Chapter 132: Just Show the Result. (6)
Ghislaine’s voice echoed in the room.
“I don’t want to live like this forever, but I guess you’re scared to die, right? Well, you did well. If you swing a sword with that indecisive mindset, you’ll just end up with a little scratch on the surface.”
“…You mouthy quack.”
The butler, listening to their conversation, flushed red and exploded with rage.
“Your words are too much!”
Ignoring him, Ghislaine continued.
“Are you really worried about dying?”
“Enough! Baron!”
“If you can’t make a decision for yourself, then I’ll decide for you. If you’re going to die anyway, then better to die while holding on to a last hope and receiving treatment.”
“Baron Penris!”
The atmosphere plunged into the worst possible state. The butler and the knights radiated a menacing momentum.
Ghislaine’s close associates began to respond in kind, matching their intensity.
At that moment, Marquis Branford and Knight Commander Toleo appeared, cutting through the crowd.
“Marquis!”
The butler beamed and bowed his head.
He approached Marquis Branford and offered an apology, saying that recommending Ghislaine had been his mistake.
He also mentioned that they should halt the treatment immediately, as the young lady’s life might be in danger.
This prompted Marquis Branford to personally come to check the situation during the treatment time.
With a blank expression, he surveyed the surroundings and asked,
“What on earth is going on here? Are we hunting witches?”
Rosalyn looked disheveled, her clothes splattered with blood.
Blood was smeared all over the bed as well, so it made sense that it felt that way.
“Father…”
Rosalyn showed no joy at the sight of Marquis Branford.
He was the one who proceeded with the treatment without asking for her opinion.
No matter how much she had to follow the family head’s orders as a noble, she couldn’t suppress the rage bubbling to the surface.
“Did you come to watch your daughter spit blood? Or did you come to confirm if the product you’re married off is still intact?”
Seeing her hold a dagger and glare wildly, everyone held their breath.
“Y-Young Lady! You shouldn’t speak to the family head like that!”
“That’s not acceptable!”
The butler stammered in surprise.
It was hard to believe that the once kind and refined young lady had ended up like this!
Her personality had sharpened since falling ill, but it seemed that Ghislaine had made it worse.
Marquis Branford raised an eyebrow at Rosalyn’s fierce tone and said in a low voice, “As the butler mentioned, you don’t seem to be in good condition. It seems dangerous; if you want, I can stop the treatment.”
At this shocking declaration, Rosalyn blankly stared in disbelief for a moment.
Ghislaine discreetly bit the inside of his lips.
They had just barely established a mental connection, and now he suggested stopping the treatment.
Rosalyn, who had previously resisted the treatment, wouldn’t refuse such a proposal.
‘Is this it?’
If she didn’t hold on with strong will, she wouldn’t be able to endure this treatment.
In her past life, she had been tough enough to tolerate the fear of death and the bone-crushing pain, but now she was not.
‘I need to look for help elsewhere.’
There were a few things she wanted to ask Marquis Branford, but it seemed hopeless now. She would have to look for another opportunity or method.
Then, after a period of silence, Rosalyn finally spoke up.
“If I quit, what happens to Baron Penris?”
Marquis Branford replied with an expressionless face.
“Since you refused, there’s no justification to restrain him. The justification lies with Baron Penris, so he will return as he is.”
Hearing that, the butler showed a slightly disappointed expression, while Ghislaine’s close associates looked relieved.
A marquis like him wouldn’t take back the words he had just spoken.
However, Rosalyn clutched her mask and murmured with a bitter laugh.
“Whether it’s this guy or that guy… they all do whatever they want… insulting and tormenting me like that, and then they just walk away?”
Shaking with laughter or tears, she lifted her head and stared directly at Ghislaine.
“I really don’t like you. Acting like you know everything, pushing your views as if you’re the only one who’s right.”
Since she couldn’t openly say she had regressed, Ghislaine remained silent.
“I can’t even trust this ridiculous treatment. How can something that could kill a person be called treatment?”
“Well, it’s already a done deal. Even if you don’t trust it, what meaning does it hold to say such things now?”
At this, Rosalyn ground her teeth in fury.
“Done? You two decided to start this however you wanted, and now who gets to decide when it ends? Do I look like some puppet to you, doing as you say and stopping when you say so?”
‘Huh?’
Clang.
She threw her dagger to the floor and looked at Marquis Branford.
“I’ll continue the treatment.”
“Young Lady! Didn’t you just say it could kill you!”
The butler was shocked by Rosalyn’s sudden change of tone.
Everyone else was the same. She had been so reluctant, so why was she suddenly saying this?
Ignoring everyone’s reactions, she continued.
“If the treatment fails, that quack certainly won’t get away with it, right? I’ll decide just how painfully I’ll die.”
“I’ll decide whether to kill you in a savage way.”
Marquis Branford replied with his usual expressionless face.
“Do as you wish.”
“If I die while receiving treatment, please tear that interest into shreds and kill me.”
“Very well.”
At the grim remarks, everyone swallowed hard.
Only Ghislaine was biting his lips to stifle his laughter.
‘Good, good. The poison has really flared up, hasn’t it? I almost forgot whose daughter she is.’
A very good twist.
In Rosalyn’s mind, thoughts of treatment had long been erased.
She was convinced Ghislaine would fail and was left only with the hatred and rage to kill him as painfully as possible.
But there was nothing better than this mental poison to endure the pain.
Rosalyn’s eyes sparkled as she glanced at Ghislaine.
“You said there are about ten days left? If I can just hold on, I’ll definitely kill you.”
“Until then, you’ll need to stay alive for that to happen. Are you feeling a bit more willing to endure now?”
“You will never die easily. I can guarantee that.”
Ghislaine shrugged and smiled.
“If you fail, I’m more than willing to accept that. I like that look in your eyes.”
Seeing him remain unfazed, Rosalyn scoffed and spoke to the butler.
“Tie my arms and legs tightly to the bed with ropes during the treatment.”
“What?”
“And prepare a gag for my mouth.”
“Must you go that far…?”
“Then do you expect me to get caught and thrash around like a madwoman every time I receive treatment? If we’re going to do it, let’s do it properly.”
“Ah, understood.”
The butler nodded, unable to hide his bewilderment.
Seeing that, Ghislaine inwardly admired her.
‘What a potent poison. They say a lion’s child can only be a lion. Ah, by the way, the Branford family’s emblem is also a lion. Quite fitting.’
Even when engulfed in anger, putting one’s life on the line is not easy.
Especially when there’s a way to escape, it becomes even harder.
But Rosalyn was no ordinary person. Once she embraced the poison and made up her mind, there was no backing down.
She glared at Ghislaine again.
“Let’s see how far we can take this.”
Her determination to kill Ghislaine after the treatment was evident.
Of course, Ghislaine was not the type to be intimidated by such a display.
“All right. I’ll do my best, so I hope you can keep up. Now I can focus on treatment with peace of mind.”
He shrugged his shoulders and laughed as if everything was going well.
*
“Guuugh!”
After that day, Rosalyn really had managed to endure.
So much so that he wanted to apologize for underestimating her in the beginning.
Thanks to her willpower, the treatment became a bit easier, but that didn’t mean all problems had disappeared.
“Baron! Can’t you be a bit gentler?”
“Baron! Is there really no other way?”
“Baron! It seems Miss’s face is getting worse!”
‘Oh man, really, this old man…’
As Ghislaine was already stressed with so many things to pay attention to during the mana treatment, the butler nagged him every day.
With plenty to worry about, Ghislaine was nagged by the butler every single day.
After a week of this, Ghislaine, her nerves frayed to the breaking point, couldn’t hold back any longer and shouted,
“Get out!”
“Pardon?”
“I said get out! I can’t concentrate!”
The butler, taken aback, retorted,
“But if we leave, we won’t be able to respond if a problem suddenly arises…”
“Just leave! Before I turn everything upside down!”
Ghislaine tossed aside any pretense of courtesy and began to reveal her true nature.
The butler and the knights protested, but Rosalyn stepped in and put things in order.
“Everyone do as she says. It would be boring if we have to come up with excuses later.”
Even the servants who had been attending to them and Ghislaine’s close associates were thrown out.
In the room that was now left with just Ghislaine and Rosalyn, life-and-death treatment continued.
“Ugh!”
‘Damn it, just a little more!’
Rosalyn often found herself throwing up blood after every session of brutal treatment.
Though Ghislaine’s situation wasn’t as bad as Rosalyn’s hellish pain, she wasn’t in a normal state either, draining her mental strength to its very limits.
‘I have to break through even if it pushes me to my limits.’
Her body, already weak, was growing weaker with each passing treatment, and the method of breaking through each blockage was agonizingly slow.
‘As long as I don’t die, it’s fine, right?’
Saying she couldn’t die meant that as long as she stayed alive, she could push her limits to the very brink of death.
If she wasn’t successful in time, she would die, and Rosalyn, who couldn’t finish her treatment, would also die.
‘This is tough. Not like it was ever easy.’
Ghislaine chuckled to herself, shaking her head left and right.
‘I’ll break through in one go.’
She identified the area that was in the best condition and ripped through the obstructed energy without hesitation.
Crack! Crack, crack, crack!
Rosalyn’s mana road couldn’t withstand the shock and burst apart.
“Gack!”
With her eyes rolling back, blood began to spurt from her mouth that had been blocked by a gag.
Yet, Rosalyn stubbornly held on.
Ghislaine couldn’t help but admire her. A woman who couldn’t even handle mana managed to endure this much.
‘Alright, I’ll give her credit for guts.’
Ghislaine moved her mana even more boldly, stirring inside Rosalyn’s body.
“Ugh!”
A treatment that was a gamble of their lives.
Ghislaine didn’t hold back and pressed forward, while Rosalyn grit her teeth and endured.
As time passed, the appearances of both women grew more and more haggard.
Finally, on the fifteenth day as promised to the marquis,
Rosalyn clung on with tenacity and ultimately survived.
The moment Ghislaine withdrew her hand, Rosalyn beamed with a triumphant smile.
“You’re dead now…”
And with that, she fainted right away.
“Phew…”
Ghislaine sighed, wiping Rosalyn’s unconscious face and putting a mask back on her.
Then she sat down on a nearby chair, closed her eyes, and spent the night.
As the last day passed…
Bang!
As soon as dawn broke, Marquis Branford and the knights burst in through the door.
