The Lady Awaits a Broken Engagement

Chapter 4

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Madam Clarissa, Savina’s teacher, barged into the room without even a knock.

“Do you have any idea what time it is? You should be in class!”

Madam Clarissa was from one of the vassal families that served House Charlot. However, she returned to her family after her husband’s death, and she came to the Charlot Manor after Simon had asked her to be Savina’s tutor. Had Savina had any say in the matter, she would have wholeheartedly voted against it. She was absolutely certain that Simon had been acting with ulterior motives, which, to her, made him a cruel old man. After all, Madam Clarissa had been the bride that Simon wanted for Liam many years ago.

House Charlot was known for their powerful water magic, which meant that it was very rare for a more powerful mage to come from another family. Madam Clarissa happened to be one of those rare occurrences. After realizing this, Simon began pushing for her to marry Liam, wanting their child to become a powerful mage.

However, after Liam ran away with Renata, Madam Clarissa was left with nothing. Afterward, she ended up marrying a less fortunate man. Unfortunately, even that marriage did not last very long due to her husband’s poor health. It made sense for her to despise everything about Liam after what had transpired—perhaps even his daughter, Savina.

“But today’s class—”

Madam Clarissa cut her off. “You should have heard that I changed your afternoon class to morning.”

What? Savina had no recollection of this. Perhaps the maid had neglected to tell her about the change, or Madam Clarissa was trying to antagonize her. She glanced up at the grandfather clock that was hanging on the wall to her right. It was seven o’clock. She had definitely not slept in.

Hah! Perhaps her grandfather had chosen very wisely. In a way, Madam Clarissa was an incredible teacher. After all, she had pushed Savina to her limits during the past three years until she caught up to the other noble children in record time.

“My apologies, Madam,” she said. “I wasn’t notified of the change in time. I will be right there after I get ready.” She decided that apologizing to Madam Clarissa would be the best course of action, since trying to argue with her would be meaningless. She would simply have to ignore the fact that Madam Clarissa had barged into her room without permission, which was much more insolent than Savina being late to her class… even more so, considering that she was still in her pajamas.

Scoffing, Madam Clarissa crossed her arms and gestured toward the tea table with her chin. “Now you’re going to make me wait for even longer?” She scowled and then said in an imposing tone, “Take your seat.”

“I’ll just get changed. It will only take a moment,” Savina repeated.

“Didn’t you hear me? Sit!”

Savina figured that she had no choice but to obey, even though she would rather be properly dressed to greet a guest. After all, Simon had always been obsessed with her receiving a proper education, which was the perfect environment for Madam Clarissa’s authority to grow.

For the duration of a class, Madam Clarissa’s word was law. Breaking her train of thought, Melissa, her personal maid, came into the room with a trolley. It appeared that Madam Clarissa had already talked everything over with the maids. Melissa placed a tea set on the table without even sparing a glance at Savina.

As soon as she stepped away, Madam Clarissa said, “We will be continuing our lesson on afternoon tea etiquette.”

Madam Clarissa’s official duty was to teach her about magic. Since Savina had no magical talent, Madam Clarissa instead gave lessons on the etiquette of the aristocratic society. If she was being truthful, Savina was rather relieved about this fact.

Who knows what terrible incident might happen if Madam Clarissa tries to teach me magic? After all, it was much too common for a young child to lose control because their minds were too fragile for such a powerful force.

“Try pouring the tea,” said Madam Clarissa.

“Um…”

Savina lifted the teapot with great care. Fortunately, this was not her first lesson on afternoon tea etiquette, which meant that she was able to replicate the posture that she had learned last time with decent proficiency. After filling up her cup about halfway, she began to step away… until Madam Clarissa stopped her.

“More,” she said.

Savina paused for a moment. The teacup that Madam Clarissa had set in front of her was a regular-sized one, which meant that it was too heavy for a child. If she poured any more, she would not be able to lift it with one hand.

“What are you waiting for?” pressed Madam Clarissa, chewing on her bottom lip aggressively.

Once again, her word was law. Savina filled the cup until it was completely full.

“Now lift the cup,” Madam Clarissa ordered.

Savina put her right fingers through the cup handle, supporting the saucer with her left hand. Her arms began to tremble as she forced herself to maintain the “elegant posture” that Madam Clarissa had been emphasizing so much.

Madam Clarissa now had a pleased smirk on her face. “Lift your cup off of the saucer,” she ordered elegantly.

Savina’s fingers turned white under the weight of the cup. However, Madam Clarissa did not say anything else. She simply waited. At this point, Savina was beginning to understand why her teacher had invaded her room at such an ungodly hour when she was still half-asleep. She wanted Savina to make a mistake, most likely because she was unhappy with how the young girl had managed to follow all of her instructions without making any errors during the last lesson.

“Stop! You’re holding your fingers too high up,” Madam Clarissa said in annoyance before smacking the back of Savina’s hand with her thin wooden stick.

Savina couldn’t stop her posture from crumbling. After all, she had already been struggling with the weight of the cup. There was no stopping the inevitable. The hot tea splashed over the rim and onto her lap, covering her legs in an instant.

“Ah!” screamed the maid, rushing to Savina’s aid. She snatched the cold water that had been put aside for drinking and poured it on a towel, then used it to quickly cover up the burn.

Savina could feel a sharp pain radiating from her thighs. Unfortunately, her pajamas had not been thick enough to protect her fragile skin. Even Madam Clarissa looked shocked at the unexpected turn of events. Not necessarily because of the injury, but because Savina had managed to maintain her posture throughout the entire ordeal.

It did not take too long for Madam Clarissa to snap out of her shock. She smiled as if she was feeling pity for Savina. “My goodness… If only you had inherited the powers of House Charlot! Then none of this would have happened, I’m sure…”

Even though she had been the main cause of the incident, Madam Clarissa was mocking her for not being able to use magic to avoid the hot tea. This was hardly the first time that she had decided to harass Savina under the guise of mentoring her. In the past, she had made Savina walk down the hall with a heavy book balanced on her head, smacking her calves whenever she stumbled. She had also made her sit in the exact same position for nearly half of the day, simply because Savina had bent over slightly while taking a seat.

Savina always tried to appease her because she was terrified of the retaliation that would come if she failed to carry out her orders, despite knowing that Madam Clarissa was intentionally forcing her to do something impossible.

All of a sudden, Savina found all of this unbearably funny.

Since when did I get so accustomed to being treated this way? Of course, it wasn’t as if she expected things to go downhill from the very beginning. After all, every new beginning brings with it excitement and hope.

When she accepted her new fate many years ago, she had actually considered herself lucky. She had a kind mother and a caring father—the picture of a perfect family. Fortunately, having such a happy upbringing tended to minimize the struggles of living in a financially lacking household, and the warm memories from her childhood allowed her to endure the misfortunes that would follow shortly after.

This was the main reason she was able to overcome her grief when her father passed away from an unfortunate accident when she was just seven. When her mother fell ill about a year later, she figured that she was lucky to have House Charlot to beg for help. Now that she thought about it, fear had probably obstructed her ability to think straight. She had been ignoring the fact that fate was knocking her off her feet with every step that she took.

After living through all of that… I’m supposed to just roll over and die? She gave a harsh snort. The truth was that she had only endured all of her misfortunes in order to survive. This was her only goal. If she survived, she thought she might be able to leave this place someday and live out the rest of her days with her mother, so she kept on going.

Now, as a result of her efforts, she was beginning to realize that everything that she had been doing so far was completely useless. The poor love-child of House Charlot would die soon. Neither Simon nor Benjamin would be able to save her, even though she had been trying so hard to win their favor.

I’m the only one that I can rely on. That has always been true in Savina’s past, as well as my future. And if that’s the case… Savina, me, deserves better treatment. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t save herself. It was especially important for her to use her time wisely if her days were truly numbered.

You know what? If I’m going to die soon, I’m going to live my life the way I want until then. For the first time in her life, she glared at Madam Clarissa with pure, unfiltered rage. Then she raised her teacup toward Madam Clarissa as if making a toast.

Shocked by Savina’s unexpected course of action, Madam Clarissa merely gaped at her. After a moment, Savina let the teacup drop to the floor.

Crash!

The room trembled with the sharp noise of shattering ceramic.

Staring at Madam Clarissa, who was still frozen in shock, Savina said, “You’re fired, Madam Clarissa.”