The Protector's Rage
Oh no! In my shock, the words slipped right out of my mouth.
I checked the princess’s reaction a beat too late, but Lilienne had already heard every syllable.
“What did you just say?”
“W-well, that is…”
“Why is Canna in Sylvien’s bedroom? Don’t tell me the two of them are sleeping together?”
“No, that’s not it at all! It seems Canna must have sneaked into His Grace’s room on her own. She’s done it before. As Your Highness knows, the duke has a soft heart and… finds it difficult to refuse people.”
Everyone present knew the excuse was ridiculous. Few people in the world were as cold as Sylvien.
As expected, Lilienne’s face frosted over with disbelief.
This won’t do.
Josephine bit her lip. She had to soothe the princess’s anger at all costs.
“Bring Canna here at once! How dare she soil the head of the family’s bed? She must be punished!”
The maid who had fled while calling Josephine’s name returned ten minutes later with a troop of knights in tow.
“My lady summons you.”
“Yes, let’s go.”
Canna rose obediently. She could have fled while the maid was gone, yet she had stayed.
Far from running, she had sat quietly and waited—preparing to give Josephine a taste of her own medicine.
It works in my favor to see Josephine like this.
Even as she was dragged along, her mood remained remarkably pleasant.
If someone had to test the new drug, she was glad it would be Josephine.
Side effects? I can live with that.
She would certainly be slapped a few times as a matter of course. That level of violence was easy to anticipate. Hadn’t she been struck across the face the moment she first returned?
Yet, strangely, Josephine made no move to hit her.
“Canna Valentino. You.”
She had expected the woman to charge like a wild beast, but Josephine held back. It seemed she was minding her dignity with Lilienne present.
“Kneel.”
Thud. The knights slammed down on Canna’s shoulders. Her knees sank into the dirt floor of the greenhouse.
“Just what have you been doing, wandering around like this?”
Her slip dress and knees were now filthy with soil. She looked like a beggar dragged in from the slums.
Lilienne, who had been watching in silence, let out a soft laugh.
“Countess Elster, isn’t this a little excessive?”
Yet the sight seemed to have eased her anger somewhat. Josephine felt a quiet wave of relief.
“Not at all. Canna has committed a grave offense. To call this excessive—Your Highness is simply too soft-hearted.”
She had to please Lilienne at any cost.
Josephine strode forward and lifted Canna’s chin with the edge of her fan.
“Speak. Why were you in His Grace’s bedroom?”
“Because I slept there.”
Josephine’s face drained of all color. The smile vanished from Lilienne’s lips as well.
Savoring their reactions, Canna continued in a clear, deliberate voice.
“His Grace laid me on the bed himself. Oh, and he covered me with the blanket, too.”
It wasn’t technically a lie.
She simply omitted the part where he had forcibly put her to sleep and stolen the sleeping incense. She wanted them to misunderstand.
If they hit me, even better.
For that to happen, the princess—Lilienne—had to become furious first. Only then, Canna felt strangely certain, would Josephine raise her hand.
Her provocation worked. Lilienne bit down on her lip until it nearly bled.
“What utter nonsense. The duke is more cautious than anyone when it comes to producing an heir. He would never share his bedroom with a woman who cannot bear his successor.”
Lilienne was desperate. She had to be.
If Sylvien fathered a child, his value would plummet. Where would they find another groom of equal caliber?
Yet Canna answered with brazen calm.
“No, His Grace suggested we go to bed together. I wasn’t planning to stay the night, but he was so insistent.”
“Lies!”
Josephine cried out in panic.
If Lilienne abandoned Sylvien, their grand plan of welcoming an imperial princess as their daughter-in-law would collapse.
That vile mouth had to be silenced immediately.
Slap! Josephine’s hand cracked across Canna’s cheek.
It was the violence Canna had both expected and waited for.
“How dare you lie in front of Her Highness? You are insulting the imperial family! Don’t you know that insulting royalty is a capital offense?”
Slap! Josephine struck her again.
“Say it’s a lie! Tell the truth this instant!”
This should be enough, right?
The next moment, Canna hung her head and wrapped both arms over it. The defense was so frail it looked pathetic.
Just as Josephine’s hand rose to strike the top of her head—
“Now.”
Josephine’s hand froze mid-air.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing…?”
A frigid voice sliced through the rage-thickened air.
Lilienne, Josephine, and even Canna turned in surprise.
A man stood tall at the entrance of the greenhouse.
“I asked what you are doing.”
It was Kallen Addis.
“Sir Kallen Addis? What are you doing here?”
Josephine quickly stepped in front of Canna, as if to shield her from view.
But it was already too late.
Kallen had seen everything.
He had only just arrived at the gates of the Valentino mansion. Following a servant across the garden, he had caught an odd sound in the distance.
It had been tiny and faint, yet his keen hearing had captured it perfectly.
The sound of Canna’s pained groans.
He had shaken off the servant’s attempts to stop him and walked straight toward the noise.
There stood a transparent glass greenhouse.
The closer he drew, the more clearly the scene inside came into view, the harder his heart hammered against his ribs.
Someone was being brutally beaten.
And that someone had black hair…
“Just what the hell…”
He couldn’t even finish the sentence.
He had seen it all. Every second.
Forcing Canna to kneel on the dirt like a lowly slave and striking her face.
Slapping her again and again until her lip split and blood sprayed.
Until, in the end, his fragile sister hung her head pathetically and tried to shield herself with her arms.
Kallen’s gaze trembled. His eyes locked onto Canna’s white legs visible beneath the hem of Josephine’s voluminous dress.
Legs smeared with dirt. And Canna was practically naked—wearing nothing but a nightgown that might as well have been underwear—while being assaulted inside the greenhouse…
“I asked what you are doing.”
His fingertips had begun to shake without him noticing.
The corners of his eyes burned, bloodshot. A ferocious heat surged through him so violently that the hair on his head stood on end.
“T-this is… well…”
Josephine’s voice had lost all composure.
She had never anticipated this. Why was Kallen Addis here, of all places?
Why?
Wait—that’s right. This is my house!
This was her house. Canna was her daughter-in-law.
And Kallen would not want to escalate the matter. No one in the Addis family cared whether Canna lived or died.
Yes… they probably hope she dies!
Josephine had not always treated Canna like livestock.
At first she had been cautious. No matter how much the girl was treated like filth, she was still the eldest daughter of Addis.
But no matter how harshly Josephine behaved, Canna never talked back, and the Addis family simply looked the other way. Gradually, the abuse grew worse.
Nagging became verbal abuse. Verbal abuse became physical violence.
Suddenly, the memory of the first time she had struck Canna resurfaced.
It had been the second year after Canna married into the Valentino family. She had wandered into Sylvien’s conference room without permission and been caught by other nobles. The humiliation had been unbearable.
“You have no sense at all. How could you think of sneaking into the duke’s office while he’s in a meeting!”
“B-but if I don’t do this, His Grace won’t meet with me…”
“What makes you think you can talk back?!”
She had been so furious she couldn’t contain herself. Without thinking, Josephine had slapped Canna across the face. Then she froze in shock.
She had hit her. With her own hand.
She had waited nervously. No matter how foolish the girl was, a noble was still a noble. She would surely protest.
But Canna only drooped her shoulders and offered no resistance.
Still, it was too soon to feel relieved. If word reached the Addis family, it could spark a feud between houses.
For several days she had barely slept, sick with worry.
Yet nothing happened.
She had slapped Canna, and no one said a word.
Had they not been told? Or had the Addis family simply ignored it?
The same thing happened several more times. Each time, no one intervened.
Canna never struggled no matter how hard she was trampled.
The Addis family never showed the slightest interest in what happened to her.
That was when Josephine finally understood the truth.
Canna is someone I can treat however I like.
That realization had changed everything.