The Villainess Enjoys Her Married Life
Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Chapter 7. Repaying in Kind
2023.12.07.
During tea time with the Grand Duchess, Kalian’s brow twitched.
A thin, pink fissure was visible across the palm holding her teacup.
“Did you… injure your hand, Mother?”
At Kalian’s question, the Grand Duchess smiled softly.
“It is nothing. Merely…”
The garden where they took their tea was thick with the scent of roses.
“There was a child who acted insolently despite my favor, so I administered a light whipping.”
At those words, Kalian’s eyes wavered.
Riona Klaus—the Grand Duchess of the Klaus Ducal House, possessed of mature beauty and grace.
“You are the child destined to become the Duke of Klaus, Kalian.”
Whenever he slacked off, she had raised the rod against him.
Through that strict discipline, she had raised Kalian into an exceptional man, forging him into a worthy heir to the ducal house.
That was why Kalian had always trusted and obeyed the Grand Duchess deeply.
“Is that so. Yet… seeing you exert yourself to the point of injuring your hand weighs heavily on my heart.”
He believed there was a reason behind everything she did.
Even if it were somewhat cruel, or something that could never be revealed to the outside world.
“This mother has only you, Duke. If anything threatens to obstruct your path… I will stop it by any means necessary.”
Riona’s gentle voice drifted over.
“I know. That the only person who truly cares for me… has always been you, Mother.”
“By the way…”
Riona narrowed her brows slightly in concern as she asked Kalian.
“You do not seem in good spirits today. Is there something weighing on your mind?”
At Riona’s inquiry, Kalian’s hand twitched slightly against his teacup.
Riona was always the first to notice the shadow of worry on her son’s face, and today was no exception.
“…No, it is nothing.”
Kalian set down his teacup.
Today, the tea tasted unusually bitter.
Eshika’s gaze surfaced in his mind.
Those cold blue eyes, piercing through to his very core, still stared fixedly at him from the depths of his consciousness.
Recalling those blue eyes made his stomach churn once more.
Kalian rose from his seat and spoke.
“I must prepare to receive His Highness the Crown Prince, so I shall take my leave first.”
“Ah, that is right. You mentioned he would be visiting today as well.”
The Grand Duchess smiled graciously.
“Go ahead, Duke.”
“Then please enjoy a peaceful afternoon, Mother.”
Turning away, Kalian strode toward the manor.
For a long time, the Grand Duchess gazed after Kalian’s stalwart back.
The warm smile on her lips gradually stiffened.
Soon, the maid waiting behind her stepped forward, knelt before the Grand Duchess, and opened a jar of ointment.
“At this rate, it will leave a scar. It is not good to apply the salve so late.”
With that, she began applying the medicine to her ladyship’s delicate hands.
The ointment was spread meticulously along the hairline cracks on her palm.
“Should not my son also know how much effort I pour into our family?”
The Grand Duchess parted her lips coldly.
A moment later, she asked,
“And the Head Maid… how is she faring now?”
“Do you mean Yuri Anesis?”
The three maids who had poured water over Eshika Klaus had immediately reported the words they heard from Eshika to Grand Duchess Riona.
And Riona’s reaction had been entirely predictable.
“It seems she will find it difficult to move about for roughly a week.”
A master raising a rod against a subordinate was by no means an uncommon sight in the strict Klaus Ducal House.
Having been flogged by the Grand Duchess until her legs were drenched in blood, Yuri had only been freed from the gruesome punishment once she fainted.
“Yes. A week should be plenty of time for her to reflect.”
A cold smirk tugged at the corner of Riona’s lips.
A mere daughter of the Anesis family, lower even than a Brigitte, daring to utter such absurdities?
Those who did not know their place required a thorough lesson, without exception.
Were it not for the Brigitte family jewels the Head Maid brought and offered whenever she had the chance, Riona would have disposed of her long ago.
“To dare covet my son…”
Riona took a sip of the remaining tea in her cup and murmured,
“…A worthless thing like her.”
**
“Ahhk… Ughh…”
In the dim room, Yuri wept as she pressed a white cloth against her bloodied calves.
The Grand Duchess’s whipping had been truly horrific.
Even as blood splattered, she had struck without batting an eye.
No matter how Yuri begged and wailed, that hand had never stopped.
Only after losing consciousness had she escaped the gruesome ordeal.
“No… Sob…”
And the state of her calves upon waking was dreadful.
Beyond the dark bruises, countless thin lacerations were gouged into her flesh.
Never before had she been beaten and wounded like this by anyone.
At this rate, it would surely leave scars.
Then she wouldn’t look pretty in Kalian Klaus’s eyes.
“It’s all because of that damn Eshika…”
Her resentment was directed not at Riona, the one who had beaten her, but at Eshika.
Clutching her agonizing legs, Yuri glared with tear-filled eyes.
Knowing full well it would end like this, Eshika had purposely said those words for the Grand Duchess’s maids to hear.
“I’ll definitely kill her…”
Creeeak—
Just then, the door opened.
Since she had ordered a maid earlier to fetch an ointment that prevented scarring, she assumed it had arrived.
Lifting her head halfway, Yuri thought as she caught sight of the hem of a maid’s dress.
The maid was carrying a bucket, as if she had brought a large amount of medicine.
“Hurry and give me the—”
“Pfft.”
Yet Yuri flinched at the sound of a mocking, breathy scoff cutting her off.
Looking up, her face instantly froze.
“…Eshi… ka?”
Eshika stood before her with a smile, her silver hair tied high.
With a thoroughly amused expression, Eshika parted her lips.
“Poor Yuri.”
Yuri’s face trembled uncontrollably.
Why was Eshika standing before her dressed in a maid’s uniform?
The moment she saw that face, rage began to surge.
“It seems your mother-in-law-to-be treats you exceptionally well.”
“You… You…!”
Yuri glared at Eshika and shrieked.
“Do you have any idea what agony I went through because of you? All because you said those things!”
“Ah, the daughter-in-law of House Klaus? The position of mine… that you crave so desperately?”
The gaze looking down at her only infuriated Yuri further.
“I’m not like you. If I stand by his side, I will never lose His Grace’s favor through pathetic, foolish blunders like yours. Even if the Grand Duchess does not acknowledge me right now…”
“Is that what you want? Sharpening a blade behind my back wearing the face of a friend just for that…”
Eshika continued,
“…and stabbing me in the back. What admirable dedication.”
Eshika’s composed gaze stoked Yuri’s sense of inferiority.
The things Yuri struggled frantically to possess yet could never grasp had always come easily to Eshika.
Even the place beside Duke Kalian Klaus, that flawless man.
“One day, I will take everything from you.”
Yuri ground her teeth and spat.
“…By the way, Yuri.”
Eshika bent down slightly to meet Yuri’s eyes.
Then, with laughter dancing on her lips, she murmured,
“To me, the Duke of Klaus is merely a golden carriage filled with horse dung.”
“…What?”
The corners of Yuri’s eyes twitched.
I’m going to shove that dung-filled carriage right off a cliff, you know.
She wanted to say this right into that twisted face, but Eshika held her tongue.
When an enemy willingly stepped into a furnace on their own, it was best to sit back, cross one’s legs, and enjoy the show.
The sight of Yuri wailing inconsolably from inside a shattered carriage of horse dung would be quite a spectacle.
“What on earth are you talking…”
In any case, she was the type to always repay what she received in full.
“Ah, I brought some water to disinfect your wounds.”
Eshika raised the bucket high and dumped the water inside straight over Yuri’s head.
The water cascaded down Yuri’s head, soaking her entire body.
Just as the maids had drenched Eshika earlier.
“Aaaargh!”
Yuri screamed hysterically.
Then she clutched at the wet cloth wrapped around her wounds.
Because a searing, burning agony washed over her.
“It burns! Aaaagh!”
“It’s salt water. Good for disinfecting.”
At Eshika’s sneering remark, Yuri’s waterlogged eyes shook with terror.
Pouring filthy salt water over such severe wounds would inevitably leave horrific scars.
“No! No! Aagh!”
Yuri wailed as she pulled away the wet cloth, but the salt water had already seeped into the raw wounds, intensifying the agony.
The injuries burned as if set on fire.
“Please! Stop! Aaaargh!”
Eshika watched Yuri writhe in pain with satisfaction before turning away.
Even after closing the door, Yuri’s frantic screams echoed in the distance.
“Ah, maid uniforms really are comfortable.”
Eshika stretched with a refreshed expression.
The previous owner of this body would have loathed it, but since it allowed her to roam about freely, she intended to make good use of it for the time being.
Now, shall I head to the kitchen…?
She had left Yuri’s room and, with light steps, turned the third corner when—
Thud—
Startled by something solid that suddenly appeared in her path, Eshika reflexively halted.
Her balance tilted, and just as she prepared a breakfall maneuver, something caught her waist and pulled her firmly forward.
“…”
Immediately, her eyes met those of the large-framed man supporting her waist.
Eshika’s eyes wavered, and the eyes of the man holding her also flickered with subtle interest.
A man with pitch-black hair and brilliant golden eyes.
The Crown Prince of the Empire, Lesvan Deon Lusane.
He had his arm wrapped around Eshika’s waist.
