Chapter 11
Chapter 11
After glaring at Diana for a long while, Alicia headed to Catherine’s room.
She considered barging in but, glancing at the newly replaced maids, decided to knock.
“Your Grace, it’s Alicia. I heard you’re feeling unwell.”
Of course, that was a lie. Though unlikely, she couldn’t be sure what those new maids, possibly handpicked by Diana, might report.
“Yes, come in.”
Catherine’s voice soon responded. Hearing her hoarse voice, Alicia tilted her head in curiosity as she entered the room.
Once she closed the door, she relaxed and sat arrogantly on the sofa. Looking at Catherine with concern, she asked:
“Did you catch a cold?”
“No. Diana made me read books…”
“She made you read?”
Just to make her read, she dared to strain her daughter’s voice like this? Alicia’s expression twisted in anger.
She wanted to rush upstairs and grab that insolent girl by the hair.
“She wants me to do it every day.”
“Every day?”
“I have to.”
“You have to?”
Alicia looked at the unusually obedient Catherine in surprise.
“She canceled my appointment with Lord Sawyer.”
“What?”
Alicia’s mouth dropped open. Wasn’t Lord Sawyer the boy Catherine had a crush on? Diana knew that well.
The Diana she knew would never do something to make Catherine sad.
“She even scolded me.”
“Huh,”
Alicia let out a hollow laugh in disbelief. Had she gone mad after losing her sight?
Replacing all the maids Alicia had personally selected wasn’t enough; now she was even scolding her precious daughter.
“She seems very sensitive because of her blindness. She’s not acting like herself.”
Catherine, not thinking much of Diana’s condition, popped a macaron from the table into her mouth.
Well, it made sense. Losing one’s sight suddenly would be traumatic.
Alicia’s plan to drive Diana out was still in the preparation stage. Until then, she had to lie low to aim higher.
But should she just watch her go mad like this?
Even though her husband was already Alicia’s captive, that foolish woman bragged about his jealousy.
“Oh, anyway. There’s something more important.”
“What is it?”
“She wants me to learn magic.”
Catherine spoke calmly, unaware of the gravity of the situation. But Alicia’s face turned pale at her words.
Magical talent is innate. Meticulous Alicia had surely checked whether Catherine had any talent.
Moreover, the problem was that magical talent is hereditary. If Diana had talent, Catherine should too.
If Catherine couldn’t manifest even a little mana, even the dim-witted Diana would become suspicious.
“Don’t tell me you agreed?”
“…Yes.”
Alicia closed her eyes tightly at her daughter’s ignorance.
No matter how great Diana’s teacher was, it would be hard to deceive them.
“Sigh…”
“You can do something, right? You’re a great doctor, after all.”
Catherine thought highly of Alicia, who was a doctor.
To her, Alicia seemed smarter and more capable than Diana, who just read books and had tea with nobles.
But in truth, becoming a magician was even harder and more prestigious than being a doctor.
Not everyone with magical power could become a tower magician.
It required rigorous training and difficult studies in elemental science, comparable to medicine.
Diana had memorized elemental science fluently as a child. After marriage, she had stopped all training, including magic.
“Catherine. It’s not as easy to deceive magicians as you think. If you try something half-heartedly, it will only raise suspicion.”
“Then what should I do? I can’t back out now!”
Catherine shouted. Her pride was hurt. She didn’t want to seem helpless just because she couldn’t do some magic.
At that moment, Alicia’s gaze turned to Catherine’s bookshelf. Her eyes sparkled.
She approached the bookshelf and knocked on it sharply.
“Aicel!”
There was soundproofing between the bookshelf and Catherine’s room, so knocking was necessary to be heard.
Soon, the bookshelf slid open. A thin, slumped child emerged.
“Aicel! So slow!”
Alicia tapped the head of the weak child who could barely hold her head up.
Aicel’s emerald eyes, resembling Diana’s, slowly turned to Alicia.
Why was it? In those seemingly empty eyes, there seemed to be a bright light that might one day engulf her.
Disliking that gaze, Alicia quickly turned her head away from the child.
In any case, Diana’s biological daughter was in her grasp.
As long as she had this child, Diana couldn’t challenge her and was nothing more than a perpetual loser.
Diana. You can’t beat me.
If she used this child, she could make it seem like Catherine had magical power. Alicia smiled slyly.
“You, try learning magic.”
“Pardon? Magic?”
Aicel looked at them with wide eyes, not understanding why she was suddenly being told to learn magic.
“I’ll bring a low-level magician. Just try learning.”
“But I’m just a commoner… I can’t possibly use magic…”
“Just do it. And you’ll have to help Her Grace.”
Alicia crossed her arms and explained calmly. It was extremely difficult to find a magician with the same affinity as Diana.
Moreover, she couldn’t fully trust magicians. Alicia was determined to use Aicel, the one person she could rely on, thoroughly.
After listening silently, Aicel slowly spoke up.
“…Are you saying that I should use magic to make it look like Her Grace is using magic?”
Catherine let out a hollow laugh. Today, Aicel seemed to be speaking a lot.
It sounded like Aicel was mocking her, as if questioning whether Her Grace couldn’t use magic herself.
Not liking her voice, Catherine abruptly stood up from her seat and began hitting Aicel indiscriminately. It was an outburst of frustration because she herself couldn’t use magic.
“You lowborn, how dare you! Just do what I tell you and stop talking!”
“Catherine. That’s enough. You’ll kill her at this rate. We need that child.”
Alicia coldly looked down at Aicel, who was being ruthlessly beaten, and nonchalantly stopped Catherine.
Still, Catherine seemed unsatisfied, her anger simmering as she seethed.
“Get out of my sight, then!”
“Yes… Your Grace.”
Aicel, who had been hunched over in fear, got up, limping. After being beaten so badly with her frail body, she trembled all over.
Yet, there was no trace of sympathy in the eyes of those watching her. Aicel wrapped her body, opened the bookshelf door, and crawled inside.
Once the bookshelf was completely closed, Alicia and Catherine exchanged a glance and continued speaking.
“I’ll have a teacher assigned to her starting tomorrow, so don’t worry. You are the only true lady, Catherine.”
“…Understood.”
Catherine’s eyes still trembled with anxiety.
Yet, she glared at the bookshelf where Aicel had disappeared, as if determined not to let such a lowly thing shake her pride.
—
The next day, Alicia secretly brought a magician into the Duke’s residence.
Though Catherine contributed a bit, Alicia could only afford to hire a very low-level magician with the money she had.
“Start.”
In the empty room that Catherine had gone to read books to Diana, the magician began to teach Aicel things Alicia could neither know nor understand.
About an hour later, after the lesson seemed to have ended, the middle-aged magician, wiping the sweat from his forehead, approached Alicia.
She anxiously asked about Aicel’s progress.
“How is she?”
“She seems to have some talent, but I’m not sure. Her magic isn’t being fully manifested.”
The low-level magician shook his head, his expression indicating uncertainty.
The mana Aicel possessed was very little.
Yet, she definitely had mana circulating within her.
No matter how small the amount, she should be able to release even a small spell containing an affinity. However, for some reason, Aicel’s magic couldn’t be released from her palm.
“Does that mean she has mana?”
“Yes. It’s very weak, but it’s there.”
At least that was something. A mocking smile crossed Alicia’s face.
Look, Diana. Did you hear that? Your daughter only has a very weak talent.
She wanted to summon Diana and reveal this fact to her.
She wanted to laugh and point out that her daughter wasn’t all that special after all.
Suppressing the smirk threatening to emerge, Alicia calmly asked:
“If she can release it by next week, will that be possible?”
“I’ll try my best.”
The low-level magician responded in a voice full of doubt.
Alicia, eyes scanning Aicel up and down, silently observed her as she stood waiting.
To avoid even the slightest suspicion from Diana, Aicel had to succeed.
Alicia quickly dismissed the magician, making sure no one saw, and then returned to the room holding a basket.
“Here.”
“What is this?”
She handed the basket to Aicel.
Inside, there were well-cooked chicken drumsticks, buttered steak, sugar-coated boiled potatoes, and fresh milk.
If Catherine found out, she would surely be upset. But right now, Catherine was with Diana, so it didn’t matter.
Of course, Alicia didn’t want to give such greasy food to a child who resembled Diana.
The more Aicel suffered and weakened, the happier Catherine would be.
However, it was possible that Aicel couldn’t release her magic due to a lack of food.
It was a selfish action, done for necessity.
“Eat and try again. You must succeed.”
“…Yes. Understood.”
Aicel’s eyes sparkled with the tempting smells of the food. She took the food and crawled back into the bookshelf.
Then, she quickly began devouring the food.
“Ah, I’m full.”
Unlike when she had been cowering in front of Catherine, Aicel now patted her belly with gusto.
She then spread her palm.
Aicel squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them. A brilliant blue light surged from her palm.
It was more beautiful and grand than the ice crystal Diana had released in the garden. Large, shining ice jewels swirled around her.
“Ha…”
Slowly, Aicel drew the mana back in. The brilliant blue light that had illuminated the dark room vanished in an instant.
“Mother…”
From Aicel’s eyes, which resembled Diana’s so much, a single, transparent tear fell.
