Chapter 84
“I hear Heister doesn’t treat all its children equally. From what I’ve heard, they don’t care whether a worthless child sleeps in a barn or goes outside and freezes to death. Is that really true?”
The worthless child Lady Highland was referring to was me.
One of Heister’s countless children, born weak and without a mother, forced to worry about food and the cold.
“I’m truly curious. I heard they don’t even feed certain children properly, so they often pick up leftovers to eat.”
Memories surfaced of living in a room little better than a storage closet, erased from my father’s awareness, surviving on leftover food from the kitchen.
A child who could do nothing but suffer silently through the bullying of siblings and the excessive cruelty of the ladies of the house.
No matter how much the women of the vassal houses looked down on me or mocked me, I had been able to remain detached.
But when they dragged up memories of that lonely past, my fingertips tightened without me realizing it.
I forced my fingers into a fist, but I could feel sweat gathering in my palm.
Whether they noticed my reaction or not, the women around the table giggled and laughed as though the story were terribly amusing.
Then one woman’s fan struck a three-tiered tray filled with cookies and various finger foods.
The tray toppled sideways.
“Oh my! What should we do?”
The woman looked down at the food scattered across the ground with a deliberately apologetic expression.
I ignored her and was about to call a maid while forcing myself to remain composed.
But before I could speak, Lady Highland cut me off.
“Food that’s fallen this much is nothing to you, Madam, is it?”
At the blatant insult, the noblewomen attending began giggling.
Even I couldn’t remain unaffected while being insulted so openly to my face.
I curled my fingertips tightly and was about to say something.
That was when it happened.
“What did I just hear?”
Everyone turned at the familiar voice.
Kallion stood there with a fierce scowl, looking extremely angry for some reason.
“Did the wife of a mere vassal house just insult the lady of Baldomer?”
The wives of the vassal houses froze at the chill in Kallion’s voice.
Lady Highland, the one who had spoken, began sweating as she floundered.
“O-Of course not. I was merely saying that Heister’s family customs were improper…”
“Are you saying my wife’s family is improper?”
“I-I meant Heister, the enemy house…”
Lady Highland began rambling beneath Kallion’s murderous gaze.
“Isn’t that the same thing? Are you trying to play word games with me?”
Lady Highland trembled beneath his fierce expression.
In the end, she abruptly rose from her seat and dropped to her knees.
“Please forgive me. I misspoke.”
Only recently, House Schultz, which like Highland had been one of Baldomer’s longstanding vassal houses, had been expelled by Kallion’s order.
The head of House Schultz, who had leaked the confidential information, had lost his position and reputation while being saddled with an enormous amount of compensation.
The influence wielded by Kallion, Baldomer’s head, or rather its heir for now, though he was effectively the head in all but name, was that absolute.
Lady Highland lowered her head and anxiously bit her lip.
But the letters she had secretly exchanged with Head Maid Vanessa had clearly said that Kallion had no interest in his wife…
Then Kallion grabbed my wrist and pulled me to my feet before addressing everyone around us.
“Today’s gathering ends here. I can’t tolerate any more of this.”
With that, he strode away while still holding my wrist.
I was practically dragged along behind him.
Once the ladies were out of sight, I struggled to pull my wrist free from his hand.
“Let go of me.”
Kallion looked at me with displeasure, then sighed and spoke irritably.
“Why were you just sitting there and taking that? Don’t you understand that disregarding the lady of Baldomer is no different from disregarding Baldomer itself?”
At the way he spoke as though the prestige of the house came before everything else, I stiffened and answered curtly.
“I didn’t respond because I didn’t think they were worth dealing with.”
That really had been why I ignored them.
Until they brought up my past and my shame.
Then Kallion stared at me as I looked away and murmured quietly.
“I care, Juliana.”
For a moment, I looked up at him, wondering if I had misheard.
He continued while staring straight through me.
“Because you’re my wife.”
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