#10. ‘Mad’ Dog and Mad ‘Dog’

But Penelope, who minimized her wrongdoings and exaggerated her kindnesses, said sincerely.

‘Who was the one who first showed that child around the mansion? If she had any conscience, she should go to Taran and plead on my behalf.’

‘Y-Yes, that’s right.’

Recalling the Divine Beast’s egg false accusation incident, Johanna found it difficult to fully agree with Penelope’s words.

But she was a servant and couldn’t defy her mistress.

Besides, considering how weak-minded the foolish lady Partanie was, it didn’t seem like an entirely impossible plan.

‘I’ll explain that Penelope actually feels sorry about almost falsely accusing her due to a misunderstanding, and remind her of how well she was treated in the past.’

With that in mind, she came to visit, but upon seeing Partanie, Johanna’s reason snapped.

‘What’s making her so happy?’

Birds of a feather flock together—Johanna, like Penelope, had been feeling a secret sense of superiority by trampling on the precious lady of Dragonia.

But now this dirty girl she had always believed to be inferior to herself… had somehow become clean and presentable.

And faced her with an indifferent look as if she were insignificant.

How dare she.

“Are you laughing at me right now?”

She wasn’t like this before.

Partanie, who wanted to look good in Taran’s eyes, had cowered before Penelope, his aunt. And she didn’t dare disrespect Johanna, Penelope’s closest aide.

She didn’t, but now…

“Well, did you perhaps do something worth being laughed at?”

Why is she talking like that?

Johanna felt betrayed when the person who ‘naturally’ should be watching their behavior around them and ‘rightfully’ should be disrespected by them was acting this way.

“You’re toying with me. You must want to take out your frustrations on me because I’m Madam Penelope’s maid!”

So she unknowingly crossed the line.

“Take out my frustrations, you say.”

At that moment, the impertinent lady smiled faintly.

“What a strange thing to say? It sounds as if there’s bad blood between Penelope and me.”

“……!”

Johanna flinched.

* * *

Some things, even if true, should implicitly never be mentioned.

‘Like the fact that Penelope hates and persecutes me.’

Despite everything, I am a daughter of Dragonia.

So anyone who wants the position of lady of Dragonia cannot allow such rumors to spread. No matter how true it might be, Penelope would never admit it in front of others.

‘Normally, she would have silenced this well, just as she had no problems tormenting me all this time.’

But currently, Penelope’s authority has fallen due to Taran’s friendly fire. In the midst of this, it’s difficult for her to control every word spoken by her maids.

“Wh-what I meant was, well……”

Having finally realized what she had done wrong, Johanna stammered with a flustered face.

I took the opportunity to signal the group of lower-ranking maids who had brought me food to withdraw. I didn’t want them involved in this matter.

For some reason, they seemed hesitant to leave immediately, but when I pointed to the higher-ranked maids Johanna had brought, they reluctantly withdrew.

As the silence lengthened.

“……It’s a misunderstanding, Miss.”

In the end, unable to find words to defend herself, Johanna was the first to bow her head.

‘As expected of Johanna, Penelope’s direct maid.’

Just like Penelope, when she finds herself in a disadvantageous situation, she tries to escape by abandoning her pride, bowing her head, and pretending to apologize.

But unlike her mistress, she lacked the pretense and shamelessness.

I could clearly see Johanna biting her lip in frustration as she lowered her head.

‘She lacks training.’

She should have practiced more like her mistress, tsk tsk. I clicked my tongue inwardly.

As I remained silent, Johanna gritted her teeth and slowly knelt down.

The message was clear.

‘That should be enough for forgiveness!’

If I were truly as young as I appeared, I would have accepted that apology. Naively believing that she was reflecting on her actions since she had at least apologized.

“Oh? How impressive. As a maid, you dare to voice misunderstandings that presume your mistress’s feelings.”

But I am not the child I was then.

“M-Miss……”

“Does Penelope know about this? That her direct maid brought from her family is fostering conflict between the lady and herself.”

“No, no! It’s a misunderstanding!”

Johanna hastily raised her head. Her face showed dismay at the escalating scale of the issue.

‘Yes. If rumors spread that Penelope’s direct maid spoke such words……’

There were many who coveted the currently vacant position of lady of Dragonia.

Though Penelope, who had arrived earlier, was defending it, it would be difficult to block at a time like this when her authority had fallen and rumors were ripe to circulate.

Would Penelope really leave a servant who created such grounds for attack unscathed?

“……M-My foolishness has nothing to do with Madam! All the fault lies with my wicked mouth!”

Johanna bowed so deeply that her head nearly touched the floor.

“I have committed a mortal sin! It’s all this lowly one’s fault, please kill me!”

At first, she was merely pretending to bow her head.

But when I didn’t answer, she lowered her head more and more, eventually banging her forehead on the floor.

Thud, the apologetic voice that had started quietly grew louder with my silence.

“E-Everything! Sob, everything is this lowly one’s fault. This lowly one……”

I quietly observed it all.

Until Johanna’s forehead turned red and seemed about to bleed.

“Enough.”

“……Th-Thank you.”

Johanna barely spat out those words with a humiliated face. Hatred brimmed in her eyes.

But I hadn’t stopped because of her.

I had spotted a familiar figure through the slightly open door.

‘It said to eliminate her.’

It seems that Johanna saying ‘please kill me’ just now wasn’t enough.

I slowly took a sip of tea and said.

“From now on, refrain from making statements that could cause misunderstandings. After all, what reason would there be for bad blood between me, the youngest daughter of Dragonia, and Penelope, a concubine?”

Concubine.

At that word, someone gasped in surprise.

Johanna, whose insides were already boiling from having to apologize insincerely to me, lost her reason and shouted.

“Wh-What did you say? How dare you make such a vulgar statement!”

“Hmm? What’s wrong with what I said?”

“How can you say such things about Madam Penelope!”

With a flushed face, Johanna glared at me as if she wanted to tear me apart, but I widened my eyes innocently and asked.

“Why, what’s the problem? Are you saying Penelope isn’t even worthy of being a concubine? Even though she’s Brother Taran’s aunt……”

“Shut up! Madam Penelope is the last wife of Dragonia and its lady!”

Johanna glared at me fiercely as if she herself had been insulted.

“Without knowing anything, how dare you speak such nonsense—!”

Thud- a heavy footstep.

“!”

Some of the sharp-eyed higher-ranked maids began to back away with pale faces, and Johanna too seemed to sense something was amiss as her words stopped.

‘But it’s already too late.’

I looked up at the figure in the doorway and said.

“That’s what she says, Brother Kalenso.”

“……!”

Kalenso.

At that name, Johanna hastily turned her head. At the end of everyone’s gaze stood a boy with white beast hide draped over his shoulders, who muttered.

“The last wife and lady of Dragonia?”

With a stride, his long legs invaded the bedroom in one breath.

“Which mongrel dared to spout such nonsense?”

His face beneath the blue curly hair was handsome but expressionless, and his bright blue eyes were clear, making them all the more chilling.

Lady.

Last wife.

Those two words were like Kalenso’s trigger buttons.

‘Because the only person who could truly be called the last wife and lady is Kalenso’s birth mother.’

Kalenso’s mother, the daughter of Count Yerbazena, gave birth to him after a difficult labor but ultimately didn’t survive.

‘After her tragic death, Father has kept the position of grand duchess vacant.’

A Grand Duchy without a lady.

That was another name for Dragonia.

In truth, for a power like the Grand Duchy of Dragonia, there would be many coveting the lady’s position even as a fourth wife.

But Kalenso’s faction, left behind by Yerbazena, was extremely wary and remained vigilant to keep that position vacant.

‘And Penelope is the one who directly confronts them.’

Strictly speaking, Penelope had only entered as Taran’s nanny and guardian, so she had no qualification to be the lady nor the right to be called Madam. Moreover, since she hadn’t formally spent the night with the Grand Duke, she hadn’t even gone through the marriage process.

But since there was currently no lady in the Grand Duchy of Dragonia, Penelope had ambiguously taken on the role of acting lady by leveraging her position as Taran’s guardian.

‘And now she’s pretending to be the real lady.’

To the extent that Penelope’s subordinates openly called her Madam.

“L-Lord Kalenso.”

No matter what, while someone like me might be a half-wit, one couldn’t act so boldly in front of Kalenso.

Johanna hastily bowed her head.

“I merely meant that it’s not proper to call Madam Penelope a concubine……”

“It’s not proper.”

“Y-Yes……”

“How could a lowborn from Barshava be father’s concubine? Who’s spouting such nonsense?”

Kalenso recited savagely.

At the ominous aura emanating from the boy, not only Johanna but also the maids surrounding me who were with her faltered.

As if trying to escape from a beast’s attack.

“I-It’s a misunderstanding.”

“We didn’t say that……”

But I didn’t give them a chance to escape and opened my mouth.

“Hmm? She’s not a concubine?”

“She’s talking like a concubine. That woman from Barshava is nothing more than Brother Taran’s maid!”

As Kalenso shouted, Johanna’s face twisted miserably.

A servant’s position is determined by their master’s position.

Johanna, who had been throwing her weight around as the maid from the lady’s family, had now fallen to being merely the maid of a maid, far from being a concubine’s maid.

“Father doesn’t keep concubines. You fool, don’t you even know that?”

“No, I don’t.”

“What?”

Whether Taran growled fiercely or not, I answered with an expression that said I don’t know anything.

“Since Penelope calls herself the lady and the maids also call her Madam, I thought she was……”

Bang!

Before I could finish my sentence, Kalenso’s fist struck the table beside the chair.

Crack, crash— the wooden table, split exactly in half, fell to the floor and rolled around.

“……”

My table… my food…

Seeing it all sprawled on the floor made me newly aware of my hunger. I hadn’t even eaten much…

While I was sad, pressing down on my hungry stomach, Kalenso became even more indignant.

“How dare. Who calls themselves what?”

Grind, the sound of teeth grinding.

Not only Johanna but even the maids’ faces turned pale. Some who were frightened even collapsed.

The three brothers of Dragonia were each dog-like in different ways.

‘In the novel, they were compared to Cerberus.’

For good reason. They were monstrous sons of bitches guarding the hell-like Northwest Dragonia.

Among them, if Taran was a ‘mad’ dog…

“I leave for a while and everyone loses their minds.”

Kalenso was a mad ‘dog’.