TVRP 4

She seemed startled because, until just moments ago, I’d been talking normally, only to suddenly throw a loud, spoiled tantrum.

Embarrassed, I cleared my throat.

“Ahem, ahem. Just understand. I had my reasons.”

When I spoke in a composed tone, Eden looked at me as though I were insane, then bit down on his lip.

“……Don’t touch my body again.”

Eden glared at me with eyes that gleamed fiercely like a cat’s.

“Huh?”

I raised an eyebrow sharply.

“That’s a pretty insolent thing for a ‘doll’ to say to its master.”

“If I tell you not to touch me, then don’t touch me!”

Eden shouted harshly and took a step back.

‘No way. Did he hate it that much?’

His excessive reaction put me in a bad mood, so I crossed my arms.

“It’s not like I wanted to touch you either, you know?”

Eden glared at me fiercely.

But since he was smaller than me, all that did was make him look like a slightly riled-up cat.

I scoffed and said,

“Enough. You, listen carefully from now on.”

After making sure the door was securely closed, I narrowed my eyes and glared at Eden.

“Until I figure out how to get you out of here, don’t leave this room. Ever.”

“What?”

“Because if my brothers happen to notice you, things might get troublesome—”

Bang!

At that moment, the door opened without warning.

“Lady Lillian. You’re making quite a commotion again today.”

The person who appeared through the open doorway was Olga, the head maid.

Her olive-colored hair was pulled up in an immaculate style, and her sharp eyes gleamed behind silver-rimmed glasses.

A blatant sneer appeared in those eyes as she looked down at me.

“What is this, my lady?”

Olga glanced at Eden as she spoke.

Her thin lips curled into a mocking smile.

“I suppose it wouldn’t be fitting for the daughter of a criminal not to live up to her reputation. Are you already bringing men into your room?”

I clenched my fists tightly.

“He’s a childhood friend my father gave me as a present.”

“A friend? You actually know how to make friends?”

Olga stretched the corners of her mouth into a wide grin and mocked me.

“It’s not as though you aren’t desperate to bully your one and only sister.”

“……”

“Well, I suppose that’s why you describe a friend as something you ‘received as a present.’ Quite fitting for the daughter of that criminal woman who was a loner until the day she died.”

That ‘criminal woman’ was referring to my mother.

There was a simple reason Olga could insult my mother, who had been the second Duchess, like that.

Whether it was because of the harsh life in the North or something else, my mother had suffered a mental breakdown, tried to kill all the maids, failed, and then committed suicide.

What made it worse was that those maids had been women my mother had brought with her from the Imperial Palace.

After being betrayed by the very person they served, the maids began to hate me, her daughter.

Olga, the head maid, was the most prominent example.

Under the guise of ‘discipline,’ they subjected me to all kinds of abuse.

There was a simple reason why I—the certified villainess of the original story—had simply endured it.

“Remember this, Lillian. You mustn’t trust anyone in this family. Not your brothers, and not even your father.”

“Everyone except your mother and the maids is untrustworthy. Do you understand?”

“No one else truly cares about you. Even Eloise is nothing but a fake.”

When she was still alive, my mother whispered those words to me every night.

The people in the castle only cared about my father, whom I could hardly ever see, and my sick sister.

Whenever their indifference hurt me, I repeated my mother’s teachings to myself.

They weren’t people who were on my side anyway, so their affection meant nothing to me.

Even after my mother died, I firmly believed it.

“We’re only disciplining you this way because we want you to grow up well, my lady.”

“We’re the only ones who care about you anymore.”

I acted viciously toward everyone else, putting up my quills like a hedgehog, but I obeyed the maids without question.

The more I did that, the farther everyone else drifted away from me, leaving me with even fewer people to rely on besides the maids.

It was a vicious cycle.

“You ate your food as messily as a piglet again today. I suppose you’ll have to be punished, won’t you?”

“Like mother, like daughter…… Sigh. Roll up your calves. Today, I’ll make sure to correct your bad habits.”

Once I became completely dependent on them, the maids began abusing me in earnest.

But I couldn’t rebel.

‘Mother is gone too, so now the maids are the only people who truly care about me.’

I believed my mother’s words that even when they hurt or saddened me, they were doing it because they cared about me.

Because if I stopped believing even that, I felt like I would truly become all alone.

‘……I’m pissed.’

Remembering what had happened until just recently made anger well up inside me.

Young and isolated, I had been thoroughly conditioned by the maids’ insidious abuse.

Now that I’d recovered my memories as ‘Shin Yuna,’ I could clearly recognize what had been done to me.

‘These people were gaslighting experts!’

I glared at Olga with eyes blazing with fury.

“Hmph. Why are you looking at me like that? Anyway, I see you were enjoying your vulgar hobby again today.”

A ‘vulgar hobby.’

That was how Olga and the other maids referred to my mechanical research.

In this world where magic existed, machines were something only commoners who couldn’t use magic relied upon.

Having a bad feeling, I turned toward my desk.

‘There’s nothing here!’

The desk, which had been cluttered with mechanical parts right before I left, was now completely clean.

I turned to Olga and shouted furiously.

“I told you not to touch my desk!”

“With those hideous things filling your room, it is only natural that I clean them up as a servant.”

Olga said it with a mocking sneer.

Without even having time to get angry, I frantically searched beside the desk.

The other parts were fine. But something that absolutely should not have disappeared was gone.

Fortunately, the dustpan I’d left beside the desk hadn’t been put away yet.

I spotted a familiar machine inside it and hurried over.

“Rossi!”

I carefully lifted a mechanical doll shaped like a bird from inside the dustpan and hugged it.

It wasn’t finished yet, so its metal framework and eyeballs were still exposed, giving it a somewhat grotesque appearance.

But to me, it was as precious as a child.

Seeing Rossi—the one I’d lovingly taken apart, modified, and improved every day—rolling around covered in dust made sparks fly from my eyes.

‘Rossi’ was the first project I’d been pouring my entire effort into.

Once I successfully completed its circuitry and properly infused it with power, it would soar through the sky and become my eyes and ears.

Unlike me, who was bound to this castle, it would be free to roam the entire world.

“Rossi…… Rossi, I told you not to touch him.”

Seeing my precious, childlike Rossi covered in dust made me so angry that my voice trembled.

Olga approached me, openly mocking me.

“You dare raise your voice at an adult over such a vulgar toy? I believe your manners are in need of some correction.”

Olga approached with a smile, holding a ruler made of metal. She looked like an evil spirit.

‘How did I ever think of that woman as someone on my side?’

How had I ever thought she was someone who was a little strict but genuinely cared about me, someone who could take the place of my mother?

“I suppose we’ll have to begin your discipline again today. First, get on your knees.”

“No.”

Olga, who had been naturally moving to sit down, froze.

She turned to stare at me with a foolish expression.

“……What did you just say?”

“I said no.”

I glared at Olga without changing my expression.

“Why should I kneel? You’re a maid, and I’m the duchess’s daughter.”

No matter how terrible my reputation was, I was still a daughter of House Sergerneve.

There was only one reason the maids had been able to torment me despite my status.

I had been so thoroughly poisoned by their gaslighting that I kept allowing it to happen.

Because if I admitted that they weren’t ‘disciplining’ me but simply abusing me……

‘I’d have to admit that there was no one in this world who truly cared about me, and that I was all alone.’

But now, with the memories of ‘Shin Yuna,’ I knew better.

‘You have to live your life alone anyway!’

“You kneel, Olga.”

I glared at Olga and said,

“You touched something precious to me, so you should kneel and reflect on what you did.”

“……Ha!”

After staring blankly for a moment, Olga let out a sharp laugh.

She glared at me and approached.

“My lady. Have you gone mad?”

Her large frame, even bigger than that of an adult man, approached menacingly, and I instinctively shrank back.

‘Get a grip. Twelve years of this is more than enough!’

Pinching my thigh to snap myself out of it, I opened my eyes as wide as I could.

‘If I back down here, it’s over!’

“Hurry up and kneel! Otherwise……”

I decided to use the ultimate weapon of a child—one that worked just as well now as it had back then.

“I’ll tell Father everything.”

“……”

Olga flinched for a moment before openly sneering.

“Hahaha. Ahahaha!”

Olga burst into laughter loud enough to shake the room.

“You’ll tell him? Pfft! As if the head of the family would listen to anything you say. To a girl born of Sergerneve blood who can’t even properly hold a sword!”

“How can you be so sure?”

To be honest, this was something I hadn’t even dared try before.

I’d firmly believed that since Father had no interest in me, he wouldn’t possibly spare any time for me.

I gave a smirk that even I thought was obnoxious and pointed somewhere.

“Olga. Can’t you see him?”

Eden, who had been quietly watching the situation like an animal crouched in the bushes.

When I pointed at him, a catlike wariness appeared in Eden’s expression.

“Father gave me a childhood friend as a present.”

“……What does that filthy little thing have to do with anything?”

“He’s a little dirty, but take a good look.”

I suddenly grabbed Eden by the arm and said,

“Have you ever seen anything this pretty?”