Mad Rosetta - Chapter 11

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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 11

Even Discarded Trash Deserves a Second Look (1)

“…Penny.”

“Yes, Lady!”

“Go back to my room.”

“Pardon?”

“Go admire the gift packages with your successors in cheerful company.”

Before she could even protest, I seized her shoulders and thrust her inside, shutting the door firmly behind her.

The girl’s cries of “Lady!” echoed from within, but I closed the door with ruthless finality.

One of the Knights standing guard cast a look suggesting he wondered if another hysteric episode was beginning.

‘Damn it. What kind of Princess wanders about the Manor without a dedicated Maid?’

I continued down the Corridor until no one else was in sight.

“Where have you been all morning?”

【Were you looking for me?】

“….”

【Hmm, your face is flushing red and pale. That doesn’t seem to be it.】

“…Unless you want to see me rage here and then return to being Benitra’s mad bouquet, you’d better answer my question.”

As I glared at him with blazing eyes, Sing delivered an absolutely astounding response with the air of someone merely observing a passing cat.

【I was visiting your Younger Sister.】

“?”

【He’s probably being dressed in those gaudy garments as we speak.】

…What in the world was this nonsense?

Should I reproach him for daring to abandon me and side with Odette instead, or was he simply some impudent Faceless Ghost who wanted to touch every woman he encountered at least once?

I couldn’t gauge what reaction to show toward him as he so casually confessed to having spied on someone.

【I’m not sure what you’re imagining, darling. I merely stepped away for a moment to see if I could catch wind of some precious news to share with you.】

“….”

【What’s with that suspicious look in your eyes? Most unpleasant.】

His words weren’t entirely convincing, yet I deemed them a reasonably plausible excuse.

‘After all, there will be no shortage of troublesome people ahead. I might as well benefit from this ghost.’

I often forget, given how human-like he conducts himself, but Sing is indeed a Faceless Ghost, is he not?

He can traverse in and out freely, and even pass through sealed places.

The more I considered it, the more invaluable an informant he proved to be.

“Very well then. Do share this precious news of yours.”

As I asked with an air of arrogance, Sing answered without hesitation, his manner as reckless as ever.

【Fordicus Cessia is arriving sometime this week.】

“?”

【How’s that? Did I do well?】

…What an absurdly lighthearted and carefree man this was.

Before I could even marvel at his ingenuous nature, he continued speaking.

【Rosette, I received a letter from Fordicus saying he would visit you. He doesn’t seem to know yet that your confinement has been lifted.】

“Well, it only happened yesterday, so there’s no way the news could have reached him. More importantly—are Odette and Cessia exchanging letters?”

My blood boiled.

I wondered when exactly they had become so inseparable. At this point, I could almost believe their affection had blossomed the moment Odette entered this Household.

Perhaps noticing my bitter smile, Sing added a remark.

【Most of the letters exchanged between your younger sister and Fordicus were about you and your illness.】

“…You don’t need to comfort me.”

【Hmm? I’m sorry, but I don’t have enough regard for you to offer comfort like that, Rosette. I’m simply stating facts.】

“You really are insufferable, aren’t you?”

I growled at Sing for his tactless words, but thanks to him pointing out the truth, I managed to calm myself somewhat.

It was almost impossible that Cessia had initiated the correspondence with Odette.

A man who valued propriety as much as he did would certainly refrain from privately exchanging letters with his fiancée’s younger sister.

‘So Odette must have used my situation as a pretext to exchange whatever words she wished.’

Yet I couldn’t rule out the possibility that, using my circumstances as a backdrop, she had gradually whispered her private affections to him.

【And all the letters that come to you seem to go to your younger sister instead. Did you know? The recipient’s name on this letter from Fordicus is written as yours.】

“…What?”

【My, it seems your younger sister has quite thoroughly manipulated the Household’s affairs.】

Only then did I remember.

Generally, all letters arriving within a Household are delivered to the Butler.

The Butler’s duty is to distribute them appropriately and pass them to the stewards.

If the proper procedures had been followed without fail, all letters and news reaching me should have been delivered by the Maids or Servants.

“Brother, a letter arrived for Cessia. Shall I read it to you?”

The moment I realized that every piece of news reaching me had passed through Odette’s hands, I felt utterly ashamed of myself.

“Ha… so my younger sister was this meticulous.”

How long had I been dancing in the palm of Odette’s hand?

The thought that everything around me was tainted by Odette filled me with humiliation and dread.

What twisted resolve had driven her to endure like a caged beast, only to steal my life in a single moment?

Seized by this terror, I turned back from the path leading to Father’s Study.

I entered my room swiftly, and those absorbed in tidying looked up at me.

The thought that among them might be someone conspiring with Odette to harm me ignited a sudden fury within my chest.

“All of you, leave.”

“But the tidying isn’t finished yet——”

“Get out! Now!”

My ugly outburst startled them, and they fled the room in panic.

I caught a flicker of bewilderment in Penny’s eyes as she passed, but I had no time to concern myself with it.

Realizing that I had resurrected the villainess I had struggled so hard to suppress and reform, I felt such injustice and sorrow that tears spilled unbidden.

【…You mustn’t succumb to despair, darling.】

Sing’s displeased voice sounded like a rebuke.

Even he, whom I had believed to be on my side, seemed to chide me for burying my face in a pillow and weeping at a time like this.

Unable to wipe away the tears that had burst forth, I cried out in bitter anguish.

“What do you expect me to do about it? What did I do wrong? I just….”

【Does that even matter?】

“…What?”

The coldness in Sing’s tone—so devoid of emotion it bordered on indifference—left me speechless.

Here I was, despairing and weeping, and instead of comfort, I received reproach.

I lifted my head in dismay, but Sing’s expression remained hidden from view.

It was utterly hollow.

【What I mean is, does it change anything to assign reasons to every single thing that wounds you?】

“….”

【If your Younger Sister suddenly repented, confessed her wrongs, and begged for forgiveness, could you truly forgive her? If Fordicus Cessia were to love you ardently in this life, would you have it in you to accept that love?】

Forgive them? There was no possibility of that.

I returned only to bestow upon them the despair I had endured, to reclaim what was mine.

Sing gazed down at me for a moment, then released a soft sigh and sat at the edge of the bed.

Despite the cold admonishment from those wretched lips, the hand that wiped away my tears felt warm where it touched my skin.

【Senseless malice can be frightening. But drowning in such despair—that is what your Younger Sister desires, not what you wish for yourself. Think carefully about why you resolved to change.】

“….”

【If you truly wish to hear from your Younger Sister why she despises you so, then overcome this fear, darling. The right to answers belongs to the victor, not the vanquished.】

Sing tidied the disheveled strands of hair that had fallen across my face, his final words a gentle insistence.

I caught the faintest hint of amusement in his voice.

Only then did I realize he had been comforting me in his own way. The tears dried completely, even as his didactic tone rankled me.

A stark contrast to Father, who eagerly indulged my every petty whimper.

There was something oddly melancholic about his methods.

His comfort was excessively harsh.

【Come now! Up with you. Where were you headed just before?】

“…To Father. I meant to tell him I would attend this Feast as well….”

【Good heavens, who dared to dampen my darling’s spirits? You look positively lifeless!】

You did, you wretch….

Between the crying and the exhaustion, I could barely muster strength for anything beyond sniffling.

Sing, who had been groaning uncertainly, soon began lifting and lowering my body repeatedly as if coaxing a child.

“Y-you madman! Put me down this instant!”

【My, how spirited! Our Rosette must be having quite the time.】

The audacity—his hands burrowing into my armpits!

With him already a head taller than me, and now hoisting my body aloft, I felt genuinely suspended in midair, the ground impossibly distant.

‘This is exactly like the terror I felt as a child during piggyback rides.’

I delivered several kicks as punishment for his violation of that sacred territory.

Curiously, once he set me down, declaring my spirits sufficiently restored, the gloom that had consumed me moments before seemed to genuinely dissipate.

Tender or cold—I couldn’t quite tell.

I grumbled that this Faceless Ghost was cunningly adept at manipulating people, and pushed myself upright.

“Blast it, how did I end up saddled with something like this….”

【That’s what we call fate, darling.】

What wretched fate compels me to strike the face of the one who wove this tapestry of misery.

I rang the bell three times and summoned Penny and my dedicated servants.

To those who entered cautiously, reading my mood after what had just transpired, I entrusted the task of restoring my tear-streaked makeup and disheveled hair.

I gently persuaded them that my temperament had been unstable of late and asked for their understanding, then made my way back to Father’s Study.

“If you would tell me your business, I shall convey it to him.”

But the guard blocked my path and spoke with unwarranted insolence.

Listen, I’ve been crying until just now and have no strength left. Let us do this amicably.

I called out loudly before the Study door.

“Father! Rosetta Coco is entering!”

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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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