Episode 11
After that, Sasha heard from the butler that Cedric Osmond was not coming out of his room.
And as Sasha had expected, the beautiful man announced that he would leave the manor as soon as the next morning dawned.
Sasha found the beautiful man quite amusing, the way he was acting now as though all his plans had been discovered and reduced to nothing.
Judging by the grim resolve the man had shown when Captain Fincher spoke to her, and by Osmond’s reaction—turning white as a sheet when the captain implied that he had tipped her off about them—it seemed he had likely been planning murder, or some heinous crime on par with kidnapping.
Crime. What an obvious and blatant move.
On the other hand, Sasha understood them from a rational standpoint. What cleaner method was there to neatly usurp an opponent’s inheritance than a death after marriage?
Right. I suppose people all think alike, after all.
News that Cedric Osmond had left quickly reached even the annex.
In fact, Jeffrey Grayson, who had been causing more of a nuisance in this manor than Osmond and Robert combined, upon hearing that the two men had left,
“Those vermin, they’re finally all gone.”
he said.
It was the manor’s study. Sasha, who had been sitting at the desk writing vocabulary words, looked at Jeffrey impassively as he invaded her space without so much as a knock.
One of Jeffrey’s five friends had left the manor around the same time as Cedric Osmond, not long after Sasha returned. The remaining four continued to stay at the manor with Jeffrey.
Shamelessly enough, they claimed to have enjoyed hunting amongst themselves for several days on Mount Eris behind Dilton Manor.
“So, Jeffrey, when are your friends going back?”
Sasha had been listening to such pointless talk about how many rabbits they caught or how they hadn’t seen so much as a stag’s nose, when she abruptly stood up from the desk.
Jeffrey Grayson, who had unilaterally come seeking Sasha all the way to the study, pretended not to understand what her direct question implied, though he knew full well. “Well,” he said.
Sasha picked up a book and headed for the bookshelf. Jeffrey Grayson followed her as though it were only natural.
“Anyway, though it didn’t achieve the ideal reconciliation I’d initially envisioned, I think it’s more or less wrapped up. The weeklies were in an uproar for a while, but people will forget soon enough.”
“No, Sasha. You’ll be remembered as the pitiful girl who ruined the birthday party for years to come. Everyone will think of that incident the moment your name comes up.”
Sasha recalled Jeffrey laughing alone with delight in the ruined party hall on the day of that fateful party.
When Isaac Fincher had ignored her words and continued beating Robert Bloom.
She recalled how Jeffrey had laughed, holding up his glass like a toast all alone, while drunkards joined the chaos one by one in their own ways, turning the party into a mess.
“Jeffrey, the point is there’s no need for you to stay in this boring place because of me anymore.”
“Oh. Don’t say it like that, Sasha.”
“You dash outside every day saying you’re going hunting to relieve your boredom, and on top of that you even called your friends. How could I not know?”
Right. And even that hadn’t been enough, so he’d tormented the servants too. The bastard.
“Ah, what wouldn’t I do for my dear cousin? Of course, it’s a terribly dull place, but thinking of you made it bearable. Darling.”
Even though Sasha was being quite openly sarcastic, Jeffrey’s shamelessness in pretending not to notice was impressive in its own way.
“But why did you mess with the servants in the annex?”
Far from apologizing, Jeffrey took a step closer and asked naturally, as if interrogating her.
Her back bumped against the bookshelf with a thud.
It was the result of Sasha retreating as much as he advanced, because she absolutely did not want her body to touch his.
“What?”
“You replaced them all with men. Thanks to that, those two women are grumbling about how uncomfortable it is.”
“…Then tell them to go back.”
Just how shameless could he get? Looking up at Jeffrey, who was pretending ignorance and even blaming her, Sasha dropped the mask she had barely been wearing and replied with an expressionless face.
“And could you please get out?”
“….”
“I need to finish organizing.”
Sasha spoke, lifting the two or so books she held up to her chest.
Just as she was passing Jeffrey and heading toward the bookshelf behind him, Sasha froze stiff. A repulsive lump of flesh pressed firmly against her body from behind.
“…Jeffrey.”
Regardless of whether Sasha called him with a stiff face, Jeffrey pressed against her from behind as if embracing her, snatched the books from her hands, and roughly shoved them into an empty-looking spot.
The rows of books that Lady Rosaline had arranged by author and publication date were instantly thrown into disarray because of those two books.
Sasha’s patience was slowly running out.
“Get away from me.”
Gathering her last shred of patience, Sasha turned her head and spoke with a smiling face.
Jeffrey ignored her.
“Sasha. I know you followed Grandmother, but do you really need to copy her old-fashioned ways down to the letter? These days, even municipal libraries aren’t organized this meticulously.”
“No, they’re even more meticulous than here. You really haven’t been even once, have you?”
“Ah, not a speck of dust anywhere. Aren’t you the one overworking the servants too harshly? You don’t need to follow Grandmother in that regard either. Instead of saying something to me, you should look at yourself. Hmm?”
When Sasha didn’t respond at all, Jeffrey blatantly pressed his chest firmly against her back.
“Don’t go changing only the strange things to your own way.”
Sasha’s head, which had been glaring at the bookshelf as if enduring something, snapped around.
“Ah!”
Jeffrey, who had inadvertently taken a blow to the jaw from her forehead, groaned while holding his jaw, but Sasha paid him no heed and asked,
“Strange things? What did I change?”
“The way you handle your inferiors.”
Sasha laughed as if flabbergasted.
“Grandmother was generous to the servants too. Did you forget?”
“Being generous and being a pushover are different things. I can see it already. This place will be a mess in less than a year.”
“…Jeffrey.”
So the way I treat them came from that old lady, after all.
Sasha smiled, murmuring darkly to herself while trying to find her composure. It felt like her lips might twitch.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t interfere more than necessary. Everyone has their own way.”
It was an attitude that clearly drew a line, and this time the smile vanished from Jeffrey’s side.
“Sasha. Don’t be like that, it hurts my feelings. I heard you only manage this place. This manor belongs to that damned foundation, doesn’t it?”
“…No, Jeffrey. I’m the heir to this manor.”
“You have to get married for it to become yours. That old woman is really something, too. When was it that she coddled you like some unbreakable porcelain, and now she says you have to marry to inherit this place? You know what, Sasha? While you were locked up growing up here, all sorts of rumors were going around about you.”
Again, firm pressure—Jeffrey’s chest pressed against her back.
As if that weren’t enough, he placed his hand over her arm and wrapped it around her.
Without realizing it, Sasha’s eyes rolled, looking for something to hit him with.
“That you were mentally unwell, that you were a terrible ugly woman. All sorts of bizarre rumors were really flying around, and you have no idea how hard I worked to clear them up.”
Sasha hid her sneer and asked, “Did you?”
Jeffrey shamelessly replied, “Yes.”
“Let’s get rid of this damned study.”
Jeffrey whispered into her ear. With a languid voice like a devil’s whisper, he softly poured in nothing but irresponsible words.
Right. It wasn’t for no reason that Lady Rosaline had detested Jeffrey. Even in his childhood, when his appearance had at least been cute, that old lady had hated him immensely.
On top of that, before she died, hadn’t she firmly told Sasha that Jeffrey Grayson was absolutely unacceptable as a marriage prospect?
As if she had anticipated he would be like this.
“We’ll tear this whole place down and turn it into a new drawing room. As you know, the drawing room here reflecting Grandmother’s taste is truly atrocious. It’s not for no reason that I stay in the annex rather than the main house.”
“….”
“Of course, it’s the same there too, crammed with outdated furniture, but at least there are no disgusting carpets….”
All the softly coaxing words were laughable.
But what infuriated her more than that was—
“Just imagine. We could tear this down and make it a ballroom for just the two of us. Hmm?”
That shameless attitude, acting as though she already belonged to him.
Sasha gazed into empty space with hollow eyes. And she recalled that massive man who had ignored her pleas to stop and plunged his fist into Robert Bloom.
I wish I could hit this guy to my heart’s content like that, just once.
Knock-knock.
“Ah!”
The moment a knock was heard from over there, Sasha ruthlessly stomped on Jeffrey’s foot, who had been standing pressed against her more than necessary.
“Sorry, Jeffrey. But it’s problematic to act like this where people might see.”
“….”
“We should avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings, shouldn’t we? For your sake. And for mine.”