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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: A Taste of Her Own Medicine
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This time, it was Kal’s expression that was a sight to behold.
I stood facing Kal with a playful smile.
My friend, in the form of a young boy who only came up to my chest.
I knew very well that he would never grow past this form.
While I grew, he did not.
And I know that even ten years from now, he will remain just as he is.
‘Kal never told me why he didn’t grow. Not even on the day I died.’
In my past life, I often thought of Calius.
On the day I married Viscount Felsus at the imperial palace, I happened to see him from a distance.
When his golden eyes, which seemed to hold the sunlight, looked at me in my wedding dress, I was startled.
‘For a moment, I thought he was Kal.’
He was a man who looked so much like Kal.
If Kal were to grow up, wouldn't he look exactly like that?
Because of his striking resemblance to my dear friend Kal, he stood out immediately and was seared into my memory.
That day was the first and last time I saw him.
Afterward, whenever I saw Kal, who somehow managed to appear by my side without being caught, I would sometimes think of him.
If I could go back in time, I wanted to see Calius up close, just once.
The more precious Kal became to me, the more my curiosity about Calius strangely grew.
But now I truly had returned to the past, and as soon as I realized it, the first thought that amusingly popped into my head was that I could see Calius again.
Along with the brilliant idea that, through him, I could create the situations Andrea would want the least.
“Hehe…”
Kal’s eyes widened as he looked up at me, smiling like a villain.
“What is it?”
“What?”
“That smile. It’s different from usual.”
His expression said he found me unfamiliar.
I feigned ignorance and shrugged.
“Is that so?”
“It’s strange. You’ve been like a different person for the past few days.”
“So, you don’t like it?”
Kal grinned.
“No, I like it very much.”
I beamed at Kal’s words.
“Thank you.”
Just then, I heard someone approaching.
I turned to tell Kal to hide before he was seen.
Thankfully, before I could even say a word, Kal had vanished like a ghost.
‘He’s so fast.’
Trusting that Kal would reappear from a safe place, as he always did, I headed toward my palace.
As I neared my palace, filled with nothing but Andrea’s watchdogs, my steps grew heavier.
I dragged my feet as I walked through the corridor.
The corridor, with its roof and ornate, decorative railings, offered protection only from the rain and sun; the wind blew right through.
I pulled my collar tight and grumbled to myself.
‘If I’m this sensitive to the cold in late summer, what am I going to do in winter?’
In truth, the imperial palace was located in the southern part of the empire, so it was quite warm. It was just that I was unusually sensitive to the cold.
‘It’s because my body has become so weak.’
Sighing softly, I stroked my emaciated arm under my nightgown.
Beneath the fabric, my body was so bony that there was hardly a difference between the thickness of my wrist and my forearm.
‘How can I endure the cold with a body like this?’
After my mother died when I was seven, I was swayed by Andrea, suffering from deepening self-loathing and lethargy day by day.
I had neither the energy to look after my own health nor anyone who genuinely cared for and looked after me.
‘I thought Andrea was taking good care of me, but I was wrong.’
After my mother died, Empress Cavalla, Andrea's mother, dismissed all the palace staff who had served my mother.
Among them were my nanny and maids who had looked after me since childhood.
The reason given was that the staff influenced by my mother might have a negative influence on me as well.
Cavalla immediately tried to recruit new maids to care for me and noble young ladies my age to be my ladies-in-waiting, but naturally, there were no applicants.
Who would dare step forward to serve me, the child of the former empress, while trying to stay on the good side of Cavalla, who had become the complete mistress of the palace?
I was young and powerless.
‘Even if someone had volunteered, Cavalla and Andrea would have found some excuse to drive them away.’
They must have planned to send their own people to my palace to watch over me.
‘They probably hoped I'd grow so weak that I'd just die on my own.’
Thinking about it now, I was such a fool.
Why couldn't I see that in my previous life? Why did I ruin myself just as they wished and manipulated me to do?
“Your Highness!”
As I was walking, fuming about my situation, a maid from my palace spotted me. It seemed she'd been looking for me after realizing I was gone.
“Where have you been? We've been looking for you!”
“Why?”
“Because you suddenly disappeared! Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused for everyone?”
Then, she noticed Calius’s outer coat draped over my shoulders and tilted her head.
“What’s with that coat? Oh my, and what did you get all over yourself?”
Judging by her expression, this maid clearly didn't know the situation yet.
She must have assumed I'd gone for a night stroll alone, never imagining I'd gone all the way to the banquet hall dressed like this.
I made a vague excuse.
“I just picked this up off the ground. And I spilled a drink on my clothes.”
The maid's brow furrowed. She looked horrified at the idea of me picking up and wearing a discarded coat.
“You can't just wander off like this without a word. It's so inconvenient for us. And you've gotten your clothes so messy, so carelessly. Why would you wear a discarded coat? It's filthy.”
The maid snapped in a sharp, irritated voice, grabbing my wrist and pulling me roughly. As she did, she nonchalantly drove a dagger into my heart.
“Let's hurry back. What if someone sees you? Someone who isn't even in their right mind. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
The old me would have apologized for being a nuisance to the maids.
But the me of now was different.
“Let go.”
My firm tone made the maid glance back in surprise, but that was all.
She shook her head, snorted, and muttered under her breath, “What’s she on about now.”
It was clearly a mumble, but it was meant to be heard.
She must have expected the psychologically intimidated me to be scared, pretend I didn't hear, and follow her.
Such a rude, ill-mannered, and condescending attitude.
Andrea's maids had never physically harmed me in any significant way.
‘They just engaged in subtle bullying that no one but the target would notice.’
Of course, that didn't mean it was any less malicious. Sometimes, daggers made of words can hurt more.
A wicked impulse welled up inside me.
I deliberately put on a worried expression and called out to the maid who was still pulling my wrist roughly.
“Excuse me.”
“What is it now?”
The maid glanced back at me, annoyed.
One of her cheeks was slightly swollen.
“You took a day off the day before yesterday for a toothache, didn't you?”
The maids often treated me like I was invisible and chattered freely amongst themselves, so whether I liked it or not, I was privy to all their affairs.
“So what?”
“Did you get it treated? Did you have the tooth pulled?”
“Why are you asking?”
I whispered as if I couldn't bear my concern for her.
“I heard somewhere that you shouldn't eat undercooked seafood before your gums have healed from a tooth extraction.”
The maid, who had been looking at me strangely, rubbed her cheek and showed a flicker of interest.
“Why not?”
“Someone ate undercooked seafood and felt a pain, and when they looked, in their gums…”
I recounted a gruesome and scary ghost story I knew to the maid in detail.
The maid's face turned white.
“Th-that's…!”
I continued with a crestfallen expression, as if deeply worried.
“This is another story, but someone's tooth hurt so much that they went to a doctor, and well…”
“A-and what?”
“Their molars had filled their mouth from the palate all the way to their throat…”
As I continued with the gruesome tale, the maid, her face deathly pale, swallowed hard and whipped her head away.
“Stop it! Just stop and let's get to the bedroom.”
“I'm sorry. But it's better to know for prevention's sake than to be ignorant. And I heard another thing…”
The maid couldn't shut me up.
She could give me looks and treat me poorly, but she couldn't physically gag my chattering mouth.
“Agh! Stop it! That's disgusting!”
She finally let go of my wrist and covered her ears.
‘Let's hope she has some nightmares tonight.’
I stuck close to her side and relentlessly spouted all sorts of repulsive stories.
And when we reached my chambers, I made up stories about various painful and contagious mouth diseases for the other maids.
In no time, the maid who'd had her tooth pulled became an outcast among the others.
‘For commoners, mouth diseases are quite terrifying. They're expensive, so they can't get proper treatment.’
I'd heard that among commoners, even a simple cavity was difficult to treat, and many died from being unable to eat.
“Everyone, be careful. I heard it can be transmitted just by breathing the same air.”
“Good heavens…”
The maids began to glance furtively at the maid who'd had her tooth pulled and kept their distance.
The maid who'd had her tooth pulled cried out in frustration.
“It's not true! It was just a cavity…!”
Another maid cautiously requested.
“Um, could you cover your mouth when you speak?”
“Yes. It doesn't hurt to be careful.”
I nodded with an expression of utmost pity.
“Oh, dear… But she's right. It's better to be safe than sorry. You never know.”
“Eek…!”
I shrugged as I looked at the maids' fear-stricken faces.
The maid who'd had her tooth pulled glared at me resentfully.
It was so different from my past life.
Why couldn't I do this before?
What was I so afraid of that I constantly watched everyone's reactions and censored myself over and over again?
It was just a resentful glare, so why did I live my life cowering in fear of it?
‘Acting as I please without worrying about being disliked… it's quite… fun.’
