In the southern part of the Tête Kingdom’s royal capital lay the Earl of Mercure’s estate, home to the few professional mages in the nation. The House of Mercure, led generation after generation by powerful mages, was shrouded in mystery. Since the establishment of the Tête Kingdom, they’d undertaken jobs requiring magical expertise at the behest of the king, other noble families, and the church. They had a peculiar reputation among their peers who found their magical abilities eerie and unsettling yet did not dare to provoke them for fear of being on the receiving end of their mysterious powers.
Mere seconds ago, the mansion of the esteemed Mercure family had developed a hole the size of a large rock, courtesy of none other than yours truly—Lam Mercure, Earl Mercure’s wife.
“Phew. Guess I beat that insignificant insect unconscious.” I brushed my hands on my skirt and took deep breaths to calm myself, slowly returning to my senses. “May’ve gone a little overboard. I truly forgot the sensation of mana circling through my body, huh?”
I glanced down at my feet, where the overweight gardener who had attempted to strike me a few moments prior was sprawled on the floor in a disgraceful manner.
Not too long ago, he’d yelled, “You’re just His Lordship’s wife! How dare you be so arrogant?!” before charging at me with his fist raised. All I did was defend myself.
The servants keep on attacking me, one after the other. They truly had no respect for the old Lam, did they? It’s starting to irritate me.
By marrying Earl Mercure, I’d become part of a higher ranking family, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Since then, everyone in the mansion, regardless of status, had trampled all over me. Though I was a countess, I couldn’t perform any of the duties that came with the title because I’d never received the proper education to deal with them. I was just the daughter of a baronial family of commoner origins, after all. On top of that, I didn’t have any friends in the earldom to take me under their wing. My husband ignored me, the servants abhorred me, and I lacked the knowledge to manage an estate. In short, there wasn’t a single soul in the mansion who wasn’t hostile toward me.
Well, perhaps there’s one. My husband simply seems to have no interest in me whatsoever.
I was not Earl Mercure’s first wife: he’d been married before to a lady far more accomplished than I was. Furthermore, I’d always had a weak constitution and had never left my childhood home before, which had left me ignorant of the ways of the world. A terrible shyness slowly devoured me, to the point I feared everything and could never voice what was on my mind.
To make things worse, my lead handmaiden—the daughter of a prestigious viscount—was in love with Earl Mercure and loathed me with a burning passion. She couldn’t accept that he’d chosen me, a lower noble, to become his second wife over her, a woman who’d devoted herself to the House of Mercure for her entire life. The other servants had gradually started copying the way she treated me. The thought of serving the measly daughter of a baron had irked them to no end. Despite my best efforts, there was no way I could run the estate with the servants refusing to obey my commands.
It hadn’t even been my wish to marry the earl. Due to certain circumstances, I’d practically been sold to the Mercure family—not that the servants cared about that. They took advantage of the fact that the earl was almost never home due to his busy schedule to torment me without end.
It was on one of those miserable days, as my handmaidens abused me yet again, that my memories returned.
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“Honestly, how useless can you be? When will you finally recommend me as a concubine to His Lordship?!”
The early summer sun was shining outside, a stark contrast to the cold emptiness of the room I presently occupied. A young woman tugged on my sloppily combed light-green hair and a pained groan escaped my lips.
I hate this! I’m so scared, but if I dare to speak up, the punishment will be even worse.
If I just endured it in silence, I wouldn’t get in trouble.
“Hey! Are you listening to me?!”
The next instant, my body was drenched in liquid. She’d dumped a bucket of cold water over me. The echo of malicious giggles filled my ears. After marrying into the House of Mercure, this had become my daily routine.