I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 14

Ted scanned the paper in his hand with wide, urgent eyes, racing through every word.

“Cap! I need to visit the Brillant Marquis’s Residence at once!”

At his sharp, irritable outburst, the young boy standing beside him flinched and jumped back in alarm.

“The Brillant Marquis’s Residence? Why……?”

Ted, the capable butler of the Baron’s Residence, wore an expression of displeasure but did not press further. He knew his master cherished this simple-minded boy.
Knowing this, he could not bring himself to lash out more harshly.
In the end, he could only exhale a sigh and force himself to suppress his anger.

“Tell me, Cap. What day is it today?”
“The fifth day of the Week of Light, sir.”
“Right. Then you must understand that yesterday was the day the Brillant Marquis’s household deployed additional security personnel?”

Cap’s expression made it clear he knew nothing of the sort, but Ted swallowed his irritation once more and continued.

“I myself sent word to my master the moment he returned. Yet despite this, a serious disturbance occurred last night.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What do you make of this situation?”
“I was terribly frightened, sir…….”

Does he think I asked for his personal impressions?
Ted stared down at Cap in speechless bewilderment.

“Go to the Brillant Marquis’s Residence at once.”
“Me, sir?”

He nearly blurted out, ‘Then should I go instead?’

“How can I, the butler overseeing this entire household, abandon my post? And only because the master is in an unusually good mood am I even restraining myself—otherwise, someone’s head would be rolling against the wall for a disaster like this!”

Ted’s eyes narrowed as he looked Cap up and down, the boy standing there uselessly.
That innocent expression, still lost in confusion—it was enough to drive a man to madness.

“In any case, this is not a matter to be overlooked. Someone must be held accountable.”

Only then did Cap seem to grasp the situation, stammering out a question.

“What, what should I say?”
“Tell them that last night, a suspicious intruder broke into the Baron’s Residence and threatened our master, you fool! Since the disturbance occurred during the day they were responsible for security, demand that they provide a full explanation.”

Having said this, Ted turned to leave, but something seemed to occur to him and he whirled back around sharply.

“Hold on!”

Cap, who had been standing carelessly with only his eyes blinking, started violently at this, but Ted paid him no mind and simply continued with what he needed to say.

“Find out if there was a shift change among the security personnel. When you return, report everything to me—who you met at the Marquis’s Residence, what they said, all of it. Keep your wits about you.”
“Yes, sir…….”
“Stop dawdling and go now!”
“Yes, sir!”

At least Cap, who possessed one redeeming quality—speed—came bolting toward the Central Staircase in a fluster.
The moment Ted turned back from watching that pathetic retreating figure,

“The broom’s broken.”
“Ack!”

The breath that had tumbled from Cap’s mouth moments ago found its echo in Ted’s own startled gasp.
A man stood at Ted’s back, having approached without the slightest sound.
He wore the same serene, unbothered smile as when he’d been caught intruding on the Reception Room Balcony.

“Y-you gave me a fright!”
“Did I? My apologies. In any case, the broom’s snapped clean in two.”

The man replied without a trace of genuine remorse, extending what he held in his hand.
It was a broom, split down the middle.

“What are you doing with that?”
“It’s a broom.”
“I can see that. Why are *you* carrying it?”
“Why, you ask?”

The man tilted his head slightly to the left, letting out a hollow laugh as though exasperated.

“I was cleaning.”
“……Cleaning?”

At the man’s words, Ted’s face darkened.
He couldn’t fathom why Mushe had insisted on providing a room to this man—the attendant, that is.
Of course, he was no halfhearted retainer who presumed to understand his master’s every whim. He made an effort not to question the order.
Besides, his capricious mistress might just as easily turn around and have this man beaten to a pulp tomorrow.
But for now, he had to treat him as a guest.
Ted cleared his throat a couple of times.

“I’ll have the maids inspect the room again. Why don’t you step out to the Garden?”
“But the room was clean?”
“You said you were cleaning, didn’t you?”
“I haven’t been cleaning the room itself—I’ve been sweeping various corners of the residence as I’ve wandered about.”

Ted found himself at a loss for words once more.
Unlike Cap, this man answered every question asked of him directly enough.
Yet that imperturbable expression somehow had a way of turning a person’s insides upside down.

“That’s work for the servants, not for you.”

As authority crept into Ted’s voice, the man’s smile deepened further.
He stepped closer, murmuring softly in Ted’s ear.

“You know, my profession has its good points, but the job security leaves something to be desired.”
“……What?”
“So I thought I’d try learning something new, and honestly, cleaning isn’t so bad once you do it.”
“Hm?”
“I chatted with some of the people here to get acquainted, and the wages seem quite reasonable.”

Ted watched the man—who spoke with such smooth, calculated ease—without dropping his guard for an instant.
There was something distinctly uncommon about him.
Fine looks, polished manners, and that unnerving composure in all things.

‘He must be of noble birth.’

Yet the man had introduced himself as an attendant, had he not?
What self-respecting nobleman would resort to such transparent lies?

‘An illegitimate child from some hidden aristocratic family? Even so, why resort to working as a courtesan? Desperate for money? Or is she just… a deviant?’

Either way, it was equally contemptible.
Swallowing his distaste, Ted snatched the object from the man’s right hand.

“That is not the reason the mistress permitted you to remain here.”

The man, who had been watching Ted with idle eyes, curled his lips upward.
It was a gesture that looked like he was suppressing laughter.

“What reason do you suppose it is, butler?”
“Wh—why are you even asking me such things?! No, never mind all that—it’s not my concern anyway. The mistress’s will is my will, and that is all that matters!”

The man laughed quietly, as if finding something tremendously amusing.
Then he held out the broken broomstick handle still clutched in his left hand toward Ted.
Flustered, Ted found himself taking it without thinking.

“It seems the young mistress has taken quite a fancy to me.”
“Wh—what did you just say?!”
“I’m simply astounded by how transparent women’s hearts are, and how easily they can be manipulated.”

Ted’s face drained of all color at those words.

‘This wretch is after money too!’

With a beautiful woman controlling vast wealth and power, it was no wonder parasites came crawling.
And this was as dangerous as being bitten by a viper.

“Shameless scoundrel! How dare you presume to—!”

But the man continued at his leisure, untroubled.

“It would be rather inconvenient if word of this were to spread, wouldn’t it?”
“What nonsense!”
“Imagine the rumors—that the young mistress Mushe has taken a courtesan into her home, completely besotted.”

He paused for a moment, as though giving Ted ample time to consider his words.
During this interval the man allowed, Ted’s mind churned in turmoil, wrestling with the implications.

“If such rumors were to circulate…”

Ted had been the first servant hired when this manor had acquired its current luxurious appearance.
The problem was that despite attending to the mistress’s every move, he remained ignorant of so much.
How exactly she had come to dominate the aristocracy, or what had driven her to such desperation at so young an age that she would consider consuming poison—merely to avoid being poisoned first.
But none of that mattered now. Ted had already sworn on his life to become her faithful right hand.
Which meant he had no choice but to confront this insolent courtesan’s provocation.

“It cannot be allowed!”

Of course, mere gossip would never bring her down.
Yet as her loyal servant, Ted could not bear to see such scandalous rumors attach themselves to an unmarried young mistress.

“H—how many people know you’re here?!”
“Fortunately, no one.”
“Good! Such vulgar slander must never—”
“Not yet.”

The man cut through Ted’s words once more, his composure unshaken.

“So going forward, perhaps you could pay a bit more attention to keeping the household staff discreet.”

Just then, a maid appeared in the empty corridor.
The man immediately adopted a familiar tone, as though greeting an old friend, and followed her out after mentioning the need for a new broom.
Ted stood motionless for a long while, still gripping what had once been two halves of a broom.

“How could anyone be so utterly tasteless…….”

He thought of his employer—sharp of mind, yet hopelessly blind when it came to reading men.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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