kscans

Chapter 13 - Vow of Vengeance

Once Milene started to interact with the girl with genuine interest, she quickly learned that she wasn't an expressionless, boring child at all.

When the noble lady turned her back, Milene would secretly stick out her tongue and make a gesture of kicking her from behind. The girl’s eyes would go wide, and her tightly pressed lips would tremble. Realizing she was trying not to laugh made Milene happy.

It didn’t take long for her to understand that the girl didn't smile not because she couldn't, but because she was trying to avoid being scolded by the noble lady.

The noble lady’s lessons remained strict, and the frustration of a life without the freedom to even go outside mounted, but seeing the younger girl silently obey helped Milene endure. There was also her promise not to leave, but by then, Milene had grown quite fond of the girl.

Milene was naturally nurturing and enjoyed taking care of younger children. So, tending to the girl’s personal needs was no hardship. Helping her dress, combing her hair, cleaning her room, and arranging the linens were all much easier than helping with farm work. After about six months, when she could perform these duties without issue, the noble lady began to leave them alone during those times. This meant they could secure a decent amount of time away from the noble lady’s watchful eyes.

The chief's residence was little more than a common house, and the walls were thin. If they spoke in a normal voice, they would undoubtedly be overheard. So, whenever Milene and the girl were alone, she would whisper. Sharing secrets was thrilling and exciting. At first, the girl was constantly worried about being heard by the noble lady, but once she realized it was safe, she began to listen to Milene’s whispers with delight.

The content of their whispers would have made the noble lady faint. They talked about playing and making castles out of mud, about the time a giant earthworm as thick as her arm appeared while she was helping with farm work, about how you could crush the red flowers that bloomed in spring and rub them on your nails to stain them a beautiful red, about skipping stones on the pond, about the boy who was the fastest runner—they talked about all sorts of things without rhyme or reason.

Within a year, the girl began to show a range of expressions as rich as any ordinary girl, but only to Milene. Milene found this incredibly endearing.

The time after finishing preparations for bed was especially precious to them both.

While waiting for the girl to fall asleep, Milene would recall the fairy tales her mother had told her as bedtime stories, making up the parts she had forgotten, and sometimes creating impromptu stories with the girl as the protagonist.

Milene’s particular favorite was a story where she cast the girl as a captive princess, the noble lady as a wicked witch, and herself as the prince. She would tell it to the girl over and over, changing only the ending. The wicked witch’s punishment at the end varied depending on the noble lady’s cruelty that day. On days when her thighs were badly whipped, the witch received a hundred lashes. On days she was scolded for not memorizing her spelling, the witch was cursed to forget all her spells and lose her magic. On days she was denied a meal as punishment, the witch was cursed so that everything she tried to eat turned to stone, leaving her to suffer eternal hunger.

This was how they got through the hard times, by venting their frustrations. The sense of confinement she might not have endured alone, the loneliness of not seeing her mother or friends—she could bear it all because she had a companion in the girl. Before long, the girl had become like a precious younger sister to Milene, someone she had to protect no matter what.

Meanwhile, less than a year after they were separated, Milene’s mother left the village. Apparently, through the connections of that important-looking merchant who was the only one allowed in and out, she had become the new wife of a wealthy merchant. When Milene heard the news, she only cried a little. Perhaps from her mother's attitude that day and the fact that she never came to visit, Milene had subconsciously understood that she had been conveniently abandoned. And for that very reason, she swore to herself that she would never, ever leave the girl. The promise she had made to the girl, not to leave, had transformed into something like a sacred vow within Milene’s heart.

That was why, when her role as handmaiden was stolen by that merchant’s daughter, Karen, she tried to run away with the girl. That very night she was cast out.

But she was caught easily while trying to sneak in through the small window of that storeroom. She was severely punished and forbidden from even seeing the girl on festival days. The noble lady must have truly disliked Milene, for even in death, her will forbade Milene from seeing the girl.

But Milene never gave up. One day, she would rescue the girl and escape from this village lost in its foolish dream. That was what she believed.

Honestly, this high-and-mighty boy's story about the girl being a "magnificent princess" meant nothing to Milene.

But when she learned that the cause of the girl’s predicament was that merchant and his daughter, Karen, a hellfire ignited within Milene.

I will never forgive a fake.

To think they would try to use my princess even after her death… I will absolutely never forgive them!

She had already been prepared to follow her princess into death. Milene didn't hesitate to join the boy’s plan. She had to strike a blow, at least one, against that hateful merchant and his daughter who had used the girl. If possible, she wanted to drag them down to hell.

Vowing revenge, Milene whispered lovingly to the peacefully slumbering girl to wait just a little longer, and became the boy’s accomplice.