I Won't Clear Up the Misunderstanding. I Don't Mind Being the Villainess. - Chapter 24

Kevin was wearing black, the same clothes he’d worn when we spoke in the study.
He wasn’t in the travelling gear I’d seen in the garden.
(Wait, he never left the house at all…?)
I instinctively looked over at Holger, the steward.
He dropped his gaze, looking utterly uncomfortable.
That was all the confirmation I needed. The whole story about Kevin setting off for the capital had been a lie.
He’d been inside the manor the entire time.
But why on earth would he bother with such a pointless deception?
“…But Holger told me you had departed for the capital?” I prompted.
Kevin curved his lips into the faintest hint of a smile.
Then he grabbed my chin with one hand.
“I only sent word that the problems should be sorted by the time I returned from the capital, didn’t I?”
The moment I heard his smug reply, a storm of emotions—rage, frustration, disbelief—erupted inside me. They finally subsided into a weary, confused resignation.
(What is this man—this walking nightmare of a surprise—even trying to pull?! I thought.)
I immediately saw a parallel between him and Leo, who had tried to provoke me by snatching my sweets. Could his sole purpose be to make me angry? If so, it made even less sense than before.
Then again, few of Kevin’s actions ever made any sense.
As I stayed silent, mulling this over, Kevin’s blue eyes bored into mine, scrutinizing me as if assessing my value.
He quickly grew bored, though, turning his gaze cold before pushing my face away and dropping his hand.
“I thought you might drop your guard and sneak a ******* in** while I was gone… how disappointingly dull.”
“…Come again?”
I was genuinely shocked by a remark I hadn’t seen coming in the slightest. I turned Kevin’s words over in my mind, trying to figure out his motive. Was he trying to stage a dramatic entrance, catching his wife with a lover while he was supposedly away? Did he make the steward lie just so he could excitedly wait and watch for me to misbehave?
The man was so utterly out of touch that the words flew out before I could stop them.
“Duke, do you have absolutely nothing better to do?”
“M-my Lady!” Holger tried to protest urgently, but I ignored him.
“If you’re so bored, shouldn’t you be paying more attention to your children or the governess instead?”
“And what is this, advice from someone who’s only been my wife for a day?”
“You’ve let this problem slide for years, Duke, when even I, a newcomer who only arrived yesterday, could tell it needed dealing with immediately!”
I spoke, meeting his eyes directly.
He stared back into mine. His blue eyes were like jewels, but completely empty of feeling.
This only reinforced the idea that Kevin was some kind of beautiful, broken android. His strikingly perfect looks made it even more pronounced.
“You agreed with my judgement just now, so why on earth did you let Madam Marvella get away with it until now?”
“Because that’s what Lily wanted.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Didn’t you hear? It’s because that’s what Lily wished for.”
Having said that, he turned his back on me.
No, it wasn’t that I hadn’t heard him. I tried to argue, but Kevin was already looking away.
If Leo continued to grow up under Madam Marvella’s guidance, he was headed straight for ruin—he’d be an ignorant tyrant, devoid of common sense. I simply couldn’t comprehend that Lily, Leo’s own mother, could have wished for such a fate.
And yet, there was another woman in the room who was just as impossible to understand as Lily. For some reason, Madam Marvella in the cell was beaming, her eyes fixed on Kevin.
She addressed him in an unnervingly excited voice.
“My Lord, did the Duchess recommend me for the governess position?!”
“Yes. She said she felt sorry for you for being blamed over that past incident.”
“Oh, my word, what a truly kind soul! Nothing like that horrid maid!”
Madam Marvella said, glancing towards me with a look of pure scorn. I just stared back, expressionless.
Marvella had likely only heard a fragment of Kevin’s words and twisted it into a positive interpretation, completely ignoring the context. I took a step back from the two of them.
“Indeed, Lily was a kind woman. That is why she said she wanted to give you a chance.”
“Yes! I’ll manage the education perfectly this time!”
If Madam Marvella had once been normal but had ended up like this, I thought she might need a doctor. But I wasn’t about to interfere any further.
“But you failed. Which means you spat on Lily’s kindness.”
“Eh?”
A voice like ice sliced through the dungeon air.
Immediately after, there was a terrific crash, and I instinctively covered my ears. It took me a few seconds to realise Kevin had furiously kicked the cell door.
“On top of that, you blabbed about our past to a woman who only arrived here yesterday. I didn’t think you were that foolish.”
“I… I, My Lord…”
“That’s why I can’t possibly allow you to leave the manor now. That’s the long and short of it.”
“H-have mercy, Master Kevin, I cherished Lady Lily…”
A second terrifying crash followed, then a brief, sharp scream.
“Get out.”
It was only after Holger firmly yanked me away that I realised the command was directed at me. It was only then, too, that I noticed the whip I had been holding was gone.
“My Lady, outside! Now!”
Kevin did not turn around once. Madam Marvella hadn’t made a sound since the scream. I couldn’t tell if fear had silenced her, or if something else had happened.