Mad Rosetta - Chapter 1

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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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Rosetta Gone Mad

Episode 1

Rosetta Coco Benitra (1)

It is an immutable law of nobility that a Princess must maintain an impeccably straight posture and dignified bearing, even if her toes curl within her shoes from the strain.

She must never speak ill of those who displease her, no matter the provocation. Instead, she must master the art of elegant mockery—circling her displeasure as one might circle the Priscian Mountains—and deliver it with the grace of a practiced hand.

“That wretched Odette! Cursed Cessia…!”

My name is Rosetta Coco Benitra.

Once called the mad villainess of high society, I was now too busy hurling unrestrained curses at my only younger sister and my husband.

Simultaneously, I was crawling frantically through the backyard on my elbows.

Should someone ask how the sole direct heir of the Benitra Ducal House could suffer such humiliation…

I could answer that my younger sister Odette and my husband Cessia, who would inherit the Marquessate, had not only committed adultery but had also poured poison down my throat.

At present, I was exercising what wits remained to me by vomiting my way toward the rear gate of the Marquessate.

“Gack, huurgh….”

My heart hammered wildly against my ribs.

A searing pain twisted through my chest as though someone had poured molten magma into my very core.

Unable to contain it, I retched violently, and bile mixed with blood spattered across the grass.

The injustice of it burned.

At some point, while I had been branded a reckless Princess, my younger sister Bonita Odette had earned praise as a compassionate and beautiful lady.

Until yesterday, I myself had deemed it only fitting, for she was as lovely as a spring blossom—so radiant that envy itself seemed impossible.

Though she was my stepsister through our parents’ remarriage, how could I have left her at her family home when she had begged so earnestly to care for her only elder sister?

Faced with Odette’s tearful plea, I brought her into the House of Montague immediately after our marriage.

“If I don’t look after my sister, who will?”

She was endearing.

She would have remained endearing even if I hadn’t witnessed my husband and her writhing together in shameless nakedness.

“Filthy creatures. How dare you. The moment I leave this place….”

I intended to head straight to the Security Bureau as soon as I departed the manor.

I clawed desperately at the ground with my elbows, determined to expose their depravity in full.

Yet somehow, the rear exit seemed to grow more distant with each movement.

My vision began to narrow, and my jaw trembled uncontrollably.

I couldn’t tell if what dripped from my lips was saliva or blood, though I desperately wished it were the latter.

A nineteen-year-old woman crawling about drooling—hardly a dignified sight.

【What will you do once you escape?】

“Of course, I’ll report it to Father and demand their execution by beheading….”

Right. Father passed away not long ago.

But who are you?

I forced my ragged breathing under control and turned my head with difficulty toward the source of the voice.

In the Arcanis Empire, there were precious few before whom I should bow my head. Thinking this person remarkably insolent, I looked up—and found myself unable to speak.

【Ah! Beheading is nice. I’ve seen it often.】

There was no face.

No—there truly was no face at all.

Only the face was painted white; no eyes, nose, or mouth were visible.

The figure in the shape of a man spoke to me again in a cheerful, buoyant voice.

【But hey, you look like you’re about to die before you even leave. Want me to help?】

“A-a-a Faceless Ghost?”

【Yeah. First time seeing a ghost?】

“First time, but—cough! Retch…!”

I retched again.

The pieces were smaller than what had come up before, but there were far more of them.

My stomach no longer burned, yet somehow I had the premonition I would die soon.

And no wonder—I could no longer even see the specter.

I clutched the blood-soaked grass in my hand and turned over the Faceless Ghost’s words in my mind.

I couldn’t fathom how such a formless, insignificant wraith could claim to help me, but one thing was certain.

‘I want revenge.’

I wanted to drag down the honor of those bastards who had done something utterly unforgivable to me and yet remained shameless, torture them thoroughly, and then kill them—beep, beep—and be done with it.

Having swiftly clarified what I desired, I found even lifting my head unbearable, so I simply lay flat on my back and asked.

“Why do you want to help me?”

【You’re a woman of few words.】

“You’re not very talkative either, Faceless Ghost.”

It wasn’t defiance.

Given the current situation, I simply seemed to be in the weaker position, so I held back.

At my question that pierced to the heart of the matter, the Faceless Ghost nodded while keeping its arms crossed.

Its facial features remained completely invisible, which was deeply unsettling.

【A fine question indeed. I didn’t expect much from the daughter of Duke Benatra, yet you possess a certain sharpness of mind.】

“Don’t speak ill of my father. It’s disrespectful to the deceased.”

A spirit capable of wandering freely throughout the estate—it seemed my father had known of its existence as well.

I disliked the creature’s audacity in invoking my father, who had passed away mere days ago, yet such trifles were not my concern at this moment.

The Faceless Ghost kept its arms crossed as it tapped the grass with the tip of its foot, then crouched down to face me directly.

Meeting it at close range, I sensed that this faceless being was somehow smiling.

【You wish to take revenge on them, don’t you? I can help. On the condition that you assist me with my own vengeance as well.】

“…Do you harbor a grudge?”

【Something like that. It won’t be a losing bargain for you, darling.】

I couldn’t fathom why the creature called me “darling”—as though it were some dissolute man frequenting taverns.

Yet I set this aside as well.

Didn’t all transactions require proper procedure?

First, I needed to hear its story in detail—whether the target of vengeance was singular, what concrete methods it could offer, and so forth.

Unfortunately, the Knights’ voices grew closer, calling out to search the area around the Manor, suggesting they wouldn’t venture far….

Upon spotting the flickering light of their lanterns, I had to answer hastily.

“Let’s do it! Revenge tastes best when shared between two!”

【You won’t reconsider?】

“Now. This instant. Quickly. Help me.”

“Found her!” The cry of an unknown Knight A pierced through the air.

I retched once more amid the chaos.

The peridot-colored bile that spilled forth suggested there was nothing left to expel.

【Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen bile.】

The Faceless Ghost, uttering such callous remarks as though witnessing some curious spectacle, covered my eyes with its enormous hands.

A blinding light flooded my vision, only to plunge into absolute darkness in an instant.

I lamented that one should never rely on fortune, and that a spirit spouting such nonsense would never truly aid me.

Father, your beloved Coco is coming to meet you now.

So this was how Rosetta Coco Benitra’s life would end.

A hollow, utterly futile final moment at nineteen.

* * *

【 Observation Log of the Eldest Daughter of Benitra 】

Irritable.

Merciless.

Vicious.

These are the descriptors that apply to Rosetta, the eldest daughter of the Duke’s Estate whom I serve.

One might argue such characterizations are excessive for a Princess barely past sixteen, yet our Lady was the very epitome of thoughtlessness.

– “Did you think I wouldn’t notice you attempting to stab me with the shards of that teacup?”

Over a single broken teacup, she cruelly cast out the Maid who had faithfully served at her side for years.

– “Yes, indeed. Seeing how the thread has come loose like this, you clearly intended to humiliate me!”

She would have exquisite dresses tailored to perfection, only to tear them to shreds the moment they failed to satisfy her whims.

Scarcely a day passed without attendants emerging from the Lady’s chambers with tears streaming down their faces. I, standing guard at the time, found myself consoling a particularly pitiful maid—and earned her gratitude for it.

I won’t bother thanking her for providing me with such a refreshing companion.

Of course, Rosetta had not always been prone to such tyranny.

If memory serves, she was perhaps fourteen when the Duke remarried the current Duchess and began living with Bonita. That was when it all began.

The two seemed to get along well enough, but the moment one looked away, Bonita would apologize profusely, tears streaming down her face.

Then Rosetta would snort in disgust, shrieking that she couldn’t bear the sight of her and demanding she leave, her voice trembling with barely contained rage.

They shared no blood, so their differences were inevitable. Yet these two sisters were as different as night and day.

– “Rosetta is to remain confined to her chambers until her body has fully recovered.”

As Rosetta’s tyranny escalated day by day and complaints from the attendants grew louder, it was hardly surprising that the Duke issued a confinement order.

He even stationed a Knight at her doorway to enforce it.

Thus, the young princess once considered the most noble in the entire Empire found herself locked away in her chamber before her fourteenth year had even ended.

“Sigh… how tedious this is…”

And so, a year and a half had passed since her prolonged confinement began.

Standing guard at dawn, I sat crouched before her doorway, yawning incessantly.

With so many others growing negligent in their duties, I too had succumbed to indolence.

I had come to believe that the Lady, who had conducted herself so poorly, deserved no consideration whatsoever.

Had the door not suddenly opened, revealing her distinctive deep crimson hair, I would have remained in that state indefinitely.

“You there.”

I felt a cry of alarm rise in my throat as though I had glimpsed a ghost in the moonlight, and I forced my mouth shut with great effort.

I straightened my posture abruptly, though I could only curse my abysmal luck.

There was no excuse for my negligence on duty, so I was deliberating whether to offer my left cheek or my right shin to her wrath.

Then I caught sight of the Lady’s appearance.

It had been an eternity since I’d seen her in such a state.

Her unwashed hair was matted and tangled in disarray. Her gaunt frame, weakened by skipped meals, was indistinguishable from the children of the slums.

“Where is Father?”

I had been settling on the left cheek as the wiser choice when—

The Lady posed her abrupt question without so much as assuming a striking stance.

“Perhaps in the Study, my Lady. I cannot say with certainty.”

“Very well. I understand.”

Though the order to confine myself still stood, I should have blocked her path—yet I did not.

Her eyes retained their usual vacant, hollow gaze, but the light within them was utterly transformed.

“I haven’t seen you before. Are you newly assigned?”

The brilliant violet of her eyes, gleaming with that fierce luminescence, transported me to the day I first stood as her guardian.

Young Rosetta had spoken with such playful confidence about how I must protect her well, her eyes shining like amethysts—and now, after all this time, that same radiance had returned.

In the quiet dawn, the Lady departed through the doorway, not even properly dressed in her gown.

It was a shameful sight for a noblewoman of her station.

— Excerpt from the Journal of Knight A of House Benatra

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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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