*** *** *** *** ***
“Lady Roxana, what should we do with the toy?”
After Land Agriche left the room, the subordinates in charge of transporting Cassis asked me.
“Take him to the empty room that belongs to me.”
Cassis was in an unconscious state. His body was already in poor condition, and he had just had to endure another full round of the merciless violence poured out by Land Agriche, so it was only natural.
Still, the fact that he only let go of the thread of consciousness after Land Agriche had completely disappeared from sight meant that Cassis’s willpower had to be acknowledged.
“It’s in really unwatchable shape.”
I glanced down at the blood-soaked Cassis and spoke.
“I don’t feel like playing with him at all in this state. It seems like I should have him treated to some extent first, so handle it on your own.”
“Yes, understood.”
Cassis was dragged away, his arms gripped by two subordinates. A vivid bloodstain remained where he had been. Naturally, Cassis’s body, the source of that blood, was completely in an unwatchable state.
I looked at Cassis, who only ever rolled around helplessly in the Agriche household, with a sense of pity. Then, at some moment, I suddenly felt a faint sense of incongruity. While gazing at the blood-soaked Cassis, some trivial doubt flitted through my mind.
I narrowed my eyes and fixed my gaze on the departing Cassis for a brief moment. Then, deciding to verify this doubt when I met him again later, I turned away from the spot.
*** *** *** *** ***
“Sister, are you back now?”
“Why are you coming out from there?”
I stopped in my tracks upon seeing Jeremy sitting on the landing.
“Jeremy, why are you sitting like that?”
He was sitting on the stairs with his arms resting on his legs, and his chin propped on those arms, looking up at me. Since the house was large, the stairs were wide too, making Jeremy’s solitary, curled-up figure even more conspicuous.
It seemed like he had been waiting for me…
Not even in front of my door, I couldn’t understand why he was greeting me like this on the stairs of all places.
“Sister went to see that son of a… toy, so I came to check it out too.”
Jeremy’s voice was a bit cold as he said that. Seeing the dissatisfaction on his face, it seemed he was displeased that Cassis had become my toy completely as of today.
Last time, he had stepped up saying he’d make sure I couldn’t approach Cassis after Charlotte had finished her punishment and he felt good on his own. Jeremy was such a guy, I already knew, but his mood swung extremely easily.
“Then why not come down to the first floor instead of doing this here.”
What a troublesome guy. It’s annoying to play along. I wanted to smack his forehead, but instead, I gently stroked his bangs with a soft touch.
“I just watched a bit since Father was beating up Sister’s toy and then came up.”
Jeremy’s tone was still a bit prickly, but he seemed to feel better from my touch. Or maybe he felt good recalling the sight of Cassis getting beaten.
“Can I go see Sister’s toy separately later?”
Jeremy removed his hand from his chin and asked me. I tilted my head slightly while looking at his face.
This is a scheming look.
Still, I answered without dragging it out.
“Yeah. But not now, later.”
“Why?”
“You saw Father beating him earlier. His condition is really bad right now. I don’t feel like playing with him either, so I had him taken to the empty room for now.”
Hearing my voice laced with indifference, Jeremy dusted off his butt and stood up from his spot.
“Alright, then I’ll go see him once he looks a bit better.”
I had already expected Jeremy would come to see Cassis at some point, so his sudden words didn’t surprise me. Rather, what made me pause for a moment was the casual addition he made afterward.
“By the way, I just saw Sister’s mother.”
But I soon opened my mouth as if it were nothing.
“Oh? Where?”
“In front of Sister’s room. She’s probably inside waiting now.”
I wondered where two people with different residences and ranges of activity could have run into each other, and it turned out to be in front of my room. I was a bit curious why my mother, whom I had met at the grand banquet not long ago, had come to find me again so soon.
“She seemed to have heard the news that Sister got a toy.”
I nodded in understanding at Jeremy’s following explanation.
Ah, so that’s what it was.
“Did your mother say that to you?”
“No, I overheard her talking briefly with Emily in front of Sister’s room.”
After that, Jeremy twisted his lips into a smile, as if wondering what he was thinking.
“Sister’s mother’s expression was fucking hilarious.”
His foot kicked the stair railing lightly. I realized that the reason Jeremy seemed down wasn’t because of Cassis.
“Whether it’s Sister’s mother or my mother. Fuck, do they think they gave birth to some monster bastard? Why the hell are they trembling and making a fuss.”
Both his tone and words were bitterly sharp. No wonder he was waiting for me not in front of my room but on this landing. It seemed today’s sight of my mother had particularly irritated him.
I knew that Jeremy was projecting his own mother onto mine.
The author of this novel, true to being a master of decadent stories, had given even the villain Jeremy a dark past.
His mother had been extremely afraid of Jeremy for a very long time. As the years passed and Jeremy became more and more like an Agriche, her condition worsened. Eventually, after Jeremy was first invited to the grand banquet, it became routine for her to scream and flee at the mere sight of him, as if she were about to faint.
I couldn’t understand at all how such a frail person had married Land Agriche.
Anyway, Jeremy’s mother had died a few years ago. That day too, she had run away from her son whom she encountered by chance in the corridor.
Jeremy, who would usually just ignore her and pass by, felt a surge of emotion towards his mother that day and chased after her. Like any child deprived of parental love, Jeremy had affection deprivation. But unable to express it, he suppressed it tightly until it eventually exploded in an instant.
Their game of tag ended quickly.
Jeremy’s mother reached her room and locked the door, but the extremely angry Jeremy eventually broke down the door and entered. With nowhere left to hide, what his mother chose was to jump off the terrace.
When Jeremy rushed over in shock, fortunately, she had grabbed the railing. But the hand Jeremy extended to save his mother didn’t reach her. To the end, she rejected her son and chose to fall instead.
They were on the third floor, so she might have survived if lucky. But in the end, Jeremy’s mother died with her neck broken.
“I thought Sister’s mother was a bit different, but look at her rushing over in shock just because you got one damn toy.”
I could guess what Jeremy was seeing in my mother to react like this. From some point on, my mother had looked at me, who received Father’s favor in her own way, with eyes that seemed to regard me as admirable yet distant.
Sometimes, she would show subtle fear towards me, as if facing not her daughter but some unknown entity. She probably thought I didn’t know about it.
But aren’t children naturally sensitive to their parents’ emotions?
“Let’s go to your room.”
I extended my hand towards Jeremy in front of me. He was still kicking the stair railing with one foot.
“Your mother is in Sister’s room right now. I’m not going.”
“No, not my room, yours.”
At that moment, Jeremy stopped kicking the railing.
“You’re not going to see your mother? She’s waiting for you right now.”
Originally, Jeremy and I were about the same height, but because of the different step he was standing on, I had to look up at him now. I grabbed Jeremy’s hand and stepped down one more stair. This time, Jeremy obediently let himself be led by me.
“Yeah, I don’t really want to meet her right now either.”
Whether it was a lie to draw out solidarity from Jeremy, or my genuine heartfelt truth that I didn’t want to meet my mother, even I couldn’t clearly distinguish.
If so, let’s just say it was the former.
Jeremy’s hand, which slyly clasped mine, was warm. I moved my steps while trying a little not to feel that warmth.
*** *** *** *** ***
Land Agriche considered various conditions when taking a woman. In other words, it meant he didn’t embrace only women beautiful enough to stir his heart.
In fact, my mothers were women with almost no common denominator. Their appearances ranged from women as stunningly beautiful as my mother, who could make one’s eyes pop, to those at the level of plainness.
Their personalities also varied from bold and hearty women like lionesses to gentle and passive ones like flowers in a greenhouse. Until now, I had simply thought, ‘This guy’s tastes are really unpredictable.’ But the truth was not that.
In the end, I came to the conclusion that Land Agriche was taking in women skilled in all sorts of ways as his wives. As if conducting some kind of diverse genetic experiment.
But among them, the reason my mother caught his eye was undoubtedly ‘beauty,’ I thought. It wasn’t something a daughter should say, but my mother’s only merit was truly that.
Of course, I liked her mild disposition and kind heart. But in this household, that could never be an advantage. I could even bet Jeremy’s hair that Land Agriche didn’t find those points attractive either.
However, it was this outstanding beauty resembling hers that ultimately saved me in front of Land Agriche when I was eight, so in a way, I had greatly benefited from my mother’s virtue.
For someone like me to avoid my mother in this manner might perhaps be blatant filial impiety. Of course, realizing that fact anew didn’t mean I intended to return right now to the room where she was waiting.
Click.
After escorting Jeremy to his room, I headed to where Cassis was. On any other day, I would have coaxed and soothed him a bit more before leaving, but not today.
Just choosing to go to him instead of heading straight to my mother was sufficient this time. I needed to maintain a certain distance from her.
“They really only did the minimal treatment.”
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