ITMLWKM 6

Chapter 6.

Susan brought my outdoor shoes so we could head out to the garden and said with a little laugh,

“Hehe, young lady, you’re really something.”

“Hmm?”

“Sometimes you suddenly act so grown-up, but then times like now you’re endlessly cute.”

“Grown-up, huh…”

Wasn’t that because I’d regained my previous-life memories and regressed?

Before reincarnating I’d been an adult, and before the regression I’d been ten. Setting all that aside, once you find out you’re actually a bastard child, anyone would grow up fast, right?

“I grew up early so I could make things easier for you, Susan.”

I giggled and changed the subject. Susan looked at me with a slightly complicated expression but didn’t say anything more.

I put on the outdoor shoes and walked a full loop of the garden with her. Unfortunately the bird we were looking for was nowhere to be seen.

“Hmm… no sign of it.”

Its body was silver-white, and only the long tail feathers were a blazing scarlet like fire. The look was so striking there was no way we could miss it. I pushed aside the bushes where we’d once set the basket with the baby bird.

“Is it there?”

“No, nothing.”

Even after the bird had fully recovered it used to sit here and chirp at us. It was kind of our meeting spot. But it wasn’t here either.

“Do you think it went far away?”

“I just hope it hasn’t gotten hurt again, wherever it is.”

I brushed off my skirt, trying to hide the disappointment. We were about to head back to the room when—

“Ow, owwww! Oh no! I’m dying!”

A scream came from behind the mansion. The sound was so over-the-top that anyone hearing it would feel weirded out.

“Young Master Carsian is killing me! Oh no, oh no!”

I asked Susan with a doubtful look.

“That voice… isn’t that Bill?”

“Yes, it sounds like him.”

Bill was the most influential man among the servants—there was even talk he’d be the next head butler. And in my previous life he’d been one of the villains who bullied Carsian.

Before Susan could stop me I dashed toward the corner of the mansion.

“Ah, young lady!”

Susan called after me too late. I turned onto the path that led to the stables. Somehow I just knew they’d be there. Sure enough, Bill and another man, Ron, were standing there.

“Oh no, oh no… I’m dying…”

“As expected of the son of the count who went trading across seas swarming with pirates. That spirit! I respect it. That’s why you can hurt someone and still act so shameless, right?”

Blood was dripping from Bill’s leg as he leaned on Ron’s shoulder. I looked at Carsian, who was blocked in front of them. The pitchfork in his hands looked like a weapon—Bill’s pant leg was caught on the end of it.

I was still trying to figure out what was going on when Carsian gripped the pitchfork tightly and said,

“You guys did this. You came and snatched the pitchfork away…”

“Excuse me? What are you talking about? Are you saying we stole the pitchfork while the young master was walking by, hurt ourselves on purpose, and then gave the pitchfork back to you?”

Ron raised his voice loudly, clearly trying to draw a crowd, and mocked him.

Carsian clenched his fist even tighter.

“It’s the truth… and you know it.”

“Oh no, oh no! Everyone! Look over here! The son of Count Raumdisell, who went trading across the sea, is lying without even batting an eye!”

Carsian’s voice trembled with pure injustice, but Bill, as if he’d been waiting for this, put on a big show of pain and shouted at the top of his lungs. Carsian visibly shrank under the noise.

Ugh, those damn Bill and Ron!

“What should we do? Tomorrow the marquis specifically asked me to go out on an errand outside the estate, and of all times I had to hurt my foot… and at Young Master Carsian’s hands, no less.”

“If we tell the marquis about this, what do you think he’ll do?”

Bill and Ron were perfectly in sync. In front of them Carsian’s face kept getting paler. If this reached Father’s ears, Carsian would definitely get a severe scolding—just like before the regression.

That’s right. Before the regression Bill and Ron had pulled this exact self-injury blackmail to torment Carsian. And sure enough, there was a recording magic tool on Bill’s chest. The red light blinking meant it was already recording.

Any second now they would bring up “that line”…

“Young lady.”

Around then Susan caught up, and I felt her hand wrap around my shoulder as I listened to Bill.

“Apologize. Get down on your knees and beg us for forgiveness, and we’ll let it slide.”

Exactly the same as before the regression. Bill and Ron clearly planned to film Carsian bowing his head so they could snicker over it later. But Carsian was the male lead of this world—the type who wouldn’t admit to something that wasn’t true.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. You’re the ones who did.”

“Oh-ho, is that so? Then fine. We’ll just go straight to the marquis like this.”

Bill seemed to be testing how far Carsian’s pride would go. His eyes said, ‘A brat like you can try all you want.’ Carsian flinched the moment his father was mentioned.

That was when it happened.

“Or how about this instead. Yes. No matter how poor you are, you’re still the young master of a count family. You probably don’t want to apologize to lowly servants like us.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to apologize—it’s that I didn’t do any—”

“Enough. Then drink this. Water of reconciliation.”

Ron cut him off and walked over to a nearby well like he’d been waiting for this. He grabbed a bowl lying around, scooped water from the bucket, and held it out to Carsian.

“Oh my…!”

Susan covered her mouth in shock. I didn’t ask what it was. I already knew.

Just like before the regression, it would be dirty water.

That well was where the maids rinsed their mops. So the bucket Ron had drawn from was full of filthy water. They reused the same water multiple times to save it while washing mops.

“Drink it. It’s just water. Or is it that you won’t even drink water if a lowly servant offers it?”

When the mop water was shoved right in front of his face, Carsian hesitated and stepped back.

“Come on, drink it. Or else bow your head.”

Seeing that, Bill closed the distance in an instant, grabbed Carsian’s shoulder hard, and threatened him.

“What should we do? Should we call the head butler?”

“No. The head butler doesn’t like Carsian much either. Even if things get better for a while, Bill and Ron will just come after him again. We have to handle this ourselves.”

I spoke calmly to the trembling Susan.

But how exactly was I supposed to handle it?

I didn’t have a clear plan either. Then the red light blinking on Bill’s chest caught my eye.

Ah. That’s it!

“Susan, stay here.”

“What?”

I didn’t answer her and dashed straight out.

“What do you think you’re doing right now!”

I clenched my fists and spoke in a sharp, clear voice. Instantly Bill, Ron, and Carsian’s eyes all locked onto me. I walked closer to Carsian and said,

“I heard everything. What do you think you’re doing?”

“Ha~ Seriously.”

At my words, Bill, who still had his hand on Carsian’s shoulder, slowly straightened up.

I could read the rude “What now?” in both their eyes.

“If you heard everything then you already know. Young Master Carsian hurt me, didn’t he? Me, who has to go out tomorrow?”

“And then he won’t even apologize, won’t even drink a cup of reconciliation… water. So even though we’re just servants, we’re still adults, and we’re trying to teach him some manners.”

“So our little bast—… I mean, young lady, why don’t you just go on your way? You understand, right?”

How many times had they called me “bastard” behind my back that they’d slip up right in front of me?

Bill waved his hand with a snicker, but I didn’t even blink.

“But Carsian said he didn’t do it.”

“Huh?”

“It’s just like he said—you guys did this. To bully him like this.”

I pointed back and forth between Bill’s injured leg and the dirty water Ron was holding. Ron suddenly burst out laughing.

“Puhahaha! Young lady, are you seriously believing Young Master Carsian’s words like an idiot? That young master’s father is a braggart who claims he’ll succeed at trading by punching through seas full of pirates. Why would the son be any different…”

“Yeah. I believe him.”

I cut Ron off cleanly. Carsian whipped his head around to stare at me in surprise.

Instead of looking at him I kept my eyes fixed clearly on Bill and Ron.

“I said I believe him. Carsian’s words.”

When I spoke without so much as a blink, Bill and Ron hesitated.

Those two were the type who were weak to the strong and strong to the weak. So I had to make it clear that I wasn’t the weak one—I was the strong one.

“What’s so strange about that? The master of this mansion, my father, ‘believed’ Count Raumdisell’s words and took Carsian in. Count Raumdisell will come back alive. And yet you talk like that? Are you treating my father like an ‘idiot’?”

“Th-that’s not what we meant…!”

“If that’s not it, then what.”

When I brought up Father and pushed hard, sure enough the two of them just opened and closed their mouths like fools. But prideful Bill didn’t seem ready to back down.

“F-fine. Let’s say the young lady believes Young Master Carsian’s words. But do you really think other people will?”

“Look. The pitchfork Young Master Carsian is holding still has Bill’s clothes caught on it! What clearer evidence do you need?”

Ron quickly backed Bill up.

“That’s because you forced the pitchfork into my hands!”

“Then you should have dropped it. Why are you still holding it?”

Carsian protested, but Ron answered in that annoying way. Grind. The sound of Carsian’s teeth grinding was clear.