When My Enemies Began to Regret

“Seir? What are you doing in a place like this? You don’t have any reason to use this passage in the morning.”

“Ah, head maid! My shoelaces suddenly fell off, and I had to change into a new one…”

“What’s that next to you?”

“This is Lady Fanora’s breakfast.”

Did he really lose his heart because he was in love with his wife? Or, as the servants say, they had been committing adultery for a long time? 

For whatever reason, it didn’t change the fact that the Count brought his lover into the mansion, while his first wife was pregnant. With tears in her eyes, Fanora’s mother said that she couldn’t live under the same roof as his lover. She begged him to send his lover to villa, but her words were completely ignored. It made her tremble in anger.  

“Lady Fanora’s breakfast? It’s pretty late. All the food will get cold.”

“Yes, yes. I’ll hurry up.”

“Wait, make sure to tie the shoelaces tightly. If you fall while walking, it will cause a lot of trouble.”

However, it would have been better if her anger had been released to the ones who got involved. But was it because Bael Celsius had a higher power than her family? Or was it because she would be kicked out if she messed up with his lover? No one knew how the former Countess felt. Unfortunately, the arrow of her anger was directed at her daughter, Fanora.  

“Lady still eats in her room, not with the rest of her family?”

“Yes. Thanks to that, I have to cross the wide main hall and climb the stairs…”

“Shh. How can a servant bring a grudge against their master?”

“Yes? That… I was lucky to say it only to the head maid…”

“I said that because I was worried about the Lady.”

Seir, who became a maid at a young age, watched Fanora, who was younger than herself. She witnessed how the madam, in anger, dealt with her child in a place where no one could see. 

Madam said that if only Fanora was born without black hair and black eyes, she wouldn’t be like that. She grabbed the little Fanora like a mouse, saying that it was all her fault that the Count turned away from, that she had a miscarriage, and that his lover came in. 

“Be careful in the future.”

“Yes, Ma’am…”

“Looks like you’ve tied your shoelaces, so let’s go.”

Seir sometimes wondered. How could the madam maintain her graceful appearance at dinner with her husband and her husband’s lover? However, when the madam got away from others, her personality changed like flipping the palm. Why did madam pretend to be so noble in front of others and take out her anger on her daughter out of anyone’s sight? 

“Ah, that foxy bitch. Even though she’s only the head maid, she’s always picking up faults.”

Was it the last pride of her as a noble? Whatever the truth was, the result would be the same. 

The Count thought that Fanora was another man’s child and left her unattended. Fanora’s real mother treated her like a dog. What would Seir, who had been watching her from the side, think?

It was okay for Seir to deal with her however she wanted.  No one would get angry if she did whatever she wanted. And one day, Seir began to abuse Fanora, who had messed up her toys like any other child. 

Seir had been dissatisfied with her status since before. She judged herself to be more intelligent and beautiful than decent nobles. Now that she accidently found a prey that could turn her inferiority into a sense of superiority, how could she stop doing this fun job? 

Seir stood in the large hall of the mansion with a silver tray. Her arms already became hurt because of her wasted movement to get new shoes. 

As she caught her breath for a while before stepping up the stairs, she thought something.

Soon, Seir walked across the open main hall. She always had the same routine. If you stepped on the carpet and went straight, you would find a large main staircase leading to the second floor.

“Are we expecting another guest for today? It’s quiet.”

Seir muttered to herself as she walked about a third of the hall. Normally, she would have seen one or two servants carrying luggage around the main hall at this time of day. But there was only silence. 

Seir continued to walk, looking around the artwork hanging on the wall. It seemed that the artworks she saw every day were more important than her master meal that had already turned cold.

And around the center of the hall. Seir was drawn to the beautiful sepia painting among the artworks decorating the wall. She probably wouldn’t have raised her head if she hadn’t heard this sound from above.

BANG. Suddenly there was a loud sound. There was also a rattling noise following it. The sound was clearly ringing from above her. Seir raised her eyes half a beat late.

“!”

What soon filled Seir’s vision was a group of dazzling crystal lights. It was the chandelier.

“Huh?”

A hundred kilograms of objects hanging from the high ceiling fell upon her.

* * *

 It was 1:12 p.m. 

The mansion was engulfed in unfortunate events. One of the servants of the mansion died in the accident.

Today, they were waiting for the repairman to replace the chandelier with a new one, so they asked the repairman, who arrived shortly after, about the cause of the accident.

And after a long war of words, the conclusion at the mansion was like this.

This was simply the fall of an old chandelier. Everyone quickly became convinced that it was an unfortunate accident that the maid passing under it was crushed. If a high-position person had lost their life from that accident, the chaos might have lasted longer. However, Seir was only a commoner who had no relatives. There was a lot of manpower to replace her.

The Count didn’t care much about that, only preparing her funeral with a few pennies. Eventually, Seir was buried in the small cemetery on the outskirts of the village. There were only tears from some of her friends who worked together in the mansion. 

“…”

Fanora learned the news very late through the head maid who brought her dinner. She stayed in her room all day and didn’t light even a single candle. To others, this could only be seen as the behavior of lady who was heartbroken at the loss of her exclusive maid.

* * *

A day has passed since Seir’s death. Without going back to the past or the world collapsed, the morning sun came up safely.

“…”

Fanora, who opened her eyes, thought while lying on the bed.

She was engulfed in the aftereffect of the revenge she had accomplished with her own hands. 

She decided not to believe those words anymore. Because she became happy thanks to this revenge. In addition, she also realized the power of the holy relic, Io, which made her revenge possible from this opportunity.

Fanora recalled the sigh she had seen yesterday from the mansion’s second floor. Recalling the scene of the crime scene on her head didn’t mean that there won’t be any evidence. 

First of all, it was true that the chandelier was quite old. It was also true that there was no passerby at that time because all the servants in the main hall gathered at the dining room to greet the nobles who were scheduled to come for lunch.

Fanora, who had been contemplating how to deal with Seir since she had Io, didn’t miss that opportunity. She even came up with the idea of avoiding the crime by dropping the chandelier with the power of a holy relic. 

Seir’s work route was the same every day. So Fanora waited that day for Seir to pass under the chandelier, then she threw a piece of iron in her hand to break the pulley. 

The piece of iron that she had saved was the result of stealing one of the candlesticks from the mansion and crumpling it. The iron from the candlestick was similar in appearance to the iron that made up the chandelier, so it melted naturally between the fragments of the shattered chandelier. 

When she succeeded in dropping the chandelier, the sound of Seir, crushed by it, was so small. Compared to the daily work of her treating Fanora like a bug, she was like an ant. 

Fanora recalled her favorite scene from her second revenge.

“Haha.”

Fanora struggled to hold back her laughter at that time. Fortunately, she ran straight to her room without making a sound. No one witnessed that. 

As expected, no one suspected her.  Besides, if there were any witnesses, how could a 30-kilogram lady drop a chandelier that was in good condition? Everyone would deny that suspicion if they saw her bony forearms.

“Hu…”

But the next day, Fanora paid the price. It was the side effect of using holy relics. Thanks to that she became a patient again.

It had been the third time she became a patient since she returned to the past, but the pain she felt this time was incomparable to any disease. She had to endure that much pain because it let her destroy the pulley, which would have been impossible. Soon after, she felt the pain as if her muscles were being torn to pieces. 

“Uugh!”

She groaned and struggled on her own. In particular, since she threw the piece of iron yesterday, there was no strength left in her left arm, so she couldn’t even hold her fist.

“Uuggh… Uuurrrghh…”

Once again, Fanora could understand why the King didn’t use this powerful holy relic by himself. She only used it for a few seconds, but at this point, she was already afraid of what the price would be if she used it in minutes.

“Lady Fanora, it’s me. Can I come in now?”

“…”

But a few seconds later, at the sound of voices from outside her room, Fanora stopped groaning and grinding her teeth. Taking a deep breath and hiding the corners of her eyes that were trembling by the pain, she let out a calm voice.

“Come in.”

At her words, the doorknob turned.

“I brought a new child to serve Lady Fanora from today on. Now, let’s say hello.”

“Hello Lady, My name is Cecil.”

“In the future, Cecil will help Lady Faanora dress up, prepare meals, and your outing instead of Seir.”

Two maids entered her room. One was a middle-aged woman with a stern look. The other one was her new exclusive servant.