“Not only are you utterly clueless, a simpleton in every sense, His Lordship does not even care for you,” the woman said haughtily, gazing down on me as I lay crumpled on the floor. “Yet, you dare call yourself the countess! Are you not embarrassed? At the minimum, you should follow my orders. Wouldn’t you agree?”
The woman speaking was my head handmaiden, the one who held authority over the other servants, and the ringleader of the most wicked and cruel servants in the earl’s household. She was beautiful, with shoulder-length black hair, icy blue eyes, and—perhaps due to her upbringing—an ego the size of the highest peak of the Ouragan Mountain range, which stood in the distance outside my window.
“Since you are so useless, the least you could do is introduce His Lordship to a woman who can bear him an heir,” she said.
How nice it would be, if that was all it took to resolve everything.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t fulfill her request even if I wanted to. There was one immutable requirement to become the Countess of Mercure: to have mana still flowing through one’s body.
The majority of people lost their mana when they were blessed as young children, but there were exceptionally rare cases where individuals retained their mana after the ceremony. For those who did, their magic might even manifest out of the blue at times. It was commonplace to find such individuals unsettling, but the Mercure family was different. As they made a living as professional mages, it was necessary for the earl’s wife—even his second wife like me—to possess mana as well.
That’s the only reason they chose me to be his bride. It’s only natural that my maids resent me.
However, I knew explaining myself to the head handmaiden would do nothing to appease her anger. I’d been watching her every day since I married into the family and understood what kind of person she was. I remained silent.
“You are such an eyesore. Girls, show our dear madam her place!” she said.
Like chuckling hyenas, the other maids started pushing and jostling me around. While they might have been ordered to abuse me, I knew they hated me regardless.
“Ha ha, sorry about that! I accidentally nudged you with my elbow.”
“Oops, and my knee! I couldn’t help it, you know. It’s your fault for crouching in the way, madam. You are so dull-witted, I can hardly believe it!”
A satisfied smirk curled on my head handmaiden’s lips as she watched the others go after me. Not one person in this house would help me.
Please, no more...
What about my husband? He was a busy man and had no interest in me, the woman he’d married out of obligation. I could count on one hand the number of times we’d met. I didn’t know if he was aware of the way the servants treated me or if he was deliberately ignoring it.
I don’t mean a thing to him.
From what I’d been told, after his previous wife had passed away, the earl’s entourage had pestered him to remarry. In the end, he’d settled for me, a second-rate noble who wouldn’t talk back to anyone. The Mercure family had offered my father substantial financial support in exchange for me, so no one in my family had ever peeped the slightest complaint about the way I was treated by the earl’s household. Thus, dreary day after dreary day, I had endured abuse just like this.
“Serves you right, you worthless plebeian!” one of the maids snapped. The head handmaiden wasn’t the only one who liked to pick on me; the other servants bonded over mistreating me as well. “You’re so irritating! How was someone like you chosen to be His Lordship’s wife?! Sure, you have mana, but you can’t even use magic, can you?”
I hated myself for sitting there and just accepting their bullying, but I was terrified of what they would do if I tried to defy them. I didn’t want to feel even worse pain, to suffer more, to cry.
“No matter what you do, it is futile.” This idea had been hammered into my head, both physically and verbally, time and again when I still lived at home.
I just need to stay silent. It’s my fault for being so incompetent in the first place.
I didn’t have the willpower to resist them anymore. Even if I did, nothing would change.
“Say something! Just the sight of you irritates me beyond measure!” the head handmaiden exclaimed as she shoved me backward with great force.
I let out a yelp as she sent me flying, so hard that I knocked the back of my head against a shelf. In that instant, something changed inside my body. There was a strong throbbing, and I could feel the back of my head burning.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!
However, there was another sensation mixed in with the pain—a strange sensation, like a mysterious tide rising up within me.
What an...uneasy feeling. Whatever it was, it felt like it might overflow from my body. Alarmed beyond belief, I shrunk in on myself. What’s happening? I’m scared! Please, no!
I buried my head in my hands, my body trembling like a leaf. Fear strangled my chest so tight I couldn’t even scream.
My head...
Like a dam bursting, unfamiliar events began flooding my mind in droves. It felt as if someone were cramming too much information into my head, all at once. I saw visions of an unknown country and strange spells flying through the air with seemingly no end. I was the one who’d cast them, my three disciples by my side. I’d never seen any of these scenes before, yet they stirred my heart with their familiarity.
What’s going on?
Overwhelmed by the waves of unknown memories crashing over me, I braced my hands against the wooden floor. Happiness, warmth, and a bittersweet sorrow welled up in my chest. Tears prickled at the corners of my eyes.
What is this?
Soon, the visions came to an end, the pain disappeared, and what remained was me—and the memories I had regained. I remembered everything. These important, incredibly precious memories were all mine.
That’s right. How could I have forgotten such warm and gentle moments?
After a few seconds, my mind cleared again, as if I’d awakened from a long dream.
Lam... No, I am no cowardly countess. The real me is...
“Now that I’ve regained my memories, I won’t let them treat me like this a second longer,” I muttered.
The maids, sensing the change, eyed me with suspicion.
“Talking to yourself? That’s a new level of pathetic. Did you go mad after hitting your head, perhaps?” the head handmaiden said.
From my position on the floor, I could see her shoes approaching. I stood up, brushed the dust off my skirt, and glared at her without a word.
“How dare you look at me like that? So impudent! I see you are still in need of correction,” she shouted. She swung her right hand at me to strike me for my defiance.
I easily sidestepped the slap, and her eyes widened upon seeing me move with such uncharacteristic agility.
“I believe it is you who is in need of correction. Day after day, you’ve bullied me relentlessly, but that ends now!”
The countess who let everyone walk all over her was no more. From now on, I would repay every punch and insult thrown at me twofold!