An hour ago Duchess Isabella noticed something odd. Today, Vicen felt much stronger than usual. It was strange, but it felt good.
Duchess Isabella sat in her chair.
“Vicen, you are strong.”
“Yes.”
Right after the whipping was over, Vicen sat on her lap.
“Are you finally poisoning her heart?”
Duchess Isabella examined her own palm. Her blood dripped. It was stingy and bitter but she was fine. She felt that Vicen had finally grown up a little more and she smiled in satisfaction.
“Vicen, you are a child who will become a lion.”
‘In the distant future, you must eat me. Only then will you be able to be reborn as the true ruler of Bellato.’
“You have to become more, more, more toxic than you are now.”
“All right. Then can I get up?”
“Get up.”
As Vicen stood up from his seat, Duchess Isabella smiled benevolently.
“You can wear clothes.”
“Clothes?”
“Ookay. Today’s discipline ends here.”
Vicen pondered for a moment.
“Hmm.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
Vicen looked at the clock hanging on the wall. The fact that that watch was a product of magic engineering and was a precision watch that did not allow an error of 1/10,000 of a second. The fact that it was the work of Kuma, who was called a master of modern times. She didn’t care about any of those facts. She only observed the movement of the second hand.
“Mother needs to sleep now.”
It’s already 1:00 in the morning and he started being beaten from 10pm at night .
There, Duchess Isabella felt strange again. She had never been like this with Vicen.
‘He wanted to be with me even though he was beaten.’
Vicen loved his mother, Duchess Isabella, beyond her oddities. Even if he got whipped, because he preferred being together, though.
But Duchess Isabella noticed something different.
“Are you waiting for someone?”
“Yes.”
Vicen laughed ‘hehehe’ and Duchess Isabella’s eyebrows twitched. It’s because she saw Vicen’s expression change brightly.
“Who is my son waiting for? Not your brother or sister.”
Even less likely to be his father, and then in the end there was only one person left. She was her youngest daughter and these days she had a toxic interest in Vicen. She was referring to her adopted daughter, Viola, whom the Duke had brought from the slums.
‘Viola?’
Duchess Isabella smiled faintly.
“Are you waiting for your youngest sister?”
“Hmm.”
Vicen pondered for a moment. Could he be honest with his mother? There was nothing she couldn’t do, but he had a strange feeling that he couldn’t be honest. But, thinking about it, he had no reason to lie again. After thinking for a moment, he replied.
“That’s right. It’s Viola.”
“Why?”
“It’s fun to play with her.”
Isabella listened roughly to what Zenon had said to the Duke.
‘Also, there is an instinctive desire for dominance and ambition toward the absolute. She has the insanity that Bellato must have in her. She also has reason to control that madness. She also has a killing talent, along with the power of mana, that was beyond her imagination.
“She must be an excellent child.”
Since the Duke recognized her and brought her, she must be an outstanding child.
“There are rumors that she is a great kid. Then what should we do with her?”
“I have to kill her.”
“Right.”
Duchess Isabella drew closer to Vicen. She hugged the scarred Vicen tightly, and she ran a hand through his golden hair.
“Who is the competitor?”
Vicen smiled brightly.
“Thoroughly destroy it!”
“Right.”
Vicen was in the arms of Duchess Isabella. She looked up at Vicen above her.
“Mother.”
“What?”
“It’s nice to hug you.”
Vicen, who was laughing ‘hehehe’, lost his balance.
“But don’t be careless, son.”
Duchess Isabella was two steps away from Vicen. Vicen was knocked down by her but his pupils were released.
“If I were your competitor, you are dead. The scariest enemy is the person you gave your heart to. You cannot give your heart to anyone.”
Duchess Isabella held out her hand. Vicen’s butler, who was waiting behind her, held out a white cloth. Duchess Isabella scrubbed under her fingernails with her white cloth. The white fabric was stained black. It was poison.
“It’s discipline.”
Duchess Isabella looked down at the fallen Vicen.
“Don’t be vigilant, always keep the poison in your heart.”
“…yes mother sorry.”
“If you do something wrong, it will hurt your mother too.”
Vicen lost his mind.
Duchess Isabella rubbed her own eyes wildly with her poisoned cloth. Her eyes burned red and her bloody tears began to flow. Her eyes were very bitter, but this was her own punishment. She needed a punishment for not raising Vicen to be strong.
She stared intently at Vicen, who had lost consciousness.
“This mother is a person who has the duty and responsibility to raise you strong.”
If she wanted to raise her son strong, if she wanted him to grow stronger, she had to do more than this every day. That was her way of showing great love.
* * *
“So ‘You are from the slums. Don’t hang out with my noble son, when your lineage is unknown’. You say it quite noblely.”
At those words, Zenon almost burst into laughter without even realizing it.
‘As expected of our princess.’
She didn’t know that she would face her like that. Now that she was able to speak such rude words against Duchess Isabella, she was radiating.
Duchess Isabella laughed.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes.”
“I’m glad you heard that. But it wasn’t accurate.”
Duchess Isabella continued her words casually.
“I wasn’t saying don’t hang out, I was saying I’d give you a white flower as a gift.”
It meant white chrysanthemum flowers. The flower Tundra placed in front of his father’s grave. And white flowers meant death. So, in other words, it was also a warning of death.
“You want to understand? I don’t know if lowly people sleep with flowers even where they live.”
“It’s not the lowly, it’s the poor.”
“Isn’t that what it is?”
“It’s different. Poor people can be noble, rich people can be lowly.”
“Anyways good. Do the poor also sleep with flowers?”
“Even the poor mourn the death.”
Just like Tundra did.
“You are being extravagant. out of proportion.”
“I understand the thoughts of the Duchess, who regards the memory of the dead and even a single flower as a luxury.”
“…”
“They may be poor, but at least they don’t make their sons like that.”
Arin was a little angry. She had always wanted to have a family of her own. A mother, a father. She didn’t have those people that everyone else had, so it was really hard and lonely. Her family meant so much to her. It was more valuable than a precious jewel that she could not have even if she wanted to.
Isabella laughed.
“Would a stranger have the right to argue about the way a mother loves her son?”
“Am I really a stranger?”
Viola moved closer to Vicen. Just looking at him, his back was too small to bear the painful scars.
“We became brother and sister, mother.”
“I hope you don’t cross the line, my daughter.”
“I think mother crossed the line before.”
Viola squatted down.
By now, Vicen had come to his senses a bit and Viola’s voice came faintly.
“In Winter Castle, all children under the age of 10 deserve protection. If one of the hostesses of Winter Castle, like mother, breaks that absolute law, I don’t know what the lower ones will think.”
“Discipline is fine.”
“We’ll see if it’s really okay.”
Viola glanced behind her.
“Zenon. Magic Recording Tool. Do you have it?”
“Yes, I have it, Princess.”
“Take a picture.”
In a moment, Duchess Isabella’s body moved. She passed Viola and grabbed Zenon’s neck.
Viola screamed inwardly.
‘What, what’s so fast?’
It seemed as if she had melted into the shadows and moved. So fast.
She knew it through the text, but seeing it with her own two eyes was terrifying. Truly, the wealth of this family. It was the Duchess Isabella.
Gulp.
She swallowed her saliva
‘Crazy.’
If she ever did something wrong, her neck would really blow off.
Isabella’s claws dug into Zenon’s neck.
“Stop it, butler Zenon.”
A few drops of blood flowed from Zenon’s throat. However, Zenon only smiled.
“I’m sorry… Because I am the one who obeys the princess’s orders.”
With his right hand, he pulled out the magic shooting tool. It was similar to a modern camera.
Viola laughed lightly.
“I guess you know that this is wrong. Seeing how desperately you try to stop it.”
Zenon asked.
“Shall we shoot? But… It feels like my throat is going to pierce. I am bleeding now.”
“No, it’s okay. I can’t lose my butler.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
Zenon put the shooting tool into the subspace.
When Duchess Isabella let go of Zenon’s neck, Zenon took out a cloth from his front pocket and wiped his neck. He gently wiped the sweaty forehead.
“Phew. I almost died.”
Isabella said.
“My youngest daughter has a sly side. At the welcome dinner, it will be worth seeing.”
Viola grabbed the hem of her skirt and lifted her up, bending her back.
“Thanks in advance for your welcome, mother.”
In fact, she hadn’t even thought about filming in the first place. It was just bait. There was something else she was aiming for.
“But what? Vicen knew that this was wrong.”
Vicen’s body was wriggling. It seemed that he had come to his senses. Even if he couldn’t raise his body, he would have heard everything.
“Right, brother?”
A groan was heard.
“Don’t move. I’ll apply some ointment.”
As if he understood the words, Vicen’s body trembled.
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. Thank you very much for reading.
Next post will be released on April, 18.
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