HIGOS CH 08

Looking at Jester’s stupidly blinking brown eyes, Fleurette shook her head.

“To put it more simply, what the Baron did—or rather, what the Baron did to the Baroness on their wedding night—was nothing more than an act of reproduction between animals.”

“That…”

“I’ll need a pen.”

Fleurette pulled out a chair and sat down, then drew a blank sheet of parchment toward herself and picked up a pen. A few quick strokes appeared beneath her hand, and soon enough, something recognizable had been completed.

Jester stared silently at the drawing before his face gradually turned bright red.

“W-What is that?!”

“A woman’s body.”

It was an extremely explicit drawing of a woman’s unclothed body. Fleurette was so skilled that she probably could have succeeded as a painter rather than a courtesan.

Which only made it more embarrassing.

“You seem to understand that reproduction occurs through intercourse, so I won’t explain that part any further.”

“Y-You…”

Fleurette continued without mercy despite Jester’s flushed, mortified face, which looked as though it might burst from embarrassment.

“If we consider the ultimate reason humans engage in such relations, then yes, reproduction is certainly one of them. But I can guarantee you that no wife would enjoy having her husband simply take off his clothes and force himself upon her without any consideration.”

“No, I, well…”

“You said you enjoyed that act very much, didn’t you, Baron? While your wife hated it so much that she couldn’t stand it?”

“…Y-Yes.”

“You can’t be the only one enjoying it, can you?”

With an indifferent expression, Fleurette picked up her pen and tapped circles around various parts of the woman’s body drawn on the parchment.

“Here. Here. Here, and here.”

With her other hand, Fleurette made a suggestive little beckoning motion.

“Touch her gently and affectionately.”

“W-What?!”

Creeeak!

Startled, Jester jerked backward in his chair, causing its legs to scrape loudly against the floor.

Fleurette frowned.

“You’re old enough to know better. Do you really have to react to every little thing like a child?”

“H-How could I do something like that…?”

“What do you mean, ‘something like that’? Don’t you want to have a healthy relationship that your wife can enjoy as well? Isn’t that why you called me here to ask how?”

“Isn’t that the sort of thing animals do? You’re telling me to grope my wife!”

“Oh, honestly…”

Fleurette tilted her head back and sighed before turning toward Paul again.

She pressed the index and middle fingers of her right hand to her lips, making a gesture that clearly meant she wanted a cigarette.

Paul coldly shook his head.

“Did you never feel like touching your wife?”

Fleurette turned back and asked him again.

Jester hesitated before opening his trembling lips.

“I-I did, but… how could I possibly do that? Haven’t you met my wife? She’s so small and…”

Jester furrowed his brow and used both hands to vaguely trace Cassia’s figure in the air.

“…so white, and… this… She isn’t someone I should be touching…”

“Dear God, dear God. Please, let the poor Baroness have even the slightest bit of patience left. Please grant her a heart as vast as the ocean, so that she might continue tolerating this poor, pitiful beast…”

With her eyes closed, Fleurette clasped her hands together and muttered mockingly.

Embarrassed beyond words, Jester bit his lip and slammed his hand down on the desk.

“I think she’ll hate it! How could I dare!”

“Baron, I suspect she already hates you as much as she possibly can. So you might as well be bold and give it a try. From this point on, this is becoming too frustrating, so I’m going to be very direct with my terminology while I teach you. Is that all right?”

“Y-Yes. Do that.”

“Listen carefully. You absolutely cannot rush straight into intercourse the moment you begin. First…”

“AAARGH!”

A painful scream echoed from Jester’s study for quite some time.

For an entire week, Cassia truly did nothing but rest and enjoy herself.

Perhaps Jester had spoken to Paul properly, because whenever Paul came to check on her, he merely asked whether she was uncomfortable or needed anything. He never bothered Cassia with matters concerning the management of the castle.

It was an incredibly peaceful week.

So peaceful that Cassia’s body, which had spent all twenty-seven years of her life working without a break, almost felt restless from having nothing to do.

Still, she was happy.

Her body was comfortable, and her husband, Jester, was staying in the castle without constantly hovering around her.

She often talked with Vita while carefully hiding her true feelings.

As expected, Vita had plenty to say that made Cassia’s insides churn.

She talked about how they had been each other’s first kiss when they were young, how Jester had taught a bully who picked a fight with her a proper lesson, and so on.

Cassia had heard those stories in her previous life as well.

They had annoyed her back then, but she had simply thought, Oh, I see, and let them pass.

Now, looking back, she felt like such a fool.

But this time, she didn’t particularly feel jealous or offended.

She felt nothing at all.

When was it that I discovered Jester and Vita meeting in secret?

Cassia searched her memories.

Until she figured it out, she decided to keep Vita close despite how much she disliked her.

Vita tormented Cassia in other ways besides constantly reminiscing about her and Jester’s past.

Cassia wanted to do absolutely nothing and simply lie around all day, but Vita kept urging her to take walks.

Today, Vita suggested that they look around the castle.

With her heavy, sluggish body, Cassia barely managed to follow her.

And that was how the incident happened.

“Who is that?”

Vita’s voice, suddenly low and subdued, came from beside her.

They encountered a suspiciously dressed woman while passing by Jester’s study during their tour of the castle.

The mysterious woman wore an expensive fox-fur shawl around her shoulders and a brightly colored silk scarf—the latest fashion in the capital—wrapped around her head.

Her face was half-covered, making her appearance even more suspicious.

She was obviously an outsider.

And judging by the direction she had come from, she seemed to have just left Jester’s study.

What is this? Did he bring another woman here?

Other than his strange relationship with Vita, Jester had never caused any trouble involving women.

So Cassia didn’t think much of it.

Much as she hated to admit it, Jester could almost be called a faithful man.

As far as Cassia could remember, Vita had been the only woman he had ever kept close.

However, Vita, who stood beside Cassia, seemed to think differently.

Her eyes were sharp as she stared directly at the mysterious woman standing before them.

“Oh, my… This wasn’t the way.”

The woman was certainly suspicious.

The moment she saw Cassia and Vita, she visibly startled. Then, pretending to be perfectly natural, she turned around and hurried in the opposite direction.

As if she had encountered someone she absolutely could not afford to meet and was trying to escape.

“Excuse me.”

Vita was the one who stopped her.

Unless the woman was deaf, she should have heard Vita’s voice.

Yet she continued walking as though she hadn’t heard anything.

“Excuse me!”

Vita quickly ran after her and grabbed the shawl wrapped around the woman’s shoulders.

With her path blocked, the woman hesitantly turned around and looked at Vita.

“Who are you? Who invited you to the castle? You did just come out of the Baron’s study, didn’t you?”

Vita questioned her like an interrogator.

“No, I…”

The woman stumbled over her words and glanced nervously over Vita’s shoulder at Cassia.

She seemed to have come to meet Jester, and the fact that she was watching Cassia’s reaction made the situation even more suspicious.

Cassia sighed softly and approached them.

“Miss Vita, what kind of rudeness is this toward a guest? Let her go.”

“Can I just see her face? She seems suspicious, so I think we should make sure.”

“My goodness!”

Vita boldly pulled away the scarf covering the woman’s face.

The woman’s thick red hair spilled freely into the air.

“Huh?”

The red-haired woman was an extraordinary beauty.

A beautiful woman.

The husband’s study.

Suspicious behavior.

It was certainly a situation worthy of suspicion, but Cassia was more irritated with Vita than with the woman.

Even in this life, she’s playing the role of Jester’s wife instead of me.

“Miss Vita, I said stop.”

“My lady, this woman is a courtesan.”

“What?”

“She’s famous even in the capital. Don’t you know her? She’s a cheap courtesan who, blinded by money, sells herself to nobles! Tell us what you were doing in our Baron’s study!”

“Miss Vita!”

“What kind of shameless woman are you? Who are you to call me cheap and throw insults around so carelessly? If you came here to have a good time in exchange for money, at least I wouldn’t feel so wronged.”

“W-What? What kind of crazy woman is this?”

Apparently, the woman had quite a temper herself.

She clearly had no intention of quietly accepting Vita’s insults. She rolled up her sleeves and snorted indignantly.

“I was going to leave quietly, but since things turned out like this, I suppose I should introduce myself. I’m worried you might misunderstand.”

She looked toward Cassia.

“You are the Baroness of Greze, correct? My name is Fleurette Roselyn. The butler of this castle contacted me regarding the Baron, so I came here for that reason. Anyway, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The woman who introduced herself as Fleurette Roselyn straightened her crumpled shawl, shot Vita a brief sideways glance, then bowed toward Cassia.

Cassia didn’t entirely understand what Fleurette meant, but she accepted the greeting for the time being.

“All right, I understand. Since Paul contacted you beforehand, you are a guest of our castle. It seems our young lady was unaware of the circumstances and behaved rudely. You seem to have been on your way out, so please have a safe journey.”

“My lady!”

Vita called out sharply to Cassia, but Cassia paid her no mind.

As if to say See? I told you so, Fleurette snorted once more and turned to leave.

But Vita was not the sort of person who would simply let an unfamiliar woman who had emerged from Jester’s study walk away peacefully.

The commotion erupted in an instant.

“AAH!”

“Vita!”

Vita, seemingly possessed by fury, suddenly grabbed a fistful of Fleurette’s hair from behind and yanked.

The forceful pull sent Fleurette’s head jerking from side to side.

But Fleurette was no ordinary woman either.

She immediately reached out and grabbed Vita’s neatly braided hair, yanking it in return.

It was absolute chaos.

“Let go!”

“You let go, you cheap courtesan!”

“Vita! I told you to stop!”

Cassia was completely flustered by the unexpected situation.

She knew Vita had a habit of somehow punishing every woman who became involved with Jester, but she had never remembered seeing her openly grabbing someone by the hair and causing a scene inside the castle.

How did her combat skills improve this much?

“Ah! My hair is being pulled out! Baroness! Help me, please!”

“W-Wait. Miss Roselyn. Oof!”

Cassia stepped forward to stop them, but she was caught up in the chaos in an instant.

Fleurette, who was gradually being overpowered by Vita’s incredible strength, flailed her hand around before accidentally grabbing the front of Cassia’s dress.

The three women became tangled together, stumbling and struggling in complete confusion.

It was truly a disaster.

Then, perhaps sensing the commotion, the door to Jester’s study suddenly flew open.

“W-What in the world is happening?!”

Paul’s startled voice rang through the air as he emerged alongside Jester.

By then, Cassia’s entire world was spinning.

She had never gotten into a fight this ridiculous even in her previous life.

“Cassia!”

“AAH!”

“My goodness!”

Cassia’s body, which had been tossed about by Fleurette’s grip, was suddenly caught by a pair of strong arms and pulled away from the chaos.

It was Jester.

He pulled Cassia away with considerable force, causing Vita and Fleurette to lose their balance and stumble to the ground.

Through Cassia’s dizzy vision, she could see Vita and Fleurette.

Vita, furious beyond reason, quickly grabbed Fleurette’s hair again just as the latter tried to escape.

“AAH!”

This is a disaster.

An absolute disaster.

Could this situation possibly be any more chaotic?

Who was the root cause of all this?

Vita?

Fleurette?

No.

“Are you all right? Were you hurt anywhere?”

Jester held Cassia by the shoulders and turned her toward him.

His expression was filled with the same desperate concern he had shown the last time Cassia had seen him before her death.

Why on earth did he invite a woman who worked as a courtesan into the castle…?

And what kind of sweet things had he been whispering to Vita behind my back, when she was acting like his wife instead of his actual wife…?

Why am I the one being subjected to this humiliation?

That day, Cassia Greze, the Baroness of Greze, finally exploded.

They were feelings she had been bottling up for no less than ten years.

“I’m NOT all right, you idiot!”