Chapter 135: Betrayal and Reunion
Sue, taken aback by the sudden question, answered after a moment of thought,
“They were trying to strengthen their power by forming an alliance, weren’t they?”
Melaine nodded, her expression neutral.
It was rare for love to be a factor in noble marriages. Sue had stated a common fact.
“Then do you know why they wanted to form an alliance and strengthen their power?”
But Melaine’s second question was a bit more difficult.
“Well… Because that’s what nobles usually do.”
Melaine chuckled wryly at Sue’s vague answer.
“I thought so too.”
“What?”
“I was going to dismiss it as something trivial. I just needed a powerful backing. All that mattered was helping my sister. But Sue, we don’t know anything yet.”
Melaine continued, her voice unusually clear,
“The Vava and Acrea families were trying to form an alliance to counter the Lopetrefers and the Fritzes.”
“Ah…”
Sue understood immediately. Strengthening one’s power usually meant countering someone else. And Acrea’s rivals would naturally be the Lopetrefers and the Fritzes, both grand duke families. It wasn’t a strange logic.
“But the alliance failed before it even began. Because of the current head of the Acrea family, Grand Duke Reeves.”
Reeves Acrea.
He was Woo Acrea’s older brother and a newly appointed Grand Duke, like Yuna Vava. And he didn’t seem like a very pleasant person.
“Grand Duke Reeves broke off the engagement because…”
“He said I was too young. You heard him, didn’t you?”
Melaine chuckled, seemingly over it now.
Reeves Acrea in the novel was mostly a bystander, enjoying the drama. But he also had a strange side, controlling Acrea like a puppet. However, neither of them was a protagonist, so Reeves wasn’t a prominent character in the story.
“We were trying to counter the Lopetrefers and the Fritzes by getting married. But to be precise, my sister was targeting the Lopetrefers.”
“The Lopetrefers…?”
It was quite a surprising piece of information. This must have been the reason why Melaine had brought up this whole story.
“My sister has always been dissatisfied with the family’s policies. It’s been two years since she became the First Knights Captain, received the marquis title, and became the head of the family. Maybe she decided it was time for her to exert her own influence.”
“….”
Sue lowered her gaze.
The Vava family was countering the Lopetrefers? They were allied families. Of course, it was a fragile bond that could be broken at any time, but…*
‘It’s too overwhelming to follow such a grand scheme…’
Sue tried to smile, but her face was stiff.
What had started as a simple act of venting her anger on Halo had escalated into this, and Sue had ended up rescuing Melaine, who, in return, had given her even more important information.
‘Things that had happened so casually in the novel…’
Melaine, watching Sue lost in thought, smiled faintly.
“You’re not angry, as expected.”
“…What?”
“I just told you that we were planning to betray the Lopetrefers.”
“…Right.”
Sue swallowed. She understood what Melaine had said. *The Vava family betraying the Lopetrefers.* Sue should have been furious. She should have stormed out of the Vava mansion and rushed to the Lopetrefer family in her carriage.
That was what a slave, bound to her master, should do.
“Honestly, I didn’t care what your reaction would be. I owe you that much.”
Melaine continued calmly,
“But I knew you would stay silent… Sue, you’ve changed. It’s not my imagination, you really have.”
“….”
“Sue, what are you going to do now?”
***
“Ten! Bake us some bread today!”
“Let’s make jam together!”
“I’m busy today, go play somewhere else.”
Ten shooed away the two children clinging to her and continued hanging the laundry. Despite her cold reaction, the children just laughed and ran off to play somewhere else.
It was another peaceful day.
“Ten, are you really not going back to the capital?”
Frank, the shoemaker, liked to trim his nails. And his new hobby was listening to Ten, the new resident, talk about the capital. Well, it was more like Frank nagging her about why she wasn’t going back.
Ten, her arms full of groceries, replied curtly,
“I told you, I’m not going back.”
“Oh dear, you’re giving up such a good place.”
Was it a good place?
Thinking back, it wasn’t really a good place. No, it was definitely not a good place for Ten.
A life where she had to endure her mistress’s violence, be whipped for the slightest mistake, and risk being beheaded if her mistress was harmed, could never be described as good.
She was currently living in the central village of Dande. The villagers had taken her in after the Holy Demon Religion was destroyed and she was left alone.
“Well, at least you’re the most normal one out of the people who came back from the Holy Demon Religion. The others are still going on about the high priest.”
On the dawn of the day the Holy Demon Religion was destroyed, Ten had instinctively run to Apricot Tea Forest. The sun was rising when she arrived. Jean had opened the barrier for her, and Ten, in a daze, had told him that Melaine might be in danger, then fallen asleep.
And when she woke up, there was no one in the workshop. Even Rem, who was always growling in the stable, was gone. Ten had realized then that Jean had gone to the chapel.
Jean had returned late. And he had brought the high priest with him. The moment she saw the high priest’s face, Ten had felt dizzy again. She had gagged, and Jean had handed her a potion.
‘It’s a curse-breaking potion. I made it a little strong. It’s not free, of course.’
She had felt better after drinking the potion. But Ten couldn’t stay there for long. Because the high priest was inside the barrier, and Sue would be coming soon.
The potion Jean had given her was very effective. The moment she left the barrier and settled in the central village of Dande, Ten’s condition had miraculously improved. She could live a normal life, except for the occasional headaches and nightmares about the high priest’s face.
The unfortunate thing was that Ten would never be able to repay Jean for the potion.
‘Make up with your mistress. Sue asked me to make this for you.’
But there was no way she could make up with her. Even if Ten knelt before Sue and begged for forgiveness, Sue would never forgive a traitor.
‘How did it come to this?’
She had been confident that she wouldn’t be brainwashed. The magic theory books said that people with strong minds were immune to brainwashing magic. It seemed like she shouldn’t rely on textbooks too much.
The high priest of the Holy Demon Religion had preached human value and freedom as the first doctrine. And then, the spirit of service, serving the world. Ten had thought it was a constructive doctrine for a cult. That much was fine.
Something had changed after the soul level measurement. Ten, assigned to Third class, had been excited. And from then on, every word the high priest said had felt like “truth.”
This was definitely another one of Sue Byron’s misconceptions. He was a great man, she had believed in the high priest’s words, as if she had been bewitched. But she really had been bewitched.
This was entirely Ten’s fault, even if Sue Byron had been a terrible mistress.
‘I allowed it, but you chose to go yourself. So… you should regret it too.’
Sue’s words still haunted her. Ten chuckled bitterly.
Sue Byron had achieved her goal by using her. She should be satisfied with that. She just had to let go of her lingering feelings and start a new life.
…That resolution was shattered the next day.
“Long time no see.”
She had opened the door without thinking, hearing a knock early in the morning. She had assumed it was the neighborhood kids playing pranks.
Sue Byron was standing at the door, her face relaxed, dressed in a white dress. She smirked, a hint of triumph in her eyes, and said,
“Do you regret it?”
What an arrogant tone, Ten thought. She was smug, intoxicated by her victory. Seeing her clueless face, a smile spread across Ten’s face. A bitter smile.
She ran her hands over her tired face in the morning sun.
Why had this person changed so strangely?
Sue, taking her silence as an affirmation, cleared her throat.
‘Make up with her after this is over. When she came to my workshop, covered in blood and drool, I thought she was a monster. That’s loyalty that overcame brainwashing magic. I was touched.’
Sue had repeated Jean’s words in her mind countless times since the day the chapel was destroyed.
And Melaine had asked her at the Vava mansion,
What are you going to do now?
What she had to do now. She didn’t know. Sue Byron was stupid.
But the first thing she had to do was this.
Sue held out her hand to her greasy-haired maid.
“Ten, I need you. So come back to me. I’ll raise your salary.”
“…You always see me as a money-grubber, don’t you?”
“So, no?”
“Hahaha! No, I prefer a place that pays me well.”
The Holy Demon Religion destruction operation had truly come to an end.