The Regret Novel Female Lead with Unbreakable Mentality Chapter 71

“Ah, really?”

 

Rahana, who had been making a dumbfounded face, soon furrowed her brows. Just like the idiot she is, she’s sent away all her servants. If that were the case, Rahana figured there was no need for her to adhere to formalities either. She boldly continued.

 

“Since Sister Elesa died after coming to this family, and since Riwes, the heir, wants us, even Duke Kalinos himself can’t do anything to us.”

 

“Ah, really?”

 

“The Kalinos family was partly responsible for Sister Elesa’s death, you know.”

 

“Ah, really?”

 

“So stop pretending to be the mistress of the house and hand Riwes back over, quietly.”

 

“Ah, really?”

 

Watching Giselle’s bored, dead-fish eyes, Rahana’s patience finally snapped.

 

“…Hey, are you even listening to me right now?”

 

“Uh-huh. Isn’t it obvious?”

 

“Cut the crap about listening well. Your acting is terrible!”

 

At that, Giselle replied lazily. “No, I was saying I wasn’t listening.”

 

Rahana had never dealt with such an openly rude noble before, and she let out a hollow laugh.

 

“So, to sum it up, the Sirentium family believes Elesa died because of the Kalinos family. The Kalinos family, feeling guilty, has been supporting the Sirentium family ever since. Isn’t that it?”

 

“…What?”

 

“Out of guilt, they’re letting Riwes be raised by the Sirentium family too. But it seems like you’re not treating Riwes properly. Maybe even abuse him.”

 

Crossing her legs with a hint of defiance, Giselle thought to herself. No need to hear any more explanations. You can tell just by looking. I don’t know the details of the mess between Kalinos and Sirentium. But there’s one thing she did know. Those people were abusing a child right now, and that was a problem all on its own, regardless of the past.

 

Rahana bit her lip hard and asked, “Abuse? Do you have any proof? Riwes likes us! You can ask him yourself.”

 

Giselle tugged on the bell cord, summoning a maid. “Bring some ice-cold water.”

 

“…Don’t tell me…”

 

“Lady Rahana Sirentium will be having it, so make sure it’s cold enough to freeze her gums.”

 

At that moment, Rahana’s expression changed as if she’d just been handed a prison sentence. “You’re going to serve that to me? To the heir’s aunt of this family?”

 

As expected, nothing beats cold water when it comes to putting a noble lady in her place. Thank you, Madam Yuliana. With her head tilted mockingly, Giselle looked at Rahana’s reddening face and smirked. “What’s the big deal? Sometimes you just have to drink some cold water in life.”

 

Giselle grinned as she watched the maid prepare a nice, cold glass of water. “Riwes will be staying with Kalinos family. He won’t be going back to the Sirentium family, so keep that in mind.”

 

Rahana glanced at the maid, then spoke in a low voice. “We have a legal notice stating that we’re responsible for Riwes’s upbringing. Even if you’re the mistress of Kalinos, it won’t be that easy.”

 

Until Riwes came of age, the Sirentium family held legal custody over him. Overturning that legal notice would take some pretty damning evidence. But Giselle couldn’t have cared less about that piece of paper. She pointed at the glass of water and said, with feigned kindness, “Drink some cold water and get a grip.”

 

If Rahana was bold enough to demand proof, she’d probably have hidden all the evidence of abusing Riwes. But there was no need to be discouraged.

 

So what if I don’t have proof? What are you going to do about it?

 

Rahana, don’t go thinking Giselle is on the side of justice. The truth is, it takes a bigger troublemaker to catch a troublemaker, and it takes someone even worse to catch a villain. And Giselle is the real piece of work.

 

* * *

At the same time, Vientin was watching Riwes. Riwes, who hated being alone in a small room without his ‘Sister Maid’, kept fidgeting with his hands.

 

Vientin was just as flustered. Giselle had told him, “I’ll go meet Rahana Sirentium for a bit, so you two get to know each other,” but… How am I supposed to interact with a child?

 

Vientin glanced at his bear-like hands, then looked over at Riwes, who had startled himself and buried his face toward the floor. “…It’s alright, Riwes. If you have something you want to say, go ahead.”

 

After a long moment of hesitation, Riwes mumbled, “Dattt, Sister Maid’s eyes are really purple!” He seemed to have mistaken Giselle for a maid.

 

“…Is that so?”

 

Encouraged by his response, Riwes continued. “Her hair is super silver!”

 

“That’s right.”

 

“Sister Maid is really cute!”

 

“She is.”

 

Vientin did his best to react with genuine amazement, but soon Riwes’s expression turned glum. Is he bored? He had no idea why Riwes was acting this way. So he called for a servant and decided to read him a fairy tale.

 

“…The prince, who had endured all sorts of scorn while hiding in the basement, finally snuck out into the world. It was all thanks to the princess. The prince took the hand of the beautiful princess who had saved him. And so, the beautiful silver-haired princess rescued the handsome blond prince.”

 

“Wooow!”

 

“Is it fun?”

 

Riwes’s eyes sparkled as he nodded. “Yeah! The silver-haired princess saved the prince…” Meeting Vientin’s gaze, Riwes grew flustered and dropped his eyes. He still seemed to be afraid of him. Just then, Riwes rolled his eyes, then bravely whispered, “Gasp!”

 

“What is it?”

 

Riwes muttered softly to himself. “Sister Maid has silver hair too. Sister Maid saved me too.”

 

“…What?”

 

Riwes’s eyes shone even brighter. “Riwes has blond hair.”

 

“What do you mean—”

 

“Riwes is going to be the prince!”

 

Vientin didn’t understand a child’s heart, but he could take a hint. It seemed that after hearing the fairy tale, Riwes had started seeing Giselle as the princess and himself as the prince. In that story, the princess and the prince get married. The moment he realized that, Vientin spoke up. “Riwes, I’m sorry, but Giselle is my wife.”

 

At this faint display of possessiveness, Riwes widened his eyes and tilted his head. “My wife? What’s that?”

 

Just as Duke Kalinos was about to answer with the word ‘partner,’ the door opened with a lively sound of footsteps.

 

Riwes scampered over, grabbed onto the hem of Giselle’s dress, and whispered shyly, “Sister! Princess!”

 

“Huh?” Giselle, rarely caught off guard, tilted her head in confusion.

 

“I’m going to marry you!” Riwes blurted out his bombshell of a proposal.

 

* * *

I was taken aback by Riwes clinging to my dress. And now he’s talking about marriage out of nowhere?

 

I shot Duke Kalinos a look, silently demanding an explanation, and he muttered in a low, subdued voice, “I didn’t do anything.”

 

“…Really?”

 

Then why is this child so incredibly bright-eyed right now?

 

Catching my gaze, Riwes blushed as red as an apple and nodded. “Let’s get marrid! Yeah!”

 

…What on earth is with this sudden proposal?

 

Duke Kalinos whispered quietly, “I read him a fairy tale, and it seems to have left quite an impression.”

 

Once I heard the whole story, I got the gist of it. This little one had imprinted on me, just like a baby bird does with its mother.

 

“Marry!”

 

This little rascal. He doesn’t even know what marriage is, or who I really am! If we got married, that would mean overcoming an age gap of at least fifteen years, and how am I supposed to explain the whole ‘we’re related’ thing to him? But faced with this pure-hearted child, I just couldn’t bring myself to say it. Will he be disappointed…?

 

I looked into Riwes’s innocent blue eyes and finally muttered, “Um, when you’re older. Come back when you’ve grown up and become an adult.”

 

“Yeah! Riwes is going to grow up so mach! You can’t get married until then!”

 

Sorry, Riwes. I’m already married.