Mad Rosetta - Chapter 44

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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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Rosette Gone Mad

Chapter 44

The Second Spring (1)

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【Like a bird puffing up its feathers…】

Sing watched quietly as his darling prepared herself for yet another feast this evening.

Lustrous hair, a lilac gown tinted lighter than her own eyes.

Her skin had grown soft with healthy fullness, her fingertips immaculate—a blooming figure befitting the Princess who heralded the arrival of Spring.

Seventeen years old.

Rosette, grown further still, radiated an atmosphere entirely different from the painful days both she and Sing remembered.

“My Lady, how do you find these earrings? I believe they would pair beautifully with today’s gown.”

“Oh, that’s right. Petro asked whether you had any particular preferences for this evening’s meal.”

Since Rosette had replaced her Attendants.

The first thing she did upon truly beginning her activities was to trouble the Attendants relentlessly.

My darling changed gowns more than a dozen times a day, and she always had specific preferences for what she wished to eat.

It was as though she were thoroughly imprinting her position upon them.

– “Ha, Mother worries over such trifles.”

Toward Lianna, who had been indirectly reproaching him for seemingly indulging in extravagance lately, Benatra said she should start getting used to it since this place wouldn’t be shaken by such things, and Rosetta seized a small victory.

It wasn’t until this year that Lianna, who had lost her authority over household management, got it back.

People couldn’t help but spread word everywhere about how great the Duke’s anger was at that time.

And so Rosetta found herself constantly summoning Attendants, perpetually attending gatherings, and endlessly wandering the Manor, turning it upside down with her restless energy.

Had she merely indulged in petulant tantrums and pestered her retinue, she would have remained the villainess sheltered by her father’s authority, throwing fits at every turn—but circumstances had shifted dramatically.

Everything had changed.

“You have a discerning eye, Sara. We’ll go with this today.”

“Hehe, the peddler’s wares are quite fine, aren’t they?”

“Yes, tell him to visit again next week. And Reina? I want that white fish for dinner tonight—the one with the tomato cream sauce. It was delicious; tell Petro I’d like it again.”

Rosetta treated them well.

Though she lacked Odette’s hollow courtesies and pretty words, she genuinely appreciated the Servant who recommended jewelry suited to her tastes.

She expressed gratitude to the head chef for crafting satisfying desserts and had bestowed rare delicacies upon his staff on numerous occasions.

One day, then a week.

After more than a month of such behavior accumulated, those who had initially watched her cautiously out of fear of the Duke began to regard her differently.

The change in reputation surrounding Rosetta was something one could perceive without even trying to notice it.

– “The Princess inspired us, and I’m grateful for that, but she also helped me prepare the patent with such sincerity, despite my ignorance of anything beyond tailoring. I am deeply indebted to Princess Rosetta.”

Moreover, beginning with last Spring’s grand event, the Etienne dresses Rosetta had worn sold like wildfire.

The interview with Ant Etuilane, the seamstress at the time, became quite the topic of conversation.

What had my darling said upon reading that newspaper?

– “I told you to leave out the inspiration part, you fool…. When was it? You said you were inspired by that fairy Linke whom the sun god fell head over heels for? Am I Linke? Honestly, you never listen properly….”

Hmm, he seemed to grumble rather persistently about something or other.

Thus, Benatra’s wild child, now embarking on proper social activities alongside this new trend, proved to be perfect fodder for gossip.

Those who had initially been eager to tear her down began, upon witnessing her refined and consistent demeanor, gradually to discern the truth behind the rumors.

“Penny, you’ve arrived.”

“Yes, Lady. There are letters from the welfare organizations, and… it seems Marmint has sent a letter as well?”

“Give it to me at once.”

The decisive moment that would completely overturn her reputation in society arrived as that summer drew to a close.

It was all because of a young girl adopted into the Beaumont Household through the will of the late Dr. Drabe Beaumont.

⟪Late Dr. Drabe Beaumont’s Proxy Research Scandal… Was She Actually His Granddaughter?⟫

⟪’Adoption with a Purpose’… The Truth Behind the Beaumont Household’s Child Exploitation⟫

⟪Children’s Welfare Organization Rises Against the Beaumont Household Crisis…⟫

As news spread that the late Dr. Drabe Beaumont, renowned authority on herbalism, had adopted a young girl as his research assistant, the Beaumont Household became the target of relentless condemnation.

By the time these facts came to light, Rosetta had already extracted a breach penalty of one hundred million shillings through legal enforcement.

Consequently, the Beaumont Household not only faced bankruptcy but was forced to relocate to a distant frontier to escape public scrutiny.

The crucial point was that while multiple organizations moved to support the girl, it was revealed that Rosetta already existed as her legal guardian.

Moreover, it soon became known that the child sponsored by the Princess of Benatra had passed the Academy’s entrance examination with near-perfect scores…

The stigma of being a villainess faded away in less than half a year.

“Around this time, she must have taken another exam. I hear Marmint is doing well?”

“I heard from the director that she’s the top of her year. I don’t know why she doesn’t mention such things. And in today’s letter…”

“…Lady?”

“A senior from her year confessed to her?”

“My goodness.”

“Bring me a pen.”

Rosetta grumbled that sending me to school was supposed to improve my education, not lead to this sort of trouble. Between the servants assisting with her preparations, she scribbled away at a letter with visible irritation.

Watching my darling in such a state, Sing laughed aloud.

– “Sixteen, and utterly incorrigible.”

When Rosetta turned seventeen, she would mock herself with those very words at a feast.

The way to survive the sweep of the tide is to ride the wave itself.

People began to support her transformed conduct, and many more sought to ride the momentum of her change.

Isn’t it said that people are moved twice over when someone who once treated them wretchedly suddenly shows them kindness?

My darling was precisely that sort.

* * *

“Let’s marry this year.”

“Cough…!”

Damn, I nearly spat out my tea.

I was flustered, but Cessia seemed even more startled than I was. He hastily rose and pressed a handkerchief into my hands, asking if I was all right.

‘I’m already mortified enough to receive such a proposal in my own reception room on a day like this, and now this?’

Embarrassed by my choking fit, I wiped my mouth with the handkerchief he’d offered and laughed it off as a jest.

“Surely that wasn’t a proposal?”

“Ha, of course not. I merely wanted to know your intentions.”

My answer was no. A resounding no, unto death.

Yet I could not voice such a response, so instead I raised my teacup to my lips once more, attempting to conceal my reluctance.

But the clarity in Cessia’s eyes as he watched me offered no comfort whatsoever.

‘Is it a tendency to be drawn to women who despise me, or something else entirely…?’

Those unwavering eyes that fixed upon me at every feast.

The awkward gestures he made whenever I deliberately treated him with familiarity to show off to Odette.

Beyond that, the unusually frequent contact and the way he maintained only courtesy toward Odette—it was more than enough to understand.

That Cessia loved me.

Genuinely, at that.

‘Who does he think he is, killing me off and then loving me on a whim?’

Even now, held firmly in Cessia’s grasp, the sensation of the poison Odette had forced down my throat still felt so vivid!

If I wanted to grant him the feeling of betrayal by a loved one, I could hardly refuse.

But whenever Cessia smiled like a boy so hopelessly in love, my insides twisted.

Setting aside my personal feelings, Cessia’s declaration was a hasty decision from my perspective, knowing him as I did.

“…We’re meant to be married anyway, so there’s no need to rush.”

“Rosette, you’ve already come of age, so I don’t see any problem.”

No, there are massive problems.

“We’ve been engaged for nearly eight years now… If we’re going to marry anyway, there’s nothing wrong with hastening it.”

No, it’s terribly wrong.

I considered whether I should simply agree and smoothly glide past this situation.

Or whether I should buy time with an ambiguous answer, even if it meant somewhat displeasing Cessia.

“Hmm? Rosette.”

I flinched.

Was it because he rarely called me by a familiar name? Or had I simply grown accustomed to the way Sing spoke to me?

I felt distinctly unsettled and displeased.

Yet Cessia, unaware of my predicament, spoke to me once more with an air of natural inevitability, though a somewhat bashful smile played at the corners of his mouth.

“Marry me.”

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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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