Resetting Lady

“It’s weird, Father.”

Verdic became more aggravated little by little. Why was she insisting on clinging to useless things when his work here was nearing its end? The fief lord was greatly offended by Isella’s belligerent remarks. Even when she was like that, she got the answer she wanted. So what’s her problem now?

“What’s wrong? Didn’t Lord Hare give you a definite answer already?”

“Wasn’t it only him who saw it? The Lord might be lying to cover up the truth, right?”

“Stop it. Why are you being like this? Even before this, I was already in circles just thinking about what to do with your engagement, and then this.”

“Hhn… If the Lord was the one who murdered the maid, or if it’s another servant who did it, it’s possible. If that’s the case, wouldn’t you be able to use this against them, Father? I really think it’s weird. That day, I definitely—”

Slam!

Isella flinched and backed away. Verdic made a grim face.

“No matter what, even if I get all the rights, it’s impossible to kick the fief lord out of this household. A scarecrow with a zipped mouth is necessary for the merger to happen naturally. Isella, we have to live while not bothering each other too much. Especially with such trivial things.”

“But what—”

“Isella, I’m asking you to stop it already. It doesn’t matter whether a black gypsy maid died or not. His Lordship already answered you about it, and we have no right to raise the topic again. Stop it now. By any chance…”

He inhaled.

“Even if His Lordship killed that maid, it’s not a huge concern.”

He felt somewhat sorry for his naïve daughter, but on the other hand, he also felt disappointment and anger at the same time. Isella was caring too much about such trivial things now, and she couldn’t understand at all. What did she have to do with that? Verdic had so many other things to do, and it didn’t matter whether one maid had vanished or not.

“Rather than that, just focus on looking better for Sir Raymond. Stop acting like a wench who pretends she knows everything. No one likes that kind of woman.”

“Father, I-I’ll help you, so…”

“Stop it. You talk too much. Sometimes I regret it, that I seem to have given you too much education. You don’t have to get angry when Sir Raymond looks at Carynne Hare. Sir Raymond isn’t a fool. A broken engagement would be a scandal for him, so he will marry you eventually. Get it?”

“…Yes.”

“No, you still don’t seem to understand. Tolerate it, that’s what I’m saying. You shouldn’t show your tail only for it to be grabbed. A moderate expertise in liberal arts makes you a good conversational partner, however the useless knowledge you’ve accumulated makes you arrogant.”

“That I… studied, you don’t like it?”

“No, that’s not what I’m getting at. It’s not. You…”

Verdic couldn’t feel the need to say more to his daughter, who was now just seconds away from shedding tears. Rather than taking any of his words as advice, she would just dismiss him as a bully.

Ka-chak.

Isella came out to the hallway to return to her room. The eastern wing of the mansion’s fourth floor was lined up with guest rooms that looked alike. The series of rooms were indistinct and similar, and they didn’t suit her tastes. Everywhere she looked, there were white or whitened fabrics draped over the walls, and the rooms also had similar carpets and much of the same furniture. So, Isella had to count the doors to know which one her room was.

One, two, three. She entered the third room, the one that’s hers. Opening her closet, her thirty-seven luxurious dresses welcomed her back as though comforting her. Isella liked their soft texture that seemed to soothe her.

“Hiiic…”

Still, it was hard to hold back from sobbing. She even heard strange sounds in the room last night. She couldn’t believe she was suffering from hallucinations.

Isella had to cover her ears all night long. She was scared, but she didn’t know what she was frightened of. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Whether the dead moved or did not move. Isella had to at least attract Raymond—or, as his partner, to maintain his interest to the point that he would not break the engagement.

But even that was difficult.

As she hugged her dresses one by one, she calmed down eventually, but she opened her eyes when she felt something amiss.

“What’s this?”

It was the texture of a rough fabric that should not be in her closet. Isella frowned as she pulled it out and threw it down.

“Who would even wear… Ah.”

When looking for her necklace that day, she ordered someone to bring out old clothes. It looked like the clothes she wore back then were washed and mistakenly put in here. Isella scowled and threw those clothes in the trash.

“Gosh, how disgusting.”

She gave Carynne her dirtied clothes back then because it got stained with period blood, but she couldn’t believe that these clothes got into her closet. Even the maids here wouldn’t be caught wearing this.

Once she became the madam of this place, the first thing she’d do would be to change the laundry maids.

But then, Isella frowned as she thought of something.

‘What?’

The maid’s clothes, at that time, should have gotten dirtied with her period. Isella’s body grew rigid… Wait.

“Back then… it was period blood, right?”

The next day after that, Isella was lying down all day because of menstrual cramps. But no matter how much she thought about it, it was strange—Isella had changed her skirt back then, but not her undergarments.

‘Wait, huh? That doesn’t make sense?’

Her skirt had obviously been soaked with blood. It was to the extent that Carynne frowned at it and asked her about changing her clothes first before she left. But no matter how much Isella tried to remember, she couldn’t recall borrowing any undergarments that day.

This meant that… the blood that was on her that day was not her own blood.

‘Ah.’

Isella unfolded the skirt. It had already been washed clean, so nothing was on it. And time had already passed.

This fact wasn’t important at all. That’s right, it was here. Isella stared at the fabric.

‘It’s none of my business whether that maid died or not.’

She gritted her teeth hard. Yes. It’s none of her business. Just forget it. Forget. Don’t think.

But that night, Isella couldn’t sleep again.

There it was again, those faint cries she’s been hearing.

* * *

“Excuse me.”

Isella cursed herself inwardly as she knocked on Dullan’s door. Dullan was preparing for a morning service at dawn at that moment, and when he opened the door, his expression distorted mercilessly.

Well, she didn’t want to come here either, okay? Isella pushed down the coming urge to retch. If this man was attractive at all, Carynne would have married him immediately. If that happened, there would have been no huge obstacle between Isella and Raymond right now.

“It’s just, I, these days… Um, I can’t sleep well.”

“…Alright.”

While sitting down, Dullan wrote some notes while his brows were furrowed. Even his handwriting was ugly.

“It’s like I can hear someone crying every night… I saw something strange—I’m not crazy.”

Resisting the desire to stab the eyes of the man who looked as though he was belittling her, Isella continued.

“And I strangely keep getting more irritable these days.”

“P-Prayer and meditation will be more helpful. Especially for s-someone like you.”

What did he just say. Isella stopped herself from cursing. Be ladylike. Isella repeated.

“Just give me medicine to help stabilize my mood.”

Dullan licked his lips for a moment, but eventually, he opened a drawer. After taking something out, he handed over a bundle to her.

“If you take a dose of this before sleeping, it will help.”

As she heard that this would help stabilize her mood, Isella stared at the medicine from a distance. It was a bundle of dried purple flowers. Those were what Carynne put in her tea every time.

“Carynne drinks this every day.”

“…Yes. It has a calming effect.”

“She’s always calm though. Why is she drinking something like this?”

Isella couldn’t understand. Carynne was always nice, and she never even spoke loudly. Even when she got stabbed and was carried back, she even made jokes about it.

“Huh?”

Seeing Dullan’s hardened expression, Isella felt that something was strange.

“…More, to calm her down, that’s why.”

“I know you can’t speak well, but why don’t you try speaking in a way that could be understood more?”

Dullan’s face became red. He soon put down his pen and rose to his feet. Seeing how much taller he was than she had expected, Isella was flustered.

Pointing to the door, Dullan spoke.

“Miss Evans. Please don’t pay attention to useless things.”

His voice was firm. Without any tremors.

* * *

When Carynne saw that the body did not disappear, she felt that it was as expected.

It started to smell little by little. The clock she had left in there hadn’t disappeared, and the time it told didn’t go against the watch she had brought with her.

Even if trifling things such as emotions would change, the laws of physics couldn’t be ignored. When Nancy had disappeared, the corpse did not vanish until about twelve hours later.

This was Carynne’s conclusion—the fief lord had lied for her. She wondered if this was an evident denial on his part.

What appeared before Carynne’s eyes now was the eccentric behavior that she wanted to see. Even so, it was spoiling her fun.