MFGLT 04

Chapter 04

I’m a Lady for the First Time, So I’m Going to Cause Some Trouble

Confused by the sudden turn of events, he looked utterly bewildered for a moment before his face twisted in anger.

“Lady Ulpina, what kind of rude behavior is this?”

“What do you think? I’m challenging you to a duel. Surely you know this kind of etiquette?”

Oh, well, you should’ve said so if you didn’t understand.

I took off my other glove and flung it at the marquis’s cheek.

Smack!

“Now you understand, don’t you?”

The air around us froze in an instant.

I thought I heard someone groan from somewhere in the distance, but that wasn’t important right now.

My gaze was fixed on the man standing right in front of me—the one whose name was something like Penri or Panty.

“Aren’t you going to pick it up?”

When I pointed at the glove lying at his feet, his face turned bright red, like a perfectly grilled giant prawn.

Then Rosemay, who was standing beside Marquis Fenri, shrieked furiously.

“Ulpina! Do you even realize what you’re doing right now?”

“Of course I do. I challenged him to a duel.”

“A-a duel…!”

My nonchalant response made her face flush. The two of them looked like a matching pair of perfectly cooked shrimp.

“Do you even hear yourself? There’s a limit to how disrespectful you can be to the marquis when you’re nothing more than a viscount’s daughter! And you’re a woman challenging a man to a duel?”

Her response was as unpleasant as a dog barking, but at least she managed to fire back quickly. It seemed she was mentally tougher than her fiancé.

Mr. Whatever-His-Name-Was, on the other hand, had been struck on the cheek by the glove I threw and still hadn’t regained the ability to speak.

“So?”

“W-what…?”

“Regardless of our titles, wasn’t the marquis the one who insulted me first?”

Normally, I wasn’t the sort of person who would beat up an idiot.

But this was an exception. If I let this slide by pretending it had all been a joke, I’d be the real idiot.

Rosemay’s Gordon family and Marquis Fenri would grow even more arrogant and start openly belittling the Nezer family. And in high society, where people loved nothing more than gossip, the viscount’s family reputation would undoubtedly suffer.

That was without even considering the fact that the viscount and his wife’s families actually possessed tremendous honor and power.

And if that happens, it’ll affect me, too, since I have to keep living as Ulpina Nezer until the young lady returns.

That was absolutely unacceptable.

“How can you say that! What disrespectful thing did the marquis—”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t hear him insulting my family.”

You joined in, too.

Rosemay flinched, her shoulders stiffening.

Curious and mocking gazes turned toward her and the marquis.

Marquis Fenri had been clenching his fists and trembling with rage, but he seemed to have finally collected himself. He slowly bent down and picked up the glove.

“The weapons…”

“Let’s each use whatever we’re best at. It wouldn’t be fair to me if I had to use the same weapon as you, when you know how to wield a sword, would it?”

I’m the one who was insulted here. Surely you can show me that much consideration.

“Very well. The duel will take place three days from now.”

With that, the man stormed out of the banquet hall, making no effort to hide his displeasure.

Wait a minute. I was the one who did something wrong, so why is he the one getting angry?

And even though I was the one who had challenged him to a duel, he’d gone ahead and picked the date himself. What an unbelievably ill-mannered—

“ULPINA!”

The viscount’s furious roar grabbed me by the back of the head.

…Oh, right. I was told not to cause any trouble.

“Was it really that difficult to understand the words ‘Don’t cause trouble’?”

“Did you think becoming a noblewoman meant you could treat other nobles however you pleased?”

“I told you to study and put Mirinda in her place, not to crush people with brute force!”

After practically fleeing the banquet hall and returning to the mansion, the viscount and his wife erupted in fury and began berating me.

Naturally. They would have been angry enough if their own daughter had caused trouble. But the person inside their daughter’s body was a commoner maid who wasn’t related to them by a single drop of blood.

Still, I had something to say for myself.

“But, but, sometimes in a woman’s life, there comes a time when she has to let her fists do the talking—”

“No! There is no such time!”

The viscount shrieked in a high-pitched voice.

But I felt wronged, too.

“No, but seriously. Please hear me out. That… that person insulted you, Lord Viscount!”

The viscount and his wife abruptly stopped scolding me.

“Insulted us? Tell us exactly what happened.”

“Well, you see…”

I explained the entire situation from beginning to end.

A heavy silence settled over the room.

After remaining silent for a long time, the viscount finally asked in a weary voice, “So, do you have any weapons you know how to use?”

“Don’t worry about that. Believe it or not, back in my hometown, they called me the Lightning Hand of the Gale.”

The viscount and his wife slowly buried their faces in their hands.

“Oh, dear God…”

Hmm. Did they not like my nickname? If I’d known, I would’ve told them about Bloody Hurricane instead.

How dare she challenge me to a duel! She’s nothing but a viscount’s daughter!

Marquis Fenri was in a foul mood. No, calling it a bad mood would be an understatement. He was absolutely furious.

“Those insolent bastards!”

He was the son of the emperor and his mistress.

Although he was an illegitimate child, he had grown up surrounded by the emperor’s affection and his mother’s expectations.

Many people had tried to curry favor with him, and throughout his life, he had never once been on the receiving end of harsh criticism.

Anyone involved in high society could easily learn that he was the emperor’s son.

Yet that little brat had behaved so arrogantly despite knowing who he was.

“Fine. Then I won’t go easy on her, either.”

The duel was to take place by a lake in the western part of the city.

It was a quiet location on the outskirts, with an open view in every direction and nothing to obstruct anyone’s vision or movements.

At least, that was how it was supposed to be.

“W-what? Who are all these people?”

When Marquis Fenri arrived at the dueling ground, he was taken aback.

Despite the fact that it was still early in the morning, a large number of people had gathered around the lake to spend their time.

“Are all these people here just for an outing?”

“Um… it seems word has gotten around that this is the location of your duel with Lady Nezer.”

The attendant who had accompanied the marquis leaned toward him and whispered cautiously.

“Those damn…!”

At first glance, everyone seemed to be enjoying a leisurely morning. Yet he could feel that every single gaze was directed at him.

His teeth ground together.

He was a marquis and the emperor’s noble son. He had no intention of becoming a spectacle for people to gawk at.

Walking farther into the grounds, he spotted Ulpina wearing a silk robe, along with Count Rosetti, who had come to serve as the duel’s official witness.

Beyond them, the viscount and his wife were watching with anxious expressions.

“You’ve arrived right on time. Shall we begin?”

At Count Rosetti’s question, the two duelists nodded.

They moved to their respective positions and faced each other.

Marquis Fenri drew his sword from its ornate scabbard. Its blade was so sharp and gleaming that even the slightest brush against it looked as though it could inflict a serious wound.

Ulpina, meanwhile, simply stood where she was. With one hand resting on her waist, she stared at him blankly.

No matter how he looked at her, she didn’t appear to be holding a weapon. If she had a sword, its outline would have been visible beneath her thin robe.

Does she intend to fight me with her bare hands?

What a naive—or rather, downright stupid—woman, treating a duel like a childish scuffle.

That must be why she dared to challenge me.

Perhaps she foolishly hoped that he might go easy on her because she was a woman.

Even so, he had no intention of showing mercy. She had humiliated him, and he intended to make her pay dearly for it.

His sword had been coated with a special substance. It was a horrifying poison that caused the flesh to rot away until the bones were exposed within a matter of days if it came into contact with the skin. He had paid a fortune for it on the black market.

If her appearance were ruined, she would be shunned and abandoned by her own family, let alone be able to show her face in public.

The thought of a sheltered young woman like her falling into ruin thrilled him.

Marquis Fenri sneered as he began planning how to embellish the duel into a heroic tale and spread it throughout high society.

His victory was all but guaranteed. He was skilled with a sword, after all.

“The duel will continue until one of the participants falls.”

The moment Count Rosetti gave the signal, the marquis kicked off the ground and charged forward with his sword in hand.

“DIE!”

Bang!

A short, dry crack split the air.

At the same instant, Marquis Fenri staggered as though an invisible force had hurled him backward. Then his body collapsed to the ground.

Only when his cheek touched the cold earth did he feel the searing pain spreading through his thigh.

He clutched his bleeding leg and let out a belated scream.