Chapter 4
Creak–
I felt a sharp gaze behind me when I turned the doorknob and stepped into the hall. It was refreshing to realize that he gave a different reaction than when I’d entered the room earlier, however I decided not to mind any of that. The Duke wasn’t a character I needed to raise interest for, and he was an existence that I wouldn’t have to deal with until the end at the coming of age ceremony.
Clack
I gently closed the door behind me and turned away from it.
“I’m certain that I told you to live like a mouse, without causing any commotion.”
“Ah!”
A cold voice entered my ears and I turned around in surprise. There, by the hall in the shadows, stood a figure with an unpleasant expression. In the dark, I could see the shining letters showing [Interest 0%]. The shadowed black hair, and icy blue eyes told me it was the first son of the Duke family, Derrick.
“Emily.”
“…”
“A loyal maid who worked for this family for almost 10 years.”
Step, step
Derrick walked out from the shadows. From across the large hall, he approached quickly. He glared down at me with a sharp look in his eyes, as if he were looking at trash. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I couldn’t help but cower from the hatred and disgust he was directing at me.
“No one wanted to be your personal maid, even though we’d said we’d pay extra. Out of all those maids, that one maid volunteered to serve you.”
“…”
“And I guess today’s the end of that. Since you went crazy and chased out your one and only personal maid, not knowing your place.”
Derrick’s words felt unfair.
When did I go crazy and chase her out? The one who went crazier than I did was that pink haired menace. And it was me who was almost chased out of living, eating that rotten food!
I wanted to shout at how annoying this situation was. What stopped me from doing so was the [Interest 0%] above Derrick’s head. I had to hold it in. If it went any further down than that, I’d be dead. I inhaled and exhaled a couple of times to calm down.
Interest 0%. 0%…
I was already tired from talking with the Duke. Also, since I’d only focused on trying to turn ‘off’ the choices, I didn’t remember much of what happened in this scene in the game. That’s why I decided to use some help from the system.
Choice ON.
1. Ha! Guess she served you well at night, huh?
2. Maybe she’s been chased out because she’s done something that was worth being chased out for.
3. (Glare without saying a word).
Scanning through the choices, I hurried and mentally shouted.
Choices OFF! OFF!
≪ Do You Want To [OFF] The Choices? ≫
[Yes / No]
I hurriedly pressed [Yes]. If I chose one of the 3, I would be heading to hell. Time seemed to have passed from me doing all that, and Derrick’s gaze grew colder.
“Ha. Looks like my words aren’t getting through to you anymore.”
His gaze was so sharp that he looked like he was going to kill me. I opened my mouth reluctantly.
“I apologize for the fuss.”
How many times do I have to beg like this, even though I did nothing wrong?
I was a person that had that thing called pride, so I felt disgusted to have to bow my head down like a slave. However, this was bearable in order to stay alive. Besides, these people aren’t real, but just some fake characters from a game.
“That bitch scratched me and left a scar here, Father! Brother!”
“Of course, a mouse-like bitch acts like a beggar.”
I begged for forgiveness countless times before I was free to live on my own in my previous life. This was the same situation, except my life wouldn’t have been in danger if I didn’t beg for forgiveness like in this game. However, I was pretty young at that time, and every situation had felt lethal to me. That’s why I lived begging on the ground, to the point that my hands seemed to have become feet. Compared to that, this wasn’t something that was too unfair. Penelope did create a major fuss, unlike me. I don’t know, maybe it’s due to my experience from my past life that makes apologizing in order to live seem easy to me.
This is annoyingly similar.
I continued to speak, thinking about those times in my past life.
“Just as you said, I didn’t know my place up until now.”
“…What?”
“It’s my own fault that I wasn’t able to handle the situation well in the first place, so you don’t need to fire her. I was just on my way back to my room after apologizing to Father.”
Hearing my words, Derrick’s expression changed to a weird one. His slightly widened eyes were a refreshing sight. It was a similar reaction to that of the Duke’s. Repeating these dialogues wasn’t that hard, since I’ve already said these lines many times before.
“I will live my life so quietly from now on, that you won’t even notice anything. So please forgive me this once.”
I bowed my head.
Was I too lifeless while talking?
I came to realize just how insincere my tone was, and it started to worry me. But he wouldn’t slice his sister’s neck out of nowhere, even though it’s a cruel game. I waited for an answer with a light mind, trusting my feeling that this wasn’t like a situation with the cruel psychopathic Crown Prince involved. I wanted this to end quickly and go back to my room. Even standing was a torture now. Now that I think about it, my body’s not in the best condition due to the incident in the morning with the maid, and I didn’t eat anything after that. Derrick spoke after more than 5 minutes, increasing my desire for this situation to end quickly.
“…This once.”
“…”
“I’ll forgive you just this once.”
Without giving me a chance to thank him, he added,
“However, keep in mind that this will be the last time I’ll be forgiving you for behaving that way.”
It was a more unpleasant reply than the Duke’s. I felt relieved that it wasn’t an answer related to death, like how I’d expected. But no words of thanks came from my mouth, no matter how I tried to force it out.
Yes, yes. This is only for my safety.
I bent my back forward and bowed with a disgusting feeling, like how I did to the first bastard in my last life. After that, I immediately turned to head back to my room. It was then.
“Ah…”
My head started to hurt, and I felt dizzy and nauseous. My sight blurred. I don’t know if it was this sudden relief that came from the fact that I didn’t die, but all strength left my legs. I soon lost my balance and stumbled.
I’m falling…!
I was getting closer to the floor, when someone roughly grabbed onto my shoulder.
“Hey.”
I felt the force pulling me back up. I turned my head and saw flaming blue eyes right in my face. Derrick had caught me from me falling.
“I heard that you ate rotten food.”
I felt my mentality swooshing back to me as I heard his emotionless voice. He asked when I just stared at him in surprise,
“Don’t you need a doctor?”
My complicated mind settled down in an instant.
He knew.
He knew that it wasn’t Penelope’s fault. He knew, but he still tried to push all the responsibility to me, and even the maid’s wrongdoings. If I didn’t ask for forgiveness, he’d probably jump to kill me with no hesitation. I felt like I’d just been dunked in ice water.
“No, Young Master.”
I snached my hand out of his. It was an unconscious movement that came from my survival instincts, but I soon regretted it. He probably would’ve felt offended, so I forced a smile on my face.
“I told you just earlier that I’ll do my best for you to not mind me at all.”
So mind your own business.
“Then,”
I politely bowed once again and quickly walked away. I probably looked ridiculous walking down the hall so fast, as if I was running away from something. However, that was true. I was scared he’d aim his sword at me. I didn’t so much as stop to see the look on his face.
~*~
“…Young Master, huh?”
Derrick unexpectedly repeated what Penelope said before she left. The bitch couldn’t even call the Duke ‘Father’, but always called him and Reynold ‘Brother’. The image of her pale face when he caught her from falling wouldn’t leave his mind. His blue eyes flashed as he watched Penelope leave as if running away, but soon, he turned away as if disinterested.
[Interest 5%]
Over his head sparkled the words written in white, which Penelope failed to notice.
~*~
I hurried up the stairs to my room. After abruptly closing the door behind me, I immediately jumped onto my bed.
“Whew…”
My stiff body melted as soon as the soft and squishy mattress came in contact. It was only almost lunch but it felt as if a whole day had gone by. I inhaled and exhaled a bunch to calm my heart down which was beating hard due to the nervousness I felt when I was with Derrick. A little later, absurd laughs escaped from my mouth.
“Hah. Look, I’m still alive.”
It wasn’t a useless thing to do when I continuously repeated the game after failing each time. Judging from me being able to call Derrick ‘Young Master’, even though I was panicking a lot at the time. A while later, the images of the game popped up in my mind. When I first tried the game in the hard mode, Derrick’s interest bar was one of the major concerns, unlike the other characters. When I’d increased his interest in me by a little through some carefully made decisions, it would go down more on the next choice I’d make. I really didn’t know the reason why.
Why does his mood change so much in the game?
My question was only answered through countless deaths. Derrick hated Penelope so much that he was angry when she called him ‘Brother’. That’s why whenever I chose dialogue with the word ‘Brother’ in it, his interest would just sink lower.
“How picky. He’s even worse than that oldest bastard.”
I frowned and complained. Anyways, thanks to that, I was able to keep myself alive.
Let’s never call him ‘Brother’ again, going forward.
I repeated that over a few times in my head. Of course, I’m going to try and not face him but I had to keep that in mind in case some things happen. Thinking about this and that on the bed, I started to feel hazy.
I need to eat something.
Food is the main source needed for everything. It was lunchtime now. However, from the shock I’ve gained today, I didn’t really feel hungry.
Ah, whatever.
Feeling lazy now, I closed my eyes. Sleeping was the first thing on my mind. Maybe it was because I wanted to escape from reality, but soon after closing my eyes, I drifted to sleep.
~*~
“Why is this in your room?”
A voice colder than the crystals in the mid-winter could be heard over the head. Then a loud shout was heard from the side.
“Answer, you sneaky bitch! You stole it!”
“Reynold.”
The Duke warned Reynold, who was spitting out swears. He couldn’t seem to hold his anger in, and he started to stomp.
What’s this?
I blankly looked around the space and lowered my head. Small two hands. I could tell right away, this was Penelope’s dream.
“Speak, Penelope. How do you have the Lady’s necklace? I thought I told you that you can’t enter the room.”
“Father, I told you, that bitch stole it without a doubt!”
Even with the Duke’s warning, Reynold didn’t hold his fury back. Penelope glared harshly at him as she shouted.
“I didn’t steal it! I didn’t do anything!”
“Shut up! Stop lying! Then why did the gift Father gave to Yvonne come out of the drawer in your room?!”
Reynold shouted, holding up the dangling necklace in his hand. It was her first time ever seeing that accessory. Penelope continued to shout, refusing to admit to anything.
“I don’t know! I never went into that room!”
“I saw everything.”
From the crowd came out a man, budging through people. The Duke and Reynold turned around to face him.
“Butler.”
“I saw Lady Penelope going up and down the third floor often these few weeks. I checked just in case, but Lady Yvonne’s room door wasn’t locked.”
Everyone’s gaze, including the Duke’s, turned to the little girl. Even Penelope couldn’t ignore all those gazes.
“…It-It wasn’t me.”
She stepped backward. It was true she went up to the third floor often. It was the floor where the least amount of people walked around, and it was also because it was the floor that connected to the pathway to the attic. She only went up there because she didn’t want to be with her abusive maid, she never had the intention to steal anything. Even more so if it was something that belonged to the real Lady of the Duke family.
“I really didn’t, Father! I never once went into that room!”
Penelope shouted, looking up at the Duke. She looked at him with the gaze of pleading and trust. He was the one who brought her to this place himself, after all. However, the Duke would only ignore her with a cold gaze.
“You, butler. Lock every room on the third floor securely. Especially Yvonne’s room.”
“Of course, Your Grace.”
“Also, bring the jewelry maker to the mansion tomorrow.”
“F-Father…”
Penelope froze in place, her face pale as a white sheet of paper. The Duke didn’t say a word to her as he left the place.
“You should’ve left the mansion when we told you so, stupid idiot.”
Reynold whispered after making sure the Duke left. Then he pushed Penelope roughly and followed after the Duke.
“Trash.”
Derrick coldly muttered, watching Penelope fall to the ground like trashed garbage. The scene changed. After that, Penelope visited many stores and bought a monstrous amount of jewelry and accessories. She spent so much of the money that Derrick and Reynold would go crazy saying ‘A bitch who doesn’t know her place’. And after that, she never called the Duke ‘Father’ again.
Please let me know if there’s anything inconsistent, or that needs further editing/corrections!!
-emrld
Scarlett Shoujo 