CH 140

Warning: Severe bullying, mentions of bullying leading to the victim attempting death by suicide, and talk of political assassination and family purges. The value of life in this world is only as good as your social status.

After Queen Amelie’s soiree, or rather, after the arrest of Marquess Valtek, everything around Emma Valtek’s life changed. Those who were close to her began to avoid Emma, and even those who had obeyed her like extensions of her limbs no longer followed her orders.

And it was after the evening party that was the decisive blow. The next day, after the celebration ended, Emma was summoned by the usual four, including Sophie, and they all slapped her, pushed her down, smeared her with dirt, and cursed her violently. Never in Emma’s life had she ever been treated like this. She had done this to others but never had it done to herself.

To be the daughter of Marquis Valtek, yet to be treated like this…

After the evening party, Emma could imagine that Duke Bayen and Helene decided her fate then. As Emma served House Bayen and Helene for many years, she knows they’d do something like this. Did they make such a deal with another House at that evening party? Are they planning to cut off the lizard’s tail by blaming everything on House Valtek?

In any case, the futures of Emma and the Valtek Marquisate are already clear. As she has done to others, now she will be treated the same.

Will she be abused at the bottom of the hierarchy by crying and swearing absolute obedience? Should she run away and shut herself up in a place where Helen and the others can’t see her again? Will she go insane and be sent to an asylum? As long as it’s not one of those things, scenes like today will go on and on. Emma knows because she’s done it herself to others.

She can’t stand losing like this! “I am Emma Valtek, daughter of Marquis Valtek!” she tells herself.

With only that pride in her heart, Emma stood up.

Sophie and the others harass and attack Emma every time they meet. Since it’s a dispute between noble ladies, even if it’s called an attack, they don’t do anything that directly risks their lives. Even so, Emma is hit, has objects thrown at her, is slapped, pushed down, and all around suffers both mentally and physically.

Sophie, who is a relative and who should have been hanging out with Emma more than her blood-related sisters, harasses Emma still. Emma is despised and ridiculed by the other three, who should be of lower status than her.

Up until now, even those three had listened to whatever Emma said and obeyed her…

She is humiliated in this corridor, in view of the other class’s students. In the middle of the corridor leading to the dining hall, she was tripped up, then water for the garden plants is poured over her head. Emma’s heart was about to break after only a day or two of being bullied in earnest.

For the first time, she gritted her teeth and stood up, saying that she was the daughter of Marquis Valtek. However, Emma was about to cry even then. No, she had already been crying several times before when she was away from anyone’s sight.

She didn’t think it would be this hard. She thought the losers who capitulated were just lacking guts. But they weren’t. She knows it after the first time she’s been bullied. It doesn’t matter whether or not the victim has guts or not, or that they can or cannot endure it.

Emma even thought of throwing away all her pride and clinging to Sophie’s feet, crying and even begging for forgiveness. But it’s not possible.

It’s not that she has no pride left. If Emma shows such a pathetic figure to Sophie, Emma knows that Sophie will just make her suffer even worse. Sophie is not the type to forgive when her victim cries and apologizes and begs for her forgiveness. She becomes even more brutal and gets crueler and crueler. Emma knows it well as she’s seen it firsthand.

So if Sophie is no good, will she cling to someone else’s feet? She can’t do that, either. Until now, the other three have been abused by Emma and she forced them to do unpleasant things. She’s aware that she’s given orders to these three people from a high horse because they can’t go against Emma and Sophie. She doesn’t think that they’d go as far as defying both Sophie and Helene for Emma, of all people.

Then what does she do? No need to think about it. There was no way to defy them from the beginning. Suddenly Emma caught the eye of Christiane von Reingen, who was just lurking in the corner.

No, she still had hope. If it was Christiane, wouldn’t she be able to help Emma if she clung to her leg and cried out? House Reingen is the lowest among the quintet. If such a House could make a close connection with Emma, the daughter of House Valtek, they would surely cry and happily accept Emma. Thinking that Emma was about to cling to Cristiane’s leg. But just before she could…

“Please wait!”

There was someone who cut in between Emma and the rest of the quartet. No one would have thought that there would be someone who bothered to get involved in such a messy situation. That’s why not only these five people, but all those who were watching the situation around them were shocked.

For a moment Emma thought it was Helene who interrupted. Helene often does that kind of thing. She lets the quintet bully someone and then intervenes as if she’s on the side of the victim.

By doing so, she was playing trivial tricks, like making the victims trust her, and spreading her good reputation to those around them. Emma doesn’t think she’ll be able to trust Helene, but if she stops the dispute between her former subordinate and mediates, Helene’s fame may rise again. With all that, Emma saw the person who had intervened and found her eyes widening.

“Ladies… what are you doing?”

Standing in front of Emma and facing the quartet was a beautiful girl with long blonde hair. Until now, that girl had never cared about how much they bullied her. Emma finally understood how painful it was for the first time after she was a victim. Even though it was Emma, the other person was calm even with how painful this bullying is…

“Flora Charlotte von Carruthers… shut up! This has nothing to do with you!”

And seeing who she was, Sophie only strengthened her tone and waved her hand as if to shoo her away.

She was most certainly right. For Flora, Sophie and Emma are nothing more than people who used to bully her. Even if the two were arguing with each other, there would be no need to bother to help them. A normal person would surely be laughing and watching the show.

Also, if Sophie and Emma crushed each other like that, their bullies would weaken without them having to lift a finger, so there was no logical reason to help.

Nevertheless, Flora was clearly standing to protect Emma. And even when Sophie says that she doesn’t back down, not even one step.

“How long are you going to keep doing this nonsense?” Flora asked.

“Kuh, don’t mock us! You can’t possibly be this ignorant!” Sophie yelled. “House Valtek has caused us a great deal of trouble. So, this is compensation and a deserved reward!”

Emma also looks down at Sophie’s words. This is true… Emma also has some debts. Emma’s biological mother, Marquess Auguste Valtek, has been arrested on suspicion of threatening a legitimate business and verbally abusing His Majesty the King and His Grace the Prime Minister.

For that reason, House Valtek got involved in the investigation, and it is believed that the secret business of Duke Bayen’s faction became known to King Wilhelm.

So far, the Crown has yet to blame Duke Bayen or even House Valtek for their backdoor business and investment fraud. But that doesn’t mean there will be peace forever. Rather, it’s still in the investigation stage, and if they move poorly, the evidence may be destroyed or an important person may escape or be killed, so there’s a possibility that this inaction is deliberate.

In a sense, it is only natural that House Valtek, who had made such a serious mistake, would be kicked out of Duke Bayen’s faction or be subjected to this harassment. Emma herself thinks that if the positions were reversed and someone else leaked the secret, she would be so furious that she would drive the victim to the point of trying to commit suicide.

And because she knows that, Emma has no choice but to despair even more. The dead don’t speak… to prevent unnecessary information from leaking from House Valtek, it would be good if they silenced House Valtek’s mouths. And the dead are the most silent of all. In that case, Emma and her family’s future is…

Imagining that made her body tremble. She did not want to die. She didn’t want to die yet.

Of course, Sophie and the others would not directly kill Emma. However, they will at least continue to hunt her down until she died by suicide. That’s what kind of people they are. After all, she had been one of them for the longest time. She’s fully aware of Sophie’s methods.

“Aren’t you being utterly absurd? Atonement? Compensation? Who decides that?” Flora asked. “Is it you ladies? Or is it Lady Helene who’s ordering you to do this? Who in the hell do you think you all are? You have no right to judge or to force someone to make amends.”

“Wha-What are you talking about?” Sophie stammered. “Lady Helene has nothing to do with us. Yes?”

“Ah, umm, yeah…” someone else said.

As soon as Helene’s name came up, Sophie and the quartet’s behavior immediately became suspect.

“Fuh-Fuhn…!” Sophie huffed. “Don’t think is the end of this! Let’s go!”

“Yes.”

Sophie realized the surroundings were getting noisy, took her three minions then left. Only Flora and Emma were left behind.

“… Don’t think that I’ll be grateful for you because of this!” Emma cried. “I don’t remember asking you to help me!”

“I didn’t help you, so I don’t need your thanks or for you to worry about it,” Flora said. “I’m not even sure how much I can help you but I’m certain you’ll be able to do something about it yourself. Well then, good day to you, Lady Valtek.”

And with that, she left Emma. Those words made Emma’s chest hurt. How ugly were all the things she’s done so far? It was only after being put in the victim’s place that she finally understood. What Flora says is also true.

She didn’t realize it when she was just standing there as a participant. How unsightly and horrific their conduct was. Why were they whispering and spreading rumors behind people’s backs? That’s right. If she had been watching the situation from the side, Emma would have whispered bad things about the quartet behind their backs.

But… but, that doesn’t mean she can leave Helene and Sophie now. On the other hand, she can’t stand next to Sophie and pretend to be bossy like she used to. She can’t help it anymore. The best Emma can do is endure this bullying silently and wait for the other side to get tired of her or wait for the next target to be aimed at with priority over Emma.

“Fu, fufu, ahahaha…!” the soaking wet Emma laughed, broken and sobbing.

She was already wet anyway, so even if she gets a little wet with tears, no one will notice. She was laughing at herself for being so stupid and ridiculous.

“What the…”

“… What is it?”

There was another person who stood before Emma while she was like that. She glared at them, Simon von Roppe, and wondered if other curious bystanders cared about her besides Flora. In Simon’s hand was a handkerchief, that he was holding out to her.

“Hah!” Emma scoffed. “Are you stupid?! There’s no point flattering me now! Don’t you understand that? That’s why you’re an idiot!”

Marquis Valtek is supposed to be the owner of Marquis Roppe’s debt. So up until now, Emma had been ordering Simon around. However, neither Emma nor House Valtek has any power or authority anymore, and the debt that was a fraud, to begin with, will be invalidated or canceled if the investigation progresses. Then there would be no reason for Simon to curry Emma’s favor. Still trying to please Emma means he’s nothing more than an idiot who doesn’t understand anything.

“I’m neither flattering nor trying to ingratiate myself to you,” Simon said.

“Huh…? Then what are you…” Emma said before she trailed off, speechless.

Simon crouched down in front of Emma and gently wiped her face with the handkerchief. His eyes were staring straight at Emma.

“It’s only natural for anyone to be worried if their childhood friend is going through something like this, right?” Simon said.

“…………”

Childhood friend……. That is certainly true. Emma and Simon had been acquaintances before Simon was in Helene and the others’ sights.

The territories of Marquis Loppe and Marquis Valtek are not directly adjacent, but they are very close. If you feel like it, you can go and come back in a day. And House Valtek’s vacation home was in Loppe territory. So, since her childhood, Emma had met Simon every time her family went on vacation.

House Loppe and House Valtek have had a close relationship for a long time, partly because their territories are close and one had a vacation home in the other’s land. Because of their family ties, Simon and Emma met each other and played together whenever her family vacationed.

Even as they grew older, the two remained childhood friends. Until the time… until Helene tells the quintet that they they should hate Simon and then go on as usual…

Until then, Helene had always let the quintet bully anyone Helene didn’t like. So if that person yields to the quintet, that’s fine. If they didn’t give in, there were times when Helene approached their target and pretended to be an ally to earn their trust. If neither of those happened, the target will run away and never show their face in public again, or they would have been driven to take their own life.

Emma didn’t know what Helene didn’t like about a quiet and inconspicuous person like Simon. However, since Helene said so, Simon will not be given mercy until he reaches one of those endings. Other than that, the only thing that can help is when Helene’s interest shifts to a target that takes priority over earlier victims.

It’s hard to imagine that such a convenient thing would just happen. So Emma took the initiative to bully Simon. Even Simon would be able to yield if it were Emma. It is still better for him to be under Emma than under someone else. Emma continued to bully Simon desperately, being careful not to let others know about her prior relationship with Simon.

Yet Simon never gave up. No matter how much he was bullied, no matter how much he was cornered, and no matter how much time passed, he would not give in. And finally, Helene’s patience has reached its limit.

Helene told Emma to defraud Marquis Loppe with an investment scam and make them drown in debt. Of course, Emma has no way of resisting. So she begged that House Valtek would at least be the lender, luring Simon out and tricking him into signing the contract for the debt.

At that time, however, there was an incomprehensible exchange. Simon told Emma that instead of putting the “dividends” back into the investment, he would give the money to House Valtek. At that time, Emma didn’t understand the meaning. But now that she thinks about it, it makes sense.

Simon thought that he had been deceived into debt by the kind of investment fraud that Emma and House Valtek were now offering to him. So Simon said he would pay the debt himself. Such a purpose is also written in the document that made it official, at least on paper.

There was nothing to it. She was so stupid back then that she didn’t understand anything. Simon, who did not give in to bullying so many times and in the past few days, was not a pathetic man. And that why Simon was deceived by investment fraud and shouldered the debt himself was not him falling for the trap, but mistaking that Emma had been cheated by the same thing and he was shouldering her debt.

Simon had always protected Emma. Without even noticing it, she feels justified for being arrogant to Simon and making herself look like an idiot. No, he was most certainly an idiot. And she’s most certainly an even bigger idiot for realizing this only after all this time. It’s too late to say anything…

“Uu…! Uuuu…!” Emma sobs.

“… You don’t have to return this,” Simon said.

Emma cries to hide her face, Simon presses the handkerchief to her, then leaves till Emma can’t see him anymore.