Chapter 20 (2/2)
“Aaarrghhh!”
It was a scream that was loud enough to numb someone’s eardrums.
Then, Young Lady Dvonn became furious, she pointed to Young Lady Swavy who fell down, along with Lara who was captured.
“Oh my God! How dare a mere attendant beat nobles! Watchmen! What are you doing? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”
“Ouch… My leg, I think it’s broken!”
Young Lady Swavy, who fell down while making a fuss, laid down at the entrance of the watchmen station. It was obvious that she was exaggerating, but no one dared to say anything.
“Let go of her hand.”
Young Lady Dvonn warned the soldiers for the last time.
She reeked of alcohol so strong that it could make someone’s nose numb, but her big and clear eyes did not look drunk at all.
“Marquess of Bailey’s soldiers will be rumored to have kidnapped, beaten, and abused vulnerable ladies. Even if the Marquess were a noble of high status, he would not take care of each and every one of your lives.”
The grips of the soldiers who grasped Lara’s forearm loosened.
The sounds of horse hooves rang in the quiet night streets. The streets were empty, but an unexceptional leisure carriage moved along the riverside. Lara was sitting in it, facing Young Lady Dvonn and Young Lady Swavy. She wiped the blood off her chin with a handkerchief from the two.
“I thought you were a big deal with the way you acted, but you could not even rebel properly against your father?”
“Pardon?”
“How can you just be dragged away by the attendant obediently? If you act like that, one day, your father can force you to marry a man that you don’t even know well.”
“Young Lady Dvonn.”
“My name is Eunice. She’s Ximena.”
“I’m Lara.”
“I know. Anyone in Hautean who does not know Laviore Ria Bailey is a spy.”
Eunice Dvonn and Ximena Swavy, as usual, came to the Night Ball intending to drink and enjoy themselves all night. But they did not expect Laviore Ria Bailey to come to the banquet hall and bring ‘that slave’ as her partner.
At first, they were obviously annoyed.
Being the model student who always got compliments, not only did she invade their territory, she even managed to get an attractive slave at once, so their eyes were blazing with fury to somehow find her weakness every time they saw her.
But it was weird.
The more they observed Laviore Ria Bailey, the more they realized she was someone full of contradictions. Despite owning the most famous slave in the arena, she was not interested in the match. Despite kissing with her slave in such a public place, she did not even get along with him very often. She wore the red dress that others scorned as being tacky, but it looked really good on her. Let alone tacky, she just looked sophisticated in it.
The more they looked at her, the more curious they became of her.
They were curious whether Young Lady Bailey was just as the rumors had said. So, as they approached and picked a fight with her, her contradictions were all the more apparent. Her gaze was arrogant, but her tone was polite, her outfit was fancy, but her voice was calm.
They thought she came to the Night Ball to enjoy it, but she was rather disappointed.
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There was a reason why Demian went on a rampage. Eunice and Ximena realized that the people he beat were the ‘problems’ in the banquet hall.
“If you want to be the villain, you have to do something bad. Steal someone else’s things, beat someone, destroy something. Why are you acting so cool alone in a place filled with villains?”
When Eunice brought that up, Ximena asked Lara.
“Young Lady Bailey, are you perhaps doing this on purpose? Is the Marquess forcing you into an arranged marriage for his convenience?”
“How did you know?”
“It’s something that everyone dreams of. Even though not many people dare to put it into action…”
Ximena continued with a face that said she had already expected that.
“That was not enough if you want to get away from your family’s pressure. I’m not bragging, but let me tell you about my story. When I found out that my father who was addicted to gambling had begun to touch my share of inheritance left by my grandfather, I poured oil into his bedroom and set it on fire.”
This time, Eunice continued after Ximena.
“I did more than that. When I found out that my mean mother was actually my stepmother who seduced my father and kicked my biological mother out, I bought prostitutes with her money and threw parties every night. To be fair, I held them in my father’s bedroom too.”
Oh my God.
Eunice laughed out loud as Lara looked at them at a loss for words.
Then, after she choked and coughed a few times, she talked to Lara with a serious look.
“Young Lady Bailey, we have been fighting for years. Now our parents have moved on with their lives as if we were never their children, but back then, they used to break our limbs and even tried to rehabilitate us by confining us in the temple prayer room.”
“They made a fuss, saying that we were possessed by demons and that we needed to be exorcised.”
Ximena let out a sigh.
Then she took a look at Lara and said.
“We have already heard that Marquess of Bailey beat, starved, and confined you. We go to the Night Ball every night, so we hear all sorts of things. There was actually no point in trying to keep your employees quiet.”
“Just call me Lara.”
“Lara, you may think this is a bit ridiculous for a piece of advice, but…”
“I won’t think so.”
“If you’re not ready to throw everything you have away and fall into the gutter, then as a noble-born daughter, it’s going to be really hard to leave your family.”
“Yes.”
“Moreover, you’re the one and only daughter of the Marquess.”
Ximena told Lara a realistic story.
She said after being ostracized by her family, no place treated her as a noble. She was just a rich, reckless lady who knew how to enjoy herself. The men were not polite when approaching her. The ladies, who she thought were her friends the day before, looked down on her and pretended not to know her.
It was also common for her to be kicked out of the entrance to the banquet hall or threatened not to hang out with the other nobles’ daughters.
They were pathogens and heresies in the Hautean aristocracy.
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“We’re just the daughters of a Baron and Viscount, but we were already treated that badly… What will happen to you, then?”