Mad Rosetta - Chapter 52

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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 52

A Cowardly Man (4)

The Manor lay quiet in the dead of night, and my younger self, seized by creeping dread, hastened toward the Duchess’s chambers.

After knocking twice, I entered to find the Duchess’s Maid arranging the bedding with meticulous care.

“Oh my, Lady? Whatever brings you here at such a late hour?”

“I wanted to spend the night with the Duchess. But where is she?”

“The Duchess is in the Study. The annual budget allocation remains incomplete, so she’s been returning late these past few days. Shall I escort you to her?”

“Hmm… No! Instead, light that for me!”

I pointed boldly, and the Maid’s eyes followed my gesture before she let out a troubled sigh.

It was a box-like contraption barely large enough for a small child to fit inside—a sort of dumbwaiter fashioned to transport documents and provisions between floors throughout the Manor.

“Mmm…”

“Just try it.”

“Mmmm…”

“Father isn’t even here. Must you be so formal with me?”

“…I truly cannot endure this. But you must knock on the door the moment you arrive upstairs and ask me to retrieve you immediately, understand?”

With those words, she lifted me into her arms with reluctant resignation.

The dumbwaiter was cramped, and its external door could not be opened from within—a dangerous design flaw.

Consequently, accidents involving unsuspecting children who ventured inside were not uncommon.

The interior was scarcely visible from outside—one could barely make out the eyes through the opening—and Father had been particularly insistent about safety precautions.

‘But you won’t come home, will you? Mother will surely overlook it, saying that children grow through mischief.’

I giggled softly and obediently boarded the dumbwaiter as the Maid positioned me.

She waved her hand and closed the door behind me.

“My, who could this be?”

“Mother!”

I rapped eagerly on the door as the dumbwaiter ascended, and bright light flooded in alongside Mother’s impish smile.

As the door rose slowly from below, revealing her apricot-blossom eyes, I found them particularly radiant that day.

Without even stepping out, I beamed brightly, and Mother crouched to my eye level, gently pressing both my cheeks with her delicate hands.

“I wondered if some beast had gotten into the dumbwaiter, but it was our little daughter all along?”

“I was looking for you and was told you were in the Study. When will you rest?”

“Asking like that tells me you’re sleepy. Did you come because you wanted to spend time with your mother today?”

“Father happened to be away, and I thought… perhaps we lonely ladies could share some warmth together.”

“Where did you learn to say such things? I never taught you that.”

Mother’s eyes grew distant for a moment, as though she were lost in thought, before she lightly pinched my cheek and spoke.

“Since you’re being so demanding, I’ll have to finish the rest tomorrow. I’ll just tidy up and come down shortly—go to your room first.”

“Yes, please hurry.”

“…Aren’t you getting out?”

“This is faster.”

“…Since Father isn’t here, I’ll allow it.”

“Hehe, of course.”

Regardless, I couldn’t fathom whose shameless cunning I’d inherited—and with that, the Duchess closed the door once more.

Whose traits, indeed.

Since childhood, I’d heard nothing but comparisons: “Those sharp, lifted eyes belong to Duke Benatra. That unguarded manner of speech, heard backwards, is the Duchess’s own.” There was no way I could remain ignorant of such things.

I was struggling to suppress my nervous laughter when the Duchess descended, waiting for her to lower me down the dumbwaiter.

Through the narrow gap of the dumbwaiter, I glimpsed the study door opening and someone entering.

The Duchess straightened from her bow with an untroubled expression, suggesting the visitor was familiar, yet I could see nothing of them but their legs.

‘…?’

They say the mind halts when confronted with something too shocking.

In an instant, the gloved hand moved twice.

What filled my vision then was a sharp dagger clutched in that hand and droplets of blood cascading to the floor.

And finally, the Duchess’s back slowly collapsing before my eyes.

For a child such as I was, it was utterly incomprehensible.

‘…It seems the Duchess has fallen. I should help her up, but why….’

My entire body trembled as though drenched in icy water on the depths of winter.

Leaving the fallen Duchess behind, the figure moved toward somewhere, then returned to the same spot.

In the gloved hand, I glimpsed a lantern and a bundle of documents.

The gloved hand then shattered the lantern, scattering both it and the documents across the study floor.

Only when vivid flames rose up did the figure calmly leave the room.

Even taking the leisure to close the door firmly behind them.

“…Please, …tell them, Coco….”

Only then did I turn to face the Duchess as she looked toward where I stood, and I found myself unable to speak.

Within the dumbwaiter, sounds from outside were naturally muffled. Those who had never entered such a place would not know this fact.

Yet the reason I remained frozen was that the Duchess, even as she spoke, was laughing while clutching at her throat.

“…Ha, curse…. Jen, Jang. Coco….”

No matter how tightly she pressed, blood seeped forth abundantly, soaking the front of her dress.

Even the corners of the Duchess’s mouth were stained crimson as she continued speaking.

Why? Why was this happening?

When I could think of nothing else.

The Duchess finally began pulling the dumbwaiter’s rope with grim determination.

Down, and further down.

“…No, I hate this. I hate it, Mother! Bring me up. Get me out! Please, Mother…!”

Despite my frantic pounding on the door, I passed through a pitch-black corridor.

I realized when the dumbwaiter finally reached the Duchess’s room, but I could not emerge from that place for a very long time.

A fire had broken out in the Duchess’s study in the dead of night, and many attendants had been evacuated or mobilized to extinguish the flames.

The next dawn, newspapers across the city poured out reports of the Duchess’s death in the fire at Benatra Estate.

The Princess, presumed to be the sole witness who knew the truth of the incident, was also reported to be unconscious.

* * *

“She’s, she’s awake! The Lady has awakened!”

I regained consciousness two days after the incident occurred.

The attendants of Rose Manor, who had rushed to inform me of the fire, realized I was missing and hastily reported it to the Main Manor.

The Maid who had sent me up to the Study discovered me unconscious in the Dumbwaiter when she opened it on a whim, and word spread of yet another commotion.

“Co, Coco… Come to your senses, will you? What on earth happened…?”

Father’s appearance, which I had not seen in some time, was truly pitiful—like that of someone who had forsaken all food and drink.

Besides the Butler, whose arm was wrapped in bandages, many Attendants bore the marks of treatment for injuries sustained in the fire.

“Father…”

“Yes, that’s right. Your father. Say what you will.”

“…Shouldn’t you be in the Imperial Capital?”

“…What?”

“You said there was a state council meeting and you would be away for some time. Why is everyone in my room…?”

I believe the emotion Father had been so eager to conceal that day was despair and disappointment—somewhere in between.

My memory, which vanished entirely after I lay down to sleep following the cookies, was eventually diagnosed as memory loss stemming from the shock of being trapped in the Dumbwaiter.

“And Mother…?”

“…Duke.”

“…I wish to be alone with my daughter. Everyone, leave.”

Could you believe it?

I awoke to the news that Mother had passed away in an accident.

How strange it was. Father had never been one to make jokes of any sort.

I thought his words, delivered with such a desolate expression, were a joke in terribly poor taste.

“I… I couldn’t believe it. Not at all… I tried to have an autopsy performed, no—to at least ascertain the truth, but Coco…”

Father’s gaunt, withered face suddenly glistened with tears.

I heard the flames spread faster due to the open windows of the Study.

What struck Father as peculiar, however, was that the Duchess was sensitive to cold, and thus would only order ventilation when she herself was absent.

He even requested an autopsy, but the body had been too severely damaged for the cause of death to be determined.

Holding my vacant form in his arms, Father wept—and wept profusely.

⟪Duchess of Benatra Dies in Accident; Tensions Between Two Nations Escalate⟫

The tragedy did not end there. Before she was the Duchess, my mother had been a Princess of a kingdom, and her death became a grave diplomatic crisis.

Return the remains of Princess Tabena Ariella to her homeland.

So declared the enraged King of Terkikan.

When I myself, bearing the blood of my mother, became a pawn in this diplomatic struggle, Father had no choice but to hold a hasty funeral and send my mother away.

“We pray for peace upon the final journey of that noble soul, and offer wishes for rest without suffering….”

An autopsy of the Duchess’s body. An only daughter lost to unconsciousness. And relentless pressure from her maternal family.

Mere hours after I comprehended that I had lost my mother, we held a one-day funeral.

After that, the Manor fell into an unspoken silence regarding my mother.

It was, in every sense, a nightmare that would come to define Benatra.

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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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