Rapunzel Is Raised by Her Stepmother

Chapter 23: Sense of Self-Defeat  

Tick, tock, tick, tock.  

The time had long passed noon and now seemed as if the sun would soon set.  

Dorothea, staring at the clock hanging on the wall, furrowed her brows.  

‘That’s strange. Why is it so quiet? There’s no way the mansion could be this silent.’  

When Dorothea turned her head to look at the entrance of the tower outside the window, she saw the guard stationed there letting out a long yawn, nodding off with half-closed eyes.  

‘That reaction means that child hasn’t returned to the tower yet…’  

That meant the child—Rapunzel—was still in the mansion. That made it even more perplexing. If Rapunzel was in the mansion, there was no way it would be this quiet.  

There should have been the sound of furniture breaking somewhere or at least the noise of Rapunzel running through the hallways. But the mansion was eerily silent.  

As if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.  

“This kind of silence makes me uneasy…”  

A sudden wave of anxiety crept over her, and Dorothea’s fingers tapped irritably against the desk. She knew exactly where this unease was coming from.  

When she was young, she used to feel the same extreme anxiety whenever the puppy she had raised in the mansion suddenly disappeared and everything turned quiet.  

Because whenever it got this quiet, the puppy had always caused some sort of trouble.  

Feeling the same kind of unease now, Dorothea could no longer stand it. She rose from her chair and headed out of the room. If Rapunzel was going to cause trouble, it was better to have it happen right in front of her eyes.  

As Dorothea walked through the hallway, she stopped a passing maid and asked,  

“Have you seen that child? I haven’t seen her anywhere, and it’s so quiet that it’s unsettling.”  

“Oh… Ah, if you mean that child, she should be in the young lady’s library.”  

“...Still?”  

Dorothea frowned at the maid’s response that Rapunzel was still in the library.  

She had indeed ordered Rapunzel to clean the library that morning, but she hadn’t actually expected her to do it. Dorothea knew exactly what state her library was in.  

It was merely an order meant to make Rapunzel give up on having a personal maid and stop being a nuisance. Cleaning that place ‘until not a speck of dust remained’ was an impossible task. She had been certain that Rapunzel would give up soon enough…  

‘She’s been in that dust pit from morning until now…?’  

Feeling uneasy, Dorothea arrived at the library and knocked on its cautiously closed door. But there was no sound coming from inside.  

“Rapunzel?”  

Knock, knock. She knocked once more, but still, there was no response.  

Wondering if the maid had given her the wrong information, Dorothea carefully opened the door and peeked inside the library.  

Upon seeing the state of the library, she could not hide her shock.  

First of all, the dust had been cleaned spotless.  

The room, once filled with dust as if snow had piled up, was now completely free of even a single speck of it. Dorothea couldn't close her mouth in shock.  

The problem was…  

Though the dust was gone, the room was still a complete mess. No, rather, the state of the library had become even worse than before. Dorothea was left speechless at the sight.  

There was truly no mess like this kind of mess.  

Not only had Rapunzel pulled books from the shelves and scattered them all over the floor, but she had also stacked them neatly to use as a bed and pillow.  

Seeing Rapunzel sleeping soundly on top of the books, her mouth wide open as she let out deep snores—Kurrr——Dorothea couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.  

‘As expected, she did cause trouble.’  

Dorothea cautiously approached the deeply asleep Rapunzel.  

The soft snoring sounds Rapunzel made were quite amusing. Kurrr— Dororong— Kurrr— Dororong—. Just how hard had she worked to clean that she ended up sleeping so deeply?  

Sitting carefully beside Rapunzel, Dorothea took another look around the library. Books were sprawled all over the floor, making the room look disorderly, but the library truly was free of even a single speck of dust.  

Just how had she cleaned this place to turn that dust pit into something so spotless? Even the books scattered on the floor looked as if they were brand new.  

There was no way someone as young as Rapunzel could have cleaned this thoroughly with just her own strength. There was no sign that any of the maids had helped, so… could she have used the Remnant of a Witch?  

Something similar to the red thread that had been used on Dorothea back then…  

Dorothea looked down at Rapunzel, scanning for anything that could be the Remnant of a Witch.  

The dust-covered rag lying on Rapunzel’s stomach?  

The plain broom carelessly placed beside her head?  

Or—  

‘Could it be this apron?’  

Unlike the aprons given to the maids of the household, Rapunzel was wearing a cute apron decorated with frills. Perhaps this was the Remnant of a Witch.  

Dorothea had no intention of scolding Rapunzel for using it. In fact, it was commendable that she had thought to use the Remnant of a Witch for cleaning.  

Of course, while she had done a good job cleaning, she had left the place in utter disarray.  

Because of that, Dorothea didn’t feel like praising her.  

She simply found herself believing in ‘witches’ a little more because of Rapunzel. And among the many trinkets in the mansion, she became curious about which ones were truly ‘real.’ A mere curiosity, one might say.  

“……”  

Dorothea, who had been staring at the apron and then at Rapunzel’s dumbfounded sleeping face, suddenly recalled what Cordelia had said earlier.  

What was it again?  

Had she said that this looked like her?  

‘Where exactly was she looking when she said this resembles me?’  

Scoffing at Cordelia’s ridiculous remark, Dorothea studied Rapunzel’s face carefully. They didn’t have the same eye color or hair color, and she certainly didn’t have such a foolish-looking expression.  

The same went for their personalities. When she was younger, she hadn’t been as crazy as Rapunzel. She had been a little timid, calm, and mature—never acting like an excitable puppy.  

She had never run down the hallways playing tag with the servants like Rapunzel. She had never played fetch with the dogs. And asking the servants to throw a ball for her? That was simply out of the question.  

She wasn’t a dog, after all.  

‘The nanny must know this too, so why in the world did she say Rapunzel and I are alike?’  

Dorothea let out a sigh, unable to accept Cordelia’s words. No matter how she looked at it, there was nothing about Rapunzel that resembled her.  

Feeling a strange sense of irritation, Dorothea unconsciously poked Rapunzel’s cheek. The soft flesh dented deeply under her touch.  

Seemingly tickled by the motion, Rapunzel squirmed in her sleep.  

“Ungh.”  

Startled by Rapunzel’s reaction, Dorothea quickly pulled her finger back, then absentmindedly rubbed the fingertip that had touched her cheek.  

Her expression read as if she had no idea why she had just done that.  

It had been a completely unconscious action.  

Her irritation had been growing, and right in front of her eyes was that snow-white cheek, drawing her attention. The way it bounced slightly up and down with every breath Rapunzel took was simply an eyesore.  

That must have been why she touched it.  

It definitely wasn’t because she found Rapunzel endearing.  

It was just that she kept getting in the way.  

Despite being so skinny from lack of food, why were her cheeks so round? And why were they so soft?  

Even as her irritation flared, Dorothea furrowed her brows at the strangely addictive sensation.  

She didn’t understand why she felt this way.  

So, she poked Rapunzel’s cheek again. Poke, poke. Poke, poke, poke. Poke, poke, poke, poke.  

It wasn’t out of fondness—she was just annoyed.  

‘How long does she plan to sleep? I told her to clean the library, and she turned it into a disaster instead. Not only that, but she’s also using books as a bed, like she owns the place. Does she think the mansion is her personal playground?’  

Thinking that, Dorothea continued poking Rapunzel’s cheek.  

With each poke, Rapunzel whimpered in her sleep, but Dorothea didn’t stop.  

By the time she had poked her about twenty times, Rapunzel finally stirred awake.  

Half-lidded eyes blinked up at Dorothea with a blank expression, as if asking what was going on.  

“Well, did you sleep well? You were out cold.”  

“Unghh?”  

Still half-asleep, Rapunzel rubbed her eyes and turned her head, glancing around to grasp the situation. She stared blankly into space for a moment before suddenly widening her eyes and breaking into a bright smile.  

“Mom!”  

“…Ha, there it is again—that ‘Mom’ nonsense.”  

At that single word, Dorothea regretted waking her up.  

Stretching her arms with a yawn, Rapunzel fully shook off her drowsiness. She then beamed and spread her arms wide, gesturing toward the entire library. It seemed she wanted to show off her cleaning.  

“Look! I cleaned everything just like you said—not a single speck of dust left!”  

“…Right. But what about the books? Why is everything so messy?”  

“It was a necessary sacrifice in order to achieve a completely dust-free space!”  

Saying that, Rapunzel stretched out her apron, proudly showing it to Dorothea.  

As expected, the apron she was wearing seemed to be a Remnant of a Witch.  

Holding both her apron and broom up high, Rapunzel enthusiastically began explaining the Remnant of a Witch in her usual excited tone.  

“This is amazing! Just by wearing this and holding a broom, the cleaning—”  

Exaggerated gestures and exclamations, all to capture Dorothea’s attention.  

“Mom, are you listening? I’ll explain again—this is—”  

A face that always lit up with a bright smile whenever their eyes met.  

“Hmm… Maybe this is too high-tech for Mom to understand.”  

And an unmistakable look of disappointment when she didn’t receive attention.  

Seeing that expression, Dorothea finally understood why Cordelia had said Rapunzel ‘resembled’ her.  

It wasn’t about their personalities or appearances.  

‘…Yeah, I guess we do look alike.’  

The way Rapunzel acted toward her was exactly how Dorothea had once behaved in front of her father, seeking his attention.  

Back then, she had always exaggerated her actions to draw his gaze. Even under his cold stares, she had responded with a smile. And when he showed no interest, she would pout and sulk like a child, unable to hide her disappointment.  

“…Hah.”  

The moment she realized it, a deep sense of self-defeat washed over Dorothea.  

She couldn’t shake the thought—  

That she was now acting just like her father had.  

And that realization was suffocating.