Isn’t Being A Wicked Woman Much Better? - Chapter 78

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

Chapter 78
* * *
“Young Master, you’re forbidden from going out until you complete all your assignments.”
Madam Caryl delivered this gentle threat to Enrique, knowing full well the boy would never finish his work. The tutors she’d hired were meticulously following her instructions to the letter.
The claim that Duke Simour had summoned these renowned tutors for Enrique was nothing but Madam Caryl’s fabrication—a tool to control him.
“It’s all for your sake, Young Master.”
She repeated this refrain like a habitual prayer.
* * *
“….”
Enrique stared at the torrential rain hammering against the window, his pallid face drained of vitality, and let the quill slip from his grasp.
His mind felt numb; no matter how much he labored over his assignments, they never seemed to end. The oppressive humidity clung to him like a second skin, and he fanned his clothes repeatedly.
Enrique despised the approach of his birthday. Nightmares plagued him constantly, and anxiety gnawed at his chest. Intellectually, he knew it would pass, yet in this moment, he felt trapped in a suffocating marsh from which he could not escape.
“Since the Duchess passed away, the Duke has thrown himself into his work. He cannot forget her, so seeing Young Master only troubles his heart.”
Everything felt like his fault. Especially as his mother’s death anniversary drew near.
‘I can’t breathe.’
Enrique lay sprawled across his desk in frustration, his gaze lingering on the tapestry beneath—a viper with bared fangs depicted in its threads.
“Who said anyone was burdened? Don’t make such judgments without knowing the full story.”
The memory surfaced suddenly—his sister’s icy words to the Nanny. Some might call her a viper, but in that moment, she’d seemed like a hero.
Enrique bit his lip until blood threatened to spill, then rose from his seat and moved toward the door. The terror of remaining silent in this swamp-like place, of being submerged completely, drove him forward.
“Young Master, where are you going?”
The Nanny rushed after him as he floundered toward the entrance of the Annex Building. When she seized his arm, Enrique looked up at her with a deathly pale face.
“In this rain? Where do you think you’re going? I know you haven’t finished your assignments.”
“Today—I’m supposed to meet my sister. I have to go!”
“Lady Deborah Simour would come out in this dreadful weather to meet you? Stop this nonsense and get back inside. You’ll catch a cold right before your birthday! Are you trying to worry everyone?”
The Nanny gripped his arm roughly. The sensation was too similar to the serpent’s coils from his nightmares, binding his limbs, and Enrique panicked, trying to wrench free. Yet strangely, his body felt weak. So he forced the words out with difficulty.
“I’m not being difficult. I’m going to study. My sister accepted me as her student. We promised to meet every week.”
Enrique finished speaking through trembling lips, breathing heavily. The obedient child’s unexpected defiance twisted Madam Caryl’s eyes with cruelty. She’d assumed he was going to the Library to read books, but it seemed he’d been meeting with Lady Deborah Simour all along.
‘He’s been hiding this like a little mouse? How dare he.’
When the child she’d so carefully nurtured refused to bend to her will, she clenched her teeth. The thought of Lady Deborah Simour’s piercing crimson eyes, sharp as an awl, made her blood boil.
Deborah Simour—that worthless hooligan had surely been poisoning the perfect Young Master Enrique with her corrupting influence.
“Young Master. Come to your senses!”
Madam Caryl shook Enrique’s small shoulders.
“I understand you’re struggling with all this schoolwork. Of course you’d want to play with the Lady. But Lady Deborah Simour is simply amusing herself at your expense.”
The Nanny’s eyes gleamed with malice as she watched Enrique shake his head.
“Surely you don’t actually believe that Lady Deborah Simour cares for you genuinely? You know that’s absurd, don’t you?”
She spoke with a mocking tone.
“You were born at the cost of your mother’s life. How could the Duchess’s daughter ever truly care for you?”
Tears gathered like dewdrops on Enrique’s long lashes before falling silently.
“No one cares for Young Master Enrique as I do, and no one worries about your future as much as I do. You know this.”
She knelt to meet his eyes and continued in a tender, whispered voice.
“I wish for the Young Master to be respected and to become excellent above all others.”
Enrique’s silver eyes widened progressively.
“With the Madam’s anniversary approaching and the Duke likely grieving, if you wish to avoid being disliked, you must conduct yourself with greater maturity and study harder… Cough!”
Watching my sister materialize like a specter and ruthlessly yank back the Nanny’s upswept hair, Enrique’s eyes widened to the size of lanterns.
“S-Sister?!”
“Didn’t I warn you clearly back then? Watch your tongue.”
She smiled coldly and wickedly.
“Ahhhhh!!”
“Everyone takes my words as a lady so lightly, it seems.”
Madam Caryl’s carefully arranged hair instantly became disheveled, yet I maintained my grip on her locks, my crimson eyes gleaming with lethal intensity as I suddenly ground my teeth.
“The more I think about it, the more furious I become! This psychopath just keeps spouting whatever comes out of her mouth!”
“P-Please, Lady, this is utterly unbecoming and barbaric! Kyaaaa!!”
“You’re one to talk! How dare you speak such cruel words to my brother?”
“Please let go!”
“There’s no child in this world as lovely as Enrique!”
Watching my sister burn with fury, Enrique blinked rapidly.
‘Lovely,’ she said.
The rain was gradually subsiding, yet for some reason, my vision blurred as if I stood in the midst of a downpour.
* * *
I had grown suspicious of the Nanny and bribed a servant because Enrique’s words kept nagging at me.
“I was late, I slept, and I disappointed you.”
‘Disappointed?’
Children typically worry about being punished for their mistakes, not about disappointing others.
A remarkably mature child who considered others’ feelings before his own.
“Mother, I’m sorry for making you sad. I won’t disappoint you again.”
That was who I had been in my past life.
Perhaps from the beginning, I had unconsciously superimposed my own childhood onto Enrique’s maturity. The moment he spoke those words, I recognized the wounds I carried reflected in that child, and I could not help but question the character of his guardian.
“If Dohee yields to her younger sibling, Mother will be happy.”
My previous parents often spoke words laden with the meaning that I would disappoint them if I did not behave well. Looking back, I realize I was so preoccupied with their emotions that I never allowed myself to be honest about my own feelings.
‘Truth be told, I didn’t want to yield. Of course I wanted the new toy too.’
Because I neglected myself, my self-worth deteriorated, and I gradually became a suffocating person.
‘Forcing a guardian’s emotions onto a child in that manner is wrong, yet most people don’t recognize it as such.’
There are those who covertly exploit others’ empathy to manipulate people for their own convenience. This is gaslighting.
And this Nanny called Caryl was the worst of the worst. She was subtly controlling Enrique by simultaneously triggering both his desire for his father’s love and his guilt.
The reason Enrique’s health had deteriorated particularly during this period was surely because Madam Caryl constantly reminded him of the Duchess’s anniversary. The duality of bruising an innocent child’s heart and then posing as the only one to care for that wound made my skin crawl.
“Kyaaaa!!”
Regardless of this vile psychopath’s screams, I yanked her hair roughly. I could not contain the fury boiling within me.
“P-Please, Lady, compose yourself!”
At that moment, the maids from the Annex Building rushed over in shock and began trying to restrain me.
“Compose myself?!”
“Aaaahhh!”
Since there was no servant bold enough to lay hands on me directly, I ended up tearing out several fistfuls of the Nanny’s hair in desperation.
“This Nanny spouted such vile insults at my precious sister—surely you can understand my fury?!”
I glared savagely at the Nanny, whose body convulsed with a vacant, hollow expression.
“This won’t be forgotten so easily.”
Had Enrique not been trembling violently in the cold rain, I would have made good on my threat to leave him completely bald.
“Come.”
Grinding my teeth, I brushed the strands of hair from the floor and carefully took Enrique’s small hand in mine.
“We have lessons today.”
Enrique looked up at me with glistening eyes, startled, his small fingers fidgeting nervously. I turned to address his servants with icy coldness.
“See that this Nanny never crosses my sight again. If even a thread of her clothing appears before me, I will hold all of you accountable.”
“Y-yes, my lady.”
Leaving the chaos behind, I led Enrique, who held my hand with careful tenderness, to the Annex Building.

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