? Are you protesting just because you cracked your head because of me?”
Ah. So she caused this injury too?
She really was worthy of being the mistress of a villainous household.
I vaguely remembered this red-haired woman being briefly mentioned in the novel.
Her name was probably… Sophia Morgans?
“When you’re disciplining a daughter-in-law, things like this can happen! How dare you take that out on your sky-like mother-in-law—!”
As Sophia shouted at me, the image of my (ex-)husband’s mother flashed through my mind.
“If we were kind enough to take in a beggar like you, you should at least behave! How dare you stand up to your sky-like mother-in-law—!”
I’d come back from the dead—there was no way I was going to live the same way as before.
Besides, I might’ve endured it quietly in the past, but in truth, I was a barista with ten years of café experience.
Which meant I was thoroughly used to dealing with every kind of unreasonable customer imaginable.
“Disciplining a daughter-in-law?”
When I muttered calmly, without a hint of agitation, the woman faltered.
“W-what?”
“What household teaches their daughter-in-law by beating her until her forehead splits open?”
I didn’t stop there.
“Why don’t we go outside and ask? See if other families treat their daughters-in-law like this too?”
At that, Sophia’s face turned deathly pale.
Just as I thought.
In the novel, the people of the Morgans family were portrayed as vain to the core—true villains.
Naturally, she was afraid of rumors spreading among other noble families.
Then why do something this senseless in the first place?
Still, if she were the type to back down so easily, she wouldn’t have reduced her daughter-in-law to this state.
Sophia trembled all over as she spat a warning.
“How dare you… won’t you lower your eyes?”
Good heavens. Listen to the way she talks—was she really a noble?
Momentarily stunned, I still didn’t avert my gaze and stared her down.
That was when the already agitated Sophia completely lost her composure and screamed.
“Fine. You want to try me today, is that it?”
She glanced around and suddenly grabbed a pair of scissors lying on the table.
And then—
Snip.
Silvery strands of hair fluttered down to the floor.
I glanced at the mirror. The hair on the right side of my head had been cut short, just brushing my cheek.
Seeing my appearance, Sophia curled her lips into a vicious smile.
“With hair like that, you won’t be able to go outside! What do you think people will say when they see a woman with hair like that?”
Ah. Right.
I recalled the worldbuilding of the novel I’d read.
This was a world where women’s rights were extremely low.
Even a woman having short hair was considered a flaw.
“By the time your hair grows back, that wound on your head will be healed too! Until then, stay quietly locked up inside!”
I silently looked at the now-smug Sophia and the maid clinging to her like a loyal lackey.
Then I reached out and picked up the scissors she had used to cut my hair.
Startled by my sudden movement, both Sophia and the maid stepped back at the same time.
“Y-you—what do you think you’re doing?!”
Why?
Are you afraid I’ll stab you with these?
Why would I ruin my life like that?
According to the novel, this world had a proper judicial system—and prisons.
Especially crimes committed by women were punished harshly.
If a daughter-in-law like me stabbed her mother-in-law, it would be splashed across the papers, and I might even end up beheaded by an enraged jury.
So—
I glared at them with a frightening expression and raised the hand holding the scissors.
Whoosh!
“Aaah!”
They screamed and covered their faces with their arms.
Honestly. So jumpy.
Snip.
With those scissors, I chopped off the remaining hair on the left side of my head.
The two of them stared at me, mouths hanging open in shock.
In this world, a woman cutting her hair might be enough to traumatize her into locking herself indoors—but not me.
I was a modern person who got regular haircuts, after all.
I glanced at the mirror. Since my looks were outstanding to begin with, even hair this short on the sides suited me.
This kind of hairstyle was trendy in Korea at one point, you know.
If I went out into high society looking like this, wouldn’t it become fashionable soon enough?
“Y-you… what on earth…?”
I smiled sweetly at the two of them, who stared at me as if they were dumbfounded beyond words.
“What? Isn’t it pretty, Mother?”
Smiling harmlessly at unreasonable people.
One of my 101 methods for dealing with difficult customers, perfected over ten years in the service industry.
I even added, with an innocent expression,
“Didn’t you cut my hair yourself to make me look prettier?”
“M-mad… You’ve really lost your mind!”
“Lost my mind, Mother?”
I wiped the smile off my face and snapped coldly.
“Who was it that cut my hair first?”
“Th-that’s…”
Having been hit squarely at the core of the issue, Sophia stammered, at a loss for words.
I didn’t miss the opportunity and spoke in a serious tone.
“Mother. A daughter-in-law is a person too.”
“W-what?”
“Why do you so easily say and do things to me that you’d never dare say or do to others?”
Unable to find a proper retort, Sophia just opened and closed her mouth blankly.
She looked exactly like a goldfish with drooping red fins.
Just as I thought. Strong to the weak, weak to the strong.
I was swallowing a satisfied smile at that sight when—
“Why is it so noisy in here?”
A man entered through the open doorway.
The same red hair as the woman’s.
A fairly handsome face, though tinged with something sly.
I immediately recognized who he was.
Deppel Morgans.
A significant villain in the original story, the man who supported the Second Prince and brought ruin upon his family.
The one who plays a decisive role in my execution.
The man frowned deeply as his gaze swept over the shabby room.
Me, with a bloodstained bandage wrapped around my head.
Silvery hair scattered across the floor.
My sides crudely chopped short.
His frown deepened even further, and he barked,
“Mother! What on earth happened to my wife’s hair?!”
“A-ah, my son. This is—well—”
“What will people say if they see this?!”
Wow. That’s what you’re worried about right now?
And you call yourself a husband—yet you don’t say a single word about the bandage on your wife’s forehead?
I let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.
Aileen Morgans. Your life really was something.
While I stood there, too stunned to speak, Sophia—who had been shouting just fine a moment ago—suddenly staggered and began to whimper.
“Oh dear… my son. Mother’s blood pressure again…”
“Oh no. Are you all right, Mother?”
Deppel hurried over and supported her.
Then he turned on me, who was just standing there, and snapped,
“You. Aren’t you going to apologize to Mother?”
“Apo…logize?”
I echoed, my face full of disbelief.
“Can’t you see how I look right now?”
The bloodstained bandage. The cut hair.
Anyone could see that I was the victim here.
But Deppel let out an exasperated sigh and said,
“If you’d just behave, everything would be peaceful. Can’t you let even a single day pass quietly?”
…What?
Holding tightly onto his mother’s shoulder, Deppel spoke coldly.
“Either way, you’re the daughter-in-law. So apologize to Mother first. Now.”
In this situation…
You want me to apologize?
