Chapter 42

Translator: Yonnee

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Chapter 42

“Therapy…”

Camilla retorted blankly, looking at me like I had thrown a forkball.

“You.”

“Even if it seems like I changed from before, it’s not because I’ve gone insane.”

I let out a sigh, then I talked with a hushed voice.

“I just want to save my husband, and I want to give Mother a cute grandchild. It’s a positive change, it’s not because I’ve become crazy.”

Despite my quiet tone, Camilla replied in a stabbing tone.

“Where did you hear that? If it was Raymond then—”

“It’s about my own health, so I have the right to know. You don’t need to blame Raymond.” I stood up from my seat. “Then, I’ll be on my way.”

As soon as I left the room, a deep sigh left my lips.

“Huu.”

Rona, who was waiting outside the door, quickly came to my side.

“Milady, are you alright? Why were there other noblewomen here?”

“Well, I’m curious about that too. Why was I called here?”

Camilla’s dumbfounded expression as she saw me lingered in my mind.

“Rona, what’s the name of the maid who came to get me earlier?”

“Well, I’m not sure…”

“You don’t know?”

“I think she’s a new maid. Shall I go and find out?”

“No need.”

Her traces probably got covered already. Either she left by herself, or someone else cleaned up after.

“What a great maid.”

As I clicked my tongue, a look of astonishment gradually filled Rona’s face.

“D-D-Don’t tell me… Head maid Greta intentionally…”

“Shush.” I lowered my voice and whispered, “We don’t know who’s listening.”

“Yes, Milady.” Rona’s voice also dropped to a hush.

“Let’s go back for now.”

At least I knew one thing for sure.

I really don’t have anyone on my side in this mansion. And Greta’s hostility towards me was worse than I thought.

* * *

“You look exhausted, Milady,” Rona said anxiously as she handed over a heated towel.

“Yeah.” I exhaled deeply as the towel was placed over my face.

The steam relieved some of the stress I’d been feeling since the start of the tea party.

As Rona arranged the sheets and pillows on my bed, she asked, “Do you still have nightmares lately, Milady?”

“…Sometimes.”

I lifted a hand to place on the back of my neck. It felt like the tension on my neck was enough to make it break in half.

“But it’s less frequent these days.”

Clearly, my nightmares were decreasing. Back then, I had such terrible dreams almost every night, but it wasn’t as often anymore.

I noticed that they lessened exactly when my relationship with Amoide improved on the surface.

I just hope this was a good sign.

“The kettle is empty. I’ll step out for a while to fill it up, Milady.”

I could hear Rona carrying the teapot that was placed at the table near my bed. With my back supported by a cushion, I sighed deeply once more.

I couldn’t get it out of my mind… what I heard at the tea party.

[ By the way, I heard Lady Veronica is coming back soon. ]

[ Oh my. Didn’t she have a special relationship with the Duke of Efret before? ]

“…”

It wasn’t that I didn’t expect anything like this. It was natural that the noblewomen would gossip about Amoide’s previous engagement.

But I never thought it would be with Veronica.

I was so flustered so I couldn’t ask anything, but I actually had a lot of questions I wished to ask.

When did they meet?

How did they feel about each other?

If only Amoide was healthy, then what…?

“No. What’s the point.”

It didn’t have anything to do with me, but I couldn’t help but be curious. I had been an avid reader of [ Lady Crown ] where Veronica was fated to become Empress after marrying the Crown Prince.

But I never read anything about her engagement with Amoide.

‘Why wasn’t that detail shown in the novel?’

Was it not important?

But it was quite plausible. I didn’t catch any hint of it, but considering how there were marriage talks between them since they were children, it was highly possible that the two were close when they were children.

“Ah, let’s not think about it.”

I decided to erase these useless thoughts from my mind. My goal was nothing more than to keep Amoide healthy. And after that, to successfully get divorced.

So it was none of my business that Veronica had a relationship with Amoide.

Let’s count sheep instead.

It’s better to just sleep it off when it comes to things like this.

With my eyes tightly shut, I counted sheep one at a time.

“…”

Something cold touched my leg.

Cold. Slippery.

I felt something like it the other day.

I removed the towel covering my face and looked down, but I couldn’t see anything.

But it was at that moment—

“Huh?”

Something was moving under the covers.

“Did I see it wrong…?”

I shook my head and stared intently at the sheets.

Wriggle.

There. It was obvious this time. Something was moving under the sheets slowly at first, then it gradually became faster.

Warning bells were ringing in my mind.

The figure underneath the white sheet repeatedly wriggled.

Slowly…

It was wandering around for an exit, then it peaked out through a gap where the bedsheet ended.

At last, it opened its mouth as it lifted its scaley head.

“…”

When I saw the snake lift its head up threateningly, I froze right away.

I gulped without screaming or running away.

“Ah…”

The memory of that time flashed through my head as I saw this snake with its sharp red tongue.

I could feel its vertically slitted pupils watching me in the dark.

With tension tightening over my whole body, I desperately stopped myself from the urge to cry.

The snake kept watching me with its tongue flitting.

I would definitely be bitten if I so much as moved the wrong way.

“Go away.”

My voice was smaller than a mosquito’s, but of course, even if the snake heard this, it wouldn’t understand.

“Go. Shoo.”

I was already on the verge of tears.

Except for moving the lower half of its body, it didn’t close the distance between us.

Then, the door opened wide as Rona returned.

“Milady, I’m back with more hot water—Gasp!”

Crash!

The ceramic kettle Rona was holding fell to the floor and broke with a loud crash.

“A sn… snake?!”

I turned my head and made eye contact with her.

There was no guarantee that Rona’s appearance would help me. Even if she called for help and brought someone to catch it, I might not be alive anymore.

The snake slithering on the bed had a triangular head. A pair of venomous fangs was also visibly protruding from its mouth.

“It’s a viper.”

When I spoke in a low voice, Rona looked as if she was already about to faint.

I looked around carefully. I tried to refrain from moving as much as possible because big movements could provoke the snake, even though the first thing I wanted to do was scream and run away.

“Uh… uh, Milady, what should I do?”

Rona was standing a distance away looking worse than I should be.

“Rona, stay calm.”

I should be the one being reassured here.

“Calm down, calm down…”

[ Selena. Stay still. ]

I could hear Amoide’s voice whispering in my ear.

He was agile when he caught the snake then, and he didn’t waver for even a second. He didn’t hesitate to catch the snake with his bare hands even though he could have been bitten.

‘Let’s remember carefully.’

It might be possible to do what he did. First, grab the snake’s head…

Ah, no no no.

I already can’t even do the first step.

“Guh…”

While thinking about what to do, the snake was now a little closer to me. Every inch it got closer, I felt goosebumps over my entire body because its tongue was so close to my skin.

A little more, and it would be close enough to bite me. I had to do something before that.

“What do I do, w-what do I do…?”

From my periphery, I could see Rona peeling off the cover of a pillowcase.

Armed with an empty pillowcase, Rona slowly stood up.

But to approach the snake and catch it like that took too much courage. Even if she was brave enough to do it, she might still get bitten with just one wrong move.

I reached around me at random. Then, I felt the towel with my hand, the one that had been on my face just a second ago. It was still quite hot.

Rona nodded when she saw me holding the towel.

One, two…

We counted at the same time.

Tak!

At the count of three, I flung the hot towel at the snake.

Fortunately, the snake got hit squarely on the face, so it lost its balance and flipped over. Then, Rona ran over to catch it in the pillowcase.

“Kyaaaak!”

Rona screamed and screamed as she held the wildly rocking pillowcase. Every time the snake thrashed inside, her screams grew even louder.

At the sound of her screaming, footsteps could be heard coming closer from outside.

“What’s going on… Gah!”

A servant came rushing and saw the wriggling pillowcase, and was instantly frozen in place. The same was true with the maids who came over as they were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes.

As soon as they saw the pillowcase, they screamed one after another an octave higher like piano keys being hit.

“S-Somebody take this off my hands!”

Rona was running around with the pillowcase, but nobody was willing to take it from her. It was the same for me. All I could do was sit on the bed in a state of shock as I watched Rona flail.

It took a while for everyone to come back to their senses.

Then, a startling thing happened next.

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