Chapter 37
“What’s that laugh? You’re smirking when we’re telling you to go apologize for your mistake? Do you find this serious situation amusing?”
Count Fordley widened his eyes threateningly.
Alice pulled her hand away from the Countess and said:
“Ah, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it because it was so absurd.”
“…What?”
“I said it was absurd.”
“You…!”
The Count’s face went blank for a moment at Alice’s calm and composed demeanor, showing no fear at all.
Of course, he would be bewildered.
The daughter he knew wasn’t such an insolent child.
Alice Fordley.
She was a child who followed her parents’ wishes without a word of complaint, even in unfair situations.
She didn’t show any resistance even up to the moment she was sold to the Dearrut Duchy.
A daughter who was foolishly kind and gentle.
So she had tried to pretend to be docile to some extent, but…
Seeing these shameless people, she couldn’t bear it anymore.
After all, she wasn’t the real Alice anyway.
I should say what needs to be said.
Alice dropped the corners of her mouth that she had been forcibly raising until now.
She revealed her cold face without hiding it.
In fact, thinking about it, there was no reason to be considerate of the Count and Countess Fordley.
They were already outsiders to call family, and since Lady Quillian was in seclusion, watching Kylus’s movements, the Fordley family was essentially a broken connection.
Ah, of course, they probably wouldn’t think so.
The reality of the duchy was already tilting further towards Kylus.
So if anyone should be at a disadvantage, it was Count Fordley, not her.
After all, she was still the Duchess, and Kylus was protecting her.
If they had at least pretended to be pitiful, she might have shown some sympathy for the real Alice’s sake.
But seeing the Count and Countess who felt not even a shred of guilt for selling off their daughter, she felt her blood boil.
She absolutely despised people who sacrificed their daughter to raise their son.
Alice spoke to them in an icy voice:
“Mother, Father. I won’t apologize to Lady Quillian. So stop your pointless expectations.”
“…What, what are you saying? If you don’t apologize to Lady Quillian, what will happen to our family? Don’t you know that Lady Quillian raised our failing county back up? We can’t repay that kindness like this.”
The Countess looked at Alice as if she were looking at a shameless person.
Who should be receiving that look?
Alice was dumbfounded, but she spoke clearly so that the Count and Countess could understand well:
“Kindness… Mother, you should speak correctly. The money I received from Lady Quillian when I married, you took it all, didn’t you?”
“W-what?”
“I was sold to the Duke’s family without a single coin of dowry, so what kindness? The kindness was received by you, my parents, and my brother who sold me off. Am I wrong?”
“Sold off? How can you say such things…”
The Countess placed a trembling hand on her chest as if she was too shocked.
It was such a dramatic reaction that anyone watching might curse Alice for stabbing her parents in the heart.
But of course, Alice didn’t waver at all.
“You did sell me off. You handed me over to the Dearrut Duchy to try and raise my brother, who showed no promise, as a knight. If not, why would you marry me off to a man who was practically a living corpse?”
“…”
“And you know everything, don’t you? Why Lady Quillian chose me, an unremarkable lady, among all the noble daughters as her daughter-in-law, and what she ordered me to do in return.”
Kill the Duke of Dearrut.
The Count and Countess knew as well. They sold Alice off knowing everything.
Eric Fordley.
To somehow raise this son who had no ability whatsoever.
If they had sold her to pay for her youngest sibling’s education, she might have understood it logically, even if she felt wronged.
The youngest of the Fordley family was quite intelligent after all.
But not for this good-for-nothing.
Alice continued, looking at the pale-faced Count and Countess:
“As Mother and Father know, Duke Dearrut has regained consciousness. If I were to tell the Duke everything Lady Quillian ordered me to do…”
“Alice!”
Before she could finish, Count Fordley jumped up and shouted:
“Alice! Are you mad? If you speak of that matter, we’re all dead!”
Even the Countess turned ashen.
Alice smiled smoothly at them:
“Yes. I know that well. So, Father, Mother. Just leave me alone. Then nothing will happen.”
“Leave you alone? We shouldn’t leave you alone, we should help Lady Quillian even more because of that matter!”
Count Fordley lowered his voice considerably and grabbed Alice’s hand.
“Think about it. If the Duke learns the truth, do you think he’ll let you live? Not just you, but our entire family will be killed! So somehow helping Lady Quillian succeed in her plan is our only way to survive!”
Looking at the Count’s unwavering eyes, he seemed to sincerely believe this.
Unlike the people in the duchy who expected Lady Quillian to be driven out now that Kylus had awakened.
Well, as a noble in name only, stuck in the countryside, he wouldn’t have known the detailed inner workings of the Dearrut Duchy.
He probably just sold off his daughter at the promise of a large sum of money.
Alice shook off Count Fordley’s hand with a cold gaze.
“Find your own way to survive. I’ll do the same.”
As the Count was dumbfounded by Alice’s cold rejection, the Countess’s trembling voice rang out:
“…You, are you really going to abandon your family like this?”
“Ha, abandon my family? I wasn’t the one who let go first. Mother, you said it yourself on the day I left for the Duke’s family. That I was now a person of the Dearrut Duchy.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Yes, I know.
I know what you meant.
You meant for me to live as a person of the Dearrut Duchy, or more precisely, as Lady Quillian’s person.
As a loyal subordinate.
But the real Alice was no longer in this world, and the new Alice had no intention of living that way.
Alice shrugged her shoulders.
“Whatever you meant, Mother, I’m already a person of the Dearrut Duchy, so what can I do? Now that the Duke has regained consciousness, I have absolutely no intention of returning to Lady Quillian.”
“You, you…”
The Count’s face contorted violently at Alice’s nonchalance. His head seemed to have frozen from anger, unable to continue speaking as he pointed at her.
Looking at the Count, Alice smiled smoothly.
“So please go back now. The duchy is already in turmoil with the Duke having just woken up, and if my family from my maiden home causes a commotion, that would truly be a disgrace to Fordley County. So I won’t tolerate any more disturbance.”
And please don’t come looking for me again.
As she added this cleanly to finish, the Count and Countess gaped with stunned faces.
As if they couldn’t believe what had just happened.
But what could they do?
She was no longer their kind daughter.
Think of it as the price for abandoning your child.
Alice rose from her seat, saying these words in her heart as she looked at the two people who had been struck speechless.
Staying any longer would only lead to unpleasantness for both sides.
Just as she was about to leave the reception room, Eric, who had been sitting quietly all this time, suddenly stood up and blocked her way.
And he shouted at her with a very fierce face:
“Well, well, what’s this? Don’t come looking for you again? Go back quietly? How dare you behave so rudely to our parents! We worked hard to marry you off to a Duke’s family when you had nothing to your name! Not knowing your place and causing trouble! Now you’re even abusing your family!? Kneel down right now!”
It was quite an intimidating display.
Alice’s body flinched for a moment.
Of course, it wasn’t because she was scared.
It was a reaction her body remembered.
This fool had even laid hands on his sister before.
As memories of Alice being hit by Eric in the past surfaced, she couldn’t control her expression even though it wasn’t something she had actually experienced.
Just as her face was stiffening, Eric let out a twisted laugh.
Thinking she was scared because she stood still.
“Now, are you coming to your senses? If you had been this obedient from the start…”
“Yes, I am coming to my senses. Thinking I should have dealt with you first.”
Alice’s voice rang out softly.
“…What?”
Eric asked back with a stupid face, wondering if he had heard wrong for a moment.
Alice looked straight at that pig-like face that resembled her father’s exactly and spoke clearly:
“Brother, stop introducing yourself as someone who doesn’t know his place and come to your senses. Stop wasting money pretending to be a knight when you have no ability whatsoever.”
“What, you’re now…”
“Ah, why don’t you learn a skill while you’re at it? I think that would be true filial piety. Since you’re strong, maybe blacksmithing…”
“Alice Fordley!!!”
Eric shouted like a demon, his anger exploding.
“Who are you calling Fordley!!”
Alice shouted back, not backing down, and Eric stumbled back with a surprised face.
Alice didn’t stop and fired back:
“Who’s Fordley? When did my surname change!? Are you running your mouth ignorantly!? My surname is now Dearrut! You all made it that way!”
Eric’s eyes flashed fiercely after his momentary hesitation.
“You, did you just yell at me?!”
A violent aura as if he might hit her.
Alice didn’t flinch or avoid Eric, as if daring him to hit her if he dared.
“Yes, I yelled! What are you going to do about it?!”
As Alice raised her chin, Eric’s face crumpled menacingly.
“You little…!!”
