The Regret Novel Female Lead with Unbreakable Mentality Chapter 70

* * *

Leaving Rahana Sirentium behind, screaming her head off and forgetting all about her dignity, I grabbed the boy’s hand and ran. The boy, maybe not used to running, was panting hard, but still genuinely seemed excited.

 

“Si-Sister Maid… Are yu okay…?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“…Ne-Nevermind.”

 

I tilted my head, but the boy just beamed up at me, tightly clutching my sleeve. He was like a burst of sunlight, and I nearly stopped in my tracks before reaching our destination: Duke Kalinos’s office.

 

I heard Riwes Kalinos is supposed to be cold, blunt, and prickly for a child. Who knew he’d be this adorable? It was unexpected, but that didn’t matter.

 

I held the child’s hand tightly and entered Duke Kalinos’s office. He stood up from behind his desk.

 

“…Giselle.”

 

As a faint smile appeared on his normally expressionless face, Riwes hurriedly hid behind my back.

 

Duke Kalinos lowered his voice. “Riwes?”

 

Seeing the duke’s cold, red eyes, Riwes retreated further behind me.

 

Duke Kalinos quickly dropped his gaze. “Ah, right. Riwes. I know very well you dislike our family.”

 

Riwes didn’t say a word.

 

I looked back and forth between Riwes and Duke Kalinos, tilting my head. “…?”

 

Something didn’t feel right. It didn’t seem like Riwes hated them—he looked more scared than anything else…

 

I crouched down and covered Riwes’s eyes as I spoke. “Duke Kalinos.”

 

“Yes, but how did you end up with Riwes, Giselle? He’s supposed to be at the villa.”

 

“Someone from the Sirentium family brought him here.”

 

“…Ah, now that you mention it, there is an opportunity once a year to meet with the boy.”

 

I still didn’t fully understand the dynamics between Kalinos and Sirentium. But whether I was playing the troublemaker or not, I could never tolerate anyone mistreating a child. Whatever the reason, it deserved death by my own hand.

 

“I think the Sirentium family has been abusing Riwes.”

 

Duke Kalinos’s red eyes instantly turned icy. “What do you mean by that, Giselle?”

 

“It’s hard to believe without proof, isn’t it? I’ll show you all the evidence right in front of your eyes, Your Grace.”

 

Accusing the child’s maternal family without proof was a serious matter. No matter how powerful Kalinos’s family was, it would inevitably stir up trouble and talk of a succession dispute.

 

And honestly, if it’s this obvious to me, how did anyone notice Sirentium’s abuse until now? There were too many suspicious things. I’d have to dig deeper.

 

Just then, Duke Kalinos narrowed his eyes and whispered coldly. “Let’s find this evidence together.”

 

At that moment, the small boy clutched my hand, the one covering his eyes, even tighter. His little body was trembling pitifully.

 

Finally, a target I can go all out on. For this incident, I needed to unleash every bit of my troublemaking and chaos-causing skills. That made my heart start pounding with excitement.

 

A world where you’re allowed to become a villain when you face a villain… I love it here.

 

I hugged the child tightly and whispered in his ear. “Just stay still, sweetie. I will protect you.”

 

 

* * *

The very first thing I did was infiltrate the maids’ gossip network to collect rumors. Thanks to the Caitlyn incident, the maids are now pretty friendly toward me.

 

The moment they heard that the Sirentium family had brought Lord Riwes back to Duke Kalinos’s mansion, the maids were absolutely furious.

 

“Ha! Figures. That money-grubbing family must’ve come to take Lord Riwes again.”

 

“They demanded huge compensation before, Madam!”

 

The maids couldn’t stop themselves from spilling all the gossip.

 

“Whenever they run out of money, they use Lord Riwes as an excuse to squeeze more out of us.”

 

“But Lord Riwes always says he wants to stay with that family. At least, since we’re paying them, I hope they’re treating him well. As long as our young master is happy, I guess….”

 

“Honestly, our family isn’t exactly the safest place for him either. The Sirentium family is probably better…”

 

“Well, even Madam Yuliana tends to go easy when it comes to Lord Riwes, so the Sirentium family basically has unchecked power.”

 

Even the notoriously difficult Yuliana must have softened up, seeing her orphaned grandson so afraid of the Kalinos’s family and wanting to stay only with his mother’s family.

 

I recorded the maids’ hushed whispers on my video device, then turned my head with a grim expression. My conclusion was clear: the Sirentium family are, in short, utter bastards. They’re a bunch of child abusers, using Riwes as an excuse to milk money from us; that’s what’s going on.

 

But there was something odd.

 

If it was this obvious to me, why didn’t anyone else notice, especially when everyone is so interested in Riwes?

 

Even the maids muttered, ‘The Sirentium family treats Lord Riwes well,’ so they must genuinely have no idea about the abuse.

 

Could it be because of the mana in my body again? Maybe my power of domination was at work…? But my power only affects ‘phantasmic beasts.’

 

I can’t say for sure how I noticed so quickly, but one thing is certain. The boy is being abused.

 

So, I just needed to move on to the next step. That was a private meeting with Rahana Sirentium, who had come to the Kalinos family.

 

* * *

Rahana Sirentium. She was the younger sister of Elesa, the former lady of the Kalinos Family, and Riwes’s aunt. She postponed marriage and lived in the Sirentium territory, often looking after Riwes. But maybe because he was still young, she found Riwes a bit much to handle.

 

“Riwes.”

 

“Yes! Auntie, le-let’s pl—”

 

“Why can’t you speak properly? Are you slow? If the future head of the Kalinos family turns out to be an idiot, that would be a disaster.”

 

“…T-That’s not—”

 

“What are you trying to say? Speak properly!”

 

Riwes was nowhere near qualified to be an heir. So the family tried their own methods. They replaced his tutor with someone much stricter and left Riwes entirely in the care of his nanny.

 

Maybe because he had to deal with such harsh tutor and nanny, he was both scared of our family and oddly grateful to us.

 

The maids would just stand by as Riwes cried himself hoarse every night, forcing him to take sedatives to make him sleep. No one cared if the nanny beat Riwes with a switch whenever he cried for his mother at night.

 

The only time the family treated Riwes kindly was once a year. It was on the day he went to the Kalinos family. On that day, they’d heal his body and whisper sweetly to him.

 

“Kalinos is a family that eats people. You’ve heard the rumors, right, Riwes? That’s why your mom and dad died.”

“If you go back to that family, everyone will torment you.”

“So promise you’ll stay here, okay?”

 

Like any child, Riwes believed them easily and shunned the Kalinos family.

 

Well, I guess you could say they did help him in their own twisted way. With a mocking smile, the woman stroked Riwes’s head and whispered softly.

 

“Riwes, remember. Always say you want to live with the Sirentium family.”

 

“Yes, o,kay!”

 

Riwes nodded, watching his aunt closely—one of the rare times she was nice to him.

 

If things kept going this way, Riwes would end up completely under their control. It really is a perfect plan.

 

Honestly, the money from the Kalinos family was more than enough to live comfortably for a lifetime, as long as they weren’t greedy. But unfortunately, his father was addicted to luxury, and his mother blew through fortunes on gambling and investments, wasting even that huge sum. So they always needed more money, and having the Kalinos family as their cash cow suited them just fine.

 

My sister’s life was ruined by that family. They should pay us compensation.

 

And if Riwes ever truly became the heir of that family, the scraps that fell to them would be enormous.

 

Everything was going perfectly. Until that strange woman showed up. Rahana looked at the woman before her with a displeased expression. She’d been told to have tea with the wife of Duke Kalinos, but it turned out to be the woman who’d taken Riwes away from her.

 

“So, you’re the new mistress of Kalinos’s family.”

 

“That’s right. Oh, and don’t bother looking for Riwes. He’s doing just fine.”

 

She was even acting incredibly arrogant. Even the notoriously difficult Yuliana Kalinos would bow her head to the Sirentium family, but this woman—

 

Rahana snapped. “Give Riwes back right now. He gets terrified if there isn’t someone from the Sirentium family with him. He must be shaking with fear as we speak.”