Resetting Lady - Chapter 96

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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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“Ah.”

 

The ceiling was high, and decorations were densely hung all over the walls. Their number alone was staggering, and some even recreated famous paintings, giving viewers something to think about.

 

If she didn’t scream, she could ask Prince Guiz about his collection. Karen didn’t scream, but that didn’t mean she was okay. What was displayed on the walls, spread out as decorations, were people.

 

“I’d like to hear your thoughts.”

 

Most were women, and a few were men. Karen looked at the woman hanging closest to her. The woman had her arms spread wide like a benevolent Madonna, showing and embracing everything. Though her belly no longer contained anything inside.

 

And Karen saw a familiar face among them. Her maid was there. With all her clothes stripped off, one hand and one foot severed. Donna’s eyes met Karen’s. Her mouth was open.

 

“Huh…ah.”

 

Sounds that couldn’t form words flowed from Donna’s mouth. Blood dripped from her open mouth.

 

“…Your…High…”

 

Karen spoke in a suppressed voice. A suppressed voice that needed no pretense barely leaked out. Her own voice resembled Donna’s voice.

 

Karen recalled the serial murders and disappearances of women in the capital. Why so many people had vanished, and why the investigation wasn’t conducted properly, why it wasn’t reported prominently in the newspapers.

 

Baron Ain must have been the culprit, but why.

 

Karen soon understood the reason. Baron Ain was caught as the culprit when he went bankrupt after gambling with Karen. And his trial was strangely drawn out, and in the end he was released due to lack of evidence.

 

At the time, she had speculated that Baron Ain had obtained money elsewhere to fabricate witnesses, but that wasn’t it.

 

Prince Guiz had given money to Baron Ain.

 

“Baron Ain is not the kind of person who would kill people.”

 

Raymond’s words were correct.

 

Her eyes met Donna’s. Tears flowed from her eyes. She should have brought Donna’s hand, so she could reattach it, no, no. Get a grip. But.

 

“May I scream?”

 

Even Karen herself thought it was a stupid thing to say.

 

Damn, what did I just say. Karen wanted to cry. No, tears were already leaking out a little.

 

“I want to… scream. Yes…?”

 

Please, please.

 

The generous Prince Guiz allowed it.

 

Karen screamed.

 

It was a scream she herself couldn’t understand. She couldn’t bear it without screaming.

 

While Karen screamed, Prince Guiz laughed.

 

He laughed while holding the screaming Karen tightly and spinning in a waltz.

 

The royal dance instructors would be proud to see Prince Guiz. He danced perfectly even while holding a screaming woman. Even without music, the rhythm didn’t falter. Perfect.

 

But the etiquette teachers would be ashamed to see him. His laughter was so undignified and distorted. He was laughing while almost drooling, unable to contain his joy.

 

“Hehehehehe!”

 

Was this the price a female protagonist pays for rejecting a happy ending?

 

Karen had such thoughts.

 

“You were quite surprised.”

 

“…I’m fine now.”

 

After all, no matter what happens, one can’t scream all day long. Karen regained her composure again. Only mentally, of course. Perhaps this was being calm from too much shock.

 

Anyway, when Karen stopped screaming, Prince Guiz also stopped laughing.

 

That was fortunate. His laughing appearance was too unpleasant.

 

But the dance didn’t end. Prince Guiz stopped laughing out loud, but the dance continued. Karen kept being dragged by his hands. Guiz led Karen and asked.

 

“Did you like the gift?”

 

So that gift was also from him. Karen felt queasy imagining Guiz carefully wrapping that ribbon and putting it in with flowers. It felt disgusting, like a middle-aged man imitating young girls. And the main contents were pieces of a human body.

 

“Bad taste.”

 

“Really?”

 

Karen tried to speak calmly.

 

“Yes. The severed surface of the hand wasn’t clean. Were you aiming for an effect through contrast? But I don’t particularly like such extremely contrasting… art.”

 

“Haha, I chose the wrong gift.”

 

Guiz laughed again as if amused.

 

But it wasn’t the mad laughter from before, just moderate laughter.

 

Soon it stopped abruptly.

 

Both the laughter and the dance stopped.

 

Prince Guiz separated his body that had been pressed close and looked down at Karen with his head lowered.

 

“I hate women who pretend to be strong.”

 

“…”

 

Strength entered his hands. Karen felt nails digging into her captured hand. It hurt.

 

Prince Guiz spoke.

 

“Trembling like that while pretending to be fine is ridiculous. My surroundings were full of such people. Pretending to be different, pretending not to be scared, pretending to have something special.”

 

Then he grabbed Karen’s chin. And applied pressure. It hurt. She turned her head. Donna’s face came into view. Her face was soaked in blood, making her expression hard to see. Prince Guiz pressed Karen’s body again and guided her toward Donna. As the distance closed, Donna’s face became visible.

 

“Most people were all like that. That child also pretended to be quite strong at first. Of course, until this happened. What kind of maid was she normally? Really, she was so noisy… After cutting off her feet, she became somewhat quieter. Was she originally that talkative?”

 

“…”

 

“I asked you.”

 

He applied pressure to her hand. He pressed her cheek hard. Karen had to answer. What kind of child was Donna? What kind was she. Karen didn’t know Donna well. The Donna that Karen saw was literally ordinary. Moderately kind, moderately diligent. She made frequent mistakes, but since she originally worked as a laundry maid, it wasn’t that strange.

 

“She was just… ordinary.”

 

Somehow she hadn’t killed her, and somehow they had continued living together until now. Karen looked at Donna. She was covered in blood. It wasn’t hard to imagine what had happened to her before Karen arrived. Would she herself become like that now?

 

“That’s too insincere an answer. Child, young maid. Your master seems to have had no interest in you. Aren’t you disappointed?”

 

Karen looked at Donna’s appearance. Their eyes met. Karen felt truly nauseous seeing Donna’s condition. Even when dismembering Thomas’s body, even when seeing Thomas’s rotting corpse, she hadn’t felt this bad.

 

Seeing the mutilated body of a living woman made her feel so strange. Was it the difference between men and women? Or was it because she was still weak? She really did have a weak stomach after all. Guiz, who had been observing Karen’s expression, looked down at Donna.

 

“Actually, your mistress killed the lord, her own father. I’m curious how you feel knowing that.”

 

Guiz lifted Donna’s chin. Then he pressed her cheek hard to open her mouth.

 

“…Ugh.”

 

Inside, her tongue was barely visible. Karen almost bit her own tongue. Looking at Karen’s face, Guiz patted Karen’s back as if feeling sorry. It was a gentle touch like the patting of maids. While doing so, he spoke softly.

 

“It wasn’t intentional. I value language. Conversing with each other is very precious, a privilege God gave us. She bit it herself.”

 

Guiz shrugged and tapped Donna’s cheek. It was a rough hand, different from the touch he offered Karen. Donna made a terrible moan. How was she quiet earlier when she’s suffering like this? Had she been unconscious? It would have been better if she had stayed unconscious.

 

Karen didn’t want to look at Donna. Seeing Karen’s face, Prince Guiz opened his mouth.

 

“Anyway, I’m curious how that child thinks of you. How about it?”

 

“…Ah.”

 

Karen felt like she was seeing Tom again. Being unable to speak was cruel. And it was miserable knowing that what you wanted to protect by giving up speech wouldn’t be protected either. Prince Guiz spoke for Donna in a smooth voice.

 

“That child sold your information.”

 

Karen looked at Donna. Donna also looked at Karen. Neither spoke. They just looked at each other.

 

“When you sleep, when you wake up, what food you like, what worries you express, who you like… all those things.”

 

Donna must have thought it would be okay. She must have thought it was nothing special. It was just daily life. Karen looked at Donna. And she thought of her own rough hands and the days she had to spend alone in the manor. When people are alone, they think a lot.

 

When Karen worked at Isella Evans’s manor, she lived even harder than Donna.

 

The young lady to protect, the pitiful young lady, the young lady who lost her parents and was abused by enemies.

 

But Karen had Raymond.

 

The knight fell for the pretty young lady, defeated the villain, and lived happily ever after. A happy ending. The young lady was beautiful and pitiful, and the knight was brave and spirited.

 

The young lady’s maid also became a maid with better wages.

 

You don’t like that? There’s nothing you can do. Then can you hate the young lady? Or can you kill the young lady and pretend to be her instead? Still, a maid can’t become a young lady. The knight has no feelings for the maid.

 

No, the knight isn’t the problem. A maid is a maid, a young lady is a young lady. The idea that every girl is a princess is a lie.

 

But there’s nothing wrong with a maid trying to earn a little more money, right? Even if the one giving the money is an old prince.

 

Karen looks at Donna.

 

She reads the story in Donna’s eyes.

 

“What do you think about this impudent maid? Shouldn’t she be punished?”

 

Donna must have told Guiz about Karen. The young lady is pretty, kind, and pitiful. Changing the story appropriately when it seemed displeasing. And what pleased him most was probably something like Karen looking exactly like Catherine.

 

Guiz’s ideal image of a young lady might look exactly like Catherine.

 

“…I think she lived… earnestly from her position.”

 

Karen didn’t hate Donna.

 

It was difficult to earn anger from Karen. Emotions were like mirages to Karen, meaningless. Prince Guiz had given Karen screams with his madness, but Donna’s actions seemed hard to call betrayal. Karen just…

 

That was it.

 

Karen just wanted Guiz to let her go right now.

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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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