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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: The Southern Wildcat
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“…You…”
The woman flashed an arrogant, knowing smile at my words.
“Who were you again?”
In that instant, a crack appeared in her smile.
“You… you don't remember me?”
She glanced at the young ladies standing around her and shouted, her arrogant smile completely gone.
“It's me! Vivian Cavendish.”
Ah.
I feigned recognition, rounding my lips as if her name had just come to me.
Honestly, I hadn't forgotten Vivian Cavendish. I was just pretending.
‘I heard you were born a commoner. Aren’t you ashamed? You, your mother, and your brother, all mooching off your new father, pretending to be nobles?’
Even with a heart of steel, it would be hard to forget you, wouldn't it?
Vivian was the type who loved to flaunt her presence. To be forgotten by someone like me would be a profound insult to her.
The proof was right there on her face, flushed a shade of red so deep it seemed impossible to get any redder.
Vivian was the daughter of the Marquis Cavendish, the wealthiest family in the south.
I first met Vivian right after my mother married Viscount Wedgwood.
My mother was determined to launch me into high society and make me a proper noble lady, and for that, I needed an education.
I’m quite skilled at acting now, but back then, I hadn't shed an ounce of my commoner's speech, habits, or my rough-around-the-edges personality.
So, my mother paid a fortune to enroll me in a class that taught etiquette and culture to the young ladies of the southern region.
And Vivian was there.
Vivian Cavendish.
The girl who gave me my dreadful prejudice against the nobility.
Vivian was the star pupil of the class, and she looked down on me immensely—the notoriously unruly stepdaughter of Wedgwood.
The subtle trips, the little tugs on my hair—those were bearable. Then and now, there was only one thing that truly set me off.
Touching my family.
‘My dear. You mustn’t hold your teacup so crudely. Such poor manners. You’ll surely be scolded by your mother-in-law. Ah, that’s right, your mother was a commoner, wasn’t she? Your home education must have been quite difficult.’
Besides, back then, I was…
…a tempestuous teenager.
‘Mother-in-law? Don’t make me laugh. If anyone scolds me for how I hold a stupid teacup, I’ll pour this tea right over their head.’
I shot up from my seat and pretended to pour… my teacup on Vivian. But that alone was enough to make the delicately raised noble girl shriek and fall backward.
‘Aaaaaah!’
The problem was, as Vivian scrambled backward, she tripped on the tablecloth and ended up spilling real tea all over herself.
Vivian suffered a tiny, a really, reeeeeeally tiny burn on her foot from the incident, but thanks to that, I was kicked out of the class, and my mother was never again able to attend a southern society gathering.
And I was slapped so hard by Viscount Wedgwood that my nose started bleeding.
‘Stupid girl!’
Getting hit a few times by the viscount didn't matter much. The hard part was hiding it from my mother.
I spent the next few days secretly icing my cheek and nose in hiding, trying to keep the swelling down.
Yes. There were days like that.
Days when I had to tell myself I was enduring it all not because I was afraid of the viscount, but for my mother and brother. Days when I had to stand by and watch the servility grow inside me.
More than poverty, it was those days that I despised.
I looked at Vivian and said flatly.
“I remember now, Vivian. You're the girl who trembled in fear that I'd splash hot tea on you, right?”
At my words, the girls around Vivian exchanged shocked glances. Vivian's face went from red to a deathly pale.
“You… you…!”
“Seeing you again after all this time…”
As I rose from my seat, Vivian's face filled with expectation. Her expression seemed to say, *It's about time you came to your senses and groveled.*
I smiled brightly and said.
“You're still as unpleasant as ever.”
At that, not only Vivian’s friends but even Lily couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Vivian glared at Lily. Knowing Vivian's personality, she could easily make trouble for her. Not wanting Lily to get into a difficult situation because of me, I quickly changed the subject.
“I should go check on my mother. From the sound of that screaming, it seems she's being assassinated by a staff member. Well then, I'll be going, Vivian.”
I was just gathering the hem of my dress.
Vivian, thoroughly incensed, said to me.
“I hear your mother is finally on the verge of her fifth marriage. My goodness. The Duke of Orleans, of all people. Every noble in the capital is placing bets on whether her marriage will last a year. In fact, we were just discussing it ourselves.”
Vivian exchanged glances with the young ladies behind her, her face set with the firm resolve to humiliate me.
The young ladies snickered as they looked at me.
I glanced up at the second floor, where my mother was still screaming.
Before, I would have held my tongue for the sake of my mother and her impending marriage to the Duke of Orleans.
For my mother and brother.
But things were different now.
I looked at Vivian's luscious hair and a delectable plan began to form.
I whispered to Lily.
“Lily, I need you to do something for me.”
“Yes, I'll have the carriage read—”
“No, not that. Please distract my mother as best you can. Ten minutes is all I need. Ten minutes. And whatever you do, don't repeat a word of the conversation that passed between Miss Vivian and me.”
“What are you—”
Vivian, who must have overheard my voice, furrowed her brow.
Instead of answering, I let my hands do the talking.
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
Soon, Vivian's scream echoed through the dress shop.
Poor Vivian Cavendish's luscious hair was reduced to a mere handful of protein that day, scattered across the dress shop's carpet.
✵ ✵ ✵
In the wake of the incident at the dress shop, high society gave me a new nickname.
‘The Southern Wildcat.’
The Southern Wildcat. Much better than a southern country bumpkin, wasn't it?
I was quite proud, but my mother nearly fainted the moment she heard it.
Of course, on the day it happened, my mother had rushed downstairs at the sound of Vivian's scream and tried to apologize.
But Vivian refused her apology and shrieked that she would send a formal letter of complaint not only to our residence but to the Duke of Orleans's estate as well.
My mother was so shocked by this that she couldn't even manage to scold me, and was simply carried to the carriage, her face white as a sheet.
The next morning, Philip and I rode in a carriage to the Orleans ducal estate.
“Why on earth did you do something like that! Why! Are you crazy? You’ve been living a relatively quiet life until now! Was it too quiet…? Did something snap in your head? Like reason, or common sense, or any sense at all?!”
My mother was lying down in the mansion to cool her head, so it was just Philip and me in the carriage.
Philip nagged me relentlessly for the entire ride, but I let his words go in one ear and out the other.
*‘This is it. The engagement is off, for sure.’*
Vivian, and of course her little friends, would have run to their families and tattled about my assault, conveniently leaving out Vivian's own verbal abuse.
The rumors would have already spread like wildfire, and by now, countless members of the extended Orleans family must have sent letters to the duke demanding he break off the engagement.
*‘Accepting a girl like Imeline as a stepdaughter is a disgrace to the Orleans name!’*
That’s probably what they were all saying. Those esteemed nobles.
And that wasn't all.
Lily, who went to report the situation to the Orleans estate right after the incident, was little more than the family's loyal dog.
My mother had pressed a paltry sum of money into Lily's hand, begging her to keep it a secret. If Lily reported even that to the duke…
*‘Perfect. The Orleans family must have a complete picture of what a dysfunctional family we are by now.’*
As I started to laugh, Philip, who had been berating me, suddenly fell silent.
He stared at my face, then suddenly switched to a gentle, placating tone.
“Just tell me honestly… hmm? That bitch Vivian said something nasty to you again, didn't she? Or maybe she threw the first punch? That has to be why you're smiling after doing something this crazy. Right?”
I met Philip's desperate gaze.
“Something nasty?”
“Yeah. Like she swore at you, or said something offensive, or maybe she pinched your arm on the sly like she used to during our classes!”
“You knew she used to pinch my arm back then?”
My eyes widened, and Philip cleared his throat, avoiding my gaze.
At the time, I thought Philip was too busy skipping class and hitting on other young ladies to pay any attention to me.
“Of course I did. Every time she did that, I secretly paid Vivian's maid to slip a little laxative into her snacks.”
Ah, this idiot Philip. Did he really think the maid would drug her own mistress's snacks? She probably just said she did.
Philip certainly had a talent for wasting money.
I looked at Philip with pity.
But an image of this infuriating brother of mine, covered in blood after being shot by Baldeck, superimposed itself over his face.
Because of that, a surge of affection for my brother, something I'd never felt before in my life, rose within me.
“So hurry up and tell me. She must have done something to you first! There’s no way you would just suddenly rip her hair out! If you're going to be like this, I have a plan…”
I snorted at Philip's words.
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why is it so impossible for me to rip her hair out first? She always did it, didn't she? She tormented me, insulted me, and pinched me for no reason at all. So why am I not allowed to do the same, for no reason? Oh. Is it because I'm a commoner?”
I stared at Philip. I could see him flinch, his shoulders tensing up.
My brother had needlessly broad shoulders.
“You really… you really did that for no reason at all? Did you hit your head or something…?”
“Nope.”
“Then why would you do iiiiiit! We're about to become the son and daughter of a duke, you little wreeeeetch!”
Just as Philip's shout threatened to shake the carriage apart,
it came to a stop, jostling us in our seats.
While Philip quickly straightened his clothes, the carriage door opened.
Through the open door, my eyes met with the Duke of Orleans and his son, Eric, who were standing outside.
Four red eyes bore down on me. The moment I saw them, I muttered to Philip.
“Actually, it wasn't for no reason…”
But Philip, seemingly not hearing me, stepped out of the carriage with a sickeningly sweet smile.
I stared at his back and prayed desperately. *Please, let that psycho let our family go.*
But that hope was utterly shattered the moment I took Philip's hand and stood before the Duke of Orleans.
The Duke of Orleans beamed at me and said.
“Visiting the ducal estate so early in the morning. You must have been worried, Imeline, Philip. There is no need. Everything with the marquis's family has been taken care of.”
Damn it.
There was something I had momentarily forgotten.
The House of Orleans possessed an insane amount of wealth, enough to silence any nasty rumors in high society with a single blow.
As I sighed, Eric, standing behind the duke, stared at me with icy eyes.
*What. What are you looking at?*
I suppressed the urge to pick a fight and gave him a polite greeting.
Seeing how immense the Duke of Orleans's obsession was, it was clear that to get this engagement called off, I would need to cause a much, much bigger scene.
A massive scene that would shatter this marriage completely.
