I Won't Clear Up the Misunderstanding. I Don't Mind Being the Villainess. - Chapter 10

“Why are you going to Father’s study instead of my room!”
Leo yelled, his face blazing red like a tomato from fury and confusion.
“Because Lord Kevin is your guardian.”
“Tattling on me to Father is cheating!”
“Say whatever you like; I couldn’t care less.”
“You… you… you are just so cheeky!”
After repeatedly throwing a fit, Leo eventually started spilling all his misdeeds in the hallway.
Apparently, Leo had thought that if he stole my snack, I’d get furious and immediately charge into his room. I seriously wonder if he sees me as just another kid his age.
When I failed to materialize in his room, he got fed up and decided to track me down himself. But since his room was empty, he’d started searching the mansion.
“I should be practically dying of hunger, so why didn’t you come to get it back?!”
As Leo spoke, wildly flailing his arms, a certain detail caught my attention.
“How do you know I am that hungry?”
“Huh? Well, you only had bread and soup for breakfast, didn’t you?”
“I’m not asking why I’m hungry; I’m asking how you knew about my breakfast, specifically.”
I folded my arms, prompting Leo to proudly stick out his chest and declare:
“I ordered the maid assigned to you to do it! You need groundwork to set a good trap, you see.”
You wouldn’t understand, being a woman, he added that completely unnecessary bit, chest still puffed out with confidence.
“I see…”
Leo became even more triumphant at my nod of realization. He probably couldn’t tell the difference between amazement and simple comprehension.
So, they were accomplices from the start.
Bread and soup—that was all that was delivered to my room for breakfast, following Leo’s instructions. Then I was supposed to throw a tantrum about the measly portion. At that point, the maid would blame Leo. And if I then angrily burst into Leo’s room, his so-called ‘hunt’ would commence.
If I hadn’t lost my temper over breakfast, would they have skimped on my next meal, too?
The maid offering dessert now seemed highly suspicious. Was she planning to say Leo had “stolen” the dessert?
I’d dismissed her as just an empty-headed girl, but it turns out she was Leo’s mole. I was slightly annoyed I hadn’t caught on to her being a spy.
If that’s the case, I understand why she didn’t want to enter Kevin’s room. Though, running away from the scene wouldn’t change her eventual outcome.
“In that case, the maid assigned to me will probably be sacked. It’s rather sad that you’ll be responsible for her unemployment.”
I delivered the news flatly. Leo looked stunned.
“What? Why would she be?”
“Why? Because you commanded her to harass me, and she cooperated without reporting your actions to the Head of the House.”
I don’t feel the need to lecture Leo out of moral indignation. Nor do I expect the staff, who believe me to be an evil woman, to explain the situation or be kind to me.
But the maid’s employer is Kevin, not Leo.
The Duke’s heir attempts an elaborate harassment scheme against the Duke’s new wife. Cooperating with that without alerting the Duke is simply unacceptable.
“That is correct. Any servant who acts without my explicit command will be dismissed from this residence.”
A low, intimidating voice boomed from behind me.
“Your Grace…”
“F-Father…”
The sound of the door opening followed. I looked over and saw Kevin, his displeasure written all over his face. Since he’d changed out of his riding gear, it looked like he’d cancelled his plan to head to the castle town today.
“It seems you are laboring under a misconception,”
His blue eyes bore down on his son. Leo, who moments ago had been so cheeky, now recoiled as if his confidence had never existed.
Kevin always looks moody whenever I see him. Does this man ever actually smile?
He did in the comic. After his past was revealed and when he started falling in love with Erica. It’s just that I couldn’t reconcile that image with the person standing here.
“Since when did you mistake the servants I employ for your personal pieces?”
“T-that’s… I just intended it as a bit of harmless mischief,”
“Just answer me. Who pays to employ the servants of the Ducal House? Is it you?”
“I-It’s Father.”
Kevin mercilessly kept the pressure on Leo, who was already past the point of being teary-eyed and on the verge of full-blown crying.
I watched their exchange with a deepening sense of unease.
Leo definitely needed to be reprimanded, but I didn’t think this was the correct way to go about it. Kevin hadn’t explained at all why the act of harassment itself was wrong.
(If Leo takes Kevin’s reasoning to heart and grows up like this, things will turn out very badly).
Leo is the next Duke. Once he inherits the title, all the mansion’s servants will be technically “his” employees.
Based on Kevin’s scolding, Leo might get the wrong idea that he can use the servants however he pleases once he becomes the Duke.
(The author once drew an illustration of Leo growing up without ever meeting Erica…)
I remembered the illustration of Leo, a handsome man who looked like Kevin, but who had clearly developed into a villain. The caption explained that he’d become a tyrant worse than his father, feared like a Demon King across the territory.
The author probably exaggerated things to really emphasize the saving grace of Erica, but the kind-hearted Erica from the comic isn’t here in this world.
If he keeps developing this way, Leo will become a Demon King-level tyrannical Duke. He’d probably turn his vengeful blade on me, too, since I was the reason his father humiliated him now. Even if I wasn’t in the Ducal House then, he’d likely send people after me.
(… I’d quite like to put a stop to that.)
I stepped between the father and son, who resembled each other so closely.