Mildly Broken IF [133 - Episode 3] - A Red Collar for You (3)
When Titania left the room, leaving Vivian behind, the maid caring for her mother approached with a quick, light step and smiled sweetly. She was a young maid who had grown fairly close to Titania since Titania ascended to the throne.
“Your Majesty, you’re here? Would you like a cup of tea or—”
“...I’m sorry, but I have to go back now. Please continue to take good care of Mother.”
“...Yes, Your Majesty.”
Titania patted the maid on the shoulder and walked past her toward the outside. Once Titania disappeared from sight, the maid’s smiling eyes returned to normal, and she muttered under her breath.
“I really don’t understand why she’s so obsessed with someone who isn’t even the queen consort anymore.”
The maid was dissatisfied with the situation itself. She was immensely grateful and happy that Her Majesty trusted her, but of all things, the task she had been entrusted with was caring for someone who was no longer even the queen consort.
“It’s annoying enough that I had to leave the main palace and come to this separate palace, but now I have to wait on some old woman too... Ugh~”
The maid pretended to gag and shook her head as though she truly hated it. Her Majesty had told her to take good care of the woman, but judging by the way Her Majesty treated her, it did not seem particularly necessary.
In the first place, Her Majesty had brought the woman here in secret, and judging from the collar around her neck, she was a pet Her Majesty was secretly keeping. The maid only had to do her work halfheartedly, make a great deal of money, and leave.
‘And relieve some stress while I’m at it, just like Her Majesty~’
In exchange for keeping this job a secret, she was being paid five times the standard allowance.
Honestly, there was no easier job than this. Working alone was comfortable, and the pet hardly required any effort. Besides, she was even allowed to take out her stress on the pet. It truly was the best job in the world.
The maid giggled as she began humming and preparing food for the pet. How should she tease and mock her today? Was there some phrase that would really help her let off steam?
*
The next morning.
After arriving at her office, Titania let out a small sigh. Veronica stood there with her arms crossed, staring at her, and Titania stared right back. She shrugged and said,
“...I haven’t crossed the ‘line’ yet, have I? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Right, you haven’t crossed the line—you’ve done everything short of that. That’s the problem. Aren’t you going to let her go now? Before she’s truly broken?”
“...Just a little longer.”
“No. Let her go immediately. If I’d known you were going to take things this far, I never would have agreed to your plan.”
At Veronica’s low growl, Titania’s eyes widened. Let her go? Why? It had not even been a month yet. She had suffered like that for more than two years. And they already wanted her to let Mother go?
Before abducting Vivian, Titania had promised Veronica that they would not cross the “line.” They would forbid physical and verbal violence and draw a line as a safeguard so that Vivian would not be “broken.”
But although Titania had not used violence, Vivian was already on the verge of breaking. No matter how carefully selected the maid caring for Vivian was, the state Vivian was falling into was anything but normal.
“...Titania, you can stop now. Vivian has suffered enough—”
“No, not yet. Just a little, just a little longer.”
“You...! Stop being so stubborn!”
“Stubborn?! What about me, then?! What about the emotions I felt for two years?! You want me to stop just because Mother is suffering?! No!! Mother hasn’t even felt half the pain I went through!!”
Veronica frowned as she watched Titania pour out her resentment. The reason Veronica had agreed to this plan to some extent was because she had watched Titania suffer from up close.
At first, Veronica had been vehemently opposed to it, just like Ainsel. Kidnapping might have been acceptable, but confinement was a problem no matter how she looked at it. Besides, what Titania wanted was not mere confinement.
‘This is why I was against it...!’
It had begun when Titania, crumbling in Vivian’s absence, said, “I want Mother to feel exactly what I felt.” In the end, Veronica had yielded to Titania’s pleas and agreed, drawing a “line” as a safeguard.
But the safeguard Veronica had established was meaningless, and for some reason, Vivian was collapsing far faster than expected. Was it because of Titania’s rampage, or was there some other trigger?
Veronica only checked on Vivian’s condition through a fragment of Ainsel whenever Titania went to visit her. Every time she saw Vivian’s steadily deteriorating appearance reflected in the mirror every three or four days, it pained her.
“...I have nothing more to say, Titania. If you continue any longer, I’ll bring Vivian back by force. And I’ll return her to the candy shop.”
“Sister!!”
“Face reality!! Titania!! Vivian is falling apart right now!! If you make even one wrong move, you might make a ‘fatal mistake’!! Once it reaches that point, your relationship will be no different from being completely ruined!!”
For the first time, Veronica shouted at Titania.
Titania’s shoulders hunched at the sight of Veronica angrily revealing her unrestrained fury. When Titania muttered, “But...,” Veronica shouted at her once more.
“You said it yourself!! You don’t hate Mother!! You only wanted her to feel a little of the pain you experienced!! If you truly want to repair your relationship, then stop now!! This is enough!!”
Grind. Titania clenched her teeth. Veronica’s words had a point. Mother already looked far more distressed than expected, and just as Veronica said, she seemed as though she might collapse at any moment.
From somewhere close to her heart, “affection” whispered that it was time to stop. That she had done enough. That Mother would understand her feelings now. But what about her? What about the pain she had felt?
She did not want to return that pain to her. She only wanted Mother to understand what it felt like. But deep in Titania’s heart, someone whispered.
‘It isn’t enough yet.’
Mother had not even experienced half of half the pain Titania had felt. She could not let Mother go. The “hatred” whispering from the depths of her heart would not allow her to release Mother yet.
In the end, as affection and hatred reached a compromise, Titania was granted four more days. She felt that after four days, it would be all right to let Mother go. Titania sighed and replied,
“...Four days. After four days, I’ll really let Mother go.”
“You really...!”
Veronica furrowed her brow in exasperation. She felt like giving the stubborn Titania a knock on the head. Just as she wondered what on earth she should do, an idea flashed through Veronica’s mind.
“...There’s one condition.”
Veronica took a tiny fragment of Ainsel from her pocket and held it out to Titania.
“Leave this where Vivian is. I’ll watch her through it for four days, and if I think there’s a problem, I’ll bring her back immediately. If you’re still fine with that, then you get your four days.”
“...All right.”
“If you understand, go leave it there right now. I’ll have to keep watching her for the next four days.”
Veronica urged her to hurry with nothing more than a jerk of her chin. Titania closed her hand tightly around the fragment of Ainsel, let out a small sigh, and turned around to head back to Vivian.
*
Crash!
The sound of a dish breaking rang out as the maid opened the door and entered Vivian’s room. She was reaching the end of her patience with that pet, who had been throwing dishes and empty liquor bottles around and smashing them since yesterday.
It had been a mistake to give her alcohol when she kept asking for it. The maid had thought she would stay quiet once she was drunk. But every time she emptied a bottle, she threw it. Every time she emptied one, she threw it. The number of broken bottles she had cleaned up in a single day had already exceeded five.
“Ah, seriously! I shouldn’t have brought you alcohol!”
The maid shouted irritably as she fetched cleaning supplies and began cleaning the room. Ignoring the pet glaring at her from behind as though she wanted to kill her, the maid finished cleaning up the broken dish and looked at Vivian.
“What the hell are you thinking? Are you going to keep breaking dishes?”
“...Ha. Now I’m even being spoken to informally by a maid.”
Vivian gave a derisive little laugh as though she found it absurd, but the maid thought Vivian’s attitude was utterly laughable. The pet in front of her was the one who did not understand her own position.
“Why should I speak politely to you? You’re nothing but a pet kept by Her Majesty the Queen.”
“...What?”
A pet? At Vivian’s unfamiliar reaction, the maid curled up the corners of her mouth and sneered. What a pet, completely unaware of her own place. The maid chuckled and clapped her hands.
“Ahaha! Who’s the one who doesn’t know her place now?”
“...What are you talking about? What did you just call me?”
“A pet. You’re Her Majesty the Queen’s pet.”
“...Who says I’m a pet?”
“The master who put that collar around your neck?”
Thud. Vivian’s heart seemed to drop into her stomach, and her shoulders hunched. The person who had put the collar around her neck was none other than Titania. So Titania had been treating her like a pet behind her back?
“......So that’s how it was, was it?”
Come to think of it, it was strange. She had never imagined that the reason Titania had put shackles and a collar on her was simply to treat her own mother like a pet. And the words “I love you” must have meant that Titania loved her as a “pet.”
“Ha.”
Vivian laughed. She laughed as though exhaling a great breath. It was an utterly hollow laugh. A laugh that looked back over her life. A laugh that seemed to ask whether her life had ever held any meaning at all.
“Ahaha!”
“What the hell? Have you gone crazy?”
“Ahahahaha!!”
The young maid was startled by Vivian’s laughter. At the sight of Vivian laughing like a madwoman, she took a step backward and frowned in disbelief. What was wrong with her?
“J-just stop breaking all those liquor bottles! I’ll tell your master if you don’t!”
As though avoiding a madwoman, the maid backed away from Vivian and pointed at her while shouting. If Vivian broke even one more bottle, she would report her to her master, Her Majesty the Queen.
The maid let out a weary sigh and was about to open the door and leave when—
“Seriously, how long are we going to keep this pet—”
“......Who did you call a pet?”
“Y-Your Majesty...?”
Titania glared at the maid with eyes filled with fury. She lifted her head and looked back and forth between her mother’s condition and the maid. Then she gritted her teeth and raised one hand high into the air.
Smack!
With a sound like a bolt of lightning striking, the maid’s head snapped to the side. She stared up at Titania blankly, clutching her swelling cheek as though she had no idea what had just happened.
“...What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
“W-what...?”