The Villainess Enjoys Her Married Life
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Chapter 4. The Maid Who Poisoned the Food
2023.12.04.
Hanging her wet dress near the window, Eshika furrowed her brows.
She had merely gone to wash herself.
For a martial artist of the Murim, bathing in a lake was nothing out of the ordinary.
Of course, before awakening the memories of her past life as Yeongryeong, she had never bathed in a lake.
At her maiden home, the Brigitte Barony, warm water was always prepared for her, but here…
They had always drawn water as cold as ice and brought it for her to wash with.
Whenever she washed with that water, she suffered from chills, and catching a cold was an everyday occurrence.
Yet she could not live without washing, so she had no choice but to endure it.
‘The more I think about it, the more absurd the Grand Duchess’s petty, childish malice is.’
Eshika thought further.
‘And because of that, to run into the Crown Prince.’
Lesvan Deon Lusane. With pitch-black hair and radiant golden eyes, he was the Crown Prince of the Thuresian Empire.
Seeing that gaze somehow brought a certain man to mind.
“An eagle can never be happy in a cage, Yeongryeong.”
What would have happened if she had listened closely to his words?
A bitter smile touched Eshika’s lips, and she shook her head.
It was only that their gazes were similar. Best not to dwell on it.
‘In any case, drawing the attention of an expert at a time like this would only give me a headache. I must be careful.’
The moment their eyes met, Eshika had seen straight through Lesvan’s martial realm.
‘He is undoubtedly an expert on par with the Pinnacle of Demonic Arts.’
Lesvan possessed a natural martial constitution, concealing a power far greater than anything he had ever revealed to the world.
‘Even if I returned to my prime, I wouldn’t be confident of defeating him.’
In terms of the Murim, her current physical strength was no different from that of a complete novice starting out on the path.
Just as masters could gauge one another’s prowess simply by their bearing, lingering in his sight any longer might have invited unnecessary suspicion.
Given his position and his combative temperament, her sharp instincts told her that getting entangled with him would be nothing but trouble.
Fortunately, the Lesvan in the novel stood at the forefront of conquest wars, spending very little time in the capital, Torres. Once he relocated the capital to conquered lands, his ties with the Klaus family would end, and he would quickly forget this place.
‘Now then, time to eat.’
Eshika opened the door to her room.
In front of the door, an assortment of seasonal dishes rested on a tray.
Sella must have had no choice but to steal them from the kitchen.
‘Hm?’
Eshika’s cool blue eyes glinted.
**
On a dark night when the half-moon waxed a little brighter, Kalian was holding a glass on his balcony, taking in the night air.
Beneath the somber night sky, only Kalian’s violet eyes gleamed cold and vivid.
Already, ten days had passed since Eshika Klaus had stopped leaving her room.
‘What on earth is she plotting?’
Seeing her face would have been irritating enough, but her staying cooped up inside was unsettling in its own right.
The Grand Duchess had insisted on maintaining friendly relations with the Brigitte family, and Kalian agreed with that sentiment.
Though he loathed the sight of Eshika trying to throw her weight around with her family’s wealth backing her.
‘Is she planning to demand a divorce or something?’
When she had lunged at him, Eshika’s blue eyes had brimmed with tears.
Smirk.
‘Not a chance.’
The corner of Kalian’s lip twisted arrogantly.
The Eshika Kalian knew lacked the spine to dare demand a divorce.
“That wench is a woman who thinks the petty dowry she brought can buy the storied honor of the Klaus name.”
A wicked woman who was always itching to flaunt the wealth bestowed by her family, taking pleasure in tormenting those weaker than herself.
“A pitch-black viper dwells inside her. It is a foolish snake that does not even know how to use its venomous fangs, so it may not be dangerous, but it is undeniably harmful. Even between husband and wife, proper distance is necessary.”
His mother was particular and strict, but she had a keen eye for character.
The impression the Grand Duchess had shared with a furrowed brow after meeting Eshika for the first time was no different from what Kalian himself had thought, only solidifying his view of her.
‘I know not what you hope to gain by hiding away in that room.’
The cool breeze ruffled Kalian’s hair.
‘Within these walls of Klaus, nothing shall ever go your way.’
What momentarily shattered Kalian’s train of thought was the sound of the door.
Turning around, he saw Yuri holding a tray, looking at him with a startled expression.
Yuri Anesis.
Having entered the duchy as Eshika’s maid, she was entirely different from Eshika.
With warm blonde hair and ruby-red eyes, she exuded a lively aura that was rather uncharacteristic of the rigid ducal estate.
After a brief hesitation, she walked over to Kalian’s side.
The subtle scent of apples teased his nose.
“What brings you here so late at night?”
At Kalian’s voice, Yuri’s eyes wavered slightly.
Come to think of it, his mother had mentioned recently appointing Yuri Anesis as the head maid.
Though Yuri was diligent, appointing Eshika’s friend to such a post was somewhat unexpected.
“Um… I just went to see Eshika.”
Yuri hesitated before speaking.
“But Eshika…”
“I do not wish to hear about her.”
“Still… I think Eshika is misunderstanding our relationship. Because of the ring Your Grace bought me. I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, but she only pushes me away with sharp words, so I don’t know what to do…”
“Yuri. Enough.”
Kalian cut her off with a cold expression.
“Ah…”
Yuri placed a hand over her mouth, her voice turning somber.
“I apologize. As the head maid of the duchy rather than Eshika’s close friend, my duty is to obey Your Grace’s commands… I forgot my place for a moment.”
Yuri Anesis was fundamentally different from Eshika.
Even when Eshika was in the wrong, she was stubborn and refused to admit it easily.
She would disregard the hierarchy and protocols of the duchy, insisting on doing things her way.
She slapped people indiscriminately, wearing Kalian out.
“Please forgive me. I will not overstep and go against your wishes again, Your Grace.”
Yuri looked at him with warm red eyes, carefully gauging his mood.
As if blowing warm breath into a frozen heart.
After a brief silence, Kalian parted his lips.
“You truly are foolishly tenderhearted.”
“…Pardon?”
Swallowing the words to defend such a woman even if she is your friend, Kalian spoke in a low voice.
“And I feel a bit hurt.”
Yuri’s eyes flickered.
“A misunderstanding. To think you took the ring that way. I… don’t think it was entirely a misunderstanding. When I gifted that ring to you, that is.”
At Kalian’s words, Yuri stared blankly at him before her cheeks flushed red.
Like lovers just beginning, it was a time when expressions of affection for one another grew deeper by the day.
Soon, Kalian’s voice broke the quiet.
“The weather is cool; why don’t we take a walk together?”
Gazing at Kalian with shy eyes, Yuri lowered her head slightly in assent.
A faint smile lingered at the corners of her lips.
**
Placing the food tray in front of the door, Sella tried to crack it open to peer inside, but someone inside forcefully dragged her in.
Hearing the heavy thud of the door slamming shut, Sella pressed her forehead against the floor and squeezed her eyes shut.
“P-P-Please spare me…”
Her body trembled uncontrollably.
Someone dragged a chair over and sat in front of her, crossing their legs.
Then, a low voice spoke.
“Do you know why, despite seeing you tremble so pitifully, I feel not a shred of pity?”
“…M-Master…”
Then, extending a foot, the person shoved the tray Sella had brought right in front of her.
Seeing the untouched food, Sella’s face turned deathly pale.
“Eat.”
The voice drifted into her ears.
Sella’s hands shook violently.
“I said eat, Sella.”
Hearing her own name sounded like a death sentence, causing Sella to shut her eyes even tighter.
The figure in the chair reached out and violently grabbed a handful of Sella’s hair.
Sella kept her eyes firmly closed to avoid looking up.
“Countless people have slipped deadly poison into my food. Noble Consort Yeong, Consort Ga, Lady So… There was a time when the Poison Clans grew rich all because of me.”
The chilling voice, which sounded neither distinctly male nor female, felt like a noose tightening around her neck.
“Yet as the daughter of the Heavenly Demon Cult Leader, my body possesses an Indestructible Diamond Body immune to all poisons. Even Gu poisons born from vipers, toads, and venomous centipedes devouring one another inside an earthen jar could not dare approach my dantian.”
She had possessed countless enemies.
She had reached a realm where merely looking at the color of food was enough to tell whether it was poisoned.
“And not a single person who poisoned my food ever lived to tell the tale.”
“…Hic…”
“Given the circumstances, it is inconvenient to tear your flesh and shatter your bones, so I have decided that you shall atone by devouring your own crime. Eat.”
With that, she grabbed Sella’s hair and shoved her head downward.
Before Sella’s eyes lay the salad she had poisoned.
If she ate that, her eyes would roll back and she would surely die.
Sella clasped her hands together and begged desperately.
She had already realized it was poisoned.
“Please… Please spare me. Master, Master!”
“Come to think of it, being called ‘Master’ rubs me the wrong way as well.”
Frowning, Eshika yanked Sella’s head up.
The moment Sella met Eshika’s eyes, her face filled with utter shock.
“M-Madam…?”
The person gazing down at her with cold, merciless blue eyes was none other than the master of this shabby room—Eshika Klaus.
“Did you call me ‘Master’ knowing who I was?”
Come to think of it, Eshika had never once claimed to be someone else.
That she was an assassin hiding out while blackmailing the Duchess had been purely Sella’s own assumption.
‘It’s the Duchess… but she’s different…’
Like a herbivore before a predator, Sella could instinctively sense it.
The woman before her, who had detected poison in the food and casually tried to shove her face into it, was not the Duchess she once knew.
That was unmistakably the countenance of a ferocious beast.
Yet she could not die like this.
“M-Madam… Why… Why are you doing this to me…?”
Sella stammered, trembling all over as she questioned Eshika.
“Madam… you weren’t like this before.”
However, without a single twitch of her brow, Eshika replied with eyes like ice.
“Are you referring to my foolish past, when I walked on eggshells around wenches like you who aren’t even worthy of being called vermin?”
At that razor-sharp voice, Sella flinched violently.
Eshika Klaus had been a young, easy target.
She had bought the status of Duchess of Klaus with money, yet because no one acknowledged her, she had been a woman who had to grovel even before maids like Sella.
Yet the woman before her now…
“You have committed the grave insolence of always bringing me garbage for food.”
She was as cold as frost, as threatening as a blade pressed against the throat.
“Even so, you kicked away the chance to seek my forgiveness by bringing proper food. How dare you…”
As Eshika exerted force in her grip, pain shot through Sella’s scalp.
With a grip strength unimaginable from such slender wrists, Sella could not even twist her head.
Under that gaze radiating murderous intent, she felt as if she would suffocate.
“You poisoned my food, attempting to kill me.”
“Madam… Please spare me. Please forgive me… Hic, ugh…”
Tears streamed down Sella’s face.
They were tears born of sheer terror welling up from the depths of her soul.
She had merely intended to silence an assassin who knew her secret.
“You are already a dead woman. Once it comes to light that a mere maid attempted to poison the Duchess of Klaus, not even your family will be granted a peaceful death.”
Sella’s trembling body jolted once more.
The imperial law was absolute and severe.
Even if she was an unloved, cast-aside Duchess…
If Eshika had died eating this and the truth were uncovered, neither Sella nor her family would escape the death penalty.
And even if she died right now, there was no guarantee her family would be safe.
Eshika already knew all about her corruption and had counted the number of lives she could take.
“Ugh… I was wrong. I was wrong, Madam… Please…”
Sella wept profusely, begging for mercy.
“Please spare my family…”
Whatever had happened, the Eshika Klaus before her was not the old master she had known.
Her gaze was sharper and darker than the Grand Duchess’s, which could send a chill down one’s spine even in the heat of midsummer.
Like an emissary returned alive from hell, she inspired a primal terror.
Belated regret crashed over Sella’s heart.
“Please, if you give me just one more chance…”
With tear-filled eyes, Sella pleaded for Eshika’s final mercy.
“I will live solely for Madam from now on.”
