Mad Rosetta - Chapter 33

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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

Chapter 33

A Spring Blossom with a Spicy Bite (7)

Dr. Drabe Beaumont, who sought to use a child and even encouraged his own son to adopt her.

Gaildo and his family, who neglected that child and constantly subjected her to reproachful glares of oppression!

They were all equally repugnant creatures, so even if Marmint forgave them with a compassionate heart, I had no intention of doing the same.

Rather, I felt it wasteful to expend any sentiment on such people.

‘Above all, my money! What am I to do about my stolen funds!’

The fifty million shillings Dr. Drabe Beaumont had extracted from me had simply vanished into thin air upon his death.

Moreover, the amount that went to Marmint, who had actually delivered results, was also fifty million shillings.

Thus, I was determined to extract one hundred million shillings in penalties from House Beaumont and pay Marmint without spending a single coin of my own.

‘But if Marmint doesn’t wish for it…. No, but a favor is a favor, and a transaction is a transaction—my money is my money….’

Father had taught me never to suffer losses in any dealings. Faced with the child’s inscrutable expression, I asked reluctantly.

“Ah, or should I reduce it somewhat?”

【My dear, why have you become so servile?】

Had she been Odette’s age, I wouldn’t have degraded myself to this extent.

Perhaps it was because I had once held Marmint’s small fist, that I found myself watching her expression carefully.

It seemed I had only just realized that a wound which would be merely a scratch to others could loom as large as a sword cut to a child.

“…Reduce it? What would I reduce?”

“Well, not much… Huh? What did you say?”

In that moment, Marmint’s eyes reminded me of myself—desperately suppressing the urge to seize Odette by the hair.

Marmint’s gaze turned sharp and piercing as she spat out her words with barely contained fury.

“Do you have any idea what I’ve endured? Just throw me out onto the street already!”

“Ah… yes, yes. Of course.”

“Honestly, I was so irritated thinking I was only doing good things for those people. Serves them right! They deserve to starve a little!”

“Yes, yes, I’ll make sure they go hungry.”

Even as I placated her with agreement, Marmint continued to seethe, insisting that this was what happened when you mistreated people—they sought revenge.

【…Rosette, darling. What exactly have you taught this child?】

“….”

【The way she’s bouncing about—it reminds me of the way you tore down that curtain rod.】

Sing kept needling me, saying that Marmint seemed to take after me far too much, and wondering if perhaps she was a niece I’d hidden away somewhere.

The problem was that even I could see the resemblance—her upturned eyes blazing with barely contained anger looked remarkably like my own.

I found myself thinking I ought to be more careful about my behavior.

‘Children learn so easily, they say….’

Truly, being a guardian came with far too many worries.

* * *

“Sigh….”

After Marmint left, I collapsed onto the sofa, completely drained.

Before she’d departed the Reception Room, I’d called her back and instructed her to tell Gaildo about my becoming her guardian before mentioning anything about the breach of contract penalties.

‘That way, even when Gaildo learns he must pay every last coin of those penalties, he won’t dare treat Marmint carelessly.’

Before Marmint enrolled at the Academy and began dormitory life, there were countless precautions to observe.

It was an absolutely necessary sequence of steps—ensuring that Gaildo inherited Dr. Drabe Beaumont’s estate without incident, and that Marmint would never again suffer persecution within that household.

After spending so much time impressing these warnings upon Marmint, I noticed a pale golden-red light beginning to cast itself across the table.

At this, Sing, who had been standing behind the sofa all along, quietly approached my side and tapped my shoulder lightly while whispering in a low voice.

【Well, well, soothing an angry heart certainly takes considerable effort. I’m delighted that you’re now enlightening my mind firsthand.】

“…You’re insulting me, aren’t you.”

Sing cheerfully chattered on about how my darling understood implied meanings so readily, and how the power of mirror therapy was proving quite effective.

Lacking even the strength to strike that mouth of his, I simply lay there accepting his pats while gazing at the antidotes.

‘Finally’ might have been premature even in this very moment.

No matter how meticulously Marmint had crafted the medicine, I could not suppress the anxiety lurking in one corner of my heart until I faced the results.

“Carefully….”

【Hmm?】

“I’ve been careful enough, haven’t I?”

There was nothing to lose.

There was nowhere left to retreat to.

Better to take the blow head-on, I decided, and swiftly moved to verify the efficacy of the medicine.

As I raised my upper body and reached out, the first empty vial that fell into my hand carried a distinctly cold aura.

【What—wait, Rosette—】

I uncork it! I drink!

Without hesitation, I opened the antidote and swallowed its contents in one gulp right then and there.

The small amount emptied quickly.

【…I’ve lost my mind.】

Sing stared at me with utter disbelief.

【No matter how urgent things were, you drank medicine without a single word of explanation? Without even knowing what it might do—】

“Ugh….”

【…Darling?】

I clamped my mouth shut and squeezed my eyes closed. Alarmed, Sing tilted his head urgently.

Worried something was wrong, he frantically grabbed my hand and demanded I spit it out immediately, forcing me to swallow the last mouthful still lingering in my mouth.

“…Ugh! This is insane—it’s so bitter!”

【….】

“Ew, ew! It’s revolting. This is way too bitter. Honestly, I’m going to be terrified drinking those things later.”

【Darling? Honey? Am I invisible? The one who nearly jumped out of his skin?】

“No, I really need to taste it. Wow, it’s impressively flavorless in every possible way.”

I rose from the sofa thinking I needed water.

Truly dreadful. Horrifically bitter, and the aftertaste was absolutely vile.

It looked exactly like muddy water, but I had to rank it as the worst medicine I’d ever consumed in my entire life.

“But does this thing actually work?”

【Why? What’s wrong?】

Concerned, Sing followed my steps carefully and stood beside me.

I took a sip of water from the bedside table, then gently rubbed my stomach while narrowing my brows.

‘How do I describe it? There’s definitely something churning inside me, but….’

It felt oddly similar to the psychological sensation one experiences after consuming food that upsets the stomach.

Perhaps the medicine suited me well, and as Marmint had hinted, no severe pain would follow.

“My stomach feels a bit queasy, but it seems bearable enough?”

Had I spoken with such radiant cheer that the antidote, wounded in its pride, had developed a will of its own?

Exactly one hour later.

Heat crept steadily into my head, dizziness began to set in, and I collapsed while attempting to reach for my desk.

Had Sing not caught me, I might have cracked my skull against the desk’s edge and bled out entirely.

【Rosette! Open your eyes! Rosette…!】

My head spun so violently it felt as though it might shatter.

Sing’s face, shouting at me, whirled in dizzying circles, and I felt the sensation of being pulled toward a vortex at the center.

At that moment, Penny and the Children entered the room, asking about dinner arrangements.

Upon discovering me sprawled on the floor with my head buried, someone let out a piercing shriek of horror.

I had never anticipated suffering such agony.

I finally lost consciousness.

* * *

When I opened my eyes again, Rose Manor was in full emergency.

My body, struggling against the scorching fever, had brought forth chills.

The Children took turns wiping away the cold sweat that poured ceaselessly from my skin.

With my body trembling from the chills, I uttered endless complaints of being cold or hot.

“What in the world have those attending to her been doing, letting her condition deteriorate to this extent!”

When Father returned to the Manor late that evening, the news reached his ears and sent him into a towering rage.

As Father questioned the competence of the Attendants and pressed them for answers, the sound of Penny and the other Children stifling their sobs occasionally drifted from the Room.

At Father’s summons, the Household Physician arrived in haste in the dead of night to diagnose my condition, and I trembled with fear that the process of detoxifying the poison might be discovered.

Clinging to what remained of my fraying composure, I offered only the excuse that I appeared to have indigestion.

Yet the Physician regarded me with a puzzled expression.

“The fever is far too severe for simple indigestion, Lady….”

“I… I may have overeaten, so perhaps that’s the cause.”

“Regardless, Lady, I shall prepare a medicinal compound to reduce the fever. Let us administer it first and then observe your condition further.”

The meticulous Physician insisted on preparing the medicinal compound and departed from my Room.

At his words, Father gazed at me with concern, brushing the sweat-dampened hair from my temple behind my ear as he asked.

“Haven’t you been pushing yourself too hard lately? Hmm? Coco….”

How could he possibly send me to the Capital City in such a state of illness, Father sighed, his worry evident in every breath.

Four days later.

I had to set out for the Capital Townhouse with Odette.

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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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