Ch.42True Colors (2)

“…Yes, I know. I know it all too well.”

Crunch—

A chilling sound is produced as Ines grinds her molars.

If ordinary people heard that sound, they would feel shivers throughout their body like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard, but Chloe calmly receives it with an unfazed expression.

No, not an unfazed expression, but one that clearly looks down on her opponent.

“Hehe, you seem quite anxious?”

“…How impudent.”

Ines, who has spent her entire life receiving fearful, admiring, or affectionate gazes from others, cannot bear Chloe’s expression.

If Claude hadn’t been between them, Ines would have immediately drawn the self-defense weapon tucked at her waist and started something.

“I was going to turn a blind eye to you being my lord’s lover since you seemed easy to control and manipulate…”

For Ines, there was no particular reason to prevent Claude and Chloe from being together.

In the world of nobility, affairs are very common, and producing more offspring, even illegitimate ones, is considered a noble’s sacred duty.

If there must be a mistress anyway, it’s better to have someone who can be easily controlled.

“You’re showing your teeth like this?”

Chloe comes from a vulgar background with weak support, and despite being adopted, she’s still in a sibling relationship with him, so she can’t openly reveal being lovers with “my lord.”

That’s why Ines had designated the seemingly easy-to-control Chloe as her lord’s potential mistress… only to be blindsided like this.

Even though she had permitted it, such acts shouldn’t have happened outside the view of me, the legal wife.

Everything should have been under my control. From simply creating affection to the process of producing offspring, everything.

“Turn a blind eye? Who do you think you are?”

Chloe looks at Ines with disbelief as she says such things.

“I allowed you to be by my brother’s side for a while, and now you don’t know your place.”

Chloe refers to Claude as “brother.”

Since it’s already an established fact, no one can deny their relationship anymore.

Finally, Chloe can freely call Claude her brother.

“Allowed? You say you allowed? Someone like you to me—”

“Yes, allowed. You were just a tool to make my brother break his promise.”

A promise made twelve years ago on his birthday to never look at another woman.

At the time, Claude made the promise readily, dismissing it as a childish whim, but Chloe, the recipient of that promise, still remembers it clearly.

Chloe deliberately neglected Ines to induce Claude to break his promise, and once she confirmed he had broken it, Chloe no longer hesitated. She waited for an opportunity, fed Claude a paralyzing drug, and literally violated him in a secluded place.

“…Promise?”

Hearing the words “tool” and “promise,” Ines’s mood plummets further.

Being treated as a tool by this lowborn is one thing, but a promise? It’s something she’s never heard of before.

For Ines, who wants to know everything about what she’s interested in, this is an unbearable humiliation and insult.

“Of course, it’s a promise you don’t need to know about.”

“…You bitch.”

“Oh…?”

When Chloe responds with a mocking expression and voice, a curse flies out of Ines’s mouth.

Chloe had only meant to tease, but she’s slightly surprised by Ines’s dramatic reaction.

It’s a harsh voice and word unimaginable from the woman who puts on airs every day.

‘This… if I push a little more, I could use this.’

Instinctively sensing this is Ines’s sore spot, Chloe decides to provoke her further.

Good, this will make things proceed more smoothly.

“I’ve been by my brother’s side my entire life, while you’ve been here for at most a month or two. Naturally, I know much more about him, don’t I?”

“Shut up.”

Indeed, she’s reacting as expected.

If my brother weren’t here between us, she looks like she’d immediately do something.

“You don’t need to be upset about it. It’s only natural. How could a mere month or two of connection possibly compete with a lifelong bond?”

“…How dare a lowborn wench.”

“Ha.”

A lowborn… wench.

…I was planning to overlook any vulgar words she might say.

“You dog… no.”

I must endure.

I can’t show such an ugly side of myself in front of my brother. Let her be the only one showing such a face.

Chloe suppresses the curse that was about to come out with superhuman patience, and Ines looks at her with puzzled eyes.

‘She held back?’

The Chloe that Ines has figured out is a crazy woman pretending to be nice.

Would such a crazy woman hold back from such provocation when no one else is around?

My lord is sleeping, so there’s no need to be mindful of… wait a minute.

“…My lord?”

“Tsk.”

Ines calls out to Claude with wide eyes, and seeing this, Chloe clicks her tongue in disappointment.

What a shame. If she had noticed a little later, I could have completely eroded any affection my brother has for that woman.

“No… way…”

“Brother, you heard that just now, right? She called me a lowborn wench.”

Chloe strokes Claude’s forehead, which is resting on her thigh, speaking in an aggrieved voice.

As Chloe strokes him, the cloth covering Claude’s eyes comes off.

“…”

Claude cannot respond to Chloe’s words.

Paralyzed by the drug Chloe gave him, Claude is conscious but can only roll his eyes around.

“…!”

Ines’s breath catches when she sees Claude’s eyes turn toward her.

He heard…? Everything we’ve been saying?

“Mmm… that expression, I like it very much.”

Seeing Ines’s vindictive expression instantly transform into despair, Chloe nods with great satisfaction.

Though she noticed too early for me to push her completely over the edge, I still did pretty well.

“M-my lord… this… I mean…”

Ines trembles, doing her best to take back the words she just uttered.

I was too rash. Even if my lord was tired, how could I be so certain he was asleep?

Even though I stopped midway, the words I’ve already said are enough to have upset my lord.

My lord treasures that woman as his little sister, and now he’s heard me say such things right beside him— wait.

‘Why is he only rolling his eyes?’

Ines finally notices something strange.

As I just said, my lord treasures that woman as his little sister, so there’s no way he would willingly make love to her.

Besides, it’s also a bit strange that my lord has remained silent while such harsh words were being exchanged right next to him.

…Could it be.

Swish—

Thud—

Ines takes Claude’s hand, lifts it slightly, and then lets it go in mid-air.

Claude’s arm falls limply, hitting his own stomach.

“…Paralysis?”

Having played with her toys before, Ines immediately recognizes Claude’s condition.

A poison that maintains consciousness while paralyzing the body—even I would have difficulty obtaining such a high-grade substance.

“What have you… done to my lord.”

My lord is not a toy. He’s a special being.

But this crazy woman didn’t care about that and committed such a terrible act.

Ines’s body trembles, and then a chilling rage emanates from her entire body.

“Don’t blame me for revealing your true nature. You—”

“…You lacked confidence, didn’t you?”

“What?”

Chloe is slightly taken aback by the unexpected response, and Ines, who had been speaking recklessly, inwardly rejoices at seeing this.

Good, I can still salvage this. I won’t be the only bad woman here.

“You lacked confidence, so you did something like this and pounced on my lord.”

“…That’s not it. My lord is too moral to—”

“Really? That means my lord didn’t see you as a woman.”

Chloe’s expression begins to distort but then stops.

It was only for about 0.3 seconds, but Ines, accustomed to changes in people’s expressions, doesn’t miss it.

“…My lord enjoyed it very much. If he didn’t see me as a woman, he wouldn’t have become so wet—”

“That happened with me too. You see his bedroom every morning, so you should know.”

“…”

Chloe’s mouth shuts. She has no possible response.

If she agrees, she’d be acknowledging that Claude sees Ines as a woman; if she disagrees, Claude’s reaction would be reduced to a mere physiological response.

“But you and I are not exactly the same.”

“…What do you mean?”

Seeing Chloe’s reaction, Ines inwardly smiles coldly and decides to drive the final nail.

“Are you really asking because you don’t know? My lord explored my body entirely of his own will, but you cowardly fed him poison and—”

“…Shut up.”

Chloe glares at Ines with resentful eyes and tells her to shut up, but Ines ignores her and continues.

“It’s the truth, isn’t it? You don’t know the feeling of my lord exploring your body of his own will, do you?”

“I said shut up…”

“How ecstatic it is—”

SLAP!!

“—ah.”

“…Whore.”

Chloe can no longer endure Ines’s provocations denying her relationship with Claude.

A red handprint appears on Ines’s cheek from Chloe’s slap.