Mad Rosetta - Chapter 34

—————

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

—————

Rosetta Gone Mad

Chapter 34

A Spring Blossom with a Spicy Bite (8)

Had I fallen ill like this while staying in Jedo, there was a real risk that my Father’s insistence would have forced me to cancel my Debut Tante attendance.

‘Damn it, I didn’t expect it to hurt this much….’

I drank the antidote with grim determination.

Watching my Father fret and fuss, I felt nothing but guilt for causing him such worry.

Even Sing, perhaps out of consideration for a patient, said nothing and simply leaned against the windowsill, watching me.

‘At least he hasn’t completely abandoned his manners.’

With that thought, I closed my drowsy eyes.

* * *

“…Are you really going to do this?”

“Yes, I am.”

Of course, within mere hours, I had to exhaust all my strength in a verbal sparring match with Penny.

I awoke from my deep sleep because Penny relentlessly tormented me.

She was not the sort of girl to carelessly disturb her mistress’s rest.

Penny pointed at the bowl and coaxed me sweetly.

“How can you refuse medicine when you’re this ill!”

Then Penny, her eyebrows raised sharply, let out a sharp cry at me.

‘…Here I am, at my age, being scolded for not taking my medicine.’

Though I felt somewhat embarrassed, I couldn’t even bear to look at the medicinal compound the Physician had sent.

How could I not worry about what reaction might occur when Marmint’s carefully crafted antidote mixed with that substance in my body?

I clamped my lips shut firmly and declared I would not take it.

Penny then, as if she had no choice, attempted to force the medicine down my throat along with the other servants.

Despite my ailing body, I had no choice but to throw a tantrum like a seven-year-old child stubbornly refusing something bitter.

“Lady, why are you being like this! We’re truly upset!”

Yet I remained weak against Penny.

Her voice trembled with tears at the end, as if she were about to break down from sorrow.

Fearing she might actually cry, I reluctantly sent the other Children out, keeping only Penny with me.

“Now, this girl is usually so perceptive, yet today she’s being unusually stubborn. Surely there must be a reason for her refusal?”

“…What reason would that be?”

“Didn’t Marmint come and go, Penny?”

Ugh, it’s bitterly cold. Truly.

Even so, I pulled the blanket up to my neck and spoke again.

“You haven’t forgotten that I entrusted the preparation of the antidote to that girl, have you?”

“Oh, then…”

Penny seemed to finally understand what I was saying.

She too was unaware that what I had entrusted to Marmint was an antidote that neutralized a specific poison.

She only knew it was a medicine to restore vitality and calm frayed nerves, so I believed she would be sufficiently persuaded.

“A-a-a side effect, isn’t it? What should I do, what should— I must send an urgent messenger to House Beaumont at once!”

“No…!”

I hadn’t anticipated this turn of events.

‘Huff, huff. My head is really spinning.’

Nearly fainting again, I kept my eyes shut and muttered under my breath.

“I was told long ago that this would happen when the medicine took effect. So you understand why I’m refusing that medication, don’t you, Penny?”

“…You’re not just refusing to take the medicine, are you?”

Look, I’m already nineteen years old.

I’ve even been married before.

My head felt foggy, and on the verge of losing consciousness, I simply nodded in response.

Fortunately, Penny didn’t press further. She discreetly dampened the medicine on a handkerchief and discarded it before withdrawing.

Only then could I remain alone and rest comfortably.

【Groaning and moaning like this… I’m not in a good mood.】

Strictly speaking, I wasn’t alone.

Sing sat perched on the small chair beside the bed where Father had been sitting earlier, murmuring.

【How could you just gulp down medicine that hasn’t even been tested? Hm? Darling. You nearly got seriously hurt.】

“…You knew today was the right time too. Ah, my head is pounding—spare me the nagging.”

【But we don’t even know what symptoms might appear, and you went ahead recklessly anyway. That was too much, darling.】

He said this and brushed my forehead gently.

He seemed to be referring to when I’d fainted while heading toward the desk.

‘That… I feel a bit sorry about that.’

But who could have predicted such a sudden loss of consciousness? I could barely keep my eyes open as it was.

Noticing my state, Sing declared that sleep was the best medicine and covered my eyes with his large hand.

The tenderness in that gesture brought me genuine comfort.

Lianna and Odette both.

With the day of my departure to the Capital City drawing near, I found myself thinking that they might actually be relieved to hear I’d fallen ill.

‘I’m not sick—I’m recovering,’ I thought to myself.

As my consciousness grew hazy,

I closed my eyes once more, the last thing I heard being Sing’s soft whisper asking if I wanted him to sing me a lullaby.

I seemed to hear the doorway opening and closing intermittently, and the sound of him speaking to someone,

but I spent the entire next day sleeping without interruption.

The gentle touch of someone repeatedly brushing away the damp strands of hair clinging to my neck provided what small comfort it could.

* * *

The soft blue light of dawn was peculiarly serene, making the chirping of birds beginning their day all the more distinct.

From dawn into morning.

Reina, who had only just entered her third month as Rosetta’s Servant, hurried down the Corridor with a fresh washcloth in hand, heading toward her mistress’s Bedroom.

“Ugh, I’m so tired… Why did the Lady suddenly fall ill like this?”

Ever since the Lady had been struck with a high fever the previous evening, Penny and the other Servants had been taking turns visiting Rosetta’s Bedroom.

Reina, too, was making her way down the Corridor without fail to fulfill her duties.

“If she’s this ill, she might not be able to go to Jedo after all…”

She murmured to herself, her voice echoing in the quiet.

I secretly wished I could see Rosetta in the Spring Stage dress, but it was a shame it didn’t work out.

“Lady Rosetta is recruiting a new servant to attend to her. She said anyone may apply regardless of age or household background, so those interested should….”

When Marahan conveyed this to the attendants.

Reina simply thought of Penny Haffner.

Penny, who was among the younger servants of the Duke’s Estate. In Reina’s memory, she was an inconspicuous child who simply went about her duties in silence.

Yet on that day when she finished cleaning Rosetta’s room with Marahan, for some reason, the image of Penny standing beside Rosetta left a strong impression on Reina’s mind.

She had heard that Penny had only temporarily assisted Rosetta for about a day, but the way she stood beside her mistress seemed quite natural.

“Can I give it a try too?”

Perhaps there was some longing for an attendant favored by the mistress.

Reina still couldn’t understand how she had suddenly raised her hand to volunteer.

But remembering how Rosetta didn’t severely punish them for neglecting the room’s maintenance and even provided them with dinner….

The work of a dedicated servant didn’t seem like it would be so difficult.

It would have been even better if she had been assigned to Lili Hall where Odette was, though.

After witnessing her magnanimity in promoting Penny to the position of full Maid, she had secretly harbored hope that she too might receive such advancement.

So Reina made earnest efforts to care for Rosetta in her own way.

‘It wasn’t actually difficult at all…. Why was I so inadequate before, really.’

They say when a person changes, it’s time to prepare for death.

Seeing her suffer from such a high fever, could it be that Rosetta was terminally ill?

At that thought, Reina’s heart grew uneasy.

Affection had somehow taken root.

Whenever I caught glimpses of Rosetta’s past behavior interspersed with her present demeanor as a proper mistress, my chest would flutter with conflicting emotions.

“Lady, it’s Reina. I’m coming in for a moment.”

Since Rosetta had spent half a day and a full night sleeping, Reina merely announced herself out of courtesy before opening her mistress’s bedroom door.

The Debut Tante had been prepared with considerable effort, and Rosetta’s smile—which she displayed from time to time—somehow kindled a desire to do even better.

Though admittedly, most of them were closer to faint smirks.

For Benatra’s troublemaker, even that much was something.

Lost in such contemplation, Reina stepped into Rosetta’s Bedroom.

But she stopped short.

“Oh…?”

“Why are you so startled, Reina?”

Did you see a Faceless Ghost?

Rosetta, leaning against the bed, was looking at me and laughing.

Brilliantly so.

Not the thin smile she usually wore, but a laugh like the wind that caresses spring water as it passes.

“…You seem to be in good spirits.”

Reina was startled by her own reflexive question the moment it left her lips.

‘Fool. I should have asked with concern if she’d woken up first.’

Reina berated herself thus, watching Rosetta’s expression with an anxious heart.

It might have sounded sarcastic, she thought.

Yet as Rosetta’s eyes crinkled with amusement, Reina realized her own heart was helplessly swaying.

“It’s simply a beautiful day.”

“….”

“I couldn’t possibly be in a better mood than this.”

Hadn’t I seen such a smile somewhere, long ago in the distant past?

Reina suddenly recalled the expression of young Rosetta that she had glimpsed briefly when she first arrived at the Duke’s Mansion.

That radiant smile—warm as sunlight yet innocent and dazzling—existed vividly before Reina’s eyes even now.

—————

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

—————