A Painting of the Villainess as a Young Lady

“Umm, well. You tried to express your dislike several times, Milady. You even asked His Grace the Duke to keep this area off limits to her.”

“……”

“Lady Aileen is prohibited from coming here in the first place, and you’ve asked her many times to leave, but none of that worked… And besides that, you also refused to show her your art when she demanded it. You said no already, but Lady Aileen just kept forcing you, didn’t she, Milady?”

“…Yeah. I guess so.”

Perhaps it’s because it’s been a long time since anyone took her side, but Violet was stunned and couldn’t reply properly.

Mary didn’t see Violet’s baffled expression and began to chatter on.

“I’ve experienced something similar. There’s this brutish, ugly boy named Thompson who keeps forcing me to marry him. But I don’t want to! Even though I said no so, so many times, people around me kept pairing me up with him. After that, I ended up being the only weird person there just because I refused… Huu, so I tried to find a way for me to live my own way, and that’s how I ended up working here at the ducal residence…”

Once the floodgates were opened, Mary let out an outpour of chattering.

She talked at a breathtaking speed, as if she was letting out all the words she had been begrudgingly holding in all this time.

“O-Oh… I see.”

Astonished as she was, Violet couldn’t think of anything else to say but this.

“Ah, um… I-I apologize! I didn’t even realize I’ve just been talking and…”

“No, it’s fine. Your story’s interesting.”

Mary belatedly noticed that she ran her mouth a bit too excitedly in front of her master just now, and it was only now that she covered her mouth.

In response, Violet only chuckled.

“…Are you not afraid of me?”

“I already answered the question before, Milady…”

“I want to hear a proper answer. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors about me.”

“…Um, I did think that you were scary at first. Juuuuust a little bit.”

Conscious of Violet’s reaction, Mary hurriedly added another thing.

“But when I finally met you in person, you’ve been nothing but nice! You always give me delicious food, too. The Ducal Lady I heard about in all the rumors is like a different person!”

“Nice, you say… But you know, the rumors are true. At least half of them are.”

“Huk— Then, did you really order someone’s tongue to be cut off, Milady?”

“Yes. You’re still not scared?”

“Umm, yes, I’m not scared! It’s just, well, that servant must have said something they shouldn’t have first!”

With the cheerfulness of a typical sixteen-year-old girl, Mary let out a peal of laughter.

While realizing that she hadn’t had a proper conversation with someone else in such a long time, Violet brought a piece of the tart to her lips. It’s too sweet.

“Milady, you’re not the kind of person who’d give an order like that on a mere whim. Earlier, too, I saw how hard you tried several times to endure Lady Aileen’s selfish behavior.”

“Fufu…”

“Uh, perhaps, did I say something funny?”

“No, it’s just that I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say that to me before. Yes, I didn’t give that order on a mere whim.”

In the past, the servant whose tongue Violet ordered to be cut dared to stand in her way and curse right in her face.

“You wicked woman!”

Even if that servant had said it in an effort to stop Violet from slapping Aileen’s cheek, it was still fundamentally wrong for a subordinate to interfere with the affairs of their superiors.

It’s only right that a tongue like that—one that did not know the concept of time and place, or hierarchy—were to be cut off.

It was a barbaric way to deal with things, but considering the era in which Violet existed, and considering how she was a great noble in these parts, it was justified. The action was warranted, but also full of spite.

“Enough about that. Now, you won’t be asking me to have your tongue cut off just because my mood has soured, will you?”

“Such gruesome words…”

“Hehe, I thought so.”

Having lived in the modern era before, Violet no longer had any intention to conform to the barbaric methods of penance in this era.

But apart from that, couldn’t she at least be allowed to express her anger when she’s angry?

With that fleeting thought, Violet soon shook her head slowly.

“Well I think that there must have been a good reason behind your decision back then, Milady.”

“…That doesn’t erase what I did wrong though.”

“But still! Ummm… Then, would it be alright if I ask why you did that?”

“……”

“Huk— I-If you’d rather not talk about it, then you don’t have to!”

“No, I’m just organizing my thoughts a little. It’s my first time talking about the incident.”

“Really?”

“No one asked. And even if I did say anything, people already automatically assume that I’m at fault before I utter a single word. They wouldn’t be able to see that I wasn’t at fault.”

“……”

Bewildered, Mary’s eyes fluttered open and close for a moment. Violet was still thinking about how much more she should tell the girl, but she soon became flustered the moment she saw Mary’s expression distorting to the fullest.

“Seriously, no one heard you out, Milady? They all just automatically thought you’re evil…”

“……”

“Milady, did they all just say you’re bad?”

“They’re right in saying that I am though. It’s nothing new.”

“B-But…”

Full of empathy, the girl ended up crying. Violet patted Mary on the shoulder.

“Then, you must’ve been lonely…”

“Lonely, huh. Yeah, I guess I was.”