Slam!

Kanna was dozing off on her couch when a loud bang suddenly woke her up. What was that?

Another bang. It was coming from the door.

“Open the door this instant! I will break it down if I must!” the voice of a middle-aged woman shouted from the other side as more pounding shook the door.

Bang, bang, bang!

Kanna stared at the door for a moment, slowly realizing it was locked from the inside. I don’t remember locking the door... I’ll bet Mary did it!

“Coming!” shouted Kanna, dashing to unlock it.

Several servants were standing outside with hammers in their hands. Among them was a lady. There she is. It was the duke’s stepmother, Kanna’s mother-in-law, and the true mistress of this household—Countess Josephine Elester.

Silvian’s birth mother had passed when he was only ten years old, and this was the lady his father had married afterward. Even after her husband’s death, Josephine had refused to leave the manor, and had instead claimed one of the many titles of the Valentino duchy for herself. Although she styled herself Countess Elester, she acted as though she were still the mistress of the Valentino estate.

“What do you think you’re doing? You will show me the respect I deserve!” Josephine stormed into the room with a flap of her fan and a glare that could kill. “You know, Mary told me something very interesting today.”

Kanna could see Mary smirking on the other side of the door. Snitch.

“Have you forgotten your duty to pay your respects to me every morning? It’s already one o’clock. You seem to have forgotten to greet me at noon as well!”

“I haven’t, actually.” Every day at breakfast, lunch, and dinnertime. A minute too late and she’d be subjected to a brutal scolding.

“I just didn’t wish to go,” Kanna replied, not hiding her annoyance at all the years Joohwa had suffered.

She wanted a divorce, anyway. Getting kicked out would save her a lot of trouble.

“Pay my respects three times a day? The other ladies would faint from the shock. I’ve never heard of such a thing, not even in the ancient history of your youth!”

The room was dead silent. The servants and maids outside, not to mention the countess herself, were so appalled they seemed to have forgotten how to speak. Kanna was very proud of herself.

“W-what did you say?” Josephine finally managed to reply.

When her most trusted maid told her what happened, she could hardly believe it. How could that empty-headed girl have whipped her, when she was usually too timid even to talk back?

I thought she must have been exaggerating, or that that girl must’ve knocked her head silly... But now I know! She really has lost her mind! How dare she treat me this way? Before, she’d have been happy to eat scraps off the floor if it meant one kind word from me!

“This is our family’s sacred tradition. As long as you are married to my son, you must carry it on, whether you like it or not!”

“Tradition? Didn’t you make it up yourself?”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s a silly rule you made up to give me a hard time, and now you’re claiming it’s tradition? Doesn’t it shame you to treat the long history of the Valentino family like some trinket you can do with as you will?”

Silence filled the room once more at Kanna’s biting words. Then she got exactly what she wanted.

“Grab her this instant!” screamed Josephine. The servants who’d been watching quickly came into the room to hold Kanna down. “I will be teaching you a lesson today! Bring me the switch!” Josephine barked. Mary wasted no time bringing a switch much thicker than the one Kanna had used on her.

“Mary! Lift her skirts immediately!”

“Yes, my lady!” replied Mary, eagerly thrusting her arms forward. She tried to look indifferent, but the glory of such swift and sweet revenge shone in her eyes. You brought this on yourself!

But...

“Get your hands off me,” Kanna said as she kicked Mary’s grasping hands away from her. Then, with a cheerful smile on her face, she lifted her skirts. “I’ll do it myself.”

This, the countess did not expect.

“Please proceed, Mother.”

Kanna’s sinister smile sent a chill down both women’s spines. The Kanna they’d known would already have been on her knees, begging for forgiveness. But here she was, strong and defiant, taunting them.

“Do you believe I’m bluffing? Fine! I suppose some only learn through discipline!”

Discipline, discipline. Kanna couldn’t help but laugh out loud as she repeated the word again and again in her head. “And this is how you discipline your daughter-in-law? By beating her? Ah yes, how befitting of a most prestigious and noble family. I’m sure Lord Valentino will be pleased to hear of your educational methods.”

“Shut your filthy mouth! How dare you talk back to me? I am your elder!”

Crack!

Kanna bit her lip as the sharp pain jolted through her body. She’d seen it coming, but the stinging still made her want to scream. The flushed countess lifted the switch again, swinging it down on Kanna’s calves.

Crack!

“I suppose the Addis family knows nothing of manners and discipline. How disrespectful of them to toss their trash into my home!”

Crack! Crack!

The red lines multiplied on Kanna’s legs as the switch struck them again and again. When her skin started to break and bleed, the maids gasped from the sidelines. But Kanna did nothing but hold onto her skirts and bite her lip as she endured the pain.

I’m not going to scream. I won’t give that satisfaction to the woman who’s tormented Joohwa all these years.

The countess was out of breath, her arm cramped and trembling from exertion after a lifetime of barely lifting a finger. Her daughter-in-law’s calves were swollen and bruised, covered in blood. “Have you learned your lesson?!”

“I don’t believe so,” Kanna gritted out.

“You...!” You stubborn girl! Josephine and her maids gaped in shock.

Even Mary, who had been so pleased with herself earlier, had gone pale. B-but... Her calves are dripping with blood! They’re so swollen they look like tree trunks! She must have lost her mind. That must be it. People don’t just change like this overnight!

Kanna’s face was drenched in sweat but had lost none of its determination.

Unfortunately, her mother-in-law was just as unyielding. She handed the switch to a manservant standing next to her. “Strike her!”

“P-pardon?”

“Have you gone deaf?! I order you to strike her on my behalf!”

“M-my lady, I...”

Despite Kanna’s status within the estate, she was still a noble from a powerful family. It was unthinkable for him, a man and a servant at that, to beat her. The consequences could be catastrophic for him.

“Now!”

With no choice but to obey, he approached Kanna, his face filled with regret. He struck out, but with such a light touch as to barely touch her skin.

“What was that?! I order you to flog her properly!”

“B-but my lady, the miss’s legs are already too damaged...”

It was senseless to continue. In the face of the manservant’s hesitation, Josephine fell into a silence. She had beaten Kanna out of frustration, but her servant was right. There wasn’t an inch left on her calves that wasn’t bruised or bloody. That should be enough to make her back down.

“Do you still believe you’ve done no wrong?” the countess asked, with an intense glare.

As weak as she was, this still made Kanna smile. Her jaw hurt from biting down on her lip for so long, her body was covered in sweat, and the throbbing pain on her legs burned like fire.

I don’t want to live like that. Reporting to my mother-in-law three times a day, a slave to her whims? Kanna knew it was meant to control her, taking away her freedom to come and go as she pleased. Never again.

She wasn’t sure why, but she had returned to her original world, and there was no guarantee she’d ever leave it again. Knowing this, she was determined to make a better life for herself, to be treated like a human being rather than a chained beast.

But if she gave up here and now, nothing was ever going to change. Absolutely nothing.

“No, I understand I was wrong,” Kanna replied hoarsely.

Josephine thought she’d won. But just as she was about to smile in triumph, Kanna added, “I was wrong for allowing you to order me around all these years, when I never ought to have tolerated it in the first place.”