There’s No Divorce For You

“That’s not true, Madam!”

Lisa raised her voice. My cheap earrings also hung in her fingers, which looked very plausible. I pushed the earrings up to her nose. The cheap earring wiggled and fluttered. 

“It’s really an earring from Madam!”

More people’s eyes were focused than before. I tilted my head.

“Look it up again. I don’t wear such a sloppy thing.”

The nearby Lady opened the fan and whispered to each other. I thought I knew what they were saying even if I didn’t listen. Bell saw the earrings in Lisa’s hand and helped me. 

“Lisa, these are not Madam’s earrings. I hung them myself before we came.”

Lisa’s face turned pale blue, and she shook her head. She looked through my pocket as if she had been wrongly accused, but all she could find were a few pieces of paper and her earrings.

Unlike mine, it was a gift from the Count, with delicate workmanship. I snatched it. 

“You must have been confused. Isn’t mine here?

Then, I made my voice as soft and sweet as possible and pretended to be a kind master who would overlook the little maid’s mistakes.

“T, that’s not true, Madam!”

“If you made a mistake, you just need to apologize.”

“N, no, it’s not like that—”

“Did I look so strict? I’m not mean enough to scold you for a small mistake.”

I smiled and put the earring on my ear. The swollen earlobes stung, but it was tolerable. Earrings fell down heavy. Lisa shook her head several times as if she was being falsely accused.

“No, that’s not true, Madam. That’s what I got as a gift…!”

She protested, holding an earring similar to mine in her hand.

“T, this, this is Madam’s!”

“Madam has already forgiven you. Stop it.”

Bell grabbed Lisa’s forearm and pulled, making it look like she was trying to stop her from leaning forward. But instead, her face was filled with resentment.

In a sense, it evoked pleasure. But, on the other hand, it was also funny that Carla and Lisa’s positions seemed to be switched. 

“Please look at it again, Madam! It’s really not!”

Lisa cried out several times that she was falsely accused, but I completely ignored her. She couldn’t even say anything like Carla falsely accused her. 

The surrounding nobles, and the servants waiting to serve them, began to chatter.

I tilted my head arrogantly and asked her. 

“Who gave you these expensive earrings?”

I raised my voice and pressured her. Everyone’s eyes were on her. I wasn’t afraid at all. But my heart was beating faster and faster, and I couldn’t contain the heightened feeling.

“Answer me, who is it?”

Her blue, transparent eyes were frightened. From those eyes, she could read the situation as if she had finally understood it.

If I insisted a little longer, she could become a thief or a naughty maid who covets her master’s and gets kicked out without a letter of recommendation.

Even so, it’s a gift from the Count, so she won’t be able to say it out loud. There were too many eyes to see.

Fortunately, she also had the intelligence to recognize the public eye.

“A, ah—that’s—”

I wanted to let her know. Your happiness is not built under the protection of the Count but based on the misfortune Carla swallowed. 

I wanted to tell her that the only reason she could be arrogant was because Carla let her. 

“You could make a mistake.”

I whispered softly to her. Lisa looked as if she was about to collapse. Bell grabbed Lisa by the arm.

“I guess you wanted earrings.”

I stroked her shoulder like a generous master. Lisa was shaking lightly.

“But, if you want to covet your master’s thing—you have to be a little smarter.'”

I tucked Lisa’s hair behind her ear. My fingers don’t even seem that cold, but she trembled at it. She was like a poor little deer. I smacked my lips like a full beast.

“I’m sorry to make a scene. She’s still a young maid, so she has a lot to teach.”

When I smiled and apologized to the people around me, they immediately lost interest and left. A Lady who had sent me an invitation raised her voice and advised me. It was something that Lisa had to listen to.

“The hawk is medicine for those who do not know the fraction. Carla, spare no hawk.”

Lisa didn’t raise her head throughout the carriage ride. I turned a blind eye to the tears falling down her chin. The heartbeat didn’t subside easily.

******

Lisa was shaking before I even took off my riding boots, but she still wanted to talk to me.

“I have something to say, Madam.”

“Bell, tea—no, can you bring me a snack? Well, apple pie sounds good. I hope you cool it down and bring it back.”

I sent Bell to the kitchen under the pretext of running errands. When I was alone in the room, Lisa began to shed tears. 

I didn’t bother to ask why she was crying. There were a lot of guesses.

“Tell me.”

She said in tears. Transparent tears fell drop by drop under her cheeks.

“Madam, you’re too much. What did I do wrong—”

My conscience pricked me because I thought I had bothered her too much. Lisa sobbed, wiping her tears with her fingertips. The face with tears dripping down was also very pretty. 

With this face, if she said, ‘Madam, I’m actually a victim,’ I would fall for it. It was not a waste of the modifier of an angelic face.

Lisa bit her lips slightly and opened it. 

“I know you are doing this because the Count loves me.”

She continued pitifully.

“Love is not a sin. It’s not my fault that the Count doesn’t love Madam—”

Her voice was shaking lightly. But her eyes were staring straight at me. It was a tearful face, but it didn’t show a bit of guilt. 

I’ve tried to turn a blind eye until now, but I finally admit it. She’s a f*cking b*tch—a great b*itch. I opened my mouth without guilt.

“Yeah, there’s one thing you’re good at too.”

I took off the earring I was wearing and threw them at Lisa. She was startled and caught her earring. My earlobe was tingling as the earring came out. 

“You’re good at stealing other people’s stuff than pickpockets.’

I ridiculed her to the fullest. In fact, she hadn’t stolen anything from me. She was in a relationship with Carla’s husband, but she didn’t steal money from me.

I have a grudge against Count Icarus. But now, it was Lisa who proudly spits out the nonsense in front of me, that she was the lover of Count Icarus. It didn’t take a few seconds to finish the irrational rationalization.

“Why are you crying? Now that I think about it, are you ashamed of stealing?”

I asked, blinking my eyes. Not accustomed to my ridicule, she sobbed as she covered her face with both her hands.

“You’re too much, Madam.”

I waited for Lisa to stop crying. But as time went on, she cried more sadly. She didn’t stop crying until Bell returned. Bell, who came into my room with a tray, stiffened her body. 

“Bell, get me a whip.”

“A whip?”

“Yeah, if you don’t have one, pick up a branch.”

Bell glanced at the crying Lisa, put the tray on the table, and left the room again. Then she came back right away.

Panting from how far she had run, she held a thin, unmanaged branch in her hand.

“Whoo, whoo—Madam, there’s no whip in the mansion, so I got it from the gardener.”

“Yeah, good job.”

Bell handed me a branch with a proud face. As soon as 

I accepted it, she stroked and swung it in the air. The sound of cutting the air was quite sharp.

“Lisa.”

“Hik… Yes…”

“Give me your hand.”

Lisa blinked as if she didn’t understand what I was saying. Then, Bell grabbed her wrist and pulled it. Lisa tried to pull her hand out, but she couldn’t overcome Bell’s grip. 

The white and fine back of the hand showed no veins. Looking down at her hand, I said dryly.

“You’re arrogant.”

Then I slapped Lisa on the back of her hand. A red line appeared on the back of the white hand along with the sound. The thin branches soon fell to the ground.

“Ah!”

Belle opened her eyes wide as if she didn’t know I’d really hit her. I clenched my teeth. I can’t be soft-hearted here.

Lisa didn’t let go of her earring in her hands. I wondered how much she loved the Count. 

“Go and reflect on yourself.”

Lisa grabbed the back of her hand and glared at me. Tears welled up.

“God said not to be jealous, Madam.”

“Is that so?”

I struggled to raise the corners of my mouth. Otherwise, I felt like I would repeat my previous action with a broken branch.

“Brush your sin, Madam.”

It wasn’t a word that came out of the mouth of the mistress. 

“Love is not a sin. But jealousy is a sin. For that reason, the Count said every night—”

She couldn’t continue her words and was dragged away by Bell. Even if I hadn’t heard Lisa’s story, I could have figured it out.

So, it was a childish provocation saying that the Count doesn’t look for me, so I won’t have children. Apart from Lisa, sympathy for Carla has grown.

If I hadn’t come to this crazy world, Carla would have had to stand there and accept Lisa’s cheeky remarks. In order to sleep with the Count, she must have swallowed her humiliation, unable to do anything about the maid he loved.

Only then did I realize why Lisa wasn’t afraid to be Carla’s maid.

Well, if Carla had tried to harm the mistress, she would have done it already. Unlike me, she must have known the faces of the maids who worked in her mansion, so she would have known Lisa’s face too. 

But Carla never touched a finger at her. It was just heartbreaking.

“Ha, what’s with that kid?”

It wasn’t because Carla was weak-hearted or because she was a gentle and kind woman. Because she wanted to have the Count’s child. I felt like I was going to vomit in her innocent heart.