TL: Zimming
The face of Duke Vallua, who confirmed the documents, was pale. He soon threw away the papers and shook my shoulders roughly.
"The Duke of Dubbled! Is he going to destroy my family?!"
I could feel a sharp gaze from the bushes. Zachary was ready to pop out.
'Not now. I told you to pop out when my life is in danger.'
He clenched his fist and said.
"Do you think I can't handle a mere child…!"
The Duke of Vallua pushed me. I lost my balance and hit my back against the fountain.
At that moment,
"Little miss!"
The knights of Dubbled, who came running, aimed their swords at the Duke of Vallua.
'They're here sooner than I thought.'
I thought they would notice as soon as I disappeared, but I didn't know it would be this fast.
'It's a little early, but…'
All right, let's do it!
I burst into tears.
So that everyone in the party can hear it.
Surprised by the sound, people rushed out. The first person to come was my family.
I acted like a scared little child.
"Blaine!"
Dad raised his voice. He bent his knees and looked at me crying.
"What's going on?"
"It hurts!"
Dad's face hardened. Isaac pushed the knights and came to me.
"Did he hit you? Huh?!"
I nodded quickly, I showed my red shoulder, and pointed at other places as well.
"Here, here and here!"
I used to be a bluffing king.
I smiled viciously inside, but I looked scared on the outside. If my beggar friends saw me, they would notice my bluffing.
"Oh my god…"
"The Duke of Vallua drank too much alcohol…"
"He's assaulting a child?"
The guests were shocked and murmured, as my family's expression became cold.
I turned my body slightly to block Isaac and the Duke of Vallua.
But,
"Bastard!"
"Aunt!"
My aunt popped out and unexpectedly caught the Duke of Vallua.
"Hitting a child? How dare you?"
Oh my god.
My aunt is not really a saint but she never really crosses the line.
When she heard about the incident in which Teramore assaulted Henry, I heard that she was in a hurry and meticulously checked the brother's teacher even though they were in the academy.
However, at a party prepared by my aunt, he assaulted her nephew, behind my aunt's back, so it makes sense that she was that angry.
Others were rooting for her.
'But you can't!'
The Duke of Vallua is very weak.
All he has done in his life is studying or doing dirty work. One punch is enough for aunt, who crossed the wall of life and death as the captain of the White Horse Battalion, to beat him up.
'If he gets beaten up, my plan will be…!'
There were already people who frowned.
They were more amazed to see a noble who was trying to solve the problem with her fists rather than the assaulted child.
'There's going to be a debate from now on. I need to make sure that the public is leaning towards me before my family gets into trouble.'
I quickly hung on my aunt's waist.
"Don't hit him!"
"Let go, Leblaine! He's assaulted a child!"
"If you hit the Duke of Vallua, people might say that Dubbled is a villain family again!"
The surrounding became quiet when I shouted.
"We didn't do anything wrong, but people think we're villains. So you have to think and act carefully. No matter how hard I try, if my aunt hits the duke now, we'll be called villains again…I don't like that. I don't want my family to be bad people."
"..."
"So now I won't cry even if I get hit. Aunt, don't be angry!"
Then some soft-hearted ladies ran to me.
"Oh my god, so that's what you thought."
My godmother bent her knees and made eye contact with me.
"Child, you don't have to worry about such things."
I cried on the outside, but was smiling inside.
The parents looked at the Duke of Vallua with an angry look.
The Duke of Vallua was surprised by the fact that he was caught assaulting a child.
"Do you know what the child of fate told me? If others had heard of it, they wouldn't have been able to control their anger as well!"
Godmother hid me behind her back and said to the Duke of Vallua.
"What did she say?"
"She insulted me by saying abusive language! She also said she lent me money, and she wants to put us up for sale right now! She says our family is trash. How dare you!"
People looked at me, so I quickly grabbed the skirt of godmother and shrugged my shoulders.
"Child, is that true?"
"I don't know what the Duke is talking about…"
The Duke of Vallua said similar words when he was caught abusing me in the church.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. The bruise on the child's body came from learning horseback riding. My wife and I were surprised to see the wound and banned her from doing horseback riding, but she stole her brothers' horses. It's our fault for not being able to watch her carefully, how could I abuse her! You have to say something that makes sense."
At that time, he blamed me for the traces of the whip left on my body, the bruises, and even the hospital records when I was beaten by him.
'Thanks to you, I've learned something, old man.'
I looked around and said.
"I'm learning investment from the chairman. The chairman told me that if I can't pay interest, my house will be taken away. He also told me about Duke Vallua."
"So?"
"I'm sad if he doesn't have a house. I know the feeling because I lived in an orphanage once. So before the Duke of Vallua was taken away…"
"So he told you in advance that the Duke might be in trouble."
"Yes…"
People stared at the Duke of Vallua.
He didn't know what to say when I turned the situation around. Right now, people thought that I was a commendable child who thought of his family yet got assaulted when he's drunk.
In addition, as long as I have my father, he could never do anything.
"Dad…"
I called him as he quickly hugged me.
Soon, Vallua was kicked out, being dragged away by the knights.
***
The party ended badly. The guests went home as we returned to the mansion.
The eyes of Dubbled's men were cold after seeing Leblaine, who fell asleep on Javelin's lap.
"What are you going to do with that bastard?"
Isaac asked in a grumpy voice.
The two dice rolling in Duke Dubbled's hands stopped.
Henry opened his mouth after covering Leblaine with a blanket.
"It's not enough to tear off his limbs. I'm going to dig out his eyeballs and make him beg with his knees on the floor in front of my younger sister."
Although Henry is a cruel man, he has never shown such anger.
It's because Henry, the victim of the Teramore assault, was well aware.
The assault wasn't just the literal meaning of the word. It was both a shame and a shackle that couldn't be shaken for life.
Johann said,
"They dared to touch our family in our mansion."
The boy's eyes became darker.
"We must destroy them so that they cannot even think of aiming for her again, and also destroy their honour."
Duke Dubbled's eyes shone dangerously in the dark.
***
When I woke up the next day, the situation outside was pretty chaotic.
I scratched my head while in pajamas.
"The Duke of Vallua was robbed…?"
"At dawn, Dubbled's accounting officer, Shugon, and administrators, came to them."
'Shugon is Henry's staff. It must be Henry.'
As expected of Henry. He's quick at handling things.
I laughed and got out of bed.
"Yesterday's assault was a big deal!"
"Is it something to be happy about? There may be more to handle in the future."
"Who cares? They'll take care of it cleanly everytime."
This is one of the best things about being the daughter of a powerful family!
Then all I have to do is find evidence that the Duke of Vallua has created Mireille and summoned the devil.
"Okay, let's go see Lane now."
"Yes."
We quickly finished preparing and headed to Lane's mansion.
After visiting Lane's mansion the other day, I realized that I needed a hidden passageway so that no one could see me.
Thus, a secret passageway was built directly into the library of Lane's mansion.
At the end of the passage, there was a loud sound of conversation.
"How could you do this to me?!"
It is the voice of the Duchess Vallua.
"Debt? That's ridiculous! They were gifts from you to me!"
"Of course, there are gifts. But I've never given you any gambling money."
"Lie! You are trying to trick me from the beginning. You colluded with Dubbled, didn't you? I didn't even do anything wrong to you!"
The words reminded her of something in the past.
"What did I do wrong to raise something like you?"
'How can people in that family be so consistent with their words?'
I gathered my divine power. Soon, an invisible line appeared, the face of the Duchess of Vallua, who was pale and tearful in front of Lane, was seen.
"I didn't do anything wrong!"
She hit me.
She put rotten food in my mouth just because she was angry, and she whipped me when I threw up.
She made me hide in the closet.
She made me eat a moldy bread.
Ah! She also made it sinful for me to breathe, to walk, to sleep, to live.
I felt like my eyes were turning red.
The chairman took my hand.
"Little miss."
I barely come back to reality with the warmth I felt on my fingertips.
"Your biggest sin is that you think you didn't do anything wrong."
When Lane said with a cold expression, the Duchess of Vallua was startled.
"Si, sir… Please feel sorry for me. I might be kicked out of the family. My husband, my sons, I…!"
"You shouldn't have believed in other people from the beginning."
"Wh,what?!"
"Poor mouse. You have to doubt other people's favors. It's bad of you not to doubt why people done that kind of favor for you, when they're not even your family."
"You have to doubt other people's goodwill. It's bad of you not to doubt why I've done that kind of favor to you, who's not even my family."
"...!"
The duchess sat down with a pale face as she sobbed.
Public opinion was on my side, and behind my back, I have a lot of strong supporters, I also have strength and money in my hands.
I said to the chairman.
"Let's go find the Nogak."
I'll show them who's the real devil.
Now it's time to put the devilish Valluas under the guillotine.