♡ TL: Khadija SK
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Tension was rising in the once-peaceful Sherringen Manor.
This was due to the reappearance of the missing Marquise.
As soon as Annette stepped into the house, she felt a headache coming on from the attitude of the servants she encountered along the way.
With their new mistress having suddenly disappeared and now reappearing for the first time in several months, the servants were too preoccupied staring at her with curiosity.
After the death of Marquis Sherringen, both major and minor changes took place in the manor.
First, the manor’s staff kept changing constantly.
Because the marquis’s death was such a significant event, the servants—believing that House Sherringen was in trouble—rushed to resign from their positions.
For the same reason, no one wanted to come and work in Sherringen Manor.
And since there was no master to oversee the estate, even those who wished to work there could not do so.
Management had deteriorated terribly, as the number of new hires was nowhere near enough to replace those who had left.
Hans, who was walking beside Annette, spoke in a quiet, whisper-like voice.
“The management of this house is a complete mess. Even though I don’t know what the atmosphere was like when the marquis was alive, I can tell that these servants have grown far too lax.”
“Exactly. Even if you knew nothing of the past, you would still sense the massive change right away.”
Annette frowned as she passed by the servants.
Like Hans, she had no idea what Sherringen Manor was like during the lifetime of her biological father, the previous marquis, but it was clear that the household’s atmosphere had worsened.
Instead of fearing the return of their new mistress, the servants gazed at her with brazen curiosity, treating her as nothing more than an interesting spectacle.
Those who had worked in the manor before were intrigued by the drastic shift in Annette’s personality, while the new ones curiously observed the lady at the center of all the rumors.
“It seems there are still problems we can’t solve just through paperwork.”
Hans had handled the arrangements for the marriage and the inheritance of the title.
While the bureaucratic process had been completed successfully, the real-life resentment remained.
When the former marquis passed away, the issues that should have been dealt with immediately were left unresolved, so Annette had failed to establish herself as the rightful master of the estate while she was recovering at the villa.
Until now, Hans and the head butler had been working behind the scenes on the necessary paperwork, but it was finally time for Annette to take the lead.
First and foremost, the most urgent matter was securing the staff’s recognition of the new Marquise Sherringen.
Fundamentally, even before the marquis’s death, the idea of a woman inheriting the title had already been met with difficulties and opposition.
And now that she had inherited the title in an unnatural way, those problems had only grown worse.
The servants of the house must not disregard Annette before she even had the chance to fight her family for the position.
She had to rally the servants quickly and make it clear who the true master of this manor was.
Now that her health and spirit had somewhat recovered, she needed to take charge of Sherringen Manor as well.
“That man over there is the head butler.”
Hans nodded toward an elderly man standing before them.
The personal servant seemed greatly flustered by Annette’s unexpected arrival at the estate.
“It seems discipline has vanished in my absence.”
With a single remark from the new mistress, the head butler froze in place.
It was common for nobles to leave their homes unattended, so maintaining the manor during those times was the responsibility of the head butler. If anything happened under his watch, he would inevitably be held accountable for everything.
Annette had returned with countless rumors swirling around her, and the stark difference in her demeanor was enough to put the elderly head butler on edge.
As she attempted to reestablish discipline by making the staff before her nervous, her plan was unexpectedly interrupted by the arrival of someone who seemed to have been waiting for this moment.
“Annette. Why are you making such a commotion by suddenly showing up like this?”
It was Bjorn, Annette Sherringen’s uncle.
Standing in the position where the host would receive guests, Bjorn was noticed by the servants even more than Annette, who remained below.
It appeared that someone other than Annette was planning to ascend to the position of marquis next week.
This meant that in her absence, someone had been playing the role of king, taking full advantage of the tiger’s absence.
“Why did I come home? No matter how I think about it, isn’t it absurd for you to ask me, the Marquise Sherringen, why I’ve come to my own house? I believe I should be the one asking you why you’re here.”
Annette lightly countered Bjorn’s insolence.”Guest. I am without a doubt a direct descendant of House Sherringen, so this manor is my home as well. Do you always speak this way to adults who work hard to take care of the house that its so-called mistress left empty?”
“If you truly cared about the family’s well-being that much, you should have managed its affairs more diligently. Only then would it not seem as if you were deliberately running this place so carelessly, making the staff feel that the head of the household is a reckless person unworthy of fear or respect.”
“You finalized your inheritance with nothing but a few administrative papers and never once showed your face in this house, yet now you arrogantly expect me to leave? House Sherringen does not recognize a lady who cannot fulfill her responsibilities as head of the family.”
“This is something that His Majesty the Emperor himself approved. If you object to my position as head of this family, that will be seen as questioning His Majesty’s judgment, so I suggest you reconsider and step back now.”
At the mention of the emperor, Bjorn shut his mouth.
“Once again, why are you here, Uncle?”
“Since the position of head of the family was vacant, wasn’t it necessary to find someone to manage its affairs?”
“Vacant? I am very much alive, and I have handled all the family’s matters and assets.”
“This is not a family you can protect and maintain with a few pieces of paperwork alone. House Sherringen needs an adult man to safeguard it.”
“I don’t believe that the ‘adult man’ you speak of is you, Uncle. The instructions I gave—me, the so-called immature woman—with just a few documents and words, were far more precise than your direct management of this manor and infinitely better than the decisions of your empty-headed mind.”
Bjorn’s face turned red with humiliation at Annette’s words.
“You’re just an arrogant little girl who thinks she has a chance to control everything because of her vanity. After your scandalous marriage and severing ties with your family, now you suddenly appear and try to pretend you’re the rightful owner of this manor? The only person who can flaunt their looks and sell their body for cheap is a wh*re like you. House Sherringen does not recognize you as the lady of this family at all.”
Bjorn protested fiercely, but Annette’s face remained expressionless and completely calm.
His verbal abuse had no effect on her whatsoever.
The only thought occupying Annette’s mind at that moment was whether she would lose her sense of hearing due to his loud and obnoxious voice.
Who didn’t know that Bjorn raised his voice to mask his lack of confidence?
“At the very least, my appearance has influence in society, unlike your repulsive face, Uncle. If you’re talking this much, it means you’re nervous.”
“How dare you!”
“You’re too noisy.”
Someone intervened, stopping Bjorn as he began to make actual threats.
“Is my aunt here as well?”
As Annette smiled broadly, Cassilia approached Bjorn.
Then, as if she were shielding her younger brother, she stepped in front of him, hiding him behind her back.
Yet the way she looked at him was filled with both pity and a desire to slap his face for his unbearable stupidity.
Bjorn hesitated for a moment, glancing between Cassilia and Annette, before stepping back.
“It’s been a while since I last saw you, Aunt.”
“We could have met sooner, but you were the one who delayed this meeting.”
Cassilia was referring to the moment when Theodore kissed the back of Annette’s hand at the cathedral that day.
Had it not been for the public display of affection between the two, Cassilia would have spoken to Annette back then.
Her ability to shift responsibility was on a completely different level from Bjorn’s.
Moreover, her talent for conveying contempt through her eyes was so refined that even covering her mouth with a fan was enough to express her utter disgust.
Annette thought to herself that she wanted to learn such a cold demeanor and imposing aura from her aunt.
“I don’t understand why my uncle was trying to drive me out of here. Did I come to a place I am not allowed to be? This is most certainly my home.”
“Is this truly your home? Doesn’t the fact that you secretly married without consulting the family’s elders mean that you have severed ties with House Sherringen?”
Clack_
Cassilia snapped her fan shut with a swift and elegant motion.
Her movement was far more effective and intimidating than Bjorn’s grating shouting.
“The trial has not yet taken place. So even if you have joined the imperial family, you will not be able to change the outcome. House Sherringen is not so dishonorable as to allow a woman who killed her own father to be the head of this family.”
Cassilia’s smooth voice directly referenced the murder charges against Annette.
It was a blatant warning that the accusations against her had yet to be resolved.
“As for that matter, there is no evidence that I committed such a crime, which is why I have not even been brought to trial. And for that same reason, there will be no trial in the future either.”
Thanks to Hans’ power and intelligence, Annette was declared innocent in court.
Of course, there were gaps in the evidence, but they were enough to prevent Annette—who had now become the Grand Duchess of House Kleist—from ever appearing in court, especially with the authority of the Emperor’s pendant, which Theodore possessed.
“That’s why I am now the Marchioness of Sherringen. Both of you should carefully reconsider how you speak to the mistress of this house.”
At the mention of “mistress of the house,” even Cassilia couldn’t maintain her composure.
“I am the Marchioness now, so you should be cautious and respectful in how you treat me from now on.”
“How dare you mention the title of Marquis like that?”
Cassilia’s gaze was as sharp as a blade.
Her eyes were terrifying enough to make any maid drop dead from fright, but Annette didn’t even blink.
“If not me, then who should be the Marquis? You, Aunt? Or perhaps my uncle, who’s hiding behind you?”
Bjorn, who had been cowering in Cassilia’s shadow, finally spoke up.
“And why shouldn’t I? My elder brother, the firstborn of our family, died young, so it wouldn’t be strange at all for me, his younger brother, to inherit the title after him.”
“No. It is strange. Very strange.”
Annette shook her head in pity.
“I am here, the eldest daughter of my father, who was the eldest son of this family. The former head of the house even appointed me as his heir while he was alive. So why would it be natural for you, my uncle—the second son of a distant lineage—to take this title instead of me?”
Annette looked directly into Bjorn’s eyes, but this time, he was the one who avoided her gaze.
He had a habit of averting his eyes from his elder brother, who had rightfully held the title, and now he did it unconsciously before Annette, whose eyes mirrored her father’s.
For a brief moment, shame washed over him, his face turning red, nearly bursting with humiliation.
Even if his late brother had made him nervous enough to look away, he never imagined that his own young niece would unnerve him in the exact same way.
After all, she was just a girl.
Bjorn had thought it was the perfect opportunity to seize the title of Marquis when his elder brother suddenly died, right after announcing that his daughter would inherit the title.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance had presented itself in the most unexpected way.
His elder brother, shot dead by his own daughter’s gun.
It was the perfect tragedy to exploit.
So Bjorn had conspired with his sister, Cassilia, and sent Annette to a mental institution.
As the highest-ranking male in the family, he was convinced that, without Annette, the title would be his alone.
And yet, here he was now, feeling utterly trapped between two women, unable to utter a single word.
Worse still, the two of them treated him as if he weren’t even present, continuing their conversation as if he were invisible.
Whether or not she noticed the pathetic thoughts swirling in Bjorn’s mind, Cassilia took a step closer to Annette.
“Even if you’ve been proven innocent, not everything has been settled yet.”
“If you’re referring to the will, I’m sure you’ve already reviewed it, Aunt, and—”
“I’m talking about the family ring.”
“……”
At Cassilia’s words, the room sank into a heavy silence.
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