WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Malfoid

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◈ I Don't Need a Family ◈

Episode 39

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“Or I could be a little more merciful.”

The Duke smiled smoothly.

Flutter.

A sheet of white paper was handed to each of the panicked servants.

It was their final chance, silently offered by knights whose expressions were hidden beneath their helmets.

“Write down what the person next to you has done to Vivette all this time, and how innocent you are by comparison.”

He was telling them to betray their colleagues.

“I cannot dismiss all of you. I will rehire the ten percent who were the most loyal, though you will be demoted.”

“!”

Ten percent was enough to move them.

“If you write lies, I will cross-check your accounts and smash your Mana Hearts. So write with a clear conscience.”

The Duke threatened them afterward, but they could no longer hear him.

The people beside them had already begun frantically writing.

They quickly realized those were accusations against themselves.

In their haste, they did not care that everyone could plainly see what they were writing.

Their own names were clearly visible from several steps away.

They wanted to curse and seize their colleagues by the collar at once, but they could not.

The knights in golden armor were watching them with cold, sharp eyes.

And high above them, someone stronger than all those knights combined was observing.

They did not deliberate for long. Their choice was obvious.

If they wanted to survive after being betrayed, they had to betray someone too.

The Duke silently watched the people who had once served at his beck and call fill their papers with mana instead of pens.

* * *

“Pardon? Us?”

The maids of the annex widened their eyes at the unexpected news.

“We're going... to the main house?”

The storm sweeping through the main house of Ashwilt Estate was harsher than ever.

It was enough to recall the days around twenty years ago, when people died in the main house almost daily.

Harris's mother had died then as well.

It had not ended with the death of one of the estate's most precious ladies.

The cook, the cupbearer, and the gardener had all become citizens of the land led by the god of death.

Bodies had been removed several times a day.

They had believed nothing could be more shocking than that, until one day Miss Vivette left the estate.

Then, about half of Ashwilt's servants were cast out onto the streets.

Everyone, including the head maid who had served for thirty years and the butlers.

Head Steward Greg lost the position to a junior colleague and was demoted to an ordinary butler.

The maids who had diverted supplies and goods meant for the annex were prosecuted by the House.

Several knights were denounced by people from the main house for various reasons and dragged away from the knight order.

Even those who had committed lesser offenses were set to stand trial on charges such as insulting nobility.

The only people who remained unharmed amid such brutal turmoil were the annex staff who had followed Vivette to the end.

A knight from the main house came to deliver unexpected news.

Every member of the annex had been reassigned to the main house.

“The main house is empty. Even the people whose offenses were light enough to avoid dismissal have been sent to the East Wing or the West Wing.”

The knight let out a quiet groan.

The colleagues who had sold one another out to remain with the ducal family were pitiable.

The East Wing was responsible for managing Deus, the vast garden directly connected to the estate.

In other words, it meant fertilizing, weeding, and farming beneath the blazing sun.

Being assigned there meant a hard life lay ahead.

They would perform physical labor and live roughly, far from the splendor of Ashwilt Estate.

Still, those sent to the East Wing were treated better than those who were not.

No matter how much the rough, hardy workers already there hazed and bullied them, could they be worse than Young Lord Harris in the West Wing?

‘That young lord looked like he'd really made up his mind.’

The knight could not forget the young lord's expression when he had gone to lead those assigned to the West Wing there.

A chill ran down the knight's spine, and he shook away the stray thought.

“The main house is empty, so you will need to go there. Naturally, you will receive appropriate treatment.”

“Treatment? What kind of...?”

The maids tilted their heads, then their mouths fell open.

“W-wait, is this salary correct? It's doubled!”

“Pardon? I'm being promoted to lady's maid? ...Me?”

“Wait, I can barely use magic! And I'm still being made a lady's maid?”

The higher wages and improved benefits were one thing, but this was especially unexpected.

At Ashwilt, where maids and lady's maids were distinguished solely by magical ability regardless of seniority or background, they had been promoted at once without any examination.

Ashwilt's principle had been broken.

But principles only broke when something major happened.

Rather than rejoice at news of their promotion, the maids looked uneasy.

“My mana is practically empty, so I can't use magic... Why?”

“There were orders to promote every one of you, regardless of magical ability.”

“What?”

“You maintained proper conduct even amid an atmosphere of indulgence. His Grace has rewarded you in recognition of your loyalty to your mistress.”

“Ah...”

The knight gave a kind smile to the hesitant maids, who seemed unable to believe it.

“You have earned it. Enjoy it.”

They could be called the greatest beneficiaries of this incident.

They had neither lost a daughter nor turned their backs on the family, and after enduring a reasonable amount of hardship, they had received sweet fruit.

Yet the maids knew well that both those giving this reward and those made to receive it would ultimately be unhappy, so it left a bitter taste.

One young maid murmured inwardly.

‘If only it had happened a little sooner.’

If people had been treated without regard for magical ability,

‘Miss Vivette would not have had to leave this place. His Grace could have remained at peace.’

And no one, no one would have been hurt.

* * *

I returned to Plaford at dawn.

Before, I would have taken a street carriage and gone the long way around to avoid the Duke's surveillance, but I no longer needed to worry about that.

I was officially independent from the family, and Ashwilt could not lay a hand on me wherever I went.

So I returned openly through the portal linking the two cities.

“Urgh.”

“My head!”

The people who had traveled with me complained of nausea and headaches before collapsing where they stood, but naturally, I was fine.

‘Maybe magic resistance is an incredible talent too.’

Thinking that life would be manageable with this alone, even if I could not use magic, I hopped down.

Since it was a passage connecting two enormous cities, the area around the portal was bustling.

Shops selling local specialties lined the streets, while people waiting for friends and family gathered in small groups before the portal.

Lola was among them.

“My lady!”

“Lola?”

I headed straight over without even having time to look around.

“Why did you come all the way out here? Plaford is cold.”

“I was worried because you didn't come back all night! I thought Duke Ashwilt might have detained you.”

“He almost did.”

“Pardon?”

“But it's all right now.”

I gave the maid worrying over me a gentle smile.

“Everything ended well.”

* * *

At last, the story I had told with Madame Fadde and Lola seated before me came to an end.

By then, all the pies and cakes I had bought with both hands full were gone.

The culprit was Lola, smiling awkwardly with strawberry mousse around her mouth.

“I'm sorry. It was so delicious that I ate too much before either of you could.”

“It is fine.”

Madame Fadde, who had not looked at the tea table once the entire time, furrowed her brow.

“It is far too sweet for my taste. How could I swallow even one piece?”

“I don't care much for sugar either. I bought them for you. And there's more.”

“There's more?”

Lola's eyes lit up.

After seeing Ashwilt's rude servants, I felt grateful to her all over again and wanted to do something for her.

When we had gone to the restaurant last time, she had cleaned up every dessert, so I had bought these as a gift.

Seeing her eat so happily made me wonder if I should have bought more.

“Thank you so much, my lady.”

“You like them that much?”

I stared at the cream, which looked rich even at a glance.

I had once eaten something like that and vomited badly in a hospital room.

My illness had gradually weakened my muscles, and that was the day I truly realized that the muscles in the stomach were muscles too.

I had not eaten anything with cream in it since then. Not even after my body changed.

“Yes.”

The answer was firm.

“I think I'd be happy to be paid in this.”

“Is it really that good?”

As Madame Fadde and I stared in shock, Lola neatly wiped her mouth.

“But, my lady, you went there to have the Ashwilt surname removed, didn't you?”

Right. That had been the original purpose.

“Hmm, I'm glad you've escaped the ducal family's grasp, but... will it really be all right? Even if you go to the grand ducal house with the status of a Duke's daughter?”

“Hmm. I think it will be.”

I had worried a great deal, but after visiting Ashwilt Estate, I realized something.

How much people looked down on you when you had no power.

‘Before I left home, it was bearable. But when I went back, everyone was terribly rude.’

That was because Duke Ashwilt had pushed me into the drawing room and treated me coldly.

The moment he did, the lady's maids, servants, and knights all began to look down on me.

Did they think I had lost my patron? Their gazes became openly insolent, and their behavior grew shameless.

Even though my status as the Duke's daughter had not changed, no matter how much my father disliked me.

So what would happen if I gave up my position as a Duke's daughter and became a commoner?

‘I don't need to subject myself to that kind of treatment.’

I decided to use Ashwilt to a certain extent.

The Duke had used me for his own reputation as well, so I had no reason to feel indebted.

Applying to the knight order as Ashwilt's daughter...

It was uncomfortable, but if I had to choose between being a commoner and a Duke's daughter, the latter was obvious.

Becoming a knight as a commoner would be more than twice as difficult as becoming one as a Duke's daughter.

‘Well, being a knight isn't my final goal anyway.’

Without hesitation, I wrote my name on the newly received application form.

Vivette Ashwilt.

* * *

At that same moment, there was another sinister voice murmuring the same name.

“Vivette Ashwilt.”

Murmuring it was not enough. The owner of the voice even traced the letters of that name with pale, long fingers.

Vivette Ashwilt. The unfortunate young lady who had failed to become a mage in the end, Duke Ashwilt's sore point,

‘And my...’

The rough hand stopped moving.

The crystal ball in the other hand, which had failed to reveal the desired information, was set down as well.

The voice sank into something cold and eerie.

“Find out more. About this woman.”

Immediately afterward, terse acknowledgments rose endlessly from every direction in the pitch-black darkness.

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