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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Teottry
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Excluding the scribe who was on his deathbed, Bertio was the vassal who had served by my father’s side the longest. And yet, this man was wary of my stepmother, who wasn’t even present, right in front of me, the legitimate acting lord.
This series of events suggested that while I was busy with my debauchery, Sophia had steadily expanded her influence, seizing even the vassals under her control.
Perhaps I was only one step away from confinement or even banishment.
‘I’ve been foolish.’
Only then did I realize I was isolated in the heart of enemy territory.
Fortunately, I still had a chance. Even after years of remarriage, Sophia hadn’t borne a son.
I was the legitimate acting lord and heir.
Therefore, the justification was on my side.
“Call the tailor.”
“W-Well… Ah! The tailor will be asleep, as it’s late at night.”
Bertio, his eyes darting around, wiped the sweat from his brow and offered an excuse.
“Then wake her up.”
“The tailor wouldn’t wake up even if someone carried her away.”
“You even know her sleeping habits? Did you sleep with her?”
“W-What makes you think… I mean, the tailor is…”
“Enough with the jokes.”
I pressured Bertio with silence. The beads of sweat on his forehead multiplied. Unable to endure it any longer, he squeezed his eyes shut and shouted,
“Madam will be furious if she finds out!”
“It is my prerogative, as the legitimate acting lord, to decide how the family’s assets are used.”
That was a fact no one could deny.
“Ugh. I certainly advised against it.”
“I understand, so just bring the tailor.”
Bertio left, groaning.
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“Did you call for me?”
The tailor, who arrived a short while later, looked visibly nervous. Being summoned late at night by the infamous scoundrel couldn’t be good news.
“I’m having a dress made as a gift for a whore I favor. And I’d like some everyday clothes made as well. I’ll give you the dress fabric tomorrow, so start working on it immediately. The everyday clothes should be finished within two weeks.”
The tailor, accepting the fabrics, couldn’t hide her troubled expression.
“But, this is the fabric Madam had earmarked…”
It was Eastern silk, the same material as the dress Sophia had worn today.
“So?”
The tailor’s face crumpled. She was probably cursing me inwardly. Even if it was my order, Sophia would be furious if she found out. The tailor was caught between a rock and a hard place.
“Um, if the dress doesn’t fit the recipient, the gift would be pointless. Wouldn’t it be better to get her measurements first and then discuss it again?”
“Are you assuming I don’t know her measurements?”
“This is the first time you’ve called me to make a gift dress. Am I wrong?”
“…Indeed. I am a bold man.”
“Sigh…”
The tailor, letting out a deep sigh in front of me, perhaps due to her nervousness, quickly realized her mistake and bowed. However, her demeanor was now more relaxed.
But one should always listen to what someone has to say until the very end.
“But there’s no need to worry. The woman I favor happens to have a similar build to Anya. As the family’s exclusive tailor, you must have experience making Anya’s clothes, right? Use that as a reference.”
“However! Their figures won’t be exactly the same…”
“Can’t she just alter it to fit? Don’t overthink it. You don’t mind making it, do you?”
“Of course not. I’ll work through the night to finish it.”
Any servant who dared to defy me had either been crippled by my hand or had already run away. The tailor reluctantly accepted the fabric.
However, it seemed she hadn’t completely given up. Even after the preparations were complete, she hesitated to start working. Even though there wasn’t nearly enough time to make a dress overnight.
“Is there anything else you need…?”
She looked up at me with a strained smile. When I responded with a blank expression, her smile gradually faded, turning into a grimace.
The shrimp caught between whales is always the one who suffers. The tailor, who had been trying to buy time, couldn’t hold out any longer and started working.
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“Allen. What is the meaning of this outrageous act?”
My stepmother, Sophia, appeared long after the tailor had started working.
She was a mature beauty in her mid-twenties with tanned skin and long, dark brown hair.
Her curvaceous figure suggested that my father’s reason for remarrying wasn’t solely due to Baron Rasino’s arrangement.
Honestly, my taste was closer to Sophia’s figure than slender women like Marie or Anya.
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you playing dumb? I heard everything from Bertio! You’re reducing the fabric I had earmarked to a mere gift for a whore! What kind of preposterous act is this? This is unacceptable! Unthinkable!”
I had wondered why the tailor had come alone. It seemed Bertio had informed Sophia.
It was expected.
“We can just get more fabric, can’t we?”
“What? Do you truly not understand that Eastern silk is difficult to acquire even with money? Moreover, the family’s finances are depleted due to the ongoing war!”
Then how did she acquire such expensive Eastern silk? Sophia’s words were full of contradictions. Was this what they called hypocrisy?
“We can just squeeze the peasants for more money.”
“The peasants are not an endless source of money! They’ve already reached their limit with all the taxes we’ve imposed!”
“What can we do? The dress is already half-finished.”
There was a significant difference in physique between Sophia and Anya. There was no way to turn the half-finished dress back into fabric. And Sophia wouldn’t tolerate patching it up.
“Y-You…!”
Sophia’s face turned red and blue like a volcano about to erupt. Her fists trembled. When I grinned at her, she finally exploded.
“When my husband returns, I’ll tell him everything! Every single detail!”
Sophia yelled, glaring at me and the cowering tailor before storming off. A cold wind swept through the room.
It was the first time I had acted this way towards Sophia, but it seemed I hadn’t aroused suspicion.
My acting must have been quite good. Though, since I had just acted as I always did, I wasn’t sure if it could even be called acting.
“Oh dear. I’m dead. I’m so dead…”
I placed my hand on the shoulder of the tailor, who looked like she was about to burst into tears.
“Since things have turned out this way, why don’t you use up the rest of the fabric as well?”
“Just kill me now!”
“Oh, come on, I’m joking.”
The tailor, who had been looking at me with resentment, resumed her work. The damage was already done, and if she incurred my wrath on top of Sophia’s, she would truly be living a life worse than death.
I turned away from her and looked around the storage room. As Sophia had said, the financial situation seemed dire, as the room was mostly empty, collecting dust.
It was to be expected, considering the war supplies, Sophia’s extravagance, and the considerable funds that had gone into my debauchery.
If it were before, I would have just shrugged it off…
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“Hmm. But this is too much, isn’t it?”
“What? Oh!”
The tailor looked up, holding her finger and grimacing. A drop of blood welled up where she had pricked herself with a needle.
“It’s nothing.”
“O-Oh, alright…”
I turned away from the tailor, lost in thought. There were limits to the debauchery and extravagance one could indulge in within a small territory on the frontier. Unlike in the modern world, I couldn’t simply buy expensive items with a click of a button.
At best, I could embrace prostitutes and give them expensive gifts. Even that was limited, as there weren’t many exorbitantly priced items available in this remote area.
But every time I visited the storage room, the family’s wealth noticeably dwindled. War was a money pit, but this was too much. It made me wonder if there was a leak somewhere.
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The next morning.
“Is this really me…?”
Anya, dressed in a bright yellow dress, looked like a flower in bloom. With her beauty no longer hidden by her shabby clothes, even I, who knew she would one day be called a beauty that could topple nations, couldn’t help but be amazed.
“Fine feathers make fine birds.”
“It’s because the clothes hanger is good.”
Anya glared at me. I placed my hand on her shoulder, leaned down, and breathed hot air into her delicate ear.
“Don’t forget our promise.”
Anya shuddered and looked up at me.
“What are you going to ask of me?”
“It wouldn’t be fun if you knew beforehand.”
I could guarantee it. Anya would soon regret it.
“Hmph, I know what you’re thinking. You’re going to ask me to put in a good word for you with Father, aren’t you? You’ve caused all sorts of trouble while Father’s been away, so you must be afraid of the consequences.”
“Perhaps.”
Was there any reason to worry about a father who wouldn’t return? I deliberately put on a sinister smile, and Anya, flinching, took a step back.
“Wh-What is it?”
“Let’s talk about it after the party.”
“Ah, the party…!”
“Don’t forget to say that you asked for the dress because the one I had altered didn’t fit.”
It was a rather far-fetched excuse, but wasn’t a scoundrel’s behavior inherently difficult to understand? Since it was the first time something like this had happened, it wouldn’t arouse suspicion.
“Alright!”
Anya hurriedly left the room. She was probably going to tell Sophia that she had procured a dress and ask for permission to attend the party.
However, that wouldn’t go as planned.
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I knew exactly how Sophia would react after seeing Anya looking even more beautiful in a dress made from the fabric I had taken, the fabric meant for her.
Anya was mine.
I never intended to throw Anya into a party filled with men who only thought about bedding women. Of course, Anya would be sad, but that would only make her more dependent on me.
Yes, this wasn’t love.
It was possessiveness.
My prediction soon came true.
“Aaah…”
Anya, standing outside the manor gates, collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. The carriage that should have been waiting for her was gone. Sophia had left without her.
“You promised, you promised…!”
“It’s foolish to trust the words of someone unreliable.”
“Are you mocking me right now!?”
Anya jumped up and punched my chest with her tiny fists. But only for a moment. She quickly buried her face in my chest, and soon, my shirt began to dampen with her tears.
“Anya.”
I lifted her chin and made her look up at me. Her tear-streaked face evoked both pity and a sadistic urge within me.
“Let’s go eat.”
“Sob. What’s gotten into you? You used to say you couldn’t stand eating with me because it was disgusting.”
“So, you don’t want to?”
“Who said I don’t want to?”
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A delicious meal was one of the few ways to relieve stress in this world. Moreover, Anya had skipped breakfast because she was worried about her stomach looking bloated, so the answer was obvious.
Anya’s meal was served first. It was a hard, dark brown rye bread with a sour smell. Anya put it in her mouth and softened it with saliva. She did it skillfully.
My meal was different. It was a feast fit for a lord, with fine, light-colored bread, vegetable stew, and even roasted meat.
Gulp.
Anya’s throat bobbed as her gaze was drawn to the feast. Despite the obvious disparity, she didn’t complain, her eyes glued to my meal.
There was a reason for her thin, twig-like body. If it weren’t for the dress, I might have mistaken her for a peasant’s daughter.
Sophia’s mistreatment extended to food as well. I hadn’t known because we had never eaten together. Or rather, I had pretended not to know.
“Eat.”
I pushed my meal towards Anya. The servants gasped.
“…Did you poison the food or something?”
Anya was the most surprised. Her narrowed eyes softened after she took a bite.
“Is it good?”
“W-Well. It’s not bad.”
Despite her words, her hands moved faster and faster. I was worried she wasn’t even chewing properly.
Snicker
The servants started laughing.
“Even a beggar who hasn’t eaten in three days wouldn’t be that bad.”
“You’re telling me. Look at her spilling food everywhere. Even if someone paid me to eat as messily as possible, I don’t think I could.”
They thought they were whispering, but I heard everything. Anya, gobbling down the food, certainly lacked decorum. But that didn’t give the servants the right to mock the lord’s daughter.
Anya didn’t seem to mind them. She focused on the food with a blissful expression.
Perhaps she had come to accept this unfair treatment as normal. She had been gaslighted.
And I was partly responsible.
Because I had tacitly condoned it, they had the audacity to mock the lord’s daughter even in my presence.
“You eat too.”
Anya pushed the plate back towards me with a look of regret.
Betrayal by someone you considered an ally hurts even more. Anya must have resented me more than her abusive stepmother, yet she was still thinking of me.
Another past life memory resurfaced. Anya, realizing that her beauty was a weapon, quickly rose to power, but she never sought revenge against me, the one who had sold her.
Instead…
“You’re being rude. Call me ‘brother’.”
This innocent lamb needed protection. I would take her into my safest embrace and never let her go.
“What? If you don’t want to eat, then don’t.”
Anya quickly took the plate back. At this rate, she would soon grow into the Anya Tolbatz from the game, just the way I liked it.
I got up from my seat, leaving Anya to her meal. Then, I looked down at the two servants who had been attending us.
Before I made my move, I needed to warn those who would become Sophia’s eyes and ears. And I had the perfect example and a clear justification.
Now, with Sophia away for a while, was my chance.
“Gather all the servants.”
It was time for the servants who had joined in on Anya’s mistreatment to pay the price.
The servants, unaware of the dangerous thoughts running through my mind, tilted their heads in confusion.
It seemed Anya wasn’t the only one who had become too accustomed to the current situation, accepting it as normal. I wondered how long that would last.
“Now!”
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Stolen silk, a betrayed sister, and a brother’s possessive comfort. The servants were summoned. The game was afoot.
