Chapter 21
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Sponsored by Tanseobang ? (2/2)
***
I looked out the window and watched the red gold haired maid leaving the mansion with her luggage. (*the maid got fired lol)
It had been about a week since I’d arrived here. I’m adapting reasonably well here. Of course, the maids must have been fooling around, except for the odd ones that spoiled the taste of the soup I was now eating. The servants still ignored and despised me, as if they had a justifiable reason to do so.
Each time I sent them to jail for thievery, or sneaked a leg over them and rolled them down the stairs, but that didn’t seem to be enough. So I decided to take this opportunity to use Celine.
“Oh, I never thought I’d do something so crazy.”
I felt nauseous a couple of times, but I covered my nose and chugged it down. The face of the red-haired maid who came to my room to clean up the tableware and saw me eat the soup without leaving any leftovers turned pale enough to look blue.
“You’ve eaten everything.”
“Then do you have leftovers?”
I put on a nonchalant face and wiped my mouth with a napkin. The maid hurriedly gathered up the dishes, put them on a tray, and left with a slumped face, while I gargled my dry mouth with water and spit it into an empty bowl.
As more and more time passed, my stomach ached and twisted, and my body broke out in a cold sweat. All the symptoms of nausea, chills, headache and fever, and it was clear that I had food poisoning.
At the news of his return, I went out to greet the Admiral, enduring the pain that shook my whole body. Since I’ve been here, I’ve always seen the Admiral off and welcomed him back, whether he accepted me or not. Of course, he turned away with cold eyes. Celine also came out to greet the Admiral.
She saw my pale face and purple lips and began to touch me firmly on the shoulder.
“What’s wrong with your face?”
I’m sure she meant my complexion, but it was a strangely unpleasant thing to say. I shook my head, holding my stomach in a crouched position.
“No, I guess something is wrong with my lunch…”
“What did you eat?”
“I think you ate the same thing as I did.”
Celine put her hand on my forehead with a worried look on her face. Her green eyes widened and she quickly withdrew her hand, as if she felt an abnormal fever.
“It’s boiling.”
The Admiral, who had just entered the house, looked suspiciously at Celine, who was supporting me. She looked at me with deep affection.
“What’s the matter?”
“Diana is not feeling well.”
“Then go and get some rest.”
The Admiral, in a casual voice, took off his coat and handed it to his servant. I don’t think I can take a single step up the stairs in this sick state. He is such a heartless father that I wonder if Diana was actually his biological father.
“Father, please call a doctor. She’s in a lot of pain. She has a high fever.”
Celine, with a tearful face, grabbed the Admiral’s sleeve and began to persuade him, pretending to be nice and caring. It made me feel even more nauseous.
Jeffrey Grenendall was scheduled to visit tomorrow, so he didn’t want him to see that I was neglected in my sickness, so the Admiral ordered the head maid to call a doctor with a look of inevitability on his face. I headed to my room with the help of the maids while moaning. Why the third floor of all places?
Every step I took, my whole body screamed. I finally made it into my room and slumped down on my bed, unable to move.
My palms were soaking wet and cold. Despite the covers, I had chills and my lips started to shiver. When I woke up, the ivory ceiling was undulating.
I was out of breath and suffering from dizziness and nausea like a drunk. If Noah had been there, he would have made a big deal out of it, uttering ominous words like, “Princess, you can’t die without me.”
“Miss, the doctor has arrived.”
The maid came in and said the doctor had arrived. I’ve been informed. The old, bespectacled doctor came in, examined me, prescribed me medicine, and gave me precautions.
“…… There’s no way you’re the only one suffering from food poisoning.”
The doctor tilted his head curiously and mumbled to himself. If the soup they cooked that day was boiled, everyone in the house would have been sick. Celine, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, wiped the sweat off my forehead and asked the doctor.
“Doctor, will she be better tomorrow?”
“Take it easy and rest for a week.”
The doctor left and Celine put down the hand towel she was holding in her hand. She looked over at my condition with bemused green eyes.
“You’re too sick to see the Lieutenant Colonel. I’ll tell him.”
“I already asked my maid to tell him tomorrow.”
“What?”
Celine, who was pulling and tying her sun-bleached, platinum hair, asked back with a surprised expression.
“He said he wanted me to tell him even the smallest thing.”
“Oh, I see. Let’s rest now.”
As she lowered her long lashes, a shade of worry formed on her blank face. One might wonder why I was the only one who had contracted food poisoning, as I was the only one under special control who had just been rescued from enemy territory.
If someone investigated with the suspicion that Progen had poisoned me, the fact that the maids had been playing tricks on me and the treatment I had received here would all be exposed.
The Lieutenant Colonel came to the mansion once a week to check on my condition. Normally, Celine was worried that he would find out about the treatment I was receiving and how she had turned her back on me and stood idly by.
“Sister, isn’t it strange that I’m the only one who got food poisoning?” (Diana)
Celine turned to leave my room quietly, my words laden with heavy meaning. I lifted my dry lips and smiled innocently.
“What should I do now?”
I asked her, even though I already knew the answer. She hid her anger and gave me the answer with a calm expression.
“Okay. Who brought you lunch?”
The Admiral and Celine have no choice but to pay attention to me. Even when the servant brought me my clothes with holes in them, I wore them like that and met Jeffrey. At that time, Celine took great pains to make excuses and the matter was settled, but they would not want this kind of thing to continue.
Before we left Progen and came to the Admiral’s residence, I made one request to Jeffrey.
“Please come and see me once a week.”
“Of course I will do so, but can you tell me why?”
Jeffrey asked in a gentle tone as he looked down at me. I kept my mouth shut for a moment, then looked up at him with bright eyes and spoke proudly. Even though he knew about my relationship with my family, he brought me back here anyway. He was well aware of the treatment here, and he admitted that he risked his life to come and save me, but was it really for my sake?
“It’s a question of responsibility. Ambiguous favors can make the other person even more unhappy.”
Many times, unsympathetic kindness and good deeds, while ostensibly applauded by all, are of little use to the people involved.
It’s like building a bunch of eco-friendly playgrounds, saying it’s for hungry children who don’t have a single blade of grass and don’t have the strength to play. This is just self-absorbed arrogance and an excuse to gain social praise.
I chuckled at him and touched the necklace on my neck. ‘I am not going to be a victim of your love games.’
In such cases, the protagonists, possessed by most of the supporting cast, take on the role of villain themselves. The villain is the one who highlights the abilities and goodness of the protagonist, and gives the protagonist validity and legitimacy even when he acts wrongly.
In this case, Noah is the villain, and the heroes will do the necessary evil for the villain to show casual justice, just as they dared to rescue me.
I plan to play the villain myself, to thwart and prevent the connection between Jeffrey and Celine. Using Celine’s duality, hypocrisy, and abuse received from this family as a weakness.
This is also a good deed and justice, because it is a good intention that prevents him (Jeffrey) from being tied to such a duplicitous woman, whether by their emotions or fate. Thinking about the rest of my plan, I closed my eyes, getting rid of the afterimage that suddenly came to my mind.
To survive in hell, I have to become a demon. If hell disappeared, would I be the only one left who had become a demon?
What am I supposed to do then?
***
“Jeffrey, you’ve done a great job. You’ve put Noblesse Oblige to good use.”
A dark-haired man in a neat suit looked at Jeffrey and smiled. The man was Jace Grenendall, First of the Grenendall family, the heir apparent.
He was an entrepreneur with an excellent hand as one of the financial forces that accumulated capital by investing in bills of exchange, stocks, and bonds.
His intellectual appearance, which seemed far removed from war, gave him a similar yet opposite image to his brother, Jeffrey Grenendall.
His reasonably intelligent appearance with thin silver-rimmed monocle, flawlessly smooth face and effortlessly elongated slender fingers deserved to be called Young Master.
Jeffrey, who was sitting motionless at his desk in his study filled with military books, raised his head and stared at his brother. The sharp eyes of a military man met the keen eyes of an extremely calculating businessman. (*Jeffrey is a military man, his brother Jace is a businessman)
Their eyes were different, but the same.
“What brings you here?” (Jeffrey)
Jace suddenly paid a visit to Jeffrey’s residence. Jeffrey was brusque and not too pleased with the visit of his brother.
“You’ve been nominated as the hero of Belford, so I’ve come to congratulate you.” (Jace)
“Once again, you don’t have to worry because I’m not interested in being the family’s successor. I’m sure the noble knighthood will remain on the top of the list as time goes on anyway, and I don’t think it’s my position to begin with.” (Jeffrey)
Jace sat cross-legged in the wooden chair across from Jeffrey. Jace’s fingers tapped the chair’s base as if calculating something. He glanced smoothly over the map on the wall, his eyes colored in a completely different atmosphere than Jeffrey’s.
“I know. It’s just like being a landlord on a land that is favored by the country. It’s not your tendency to play and eat while receiving a title, property, and then play around with peonage and rents, and I’m an entrepreneur to the bone, so I just need the money.” (Jace)
Jace’s mouth loosened in a smile . He stopped tapping his chair. He chuckled as he uncrossed his legs and leaned his upper body closer to Jeffrey, who sat across from him.
“I’m talking about her*. She* seemed to be of mixed Medea descent. Her hair color is not common in Belford.” (Jace) (*Diana)
Black hair was one of the unique characteristics of Medea. The more foreign blood mixed in, the darker it became, and it was rare for someone to be born with blonde or any other hair color from the start. Their mother, who died when they were very young, was a Medean with black hair.
“She didn’t appear to the outside world for a long time, as if she was hidden.” (Jace)
Jeffrey, who had been quietly listening to Jace’s story, raised an eyebrow. Jace’s face changed to one of amusement, as if he was watching something interesting, as his brother, who usually looked so cold and firm, was upset. Jace put his monocle back on and let out a subdued laugh.
“So she’s the woman mother told us about. Isn’t she?”
“What?”
“The stolen Princess.”