When My Enemies Began to Regret

After spending almost an entire day there, a few hours later she arrived at the mansion again. There was no way her family would welcome her to come back.

By chance, Fanora ran into her half-brother, who had returned to the mansion at the same time at the front door. He frowned as soon as he saw her appearance from the carriage. There was a sign of boredom in his expression.

“Where did you go without saying a word? And where did that black carriage come from? You’re not even married… Are you trying to tarnish our family’s prestige?”

“…”

“Is your head empty?”

Fanora thought quietly as she saw her younger brother pouring out insulting words that did not suit where they were. If it had been the 15-year-old Fanora, she would have started weeping at his insult. 

But it wasn’t the time yet. Fanora calmed down one side of her chest. Looking at their situation now, their return time was similar, and her brother usually stayed up all night in other people’s estates on the pretext that it was his close friend’s birthday.

In the past, Fanora even tried to understand her little brother. She thought that if she became a kind older sister, he would one day recognize her sincerity. But that day never came in her life.

“Sorry.”

Nevertheless, she made a calm expression and began to apologize. It was because she didn’t want him to be on guard if her attitude suddenly changed. As always, Fanora bowed her head.

“I didn’t even know that the little Duke would suddenly call for me…”

“What?”

“It’s Aloken. I returned from his villa.”

But then, not knowing who I was with, her younger brother, Purson, was bewildered.

“Aloken? Little Duke of the North? Why are you with him…”

“Ah, because I’m getting engaged with him. Aloken said he would arrange the engagement within this week. Then I will be on my way.”

“What? Uh… Engagement!?”

When he was speechless at the sudden news, Fanora ran away quickly from there.

“Engagement?”

Fanora was originally the older sister who kept standing still in the place and didn’t say goodbye when someone finished talking to her. When she entered the mansion first, her brother was even more puzzled.

“!” As Fanora entered the mansion hallway, she met a familiar face.

“…”

“…”

Bael was walking from the other side. Presumably, he came out because he was worried about his son’s return at this late hour. It was an action Fanora had never received before.

“Father.”

Fanora bowed to greet him, ignoring the tangle of her own hair. But when she lifted her head again, Bael had already moved. At times like this, she really felt like she had become a ghost. In particular, the woman ghost who weeps bitterly. 

* * *

A few days later, as promised, the Jalier family made a formal engagement request to the Cesius family. Even though she didn’t intend to spread the news about it, it was the news about the little Duke’s engagement, so there was no way it could be kept as a secret.

Strangely enough, she hadn’t even received the engagement vows yet, but the rumors spread around first.

The preparations for the engagement proceeded at a faster pace than at the time she was engaged with Naverius. Even if his family cried out that they didn’t like me, they didn’t seem to want to miss this opportunity. As I ate breakfast, I thought Aloken might already have our engagement papers stamped.

But, from now on people would flock to me, who would have the power.

Fanora began to ponder how to deal with the most difficult person of her revenge targets.

She thought about it as she read the book spread on the table. But after a while, the tapping table sounded in line with the knocking sound from the door.

“Lady Fanora, this is Cecil.”

Raising her head, Cecil asked her if she could come into her room.

“What’s going on?”

Having no reason to refuse her, Fanora gave permission for her to enter her room. Then she saw a woman in a black servant’s uniform come in, and she spoke a few words.

“It’s about Lady’s birthday banquet coming soon. The Count asked if he could formally announce Lady’s engagement with Lord Aloken Jalier at the banquet.”

The question Fanora heard was useless. Her father has always done things in his own way, and now why was he asking for her permission? Come to think of it, she heard a similar question when she was engaged to Naverius.

“Tell him I said yes.”

Fanora was not interested in the engagement itself, so she roughly agreed. After all, the engagement was not something that should be glamorous compared to marriage, as only the two parties would come to the church with their engagements signed. 

Fanora didn’t even pay attention that Cecil already left the room as she fell into thought again. She had to reduce the number of her visits gradually. Perhaps this would be her last visit.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it.”

Fanora ended up skipping breakfast and jumped out of her seat, and rang the handbell. When her maid opened the door at the sound of a clear bell, a lie came out again.

“Cecil! I will go out, so prepare to get my hair done. Isn’t Sir Ronwe, who worked for this family, in critical condition? I am so worried about him that I can’t even finish my meal!”

* * *

Cecil. It had already been five years since she began serving the Celsius family. She was busy doing her job today with the same appearance of her braided hair and servant’s uniform.

“Cecil?”

For her, the Celsius family was a simple workplace, not a subject of respect. She had no intention of becoming a personal maid or friend for the young master like any other servants. They were not even paying her for that, so what’s the point of responding to the young master she served when asked about her daily work?

Cecil considered herself a cold-headed person. She was confident that she wouldn’t start the so-called dumb relationships like others.

“Are you sick, Cecil?”

“No, Lady. It’s… I wanted to ask you a question if you don’t mind. Will it be all right?”

“Yes.”

But just like the love story between a knight and a princess in the novel. Cecil also came up with a cliché sentence and thought, ‘

“Why are you doing this for the butler?”

“It is said that he came from a knight who had been loyal to the Celsius family since childhood.”

“That’s right.”

“Even after retiring from the knighthood, he said he wanted to contribute to our family and worked all the time. How can I turn a blind eye to someone who devoted his life to the Celsius family?”

“…”

“Honestly, my father or mother might think of him as just an ordinary servant. But I will never forget his work.”

Where did the spoiled young lady that Seir gossiped about? The master Cecil served was always polite. That contrast might be something that bothered Fanora more. 

“And… Cecil, I only said this to you. I have a lot of thoughts about the unfortunate accidents that have happened these days.”

“…”

“Especially because of Seir’s death.”

Cecil froze at the mention of Seir. “Seir… What Lady is trying to say?”

Cecil believed that Fanora was different from the rumors and nasty things that were being said by others. Still, she had no choice but to wonder what happened. According to the words in this mansion, Lady Fanora was a bad person who punished servants freely according to her emotions. However, Lady Fanora that she had been serving wasn’t like that at all. So she wondered about it.

“The truth is, Seir has always been unfaithful. She had never been kind to me and only pretended to do the servant’s work when she was in the eyes of others.”

“…”

“But in the end, Seir was the only one who stood by my side in this mansion, right? I was grateful to her for that alone. But you don’t know how many times I cried in my room when I heard that she recently lost her life to the old chandelier.”

Cecil couldn’t help but be surprised at the young lady’s few words.

At first, Cecil was suspicious about it.

“That’s how I thought after Seir died. Once a person’s life is gone, it never comes back, so if I have to thank someone… Especially for everyone who does dangerous things for me, let’s be good to them while they’re still alive.”

And then Cecil noticed too late. During the conversation, tears began to fill the corners of Fanora’s eyes.

“That’s why I’m going to visit Sir Ronwe.”

In the past, Fanora was an elegant lady because she rarely expressed her emotion. Who could not be moved to see this lady weeping for the passed away servant?

“Lady…”

 Cecil’s suspicions were shattered. At the same time, she felt pity for the lady who grew up neglected in this mansion. 

It was easy for the wave of confusion to grow once it started to move. Humans were always more attracted to a ‘poor and kind person’ story rather than a ‘happy and good person.’

* * *

“Cecil, the sun is strong today. I’m just stopping by Sir Rowne’s house anyway, so you don’t have to follow me.”

“Pardon? But—”

“I’ll be right back. Please stay in the mansion.”

“I understand…”

Cecil soon went back to the mansion. As Fanora said, it was sunny today, so Cecil couldn’t keep standing outside. She thought she should take a breath while hiding in a quiet kitchen for a while.

“Huh? Why are you in the kitchen at this hour? Where’s the Lady?”

“Mail, put down those dusty sacks. I will tell you after that.”

“Alright, alright. Step back a little so you don’t get your uniform dirty.”

A few minutes later, the porter spoke to Cecil, who was lost in thought. Since Count Celsius was not a person who would beat the servants for having a chat during the break, the two of them had a comfortable conversation.

“Lady Fanora went out.”

“Really? Lady goes out a lot these days.”

“Sir Ronwe… Lady Fanora heard that his illness had gotten worse. She’s visiting him because she’s worried about his condition.”

During the brief conversations, the porter made a puzzled expression. It was because he still believed the rumors about Fanora.

“That Lady Fanora? Didn’t they say she has a bad temper? I heard she likes to beat her servant.”

“…”

“By the way, how’s it going for you? I haven’t heard a word about you since you became Lady Fanora’s exclusive maid.”

Cecil, who had been listening to him quietly, thought about something and opened her mouth. “It’s just that Lady… is kind to me. She still gave me a break time like right now.”

“Kind?”

“I can’t believe what Seir said anymore.”

“What? That’s it? But besides Seir… there’s the chef. That person is still saying that he almost got into trouble because Lady Fanora was complaining about the food made by him.”

“But—”

Even at this moment, in Cecil’s head, Fanora’s tears for the servant and the few words she had uttered still linger.

“Did something happen?”

“That—”

Cecil gave a positive evaluation of her master. It was according to the sentiments she recalled. Then the porter looked convinced. “Well, indeed. I haven’t personally experienced being beaten by her, so I guess Lady Fanora might be a good person.”

Golden words cost nothing but payback a lot.