IHRS 04

Chapter – 04

Back when Laura was the marquis’ loyal dog, and Marsha was a maid.

Marsha was summoned out every day by the marquis’ eldest son, Zeffeto, and tormented.

The reason was simple:

Jealousy and inferiority.

The root cause was the marquis himself.

“You, with your noble blood, are no better than an adopted child.”

The marquis constantly compared his son to Laura, putting him down.

For Zeffeto, who took great pride in being part of a prominent family, there was no greater humiliation.

And yet? The marquis preferred the adopted child over his own son.

Wanting his father’s approval, Zeffeto couldn’t confront Laura directly, so he started taking it out on Marsha instead.

His usual repertoire was as follows:

“Hey, maid. I’m moving rooms, so take all my things upstairs.”
“Maid, where are my things? What? When did I give such an order? Exact time? Evidence?”

He’d give pointless tasks just to scold her.

“Forget about your salary. You should be grateful I’m not firing you.”
“I saw you take the silver brooch from Father’s room.”
“I didn’t steal it. I don’t even have access to the master’s room.”
“I saw it myself. Are you ignoring me?”

He’d pick fights over trivialities, seize money or valuables, and then squander it all on pleasure.

And today was no different.

“Please give it back.”

The second time.

“What’s this?”

“…It belonged to my mother.”

Zeffeto laughed at the worn handkerchief. The servants standing by forced smiles; otherwise, they’d have gotten beaten instead.

“Haha, do commoners hand down such trash as heirlooms?”

“Why the sour face? Don’t want it back?”

“No.”

“See? Better keep your wits about you if you want to survive.”

When I became Laura, the first thing I did was knock Zeffeto down.

Zeffeto, weak against anyone stronger than him, couldn’t resist.

Even if I had taken Marsha out of the mansion, it would’ve been the same.

After some savings and building a foundation, we left the family entirely. So I’d forgotten about his face…

‘Oh, that’s how he was, huh.’

Perched on a chair, flicking his hand like calling a dog, he looked supremely arrogant.

“What are you doing? Showing tricks so I can decide whether to give it to you?”

Bang.

The door rattled open.

Zeffeto’s eyes darted toward the door in shock.

In the mansion, only the marquis could behave this way. He panicked, thinking his father had arrived. Coward.

Seizing the stolen item was easy. Marsha caught the handkerchief even though it was tossed unexpectedly.

‘Good, that’s settled.’

“What…when did you get here?”

Zeffeto, finally recovering, tried to wriggle off the chair.

He had tormented Marsha and wanted to escape as if nothing happened. No chance.

I grabbed his shoulder tightly, forcing him down. Zeffeto gasped.

Despite his pride, he couldn’t admit pain, only raising his eyebrows.

“So, what are you going to do? Hit me?”

His lips trembled; that was all the resistance he had.

“Why not?”

I twisted his neck from side to side. Zeffeto muttered curses.

“You’ve come back all sudden, flipping your mind! Are you crazy?”

“Sorry, but I’m perfectly sane.”

Zeffeto, scared, tried to glare at me stubbornly.

I realized something new: not only had it been a while since I’d seen Zeffeto, but it had also been ages since he looked at me like this.

After I had thoroughly beaten him before, he avoided me like a frightened dog.

‘I bet he regretted tormenting Marsha so much.’

I hadn’t punished him enough back then.

In short:

“I wanted to hit him once more.”

Zeffeto was stupid and hated physical labor. He also didn’t have skills like Laura. One-on-one, there was no winning.

“If I use a spirit, Father will know everything anyway.”

“Why summon a spirit? Wasteful.”

Laura’s original spirit was Sirin, the Spirit of Sound. Unlike Acaphilace, it could be summoned.

‘Not now.’

Sirin was watching baby Seraphina. I had originally intended to leave baby care to Ludina.

-Ludina says she’s worse than air and can’t see anything.

Not helpful.

‘Really holding grudges.’

Above all:

“A person like you can be handled with just my fists.”

My tightly clenched fist made his weak body fall backward.

Zeffeto rolled across the floor from the chair.

He didn’t even scream in surprise.

“Watch your head, okay?”

“What…?”

Not my problem.

‘Nice weather.’

With clouds hinting at rain, it’s the perfect day to punch someone without making a mess.

I blinked at Zeffeto, adjusting my stance.

I’ll show you who the real villain is.

History is a record of the times.

So, the same event can be forgotten or exaggerated depending on who writes it.

Yet, is everything in the world recorded in history?

Most things remain unrecorded.

The points and lines hidden behind another’s history—we call that personal achievement, blood, or effort.

In short: life.

The marquis’ curse relied on history, others’ memories, so it couldn’t ruin my life.

The contract with Acaphilace wasn’t broken because of that.

Physical strength too.

If my goal is to climb halfway up the mountain and defeat the final boss, I cannot remain weak.

Not enough to earn a living with my fists, but strong enough to smack around one untrained nobleman? Check. That’s how much I trained.

So:

“You won’t get away with this!”

I was the only one who pummeled Zeffeto. Servants were too scared of Laura to intervene, and the knights were held off by Zeffeto himself.

Marsha had no intention of saving him either.

“If Father comes, you’ll definitely shrink away, right? Never lift a foot again?”

Even with a few teeth missing and one swollen cheek, he still spoke. That seemed to be his “talent.”

“Ah, you think I’ll just let this slide? Butler! Bring that here!”

He was talking about the disinheritance papers.

Being the heir, he could meddle with the family registry.

But the butler wasn’t on Zeffeto’s side. Elderly, timid, he stammered.

“But my master—”

“Can’t you see my face?”

He didn’t notice anything.

I thought from a distance:

‘They still don’t know?’

‘Well, of course. They wouldn’t.’

Originally, in the story, Marquis Leweiz escaped the cave, destroyed half of the empire, killed indiscriminately—even the emperor.

‘This time, it ended quietly.’

It was reasonable to believe the marquis was still alive.

The marquis never warned anyone before causing trouble and trusted no one below him.

Even if this incident only falls on the marquis, it’s still a problem.

He might think his son is just a somewhat dumb noble, but he’s wrong. Zeffeto is extremely dumb.

“Who in their right mind would start dealing drugs over a small allowance?”

I was certain this family was doomed.

Meanwhile, Zeffeto threw the papers the servant had fetched.

“Sign…sign it! Quickly!”

“……”

The disinheritance papers.

If it had been the real Laura, she would have surrendered. She knew all her privileges and freedom relied on being the daughter of a countess.

Of course, Zeffeto understood too.

“If I beg, maybe I can… uh?”

“Here, sign it.”

I thought differently.

Being handed over from a soon-to-collapse family?

‘Score. This is a win.’