Resetting Lady

Chapter 6

—

“Mmmh.”

Isella opened her eyes. She had a headache. Where was she? The meeting last night went on for too long, then after, she was guided to a guest room where she would stay while she was in the Hare mansion.

“Even the guest room here is cheap.”

Her back hurts. Unlike the soft bed that Isella had before, this bed was filled with straw that just made her body ache all over. The sky was still dim as it was dawn, and when she opened the window, the cold air cooled down her head. The garden’s flowers, which had just begun to bloom, had dew on them.

All of these things will one day belong to their family. When she thought this, Isella felt a growing affection for the Hare territory. She would become a good Madam. And she would be a bride who’d suit Raymond.

“Huh?”

Her neck felt empty.

The necklace from Raymond.

No. My gift. Sir Raymond might get disappointed. My necklace. It hasn’t been that long since he bought it for me.

Isella hurriedly looked through her pillows. Nothing. Her vision turned white.

No. What if that Hare girl took my necklace? But that can’t be. Or maybe it was a maid or an attendant who took it? I’m going to catch you and kill you. But what if they feign innocence? What if the culprit ran away already? It’s a precious item that commoners can’t touch even if they try and earn a lot in their whole lifetime. Oh, oh my necklace.

Isella lay face down, crouching on the ground. Did I drop it? What should I do? No, who’s going to…

Knock, knock.

“Who is it!”

“…I brought water for you to wash your face, Miss.”

The door opened. A black maid brought in hot water. Isella wasn’t in the mood to wash up, but she grabbed the maid and immediately asked.

“Who brought me back yesterday?”

“…It was me. You couldn’t move because you were too drunk and too drowsy, so…”

“Who took my necklace?”

“Pardon?”

“My necklace is gone!”

“I put back your clothes in the closet, Miss.”

Isella hurriedly searched inside the closet, but there was no necklace. Anger boiled within her, and she hit the maid on the cheek.

Slap!

Isella’s fingernails scraped the black skin.

“Find it this instant! No matter what!”

Isella screamed in an angry voice. The maid raised her head, holding her own cheek as she looked at Isella. At this, Isella was at a loss for words. The maid—she scoffed. While Isella was all blue with her eyes wide open, the maid laughed at the girl with her lips drawn. She laughed. A maid was laughing at Isella.

“If it can’t be found, there’s nothing that can be done.”

Isella grabbed the maid’s hair, but at that moment, the door opened. Carynne, still in her nightgown, looked at Isella and the maid with a surprised face.

“…What’s going on?” Carynne asked Isella.

“My necklace has gone missing!”

“What? Miss Isella, please explain it again slowly. What do you mean necklace?”

“It’s just that—my necklace is gone. I left it in my closet but it disappeared. Your maid is suspicious.”

Isella said this as she hid the nails that had scratched the maid.

“Alright. Then I’ll have to mobilize all the maids and attendants to find the culprit. It’s still dawn, so make sure to get dressed first, Isella.”

“That’s not what I’m saying right now…”

Isella shut herself up. Carynne wasn’t the only one who came after hearing the commotion. The servants and attendants of the Hare mansion were looking at her with contempt, while the people working under her father were looking at her with pity.

As she tried to hold back the emotions that were threatening to burst out, Isella shed tears.

“And I would like to let you know that Nancy has been by my side for a long time.”

At the words that obviously aimed to grate at her nerves, but even as Isella was incensed, she only dropped her head.

* * *

Though the mansion was searched all day, the necklace did not turn up. Isella bit her nails. From the garden and all the way to the servants’ quarters and Carynne’s room, even under the carpets, under the trees and in every nook and cranny, the necklace was nowhere to be seen.

Isella insisted that the Lord’s room should be searched as well, but Verdic hastily restrained her from doing so. At this, she cried.

“Father, what do I do…”

“Why come to me when you can’t even keep one necklace at this rate?”

Verdic loved her daughter, but he couldn’t help but frown at the disturbance she had caused so early in the morning. Because he was in the middle of having to work through a tricky business deal, he wasn’t happy about this.

How could she make a fuss about a necklace that didn’t mean much when every word spoken here had to be carefully chosen? Wasn’t that just one of many gifts and not even a ring? Verdic could easily imagine Raymond asking for the ‘most expensive item’ in the store with a stony expression.

“But it’s from Sir Raymond…”

Verdic pitied Isella, but at the same time lamented her immaturity. She was a daughter who he painstakingly sired at a late age, so she wanted to raise her properly and marry her off to a good man. As he looked at his crestfallen daughter, biting back his rebukes towards her.

It was easy to scold, but difficult to straighten out. Neither reproach nor abandonment were given to this child. Verdic repeated what he had said to the Lord, that parents want to give only good things to their children.

A good spouse was what a parent wanted to give the most to their child, and on this note, the best asset that Verdic could give Isella was Raymond—to the extent that this asset might just be too good for her.

The engagement between them, which could have been a good balance between an exchange of wealth and honor, began to tilt towards Raymond’s side due to his repeated successes.

In addition, when Raymond was named the barony’s successor after the current baron’s eldest son had fallen sick, Raymond became one of the most coveted bachelors in high society despite being the second son of a fallen baron household.

The splendid successes that the fiancé gained actually adversely affected his and Isella’s relationship. An engagement was simply that—an engagement. It was different from marriage. If the engagement was too tilted towards one side, it would be at stake.

The Evans patriarch became wary of Raymond. In the end, he was trying to buy this land excessively to match the other side’s ranking, but this immature daughter of his was making a lot of noise about one necklace.

“Sir Raymond’s gift is very elegant, I know, but if you’re that upset about it, I can get you the same one. You shouldn’t bother Lord Hare or make a mistake here for no reason.”

“Even if it’ll look the same, it’s not from him.”

“But ultimately, it’s your mistake.”

“……”

Isella grew sullen and returned to her room.

Scritch, scritch.

As she walked away, a scuffling sound could be heard from the old stone mansion, as if mice were scampering by. Isella was so sick and tired of this place.

In the end, she couldn’t find it.

It had been such a long time since her clothes and hands had gotten dirty like this. She had been looking for her necklace all day, and in the middle of it, she had since changed to low-quality working shoes worn by servants, but even those had become such a mess. What a sight.

“Sir Raymond… He’ll be so disappointed.”

She wanted to meet Raymond while wearing that necklace. Here. In this mansion that would be hers, waiting for Raymond to rest here when he was tired. At that time, she would prove that she was qualified to be a noblewoman who would manage a territory.

Then, she opened the door.

Isella found the necklace.

It’s over there. My necklace. As expected, that woman took it.

The necklace was hanging on the maid’s neck. The maid, like a cheap mannequin stand, didn’t suit the luxurious necklace.

However, Isella could no longer direct her anger towards the maid.

Because there was no body under the maid’s neck.

Isella covered her mouth. A scream threatened to burst out.

t/n: the narrative really does go back and forth between first person point of view and third person pov. i initially wanted to distinguish this change by italicizing the first person pov parts, but there was no such distinction in the original text, so i went back to just leaving them like that. i hope there isn’t too much whiplash while reading.

also, please note that the characters portrayed here are a product of the setting's era, so it’s inevitable that there are themes of racism and misogyny, among others, strewn throughout the novel.