Chapter 50
The baroness gripped the hem of her skirt with trembling hands.
If she had simply retreated at that point, she would have received sympathetic glances, even if her pride was hurt. After all, she had been openly insulted by a young lady.
However, the Baroness, unable to control her temper, shot back at me sharply.
“By the way, how is Her Highness the Grand Duchess’s hand now? Has it become as white and soft as any other noblewoman’s? I was quite pained to see those rough hands, which were no different from those of a commoner.”
Just as I was about to retort to the woman who kept harping on my mother, I saw Bell behind the Baroness.
Bell was holding my shawl and looking around nervously. When she met my gaze, she broke into a bright smile.
“Lady Ar…”
Just as Bell was about to come over to me, she collided with a man. To be precise, a drunken man stumbled and bumped into her.
The problem came next. The drink he was holding spilled all over his clothes.
“Damn it, what is this! What bad luck!”
As his clothes got dirty, the man’s face turned bright red. Then, without warning, he slapped Bell across the face.
Smack!
“You should watch where you’re going!”
“Bell!”
I rushed over to Bell in an instant. She was on the ground, having been slapped, and when she saw me, her eyes filled with tears.
“Ah, Lady Ar…”
“Are you okay?”
I knelt down to examine Bell’s face closely. The side of her cheek that had been hit was already starting to swell red.
“That bastard…”
As I muttered a curse under my breath, Bell gasped and grabbed my arm.
“I-I’m fine! Really! I’m okay!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think I kept you by my side just to be hit by someone like that?”
Bell entered the Grand Duchy at a young age and became my personal maid. Since then, I had never once hit her or subjected her to verbal abuse.
This was a common rule for all employees at the Grand Duchy. My mother never tolerated such behavior.
So, after taking care of her like a sister, some fool came out of nowhere and hit her.
“Lady Ar, please calm down…”
Bell desperately clung to me, but having lost all sense of restraint, I stood up abruptly to face the man.
He reeked of alcohol, indicating he had been drinking quite a bit. As I approached, the man looked me over with half-closed eyes and sneered.
“Ah, so you’re the maid of that esteemed lady? Well, she was just bumbling around without looking and ruined my clothes!”
“To me, it looks like you collided with this child by mistake.”
“Are you blaming me right now in this situation where I should be receiving an apology?”
The man exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders as if he found it utterly absurd.
“Tch, I suppose I should have an idea of how you train your subordinates at the Grand Duchy. After all, women often lack the strength to discipline properly. How do you expect to manage your knights like this?”
I took a deep breath, closed my eyes for a moment, and then opened them. Villains had been appearing one by one, provoking my temper. I had tried to leave a good first impression through a peaceful resolution, but it was becoming too much to bear.
“Milady, this is how you teach your subordinates. I’ll demonstrate personally, so make sure to learn from this opportunity.”
I made a decision.
I would just become the crazy woman of this area.
The fireworks had ended, and the surroundings were so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. The man, too drunk to notice the horrified gazes around him, continued to ramble on.
I stepped closer to the arrogant man.
Smack!
The man’s cheek whipped around sharply. He stared at me in shock, holding the side of his face.
“Oh dear, a pesky bug is buzzing around in front of me, so I got rid of it.”
And this time, I slapped the other side of his face hard.
Smack!
The man staggered.
“I’m sorry. I’m in the process of teaching this rude bug a lesson.”
“You!”
Finally, the man threateningly clenched his fists.
“What are you doing? Do you think you can get away with this because you’re a woman?”
“I was just trying to get rid of an insect, and you’re threatening me like this.”
I smirked, raising one corner of my lip.
“Sounds like self-defense to me.”
At my words, I noticed Persis flinch dramatically from the side. And Hyperion seemed to sense something, covering his face with his hands.
I swung the fan I was holding down hard on the man’s head.
“Ugh!”
As the man clutched his head and bent over, I jabbed my elbow into the center of his chest.
The man couldn’t even make a sound. Naturally, it would be hard for him to breathe after being hit in such a sensitive spot.
Next, I kicked both of his knees, left and right in turn. The man dropped to his knees in the order he was hit, face-planting onto the ground.
I looked down at the man squirming on the floor and spoke in a cold voice.
“Is this enough discipline? Or should I break something to make you understand?”
The man hurriedly lifted his head. He didn’t even think to wipe the dirt off his face and trembled slightly.
“Are you curious about how I manage the knights of the Grand Duchy? Then formally challenge me to a duel. Of course, you’ll have to risk your life.”
“W-well, I wasn’t… I just wanted to address the maid’s mistake….”
“I see you don’t quite understand.”
I leaned slightly toward the man. Looking directly into his trembling eyes, I said,
“Nothing from the Grand Duchy should be carelessly touched, no matter what it is. Not without my permission, even if it’s just a blade of grass, because the price for that will be dealing with me.”
“I-I’m sorry!”
The man began to apologize, burying his head in the ground.
“I’ve had too much to drink and made a mistake! Please forgive me!”
His utterly cowardly attitude made me raise an eyebrow.
“If you don’t even have the guts to challenge me to a duel, then get lost right now.”
At my biting words, the man staggered to his feet and hurriedly ran away as if someone were chasing him.
As the man cleared from my sight, I turned directly to the baroness. As I walked briskly toward her, the baroness recoiled in surprise and took a step back.
“M-milady! W-why are you doing this…?”
But it wasn’t long before the baroness was blocked by a tree. She trembled, caught between the tree and me, seemingly thinking I would hit her just as I had the man.
However, I had a principle: I would never resort to violence against women or children.
I slowly took off the glove from one hand.
“Earlier, you asked if my mother’s rough hands have become soft like other noblewomen’s.”
I opened my hand and showed it to her. Unlike the hands of other noble young ladies, my palm was calloused from years of wielding a sword.
“If only those with soft hands, unblemished and white, are qualified to be noblewomen, then I would already be disqualified, wouldn’t I?”
“Well…”
“My mother did not shy away from rough work to protect me. That’s how she got such rough hands. I am the same. I took up the sword to protect the Grand Duchy. It would be foolish for the baroness to underestimate this hand, which I earned at such a cost.”
I bowed my head toward the baroness, who was now speechless, merely gaping. Then I whispered quietly in her ear.
“I’m only putting up with you until today. If you knew how vile my personality is, you would keep that mouth shut and stay quiet from now on. If you crawl back to me again, I will trample you and your entire family.”
The baroness seemed to lose strength in her legs and slowly sank down into her seat.
I looked around at the now quiet surroundings and smiled.
“I apologize for the disturbance. Everything has been resolved, so please don’t worry any longer and enjoy the rest of the party.”
The music started playing again. People began to move, and I took Bell’s hand.
“Come with me.”
