I Am the Real One

Chapter 4

“…….”

Pressing her hand against her cheek, Keira thought to herself. What could I say? Father, what am I to say to you? What am I to say when, no matter what I say or what reason I give, you won’t hear me?

As Keira’s silence continued, the mood grew harsher.

Cosette said tearfully, playing mediator between them, “Father...don’t be cross, please? Keira is under so much stress these days. She’s a kind girl. She will soon see that she is at fault and apologize. Right, Keira?”

“…….”

Was she mediating or intentionally fueling Keira’s rage? Keira might have really clocked her if it wasn’t for Father. The girl had a preternatural talent for furtively driving a person crazy.

Keira clenched her fists and tamped down the urge to give her a sound beating. Keep it together. Keep it together, Keira. If you lash out here, you’ll only exacerbate things. She bowed at Father.

“I will retreat for the evening, Father. My apologies for the noise at this hour.”

“I expect you to be better behaved when I see you next.”

His cold voice was a dagger in her heart.

Keira staggered back to her room. She could hardly remember how she made her way back from Father’s study. Her red, swollen cheek was throbbing with pain.

But the real pain sat in her heart.

***

Objectively speaking, Cosette was a beautiful lady. Hair as silvery as moonlight, flawless skin, clear features —she was a beauty in a league of her own. Keira was also beautiful, but she was severe and stoic.

Cosette’s face, chilly in its neutral state, was awash with warmth when she smiled. If a gentle spring breeze took human form, it would look like Cosette, her devotees praised. In other words, she had charm.

Cosette used this arrow in her quiver to enchant the whole of the ton.

“I grew up away from aristocratic society, so I may make some faux pas. I apologize in advance. I mean no harm.”

Upon hearing these words from a beauty as radiant as the sun, very few could be cross. Her unassuming, uninhibited nature, rare among nobility, soon became her strength. Many spoke favorably of her as they gossiped about who the real daughter of the grand duke might be.

“Princess Cosette—isn’t she the very image of Grand Duke Parvis?”

“If he’d been born a woman, he’d have looked just like her.”

“Princess Keira, on the other hand, takes after her mother...”

“Even so, how can father and daughter look so different?”

“I really shouldn’t say, but...”

“Shh! Someone will hear. One of the princesses will connect with a spirit soon. We’d best hold our tongues until then.”

Society seemed to be cheering for the sociable and charming Cosette over the aloof, cold Keira.

Keira sensed the change in the tide and did nothing. To be exact, she had no other choice. If she showed weakness, word might spread that she was hiding something.

Little by little, Cosette encroached on Keira’s world. It wasn't just the grand duke and the ton that Cosette had won over. One day, she overheard the laundry maids chatting with one another.

“Princess Keira is so haughty and pompous, don't you think? Who is she to order us around—Fetch the water! Wipe the dust!—when the real princess, Cosette, is so kind and patient with us?! Imposter!”

“H-hey, don’t say that. Nothing’s been decided yet.”

“Yes, someone might hear you.”

“Nothing’s been decided? Just look at them! No one can deny that Cosette is the grand duke’s daughter. Keira, on the other hand, doesn’t look like him one bit.”

“Th-that’s true, but...”

“Just you wait. When it comes to light that she’s a fake, I swear to God, I’ll stomp on her like this laundry here. Pompous bitch,” the maid spat, trampling noisily on the bedclothes in the tub with the full force of her spite.

Keira recognized this laundry maid who was rallying the others against her. She was the new girl Cosette found in the slums not long ago. Keira understood the girl’s loyalty to Cosette for delivering her from the bowels of hell, but that was no reason for Keira to put up with this insolence. Keira was, after all, the eldest daughter of the grand duke; it was, in fact, against the natural order of things to let the maid run her mouth. Keira stepped out of the bushes right away.

“You.”

“Aah!”

“M-m’lady...”

Blood drained from the chattering laundry maids’ faces.

“Are you ready to put your money where your mouth is?”

“M-Mina... Beg for mercy! Now!”

“She’s new, m’lady. She does not know what she’s talking about. Please forgive her, m’lady!”

While her fellow maids pleaded with Keira, the new maid called Mina kept her head high.

“Why should I? I’m not making this up.”

“...Excuse me?”

“Mina! Stop it!”

“She’s frankly not even the grand duke’s real daughter. She’s no princess nor ‘Lady’ anything. We’ll just see who’s turning their nose up at whom when our Princess Cosette connects with the spirits...”

Whack!

Keira didn’t have to listen to this. She slapped the girl across the face before she could get to the end of her sentence. Mina covered her cheek and glared at Keira in disbelief.

“I am still the ‘Lady’ of this house, I’m sorry to say, and it is in my purview to punish and dismiss a rude maid.”

Keira summoned the manservants and ordered them to cane her. Her crime was insulting the mistress she served.

Whip! Whip!

“Aah! Aaah!”

With each blow, a piercing scream rang in the back garden. The noise reached Cosette in no time. She came straight to the back garden with her maids in tow.

“Keira! What is going on?”

“Your maid committed an unforgivable impertinence. She is being disciplined for it.”

The whipping continued as Keira explained. Mina screamed through tears, “Princess Cosette! H-help— aaaah!”

Cosette turned pale. She implored, “Whatever she did, do you really have to beat her so severely?”

“Of course I do. You don't understand because you're not from this world, but in aristocratic society, social order is law. The girl will be dismissed tomorrow morning.”

With the grand duke away on business, no one could stop Keira. Mina was released after all one hundred lashings were served. A racket like this was sure to spread to every corner of the estate.

Keira was strict, but she was not cruel to the help. The servants wondered what Mina had done to provoke Keira so, and they got their answer soon enough when the grand duke returned. Late that night, he summoned the servants and his two daughters.

Coming down the stairs to see her father, Keira saw Ludwig with Cosette sniffling by his side. Keira bit her lip.

She must have ratted me out.

Keira could see Cosette weeping as she told Father that her maid was beaten and sacked. For once, though, Keira was sure Father would have to take her side. What Mina had done was unforgivable in the eyes of the master of a household. Besides, Keira had witnesses. Even Cosette would not be able to defend the girl’s actions.

She calmly approached her father.

“You asked for me, Father.”

“I was informed of the incident that happened today. You gave a maid one hundred lashings and dismissed her. One hundred lashings is tantamount to a death sentence. Was the punishment deserved?”

“Yes, Father. She insulted me with words I find too humiliating to repeat. But the witnesses will testify in my stead,” Keira said, gesturing at the two maids who were doing laundry with Mina.