Mad Rosetta - Chapter 40

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

 

Episode 40

 

The Villainess, the Rose, and the Ghost (6)

 

As if he had seen this somewhere before, the fellow bowed down to his waist like a gentleman.

 

Seeing his cheeky smile, it seemed like he was trying to appease me in advance, thinking I might throw a tantrum in my exhausted state.

 

‘…Ugh. What a careless ghost.’

 

Because he had bent his body, I could clearly see his bare skin through the gap that opened along the shirring of his shirt.

 

I deliberately raised my gaze upward with composure and met eyes with Sing.

 

“I’m not desperate enough to give my hand to a man who hasn’t even dressed in formal wear.”

 

【Oh ho, but you could give it to a red-haired man in formal wear?】

 

“Hey, you bastard.”

 

The smile of the fellow, whose eyes curved so much that his pupils were barely visible, was truly sinister.

 

‘This really… Does he think I danced with Cessia because I wanted to?’

 

What do you call this kind of person? A so-called smiling bastard!

 

Oh, right. That nickname suited him perfectly.

 

Whenever he felt displeased about something, he would smile like this, folding the corners of his eyes prettily.

 

I glared at Sing while putting more strength into my crossed arms.

 

“Anyway, if you’re a gentleman, please dress properly first.”

 

【But Lady. I died in this outfit, so I can’t wear other clothes. Ha, I’m originally quite excellent as a clothes hanger, so casual wear, formal wear, uniforms all suit me well-】

 

“Just, let’s dance quickly. Gentleman!”

 

Damn, bringing up when you left this world is unfair.

 

I grabbed Sing’s hand floating in front of me and stood up abruptly from the sofa.

 

Only then did Sing pull my waist toward him as if satisfied.

 

‘…What a surprise.’

 

At the suddenly narrowed distance, I rolled my eyes in confusion.

 

My nose almost touched his chest.

 

【It happens to be Bilderm’s Nocturne. Not bad, right?】

 

Befitting a lyrical piece expressing a quiet night, a soft melody flowed from the music box.

 

As Sing said, it was music fitting for the darkened night of the Imperial Palace.

 

Soon his right hand wrapped around my back supportively, and I also gently placed my hand on Sing’s arm.

 

Looking into each other’s eyes, we finally began.

 

Very slowly, yet without losing weight, I took steps following his lead.

 

“…Your footwork is quite good. Did you learn by watching over someone’s shoulder?”

 

【I watched quite a bit for this one song with you, Lady.】

 

“No wonder the back of my head felt prickly throughout the lessons.”

 

The smile of the fellow who laughed in a low voice looked particularly comfortable.

 

The conversation he led naturally was worthy of being called elegant, and the restrained movement of his feet was extremely refined.

 

Since it was skilled refinement that couldn’t be done without proper learning, I once again wondered what kind of person he had been when alive.

 

‘Perhaps a high-ranking noble who died long ago… Or maybe a crown prince?’

 

Oh, come to think of it, didn’t he say he died by Cessia’s mother’s hand?

 

Then he wouldn’t be a figure from too distant past.

 

He spoke informally as easily as I did, and occasionally showed high-level refinement.

 

His straight back belonged to someone who rarely had to bow, and his playful yet restrained attitude was incomparably noble.

 

Since he was clearly no ordinary person, I asked him casually.

 

“Are you a crown prince or something?”

 

【…Hmm?】

 

“You, I mean. Were you royalty or something before you died?”

 

【…Darling.】

 

What, is it really true?

 

The fellow looked down at me with unusually wide eyes.

 

At that moment, I thought my hypothesis had hit the mark.

 

【This is… I’m so bewildered I can’t speak properly.】

 

“You, then you really…!”

 

【Does someone who suspects royalty speak so informally?】

 

“…Huh?”

 

【Really, darling. Honey. You can’t do that anywhere else. No matter how preciously you were raised, right? If you make a mistake later, all the reputation you built today will be ruined.】

 

“…”

 

【What’s with ‘are you’? It should be ‘might you be?’ Try saying it.】

 

At the fellow’s sharp scolding that a properly educated lady shouldn’t act like that, I ended up with a blank stare.

 

I’m an idiot for expecting anything.

 

“Oh, right. My intuition sucks. So please shut up now.”

 

【Haha, were you that curious about what kind of person I was?】

 

“Please shut up?”

 

【If you earnestly ask, I might not be unable to tell you.】

 

“…Tsk, forget it. You’re not even a person of this world anymore, what’s the point of knowing.”

 

At Sing’s quietly audible laughter, I replied irritably and turned my head away sharply.

 

Acting so smugly, he must have expected that I would get angry and back down first.

 

Looking closely, when he tried to hide something, he really approached more sweetly as if treating a real lover.

 

A man reluctant to show his inner self.

 

I wasn’t desperate enough to humble myself to satisfy curiosity about someone already dead.

 

‘…I’d like to step on his feet at least.’

 

What a cunning fellow he was.

 

* * *

 

“You look impatient, Vicky.”

 

At my sudden voice, Vicky startled and turned around.

 

After finishing my business in the capital and returning to the estate, I briefly met with Father and then immediately blocked Vicky’s doorway.

 

‘…Though I wonder where there’s a master who seeks out a servant’s room.’

 

Seeing her fidgeting and fussing with the bedding, it seemed like a good decision.

 

She probably planned to dispose of the powder and then run to Lianna or Odette.

 

But she would have had neither the leisure to check Lianna’s condition nor the time to dispose of the powder.

 

She must have been busy organizing my luggage with the other servants as soon as she arrived at the Duke’s mansion.

 

“Do, do you need something? If you had called, I would have come right away.”

 

“You looked so busy. But where were you trying to go before even unpacking?”

 

“Where would I go, Lady? I was just about to unpack-”

 

“By the way, you won’t need to go to Mother.”

 

“…What?”

 

Vicky’s lips, asking back like that, twitched as if worried whether I might know about her crime.

 

I, who had been leaning my head against the door frame, approached Vicky after saying that.

 

I deliberately left the door open.

 

“I’m telling you so you won’t make a wasted trip.”

 

“…I don’t quite understand what you mean, Lady.”

 

“Really? How strange.”

 

I took out the pearl necklace from the Marandranché box I had been carrying under my arm.

 

It was the fake that Vicky had supposedly sprinkled powder all over before.

 

Vicky’s eyes shook violently as if asking why the jewelry she had definitely heard was sent to Lianna was in my hands.

 

“Weren’t you constantly trembling with anxiety that Mother might wear this?”

 

“…!”

 

“Hmm? Vicky.”

 

I continued speaking in an unusually calm tone.

 

“You look very curious about why this necklace you prepared to ruin my Spring Stage is still with me.”

“….”

 

Wavering eyes.

 

I could see her mind racing at my attitude, acting as if I already knew everything.

 

I had to press Vicky without giving her time to think.

 

Because there were words I wanted to make her spit out with her own mouth.

 

“When I said I would wear this at the banquet, you quickly sprinkled that rotten powder on it, didn’t you?”

 

“Wh-what—”

 

“If things had gone your way, I would have been covered in rashes and couldn’t even attend the banquet. It was quite a decent plan.”

 

“N-no, absolutely not! I have no idea why you’re doing this to me—”

 

“If that’s not true, then try wearing it yourself.”

 

“Kyaah!”

 

When I roughly brought the necklace I was gripping with my gloved hand close to Vicky’s face, she screamed and collapsed onto the bed.

 

“…Haha.”

 

I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

 

This was the person who came to visit under the pretext of nursing me while I was suffering, and then proceeded to execute a plan to drag me into the mire.

 

She had watched from the sidelines the entire time, seeing how wholeheartedly I prepared for the Spring Stage.

 

You must have laughed imagining me suffering from terrible dermatitis and ultimately being unable to attend the banquet I had so eagerly awaited.

 

‘Such a terrified face….’

 

The feeling of looking down at her wasn’t bad at all, so I wore an endless sneer.

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