Mad Rosetta - Chapter 36

—————

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 36

The Villainess, the Rose, and the Ghost (2)

– 【You seem far too intent on planning with absolute honesty.】

Whether it was praise or reproach, I couldn’t quite tell.

Sing had said that excessive virtue in confronting villains could sometimes become a shackle.

He urged me to permit myself even the smallest of lies.

So I simply packaged a dress I had no intention of wearing to the feast and instructed Vicky to send it to my Estate.

My dress would surely arrive at My Room in Rose Manor after a spirited ride on horseback.

This meant I harbored not the slightest intention of offering Lianna a gift for this single deception.

‘Let her heart burn with suspicion, then.’

Just as I was casting a sidelong glance at Vicky, who dared not ask further questions,

the steward of the Townhouse knocked upon the Doorway.

It was time to depart for the Imperial Palace.

* * *

As I descended the Manor’s staircase, I felt a solemn resolve settle upon me, as though this were the day of final reckoning.

Yet the moment I met the astonished gazes of Cessia and Odette waiting before the Manor, exhilaration surged through me.

From their expressions, they seemed quite taken aback by my refined appearance.

The subtle difference lay in this: while Cessia’s eyes swept across me in their entirety, Odette’s gaze remained fixed upon my necklace.

‘And yet her expression…’

Odette seemed to have noticed from my jewelry that Vicky had failed her task.

Yet how detestable she was, asking when I had arrived with such a subtle smile, as if her expression had never hardened at all.

“Rosetta, today…. You look truly beautiful today.”

“How kind of you to say so.”

The antidote was working remarkably well.

Even at Cessia’s expression, which appeared almost bashful, I found myself lacking the fierce desire to curse and wipe that face away.

‘I truly despised him so intensely….’

Just hearing his voice had made me clench my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my palms—it felt like only yesterday.

Marmint’s antidote had done its work simply by freeing me from the need to endure even at the cost of harming myself.

I offered a polite word of thanks in return and cast a subtle glance at the man waiting behind Odette.

‘Amis Demish… was it?’

Hair the color of settled ash, calm and composed.

Eyes a neat shade of sky blue.

A scion of the Demiš Baronial House, a vassal family of Benatra, and the knight from within the household chosen as Odette’s partner for this Spring Stage.

‘…A flawless choice, Odette.’

I had heard he was selected on Father’s recommendation, and indeed, it seemed difficult to find a better partner in the current circumstances.

Outstanding appearance, excellent skill, character unknown.

Though he was the third son of a baronial house, Knight Demish’s maternal family had produced two Imperial Grand Tutors, so from Odette’s perspective, it was a respectable choice.

The fact that she had deliberately placed a knight of the household at her side suggested she had no intention of permitting contact with any man other than Cessia.

– “Cessia, look at this. These are newly embroidered designs, and I’d like to give them to you as a gift.”

I held out a neatly folded handkerchief to Cessia, recalling that Odette from long ago who had smiled so brightly.

The embroidery, clearly stitched with meticulous care stitch by stitch, bore the crest of House Montague—Cessia’s household.

A being capable of provoking Odette above all else.

With that thought in mind, I drew closer to Cessia.

“…Ro, Rosetta?”

I paid no mind to Cessia’s bewildered voice as I briefly adjusted the cravat around his neck.

I could sense Odette glaring at me with her round eyes opened even wider, so it was hardly a losing proposition.

“It seemed a bit crooked. Fordicus, you look quite well today too….”

Unable to bring myself to say he looked magnificent, I offered praise in a roundabout way, and Cessia thanked me awkwardly in return.

The faint reddening around his neck suggested he was easily embarrassed, which was rather tiresome to witness.

Should I say I benefited from it?

Throughout the journey to the Imperial Palace, Odette neither engaged in particularly warm conversation nor attempted to provoke me with talk of Cessia.

She merely gazed at me from time to time with eyes that harbored quiet fury.

* * *

“So she’s sixteen this year, I hear?”

“It seems like the first time I’ve seen her since the engagement ceremony with the Montague Estate. How many years has it been since I last beheld that rose….”

“I heard she contracted some unnamed illness that ravaged her appearance considerably. But it seems the other rumors were the truth instead.”

“And I gather Duke Benatra finds himself quite troubled by the matter.”

“Well, the Duke’s favoritism toward his children is hardly a secret. Though excessive indulgence does pose its own problems.”

“Meanwhile, Princess Bonita certainly does cut a splendid figure, as the rumors suggest.”

Excuse me, I can hear everything.

Music announcing the formal beginning of the Spring Stage flowed through the hall, and the many debutantes gathered here tonight clasped hands with their respective partners.

Amid the relentless murmuring of reproachful voices, I maintained my composure and continued dancing in rhythm with Cessia’s lead.

Among them, the center of attention from the moment we entered the grand hall was undoubtedly Odette and myself.

“Tsk, look at her. Monopolizing all the flowers without sharing with her sister. How utterly shameless.”

“A rose with thorns, indeed.”

A rose with thorns.

It was an accusation suggesting that despite my polished exterior, I could not hide my sharp edges.

That my temperament had grown vicious because Father had spoiled me so thoroughly, that I frequently tore Odette’s dresses out of jealousy.

All manner of rumors mingled with the music and reached my ears.

‘Endure it. Endure… I never expected my reputation to change overnight anyway, did I?’

My objective at the Spring Stage was clear.

The so-called “Perhaps She Isn’t Such a Terrible Person After All” operation!

Benatra’s villainess, perpetually occupied with tormenting her stepsister.

I could not shed such public perception in a single night.

This reputation had grown beyond control, compounded by years of my own misdeeds and the rumors that followed.

‘So today, I must show people the truth.’

I breathed in and out deliberately, determined to prove I was neither a master of deception nor an elder sister who tormented her only stepsister out of displeasure.

To this end, from the moment I arrived at the Imperial Palace, I had been busy treating Odette with affection even when no one’s eyes were upon us.

“But from what I’ve observed, the Benatra sisters do take care of each other quite thoughtfully, don’t they?”

“The rumors of her grave condition may well have been true. And there were stories that Princess Bonita cared for her sister with the utmost devotion.”

“But that dress—I’ve never seen such a design before. Which atelier could it be from?”

“I heard Princess Bonita had hers made at Ceitela House. Perhaps it’s from the same atelier?”

“…In any case, there’s no denying that she’s beautiful.”

And so, listen.

Even favorable whispers about me drifted through the crowd here and there.

I swayed my hips in rhythm with the flowing hem of my dress, as if answering their murmurs.

My hand, which had rested on Cessia’s shoulder, traced through the air, and with each movement of my body, the rose fragrance diffused with an exquisite depth.

Despite being carefully secured, the few petals that inevitably fell seemed both precious and beautiful to my eyes.

‘Have you ever seen such a refined rogue?’

My graceful dance and the scattering fragrance would undoubtedly lower people’s guard, if only for a moment.

The fortress walls built from mere rumors are like sand—they will crumble under even the gentlest breeze.

Slowly, without anyone noticing its collapse.

* * *

After the dance concluded, came a time for casual conversation.

“By the way, hasn’t there been good news for Duke Benatra recently?”

I answered Countess Haede’s sudden question without losing my smile.

“He has indeed been meeting frequently with the Braden Trading Company. He must commercialize the textiles before summer arrives, so he’s been quite occupied. I worry greatly about the toll it may take on his health.”

“Hmm…. True, the textiles used in summer garments have long since established their market.”

“Yes. But these possess superior breathability and resist wrinkling quite well. They seemed quite competitive indeed.”

“My goodness… it seems the Princess takes quite an interest in household affairs as well.”

At Countess Haede’s intrigued remark, the others nodded in agreement.

Braden Trading Company.

A trading enterprise that had discovered a textile called “Mir” in the Eastern Kingdom last autumn, and had concluded a contract this spring for exclusive import rights.

And by providing initial capital and ships to Braden Trading Company, Father had secured exclusive sales rights to that textile for five years.

‘It was wise that I kept dropping in with my daughter for tea whenever the opportunity arose.’

In high society, knowledge is power.

To establish my position as quickly as possible, I needed to study the affairs of Benatra that everyone was so curious about.

That was precisely why I had made such an effort to spend as much time conversing with Father as I could.

Cessia, standing beside me, also wore an expression of satisfaction at my erudite demeanor.

‘But I have no intention of stopping here.’

—————

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

—————