Chapter 10
* * *
I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed them.
‘That’s strange… I just got a chill.’
The feeling quickly faded, but another question took its place.
‘Forget how he managed to find me… Why isn’t he reacting to my awful behavior?’
Instead of looking annoyed by me…
He looked at me the way I would look at a tiny puppy.
“That’s the face of someone wondering why I haven’t brought up your unexcused absence.”
I flinched.
“…Not at all. The regulations guarantee mandatory leave, don’t they? I simply exercised that right.”
I answered shamelessly.
There. That’s modern Gen Z confidence for you.
“…Hmm.”
Jackal murmured as if he pitied me.
“…It seems you’ve never skipped school or work before.”
He muttered something under his breath, but I couldn’t make it out.
What’s he mumbling about?
“I don’t think those leave days were intended to be used on your second day of work.”
“…”
Oh? Did I get to him?
I straightened proudly.
It was the classic tactic of an oblivious youngest sibling.
“I simply used a benefit that exists, Your Highness.”
“Ah, I’m not scolding you. It’s just… I’ve never seen anyone use it this way before.”
For some reason, Jackal hesitated halfway through his sentence.
‘Has he finally gotten sick of me?!’
Even as I thought that…
An ominous feeling crept over me.
“Even though it was only half a day…”
“When I realized the Duchess was nowhere to be seen…”
Jackal’s eyes sparkled.
“I… missed seeing you even more.”
The tips of his ears turned bright red.
Damn it. I just witnessed something I never wanted to see!
“Damn.”
“Hm?”
“…I’ll compose an acrostic poem using the word ‘damn.'”
And just like that…
My very first attempt at skipping work ended before it had even truly begun.
The only thing I’d accomplished…
Was satisfying his desires.
* * *
One week later.
I reached a perfectly clear conclusion.
“You can’t beat a madman by becoming just as crazy as he is.”
Nothing had worked.
Absolutely nothing.
After the truancy incident, I decided ordinary troublemaking wasn’t enough.
So I tried everything.
Putting my feet on his desk.
Spilling tea over important documents.
“Tsk, men these days… Your Highness, can’t you even handle that? If someone told me I was your older sister, I’d believe them. Ah, I’m joking. Don’t be offended.”
“Hmm… Do you like being called ‘older sister’?”
“…What?”
“I could call you that. Older Sister. Or perhaps Elder Sister?”
“…I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.”
I acted like an inconsiderate coworker.
An insufferable nuisance.
A condescending senior nobody wanted to deal with.
I even tried mirroring him by throwing the same kind of cheesy lines back at him.
“I’ve never met a woman who’s tried this hard to get my attention! We simply must get married!”
Jackal replied with sparkling eyes and a bashful smile.
Do you know what it feels like…
To accidentally increase a lunatic’s attention-seeking tendencies instead of discouraging him?
I’d already long since abandoned the hope that I could simply slack off for three months and get kicked out.
‘This isn’t going to work.’
‘I’ll apply for an extended leave… and throw him something far more interesting to focus on.’
The corruption I knew wasn’t limited to cases involving Jackal.
I also knew countless scandals involving the Emperor…
Jackal’s greatest enemy.
There were plenty of juicy plot points from the original novel that would catch his attention.
I’d carefully choose information Jackal couldn’t possibly know yet…
And anonymously leak it to him.
That way…
His interest would naturally shift away from me.
So I submitted a request for long-term leave.
Jackal told me to wait just one day.
And then…
“Duchess!”
That madman had a luxurious bed moved into his office.
“…”
It was the equivalent of an Ultra King-size bed.
Big enough for four grown adults to lie on comfortably.
“You said you wanted to take leave, so take it here.”
“If I can still see you, what could possibly be difficult about that?”
“I’ll handle all the work myself!”
“…”
This…
This was insanity.
There was no better word for it.
I’d always believed I’d survived every imaginable hardship because of this cursed original story.
But in the end…
I was merely an ordinary human being.
* * *
That night, I grabbed Rodemin and poured out my frustrations.
“Rodemin, what am I supposed to do? I… I don’t think I can out-crazy that man!”
“…That’s exactly why I’ve been telling you not to focus solely on becoming crazier than him!”
“I am an ordinary person! And that was genuine madness! Do you know what it feels like to walk into an office and find a premium ultra-super-king-sized bed sitting there?!”
“Please breathe before you continue speaking!”
I anxiously chewed on my thumbnail while shouting.
Rodemin sighed.
“…You’re not exactly normal yourself, Your Grace. At this point, the two of you might actually be soulm—”
“You think I’m dying alone?!”
“I was wrong! Please spare my salary…”
I fell deep into thought.
The “become an unbearable nuisance” strategy had failed completely.
Time to abandon it.
‘Jackal isn’t the only important character from the original novel.’
“…The relationships between the characters…”
Naturally, the original story had villains as well.
One of them…
Was the male lead’s half-sister.
The Imperial Princess.
‘She was obsessively attached to her older brother… and constantly jealous of the heroine.’
She couldn’t stand seeing another woman anywhere near him.
‘Could I use someone else instead?’
Should I make use of the villainess princess?
* * *
“Ugh… My head hurts.”
A few days later, I returned to the secluded garden.
Naturally, my planned long vacation had never happened.
Jackal had actually told me to spend my leave lying in the bed he’d placed inside his office.
You lunatic. As if anyone could do that.
‘Fortunately, Jackal has gone to meet the Emperor today.’
For the moment, I left figuring out how to approach the villainess princess to Rodemin.
She was the sort of woman who only listened if you brought something she wanted.
I had been lying on the bench, staring up at the sky for quite some time when—
“KYAAAH!”
A sharp scream made me leap to my feet.
“S-Someone help me!”
What was that?
I turned toward the sound.
A man and a woman came into view.
“P-Please stop! Somebody help me! Please!”
“Shut up. Do you think anyone’s actually going to hear you?”
A nobleman dressed in formal attire was forcibly dragging away a woman dressed as a maid.
‘What the hell is he doing?’
The disgusting sight made me immediately head toward them.
Yet…
Part of me found the situation strangely familiar.
Ironically…
Security inside the Imperial Palace was terrible.
The current Emperor had an infamous weakness for women.
He lusted after them regardless of status or age.
Because of that…
Even when maids were harassed inside the palace…
The knights rarely intervened.
‘Because the Emperor himself behaves exactly like this.’
I’d forgotten that fact because Jackal’s palace was so different.
He despised his father.
If anything, he was almost obsessive about keeping such behavior out of his own residence.
Despite the Emperor’s notorious womanizing…
He had only two children.
Jackal.
And the Imperial Princess.
Why only two?
Because after the Princess was born…
The Emperor became impotent.
Serves him right.
I quickened my pace.
Their voices grew clearer.
“Tsk! Stop resisting and come already! You’re just a maid!”
“I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please don’t! I don’t want this…”
“I’m telling you, come with me. Once we’re together, you’ll stop saying no. Heh…”
Smack!
Without hesitation, I slapped his hand away and pulled the maid behind me.
“When someone says no…”
“They mean no.”
Only then did I glance back at the maid.
I blinked in surprise.
‘She’s unbelievably beautiful.’
Soft lavender hair.
A delicate, graceful beauty rarely seen.
Her fragile eyes instinctively awakened the desire to protect her.
She was exactly the kind of person destined to become someone’s victim.
Beautiful big sisters deserve to be protected.
