I Won't Clear Up the Misunderstanding. I Don't Mind Being the Villainess. - Chapter 23

“I think there’s a limit to how differently you raise brothers, even if you want them to know their place—especially when there are only two.”
“That’s exactly why!”
Lady Marvella immediately snapped back at my comment.
If I stuck a finger in the bars right now, she’d probably bite it off. That’s how furious she was.
“It’s exactly because there are only two that we need to be extra strict about their standing. He must never, ever get the wrong idea that he could replace his older brother…!”
“Lady Marvella!”
That strong, scolding voice wasn’t mine.
It was Holger, the steward, who had been watching the exchange between us women with a completely bewildered look.
“Please, no more of this…!”
“Shut up! You didn’t even protect me back then, did you?!”
Lady Marvella shrieked, aiming her hatred not at me, but at Holger.
“It was the Mistress’s fault to begin with, spoiling Alva so much and letting him get so arrogant! That’s what caused all this!”
“Lady Marvella, be quiet now!”
“Oh, what’s it to you? You secretly thought Alva was more suitable than young Master Kevin anyway, didn’t you!”
“That’s not true! I never thought of such a thing!”
The two old people were having a significant quarrel, and they’d completely forgotten I was even here.
The fact that Holger had raised his voice and told her to shut up suggested this was a secret they desperately didn’t want anyone to hear. They should both be thanking me for choosing this dungeon for our little chat.
(Alva… he was Kevin’s younger brother, wasn’t he?)
I recalled the character with the same name that Lady Marvella had just mentioned—a young man around the age gap between Kevin and Leo.
Alva Abenius. Kevin’s brother, who looked remarkably similar to him.
He and Kevin were childhood friends with Lily. The brothers used to be close but grew distant and antagonistic as they got older.
And he was now deceased.
Flashes went through my mind: Kevin, Alva, and Lily playing in a flower field as children; Alva looking on with dark eyes as the grown-up Kevin and Lily cuddled. Then, Kevin and Alva wrestle, followed by that awful, curse-like line, “If only you weren’t here,” and finally, Kevin visiting a grave.
All the details about him in the manga ‘A Single Flower Melts the Ice’ were highly suggestive, but nothing ever came of them.
The author probably planned to cover it in the spin-off manga about Kevin’s past, the one they always said they’d draw after the main story finished.
(But… I didn’t have time left to read that in my previous life.)
I died after several years of illness, and in the final stage, I certainly didn’t have the luxury of reading manga.
Still, based on the conversation between these two, I felt like I was starting to understand Kevin and Alva’s relationship.
The Kevin brothers’ mother doted exclusively on the younger brother.
Alva, despite being the younger son, coveted the title of the next Duke, and he had servants who backed his ambition.
Since Kevin is the current Duke, the internal coup either failed or never fully materialized.
Whether it was related or not, Alva is dead.
(Did Lady Marvella become this overly controlling and oppressive towards the second son because she was blamed for failing to properly educate Alva?)
I wondered this while watching her continue to scream at Holger, practically spraying him with spit.
But that just brought up a new question.
Would a woman who failed the education of the Kevin brothers truly be allowed to continue as a governess in the Abenius Dukedom afterwards?
If Alva’s revolt was laid at Lady Marvella’s door, surely she would have been sacked.
“…I only want to be of use to young Master Kevin, who rehired me!” Lady Marvella suddenly cried out, as if she’d heard my silent thought.
I see, so Kevin rehired her. That makes perfect sense.
Organizing my thoughts, I finally spoke.
“Lady Marvella, are you saying you educated Lord Ron to be absolutely non-rebellious towards his brother, all to repay the Duke’s favor?”
“That’s right! This time, I won’t fail!”
Lady Marvella laughed, her eyes bloodshot. There was no sign of reflection or regret in that crazed stare.
“No, you will fail. Because, you see… you’re an utter i***t.”
“…Huh?”
Lady Marvella just gaped at me, clearly not processing what I’d said. Had no one ever called this woman an i***t? I tilted my head and pressed on.
“If you don’t want brothers to fall out, treating the elder as a king and the younger as a slave is the absolute worst thing you could do.”
Yes, this is fundamental childcare, regardless of their noble status.
If adults keep forcing one child to endure hardship—just because ‘you’re the older one’ or ‘you’re the younger one’—it’s guaranteed to breed resentment and envy.
And when that resentment builds to its limit, it turns into a desire to eliminate the other.
“When the younger brother finally gets tired of being treated like a slave, he’s going to think, ‘If only I had been born first,’ or ‘If only my brother didn’t exist.'”
“Wha—”
“In other words, everything you did will backfire completely. When you have an eldest and a second son running the same house, you should be focused on creating solidarity, not pointlessly manufacturing opposition! What on earth were you thinking?”
Blast, my former life as a female company president slipped out. I hope my own sons are doing alright.
While I was thinking that, I heard an out-of-place sound of applause.
“Exactly. Not bad for the daughter of a maid; you certainly know a thing or two.”
“Y-You are…!?”
Lady Marvella’s fierce glare at me shifted to shock.
I turned toward the annoying, snide voice, and there stood Kevin, who was supposed to have already left for the Royal Capital.