Chapter 12

I overdid it with the role of the adopted daughter 012, one hour before.

Duchess Isabella noticed something strange.

Today, Bichen felt much more spirited than usual.

It was strange but also felt good.

Duchess Isabella sat in her chair.

"Bichen, you're being spirited."

"Yes."

Right after the whipping, Bichen was kneeling.

"Finally, have you hardened your heart?"

Duchess Isabella looked at her palm.

It was covered in blood.

It stung and hurt, but it was fine.

Bichen seemed to have finally grown up a bit.

Isabella smiled in satisfaction.

"Bichen, you will become a lion."

One day, you will have to eat me.

Only then can you truly become the ruler of Bellato.

"You need to become even more, more, and more ruthless."

"I understand. Can I stand up now?"

"Go ahead."

As Bichen stood up, Duchess Isabella smiled benevolently.

"You can get dressed now."

"Dressed?"

"Yes. Today's discipline ends here."

Bichen thought for a moment.

"Hmm."

"Why are you hesitating?"

"It's nothing."

Bichen glanced at the clock on the wall.

The fact that this clock was a product of magical engineering and allowed no error greater than 1/10,000th of a second, and that it was a masterpiece by Kuma, a renowned craftsman of the present era, didn't matter to her.

She only observed the second hand moving.

"Mother, you should go to sleep now."

It's already 1 AM.

She had started being whipped at 10 PM, so she had endured the whipping for about three hours.

At that moment, Duchess Isabella felt something strange again.

Bichen had never been like this before.

'Bichen wanted to be with me even while being whipped.'

Bichen loved her mother, Duchess Isabella, in an unusually deep way.

Even when being whipped.

She preferred being with her.

But now she wanted her to leave quickly.

Duchess Isabella sensed something.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

"Yes."

Bichen laughed. Duchess Isabella's eyebrows twitched.

She saw Bichen's expression brighten.

"Who is it that our son is waiting for? It can't be your brother or sister."

Certainly not your father, so there's only one person left.

The youngest daughter, whom Bichen has been particularly interested in lately. The adopted daughter, Viola, whom the Duke brought from the slums.

'Viola?'

Duchess Isabella smiled faintly.

"You're waiting for your youngest sister?"

"Um."

Bichen thought for a moment. Should she be honest with her mother? There was no reason not to, but she had a strange feeling that she shouldn't.

But then again, there was no reason to lie. After a moment's thought, Bichen answered.

"Yes, Viola."

"Why?"

"Because it's fun to play with her."

Isabella had heard a rough report from Zaneon.

She has an instinctive desire to dominate and ambition towards the absolute ruler.

'She has the madness that Bellato desperately needs.

'She also has the rationality to control that madness.

It was said that her talent for killing and her mana level were beyond imagination.

'She is indeed a remarkable child.'

Since the Duke acknowledged and brought her in, she must be a remarkable child.

"I've heard you're a remarkable child. Then what should our son do?"

"Kill her."

"Right."

Duchess Isabella approached Bichen.

Hugging the bruised Bichen tightly, she brushed her golden hair.

"Your competitor?"

Bichen smiled brightly.

"Completely crush her!"

"Right."

Bichen was still in her mother's embrace.

Bichen looked up.

"Mother."

"Why?"

"I like it when you hug me."

Bichen, who had been laughing, lost her balance.

"Still, you shouldn't let your guard down, son."

Duchess Isabella took two steps back from Bichen.

Bichen collapsed.

Bichen's pupils dilated.

"If I were your competitor, you would be dead. The most terrifying enemy is the one you give your heart to. You mustn't give your heart to anyone."

Isabella extended her hand.

Bichen's butler, who had been waiting behind her, handed her a white cloth.

Duchess Isabella wiped her fingernails with the white cloth. The white cloth turned black. It was poison.

"This is discipline."

Duchess Isabella looked down at the fallen Bichen.

"Don't let your guard down, and always keep poison in your heart."

...Yes, Mother. I'm sorry."

"If you make a mistake, it hurts my heart too."

Bichen lost consciousness.

Duchess Isabella rubbed her eyes roughly with the poison-soaked cloth.

Her eyes turned bright red, and tears of blood began to flow.

Her eyes were extremely painful.

This was a punishment for herself.

For not raising Bichen to be strong enough.

She stared at the unconscious Bichen.

"I have the duty and responsibility to raise you to be strong."

To raise her son to be strong, to raise him to be even more ruthless, she could do worse things every day.

She thought this was the great love of a mother.

***

"You speak so elegantly about not associating with a noble son, despite being from the slums, where bloodlines are unknown and people are common."

At those words, Zaneon almost burst out laughing.

'As expected, our duchess.'

She didn't expect Bichen to counter like that.

To stand up to the overwhelming aura that Duchess Isabella was emitting and say such impolite words...

Duchess Isabella chuckled.

"Did it sound like that?"

"Yes."

"It's fortunate that it sounded like that, but it wasn't accurate."

Duchess Isabella continued calmly.

"It wasn't about not associating, but about giving a white flower as a gift."

She meant a white chrysanthemum.

The flower that Tundra had placed in front of her father's grave.

The white flower symbolized death.

In other words, it was also a warning of death.

"I wonder if she understood. I'm not sure if people in the slums sleep with flowers."

"They are poor, not lowly."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"It's different. Even the poor can be noble, and the wealthy can be vulgar."

"Anyway, do poor people sleep with flowers?"

"Poor people also mourn the dead."

Just like Tundra did.

"You're being extravagant. It's not fitting."

"I understand the duchess's thoughts, but to think that a single flower is extravagant for mourning the dead..."

...

"They may be poor, but at least they don't make their children like that."

Aerin was a bit angry.

Aerin wanted a family.

A mother and father, like everyone else. She wanted them too.

Because she didn't have what everyone else had, she felt really hard and lonely.

Family had a special meaning to her.

It was more precious than a valuable gem, something she wanted but couldn't have.

Isabella said mockingly.

"Does anyone have the right to judge how a mother loves her son?"

"Are we really just anyone?"

Viola approached Bichen.

His back, covered in painful wounds, was too small to bear them.

"We are siblings now, Mother."

"I hope you don't cross the line, my daughter."

"You seem to have crossed it yourself."

Viola crouched down.

By now, Bichen had regained some consciousness.

Viola's voice faintly reached him.

"Within the Winter Castle, all children under ten have the right to be protected.

If Mother, one of the mistresses of the Winter Castle, violates this absolute rule, I wonder what the servants will think."

"Discipline is fine."

"We'll see if it's really fine."

Viola glanced back.

"Zaneon. Magic recording device. Do you have it?"

"Yes, I have it, my lady."

"Record it."

Suddenly.

Duchess Isabella's body moved.

She grabbed Zaneon's neck, passing by Viola.

Viola inwardly screamed.

'What, what is so fast?'

It was as if she moved by blending into the shadows.

Such movement.

She knew about it in theory, but seeing it with her own eyes was terrifying.

Indeed, the real power in this household. Duchess Isabella.

Swallow.

She swallowed.

'Crazy.

If I make a mistake, my neck might really be cut.

Isabella's nails dug into Zaneon's neck.

"Stop, Zaneon."

A few drops of blood trickled down Zaneon's neck.

But Zaneon only smiled.

"Sorry, but... I follow the lady's orders."

He took out the magic recording device with his right hand.

It looked similar to a modern camera.

Viola smiled calmly.

"You seem to know this is wrong. The way you're desperately trying to stop me."

Zaneon asked.

"Should I record it? But... my neck might be pierced, and it's bleeding now."

"No, it's fine. I can't lose my butler."

"Thank you for your consideration."

Zaneon put the recording device back into the subspace.

When Duchess Isabella released Zaneon's neck, he took out a cloth from his front pocket and wiped his neck.

He casually wiped his forehead, which wasn't even sweating.

"Phew. I almost died."

Isabella said.

"Our youngest daughter has a mischievous side. She'll be quite a sight at the welcome banquet."

Viola grabbed the hem of her skirt and bowed.

"Thank you for the early welcome, Mother."

In fact, she never intended to record anything.

It was just a bait.

She had another plan.

"But what should we do? Bichen has realized this is wrong."

Bichen's body was twitching.

It meant he had regained consciousness. Even if he couldn't stand up, he must have heard everything.

"Right, big brother?"

A groan was heard.

She pressed the point home.

"Don't move. I'll apply some ointment."

Seeming to understand, Bichen's body shuddered.