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Chapter – 05
“I always instruct the kitchen to prepare the diet I believe is most suitable for your health.”
Jennifer stared directly into Eleanor’s face. Like a doll crafted by a master artisan, Eleanor’s expression did not budge an inch.
“But when I heard that you were displeased with today’s menu, I worried you might be misunderstanding the concern I have for you.”
“As I mentioned earlier, Mother, I fully understand your concern for me.”
“Then are you saying that even while understanding my heart, you behaved that way out of dissatisfaction with the meal I thoughtfully prepared?”
“I’m grateful for your intentions, of course. Even more so when the results are good.”
Jennifer’s eyebrow twitched. Was Eleanor implying the results were not good?
The Eleanor she had known for ten years felt like a completely different person from the one standing before her now.
Suppressing the headache rising within her, Jennifer regulated her breathing.
“So you’re saying you acted like that in the dining hall because of a personal change of heart.”
“Yes.”
“Then shouldn’t you apologize to Anne?”
Anne, who had been standing by the door, stepped forward with a hostile expression.
Eleanor sensed her movement but did not turn around.
“Me?”
“Your personal mood caused Anne—who was simply following my instructions—to be humiliated. As the head maid, she has her dignity. Being scolded in front of the entire staff deeply hurt her.”
“What exactly is the issue with a head maid being scolded in front of the other servants?”
“Eleanor, don’t be foolish. Order must be upheld for a household’s discipline to stand firm.”
“Then are you saying that me apologizing to a subordinate is how order is maintained?”
“Eleanor!”
Jennifer called out her name sharply, but Eleanor continued in an unshaken voice.
“I’m allowed to behave that way toward someone beneath me.”
“Maids are human too. No one wants to be treated disrespectfully!”
“Yes. But someone beneath me should not behave disrespectfully toward me, Mother.”
A faint smile touched Eleanor’s lips.
They spoke of hierarchy and discipline—yet how many servants and maids had Eleanor bowed her head to?
Not a single person in the household feared the eldest daughter. Even the staff knew that whenever they showed the slightest displeasure, Eleanor would shrink and bow timidly.
And the result of that had always been the same—servants dragging a crying, resisting Eleanor away as a sacrifice.
“If Anne had behaved politely toward me, I would have ensured her dignity remained intact.”
“Eleanor, what are you saying? Anne is—”
“Yes. Mother’s close friend. And also merely a maid of the Hildette household.”
“She is the head maid!”
Anne shouted indignantly from behind. But Jennifer’s cold glare quickly forced her head down.
“Yes, the head maid. But is a head maid higher than someone who bears the Hildette name?”
“Anne is older than you.”
“She’s still a maid. Just as Mother doesn’t speak formally to the butler, Lotrec.”
Eleanor smiled.
“As her superior, I simply told Anne not to act rudely. I was only worried she might speak that way to Brother Ezekiel or Roger one day.”
“Ezekiel or Roger have—!”
“If I, in an effort to uphold the family’s discipline, said something unpleasant… and then I bow my head to Anne—”
“……”
“How would that maintain order, Mother?”
Jennifer ground her teeth. But strictly speaking, Eleanor wasn’t wrong. The only reason a head maid dared to act that way toward a young lady was because the young lady was Eleanor.
And now that Eleanor was suddenly speaking sensibly, Jennifer could no longer press her.
Jennifer took a breath. Eleanor seemed different. It was better to retreat for now and watch.
“Yes… you are right, Eleanor.”
“I appreciate you understanding.”
“But if the dining hall becomes noisy every time your mood changes, your father will be troubled.”
Jules Hildette—the person Eleanor longed for the most.
At that name, Eleanor’s expression subtly stiffened.
As expected, Jennifer thought. No matter how much she changed, Eleanor was still Eleanor. She opened her mouth to speak again—
“Yes. I’ll tell the dining maids to refrain from causing a commotion when I give orders.”
“What?”
“You said it yourself. If the daughter of the Hildette house gives an order and the lower servants make noise every time, Father will be bothered. Since you emphasized it, I shall make sure they’re more careful.”
“Ahem.”
“Though perhaps this is something the head maid should relay?”
For the first time, Eleanor turned to look at Anne.
Seeing Anne’s face flushed red with anger, Eleanor quietly let out a small laugh.
“I’m counting on you, Anne.”
Watching Eleanor ignore her and look down on Anne made Jennifer feel sick.
Using every ounce of strength to hold back her rage, Jennifer forced an elegant smile.
“So you intend to continue eating as you did today. Ignoring all the effort I put in.”
“Of course not. I’m only worried, that’s all.”
“Worried about what?”
“If the frail child who always followed your carefully prepared diet suddenly looks healthier after eating one impromptu meal… wouldn’t people whisper that it was your diet that was poorly planned?”
“…Eleanor.”
“Of course, I don’t think that way.”
Eleanor smiled faintly. Beneath her dark hair, her pale face looked almost poisonous.
Jennifer clenched her jaw and motioned with her chin. She had gained nothing from this conversation.
“Leave me.”
“Yes. Be well, Mother.”
Jennifer’s face froze with cold displeasure, but Eleanor ignored it.
She cast a brief glance at Anne, whose face was twisted with barely contained rage, then opened the door and stepped out.
Bang.
The moment the door closed, Anne rushed out.
“Madam! She must be insane!”
“Calm yourself, Anne.”
“How could I calm down after seeing that attitude? That insolent—!”
“Anne!”
At Jennifer’s shout, Anne finally quieted, panting angrily. Jennifer stared past the closed door with icy eyes.
“She is… different.”
“I told you, she’s like a completely different person!”
“But it won’t last.”
Jennifer shook her head coldly.
“Let her do whatever she wants for a week.”
“A week… ah.”
“Yes. The healer initiation exam.”
Anne’s expression eased into a grin.
“I heard Master said this year is her last chance, didn’t he?”
“Honestly, giving her chances until seventeen was already generous. He’s too soft.”
Jennifer clicked her tongue. Her long nails tapped the table rhythmically.
“But this exam… will ruin even that last bit of hope.”
A cold, eerie laugh filled the room.
Its chill felt capable of freezing the entire mansion.
The next morning, Eleanor woke and habitually marked an X on the calendar.
Only six days remained until the initiation exam.
“Black Blade.”
Today again, the Black Blade manifested only faintly.
As a test, Eleanor lightly swung the blade through an old book on her desk.
Slice.
The thick cover was only halfway cut.
“…Dull.”
With the Black Blade of her past life, even minimal effort would have sliced through the book—and the desk beneath it.
But now, even at maximum strength, it couldn’t even fully cut a book cover.
“Haa…”
She stared at the damaged book cover, then flipped it over irritably.
Her enemies were still alive and breathing, grating on her nerves, yet she could not even fully wield her primary weapon.
She looked again at the calendar and controlled her breathing.
“Calm down, Eleanor.”
When she had first fallen into the Demon Realm, she couldn’t use the Black Blade at all.
And yet she had survived—barely—until she killed the Demon King and gained enough strength to bring the world to ruin.
If rushing led to mistakes, then she needed to move carefully. One step at a time.
“First, I must pass the initiation exam.”
Her brief visit to the training grounds yesterday had shown that her condition was not the worst.
The true worst scenario was failing the exam and no longer being treated as part of the family.
For her revenge, she needed to succeed.
“A healer’s initiation…”
The exam required entering the Yellow-Horn Goblin Dungeon.
To pass, one needed to retrieve a model horn from the goblins’ altar.
Yellow-Horn Goblins were the lowest-ranked monsters, too weak to pose danger even to those with poor healing abilities.
This is why the dungeon was used for barrier, defense, and healer initiation exams.
Under normal circumstances, it would be easy for Eleanor.
“But in my past life, Jennifer sabotaged me.”
At age ten, after Ezekiel stole her healing assessment, Jennifer gradually mixed poisons—Saben Grass and Silvena Herb—into Eleanor’s meals, preventing her from using healing magic.
Because of this, Eleanor failed all six initiation exams until she was sixteen.
Then, at seventeen, the sabotage changed.
For some reason, Jennifer removed Saben Grass from Eleanor’s food, allowing her healing power to slowly return.
Eleanor had believed she could finally show something different.
“But I was stabbed in the back—brutally.”
During the final exam, Jennifer bribed guards to ruin it.
The guards, unaware of the plan, knocked Eleanor unconscious as she entered the dungeon and sprinkled Berserk Powder on the goblins.
The goblins became mid-tier monsters instantly and wreaked havoc.
When Eleanor woke, she had already been rescued—but only after significant casualties and damage.
And she wasn’t the only one injured at the altar.
“Eleanor! You hurt Trisha! You harmed your sister!”
“Father, I’m fine. I only ran in because I worried my sister might be hurt. Please don’t be angry with her.”
“Do you see this scar on this sweet child’s arm? This is all your fault, Eleanor! Never use healing magic again!”
Whenever she closed her eyes, she still heard that conversation clearly.
After that, Jules Hildette abandoned her completely.
“Ha…”
Looking back, it was absurd.
Trisha, who claimed she had no healing abilities, should never have been allowed to run into a dungeon during an incident. That was the examiners’ failure.
Eleanor herself had been covered in cuts and burns from being thrown unconscious before a berserk monster.
But all Jules saw was the single red line on Trisha’s pale arm.
Pathetic. Truly pathetic.
“This time will be different.”
This time, Eleanor would survive. And the family would fall.
Besides, the Yellow-Horn Goblin Dungeon held a secret—one that, if used well, could create just the right amount of chaos.
It would be… amusing.
As she ground her teeth—
Knock knock.
She turned sharply toward the door.
“Young Lady, pardon my intrusion.”
A maid’s voice she had never heard before came from beyond the door.
