Chapter 102
He glanced to his side. Shana was crying now, sniffling through silent sobs, and even that seemed to irritate the other maids. Some were glaring at her, as if she were the problem.
‘Unbelievable. They’re not angry at the one doing the hitting but at Iora?’
The Marchioness shoved the weeping maid aside with a snap of her wrist and strode toward Iora, who stood tall and still like marble. The older woman’s hair was messy and unkempt in a way that betrayed her status. Her eyes gleamed with something feral as she came to stand before her daughter.
“I heard. You refused the dress?”
“Yes, it seems my tastes don’t align with yours, Mother.”
“Tastes? Is that what… How dare you behave like this? Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Why shouldn’t I? I’m not your doll. It’s just a dress, Mother.”
It finally happened.
The Marchioness’s hand rose high into the air, then came crashing down.
The sound was louder, sharper, and more brutal than when she’d struck the maid earlier. Guillen’s heart dropped at the impact. How could anyone…?
But what shocked him more wasn’t the blow itself.
It was the sight of Iora, half-hidden until the Marchioness’s twisting body revealed her. Blood trickled from her lip, split open, but she was smiling. Her expression, serene and even a little amused, held a kind of madness that mirrored the screaming fury of her mother.
“Mother, I’m not a public drum, you know.”
“What kind of nonsense is that? You’ve finally lost your mind, haven’t you?”
“There’s actually such a thing as a drum. Anyway, hitting my cheek like that is going to be a problem…”
“Ha! First you spoke back to your father, and now you say insane things to your own mother?”
“They say married couples start to resemble one another. That’s a little tragic, don’t you think? You’re turning into Father.”
The way she smiled as she said it made Guillen drop his gaze. He couldn’t bear to look anymore.
And more than anything, he was ashamed.
A knight, clenching his jaw in silence, choosing to avert his eyes from something so clearly unjust. Half of him burned to intervene, to draw his sword and end this farce. The other half whispered cowardice — It’s Iora. Maybe… maybe there’s more to it. Maybe she deserved…
No. No one deserves this.
“How can they do this to her…?”
As Shana murmured those words, the maids were so shocked they hurried to cover her mouth.
“Shh. Be quiet!”
“Are you crazy?”
“How could you say something like that about the Lady? It’s all the young miss’s fault.”
“Exactly. Everything the Lady did was for her. Look at how the young miss has been acting lately, like a lunatic.”
But not everyone was saying such things.
“Don’t you think the Lady’s gone too far?”
“Look at her cheek. The young miss is bleeding right now.”
“I think it’s admirable that she speaks her mind. Has anyone else ever dared to speak up against that tyranny?”
The murmuring grew steadily louder.
But when the Marchioness shouted, “Silence!” the room instantly fell quiet.
Iora wiped the blood from her lips as if it were nothing, then lightly touched her bruised cheek, as though to soothe the pain.
Even in that moment, she stood with unshaken grace.
“You’ve torn the dress to shreds. Quite the strength you have. If we’d sold it, it could’ve helped dozens of children in need, you know.”
“Well, aren’t you a saint? Ha! Since when have you ever been that virtuous?”
“Mother, if you try hitting me again from this point on, I’ll act exactly as I warned you before.”
“…….”
No one knew exactly what that warning had been, but it was clear it was enough to make the Marchioness hesitate.
Iora, who was clearly speaking the truth, somehow looked terrifying —s miling like a villain despite being in the right. She took two deliberate steps toward her mother, heels clicking on the floor.
Then, she reached out and gently tucked the woman’s disheveled hair behind her ear with surprising tenderness.
Why did that simple gesture feel so chilling? One of the onlookers even gasped and clenched their fists.
“If you and Father don’t want to end up in jail together, I suggest you stop right now. You’ve misunderstood your daughter all this time. When I say I’ll do something, I mean it.”
“You— You dare say something like that? You dare!”
“And also…”
Iora cast her gaze over the maid kneeling on the floor.
There was something about her cold, detached eyes that strangely made them seem almost pitying.
Everyone looked at Iora with wavering eyes.
Was the young lady… always like this?
“I don’t understand why you’re hitting people who’ve done nothing wrong. Nowhere does paying money give you the right to treat others like dirt. They’re people too.”
They’re people too. That line struck something deep in the hearts of those watching.
The chaos came to an end when the Marchioness, seething with rage, stormed off into her room.
“What are you all doing? Don’t bottle up what happened today — just scatter and get back to work now.”
As if she hadn’t just spoken up on their behalf, Iora gave the order and walked off with her usual poise.
And somehow, that image stuck with them. One of the servants whispered quietly:
“…What the heck. Why is she so cool…?”
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