TVRP 04

Chapter 4

I suppose she was surprised because, after talking perfectly normally until just moments ago, I had suddenly started throwing a loud, unreasonable tantrum.

Feeling embarrassed, I cleared my throat.

“Ahem, ahem. Just understand. There were circumstances.”

When I spoke in a dignified tone, Eden looked at me as though I were crazy, then lightly bit down on his lip.

“……Don’t touch me again.”

Eden glared at me with eyes that shone fiercely like a cat’s.

“Huh?”

I sharply raised an eyebrow.

“That’s a rather insolent thing for a ‘doll’ to say to its Master.”

“If I tell you not to touch me, then don’t touch me!”

Eden shouted roughly and took a few hesitant steps backward.

‘Was he really that bothered by it?’

His excessively strong reaction irritated me, so I crossed my arms.

“It’s not like I wanted to touch you either.”

Eden glared at me with fierce eyes.

But since he was smaller than me, all it did was make him look like a somewhat angry cat.

I snorted and said,

“Enough. You. From now on, listen carefully to what I say.”

After making sure the door was firmly closed, I narrowed my eyes and glared at Eden.

“Until I figure out how to get you out of here, do not leave this room. Ever.”

“What?”

“If my brothers happen to notice you, things might become troublesome—”

Bang!

At that moment, the door suddenly flew open without warning.

“Miss Lilyan. You’re making quite a commotion again today.”

The person who appeared through the open doorway was Olga, the head maid.

Her olive-colored hair was pinned up flawlessly, and her sharp eyes stared at me from behind silver-rimmed glasses.

There was undisguised ridicule in the way she looked down at me.

“What is this, Miss?”

Olga glanced at Eden.

Her thin lips twisted into a sneer.

“Just as one would expect from the daughter of a criminal. Are you already bringing men into your room?”

I clenched my fists.

“He’s my childhood playmate Father gave me as a present.”

“Friend? You know how to make friends, Miss?”

Olga pulled the corners of her mouth upward and openly mocked me.

“Aren’t you the one who can’t stand not tormenting your only sister?”

“…….”

“Well, I suppose that’s why you would describe a friend as something you ‘received as a present.’ Just like the daughter of that criminal woman who was a loner until the day she died.”

That criminal woman.

She was referring to my mother.

There was a simple reason Olga could insult my mother, the second Duchess, like that.

Whether it was because of the harsh life in the north or something else, my mother had suffered a mental breakdown, attempted to kill all of the maids, failed, and then took her own life.

Those maids had even been brought with my mother from the Imperial Palace when she came from there.

After being betrayed by the person they had served, the maids began to hate me, her daughter.

Olga, the head maid, was the foremost example.

Under the name of discipline, they tormented me in every way imaginable.

The reason the original, officially certified villain of the story endured all of it was simple.

“Remember this, Lilyan. You must never trust anyone in this family. Not even your brothers or your father.”

“Other than your mother and the maids, everyone else is untrustworthy. Do you understand?”

“No one else truly cares about you. Eloise is nothing but a hypocrite, too.”

While she was still alive, my mother whispered those words to me every night.

The people in the castle who lavished all their attention on my father, whom I could barely see, and my sick sister.

Whenever their indifference hurt me, I repeated my mother’s teachings to myself.

They weren’t on my side anyway, so their affection meant nothing to me.

Even after my mother died, I firmly believed it.

“We discipline you this way because we’re the ones who truly want what’s best for you, Miss.”

“We’re the only ones left who truly care about you now.”

I acted like a hedgehog around everyone else, raising my quills and behaving badly, but I obeyed the maids.

The more I did so, the more people distanced themselves from me, and the more I came to have nowhere to rely on except the maids.

It was a vicious cycle.

“You ate your food like a filthy little pig again today. I suppose you need to be punished?”

“Like mother, like daughter…… Hah. Roll up your calves. Today, I’ll teach you some manners properly.”

Once I became completely dependent on them, the maids began to torment me in earnest.

But I couldn’t rebel.

‘Mother is dead, too, so now the maids are the only people who care about me.’

I believed what my mother had told me—that even when they hurt me and made me sad, they did it because they cared about me.

Because if I stopped believing even that, I felt like I would truly become a complete loner.

‘……I’m so angry.’

Remembering the past from just a short while ago made resentment surge up from my chest.

Young and alone, I had been thoroughly conditioned by the maids’ subtle abuse.

Now that I had recovered my memories as ‘Yuna Shin,’ I could recognize exactly what had been done to me.

‘These people were absolute masters of gaslighting!’

With blazing eyes, I glared at Olga.

“Hmph. Why are you staring at me like that? By the way, I see you were enjoying your vulgar hobby again today.”

Vulgar hobby.

Olga and the other maids used that expression for my mechanical research.

In this world where magic existed, machines were something only commoners who couldn’t use magic relied on.

With a bad feeling, I looked toward my desk.

‘There’s nothing there!’

The desk, which had been cluttered with mechanical parts until I left, was now completely clean.

I turned toward Olga and shouted angrily.

“I told you not to touch my desk!”

“There are unsightly things all over Miss’s room. As a servant, it’s only natural that I clean them for you.”

Olga sneered.

Without even having time to get angry, I hurriedly searched around beside my desk.

The other parts were fine.

But something that absolutely should not have disappeared was gone.

Fortunately, the dustpan that hadn’t yet been put away was still beside the desk.

I spotted a familiar machine inside it and hurried over.

“Rossi!”

I carefully lifted the mechanical doll shaped like a bird from the dustpan and held it in my arms.

It wasn’t finished yet, so its metal framework and eyeballs were still exposed, giving it a somewhat grotesque appearance.

But to me, this little thing was as precious as a child.

Seeing Rossi, whom I had lovingly taken apart, repaired, and modified every day, rolling around covered in dust made sparks fly from my eyes.

‘Rossi’ was the first project I had devoted myself to with all my strength.

Once I successfully completed its circuitry and properly supplied it with power, it would be able to glide through the sky and become my eyes and ears.

Unlike me, who was confined to this castle, Rossi would be free to roam the entire world.

“Rossi…… I told you not to touch Rossi.”

Seeing my precious, child-like Rossi covered in dust made me so angry that my voice trembled.

Olga approached me, openly mocking me.

“Raising your voice at an adult over such a vulgar toy. I think you’re in need of some correction of your manners.”

Olga approached with a metal ruler in her hand, smiling like an evil spirit.

‘How did I ever think of her as one of my people?’

How had I thought she was merely strict, but genuinely cared about me and could take the place of my mother?

“We’ll have to begin your discipline again today. First, kneel.”

“No.”

Olga, who had been naturally about to sit down on a chair, stopped short.

She turned toward me with a blank expression.

“……What did you just say?”

“I said no.”

I stared at Olga expressionlessly.

“Why should I kneel? You’re a maid, and I’m the young lady of House Sergegnev.”

No matter how bad my reputation was, I was still the young lady of House Sergegnev.

There was only one reason the maids had been able to torment me despite my status as a young lady.

I had tolerated it.

Again and again, I had allowed it because I was so thoroughly steeped in their gaslighting.

If I admitted that they weren’t ‘disciplining’ me but simply abusing me……

‘Then I would have to admit that there was no one in the world who truly cared about me, and that I was completely alone.’

But now that I possessed the memories of ‘Yuna Shin,’ I knew.

‘Life is something you live alone anyway!’

“You kneel, Olga.”

I glared at Olga as I spoke.

“You touched something precious to me, so you kneel down and reflect on what you did.”

“……Ha!”

Olga, who had been momentarily stunned, let out a sharp laugh.

She glared at me and approached.

“Miss. Have you gone insane?”

Her body, larger even than that of an adult man, approached threateningly, and I instinctively shrank back.

‘Get a grip. Twelve years of this is more than enough!’

Pinching my own thigh to snap myself out of it, I forced my eyes wide open with all my strength.

‘If I back down here, it’s over!’

“Get down on your knees! Otherwise……”

I decided to use the ultimate weapon of a child—one that had worked both in the past and now.

“I’ll tell Father everything.”

“…….”

Olga flinched for a moment before openly sneering.

“Haha. Ahahaha!”

Olga burst into laughter loud enough to shake the room.

“You’ll tell him? Pfft! As if the head of the family would actually listen to anything you say, Miss. A young lady born with Sergegnev blood who can’t even properly hold a sword!”

“How can you be so sure?”

To be honest, it was something I had never even dared to try before.

I had firmly believed that Father wouldn’t spare any time for me because he had no interest in me.

I gave a smirk that even I thought looked obnoxious and pointed somewhere.

“Olga. Can’t you see him?”

Eden had been quietly watching the situation, crouched like an animal hiding in a bush.

When I pointed at him, a cat-like wariness appeared on Eden’s face.

“He’s the childhood playmate Father gave me as a present.”

“……What does that filthy thing have to do with anything?”

“He’s a little dirty, but take a good look.”

I abruptly pulled Eden’s arm toward me and said,

“Have you ever seen something this pretty?”

At the word ‘pretty,’ Eden looked at me as though I were some bizarre creature.

I ignored him and raised my chin toward Olga.

“Pretty things are precious, aren’t they? Father actually brought something this pretty back for me when he returned from an expedition.”

I gave a small smirk, raising one corner of my mouth.

“Do you still think Father doesn’t care about me?”

Olga’s gaze swept over Eden.

Golden eyes that looked as though they had been made by melting down pure gold.

Features so perfectly refined they looked like those of an expensive doll.

Even covered in grime, the male protagonist’s beauty still shone through.

For a moment, Olga’s expression became slightly persuaded.