Irene Decided to Die - Chapter 29
‘Just as expected from someone from the back alleys. Can’t even follow such simple etiquette?’
That was said to the girl trembling while cutting the meat pie.
As per the Duke’s orders, each time she made a mistake in table manners, the back of her hand was slapped. Her small, dried hand turned red, but the slaps continued with a smile.
‘Mary should have stopped it.’
Lani, too, just watched the girl with a smile.
No, is it correct to say she just watched? Did she really only watch?
Grumble.
Her stomach urged her to quickly put food in.
Lani stopped her thoughts and barely managed to put the piece of meat pie she had on her fork into her mouth. The sensation of food entering her mouth after so long made her feel like she was losing her mind.
She barely chewed what she wanted to swallow immediately.
Then, something crunched and got stuck in her teeth. Hard and gritty things rolled around her dry mouth.
It was stones and sand.
“Ugh, ugh.”
The moment Lani was about to spit it out in horror, a voice came from beside her. Irene, who had been sitting across, had moved next to her.
“If you spit out food, you’re a bad child. Right?”
A soft and gentle voice circled her ears. However, the content was anything but gentle.
“Spitting out food makes you a bad child.”
The words she had said in the past came back to her like a boomerang.
“Do you remember what I said earlier?”
You can’t leave this room before you’ve finished everything. Remembering that, Lani burst into tears, unable to swallow or spit it out.
“Why are you crying?”
Red eyes blinked, asking Lani.
“It’s a delicious meat pie, isn’t it? You have to eat it all.”
“If you spit it out, you’ll get in trouble.”
Lani looked down at the plate with shaky eyes. There was still a lot of meat pie left. Her stomach was hungry, but this was not something that could be eaten by people.
‘Swallow, I have to swallow.’
That was the only way to avoid punishment. Being hit hurt, and she didn’t like it. The young girl back then must have felt the same torment and pain from being hit.
Only now, with the roles reversed, did she understand that simple truth.
“I-I’m sorry.”
Trying to utter words of apology, food spurted from her mouth and fell onto the plate. Seeing the food filled with sand, she couldn’t help but retch.
“Ugh, ugh.”
She spit out the pie that was in her mouth. Knowing she would be punished, she couldn’t swallow it. Lani cried as she apologized.
“I did wrong. I’m sorry, I am so sorry!”
“Yes, you did wrong.”
Irene stroked Lani’s hair.
“I told you to eat it all. But you spat it back out. Such a bad child.”
“Yes, I was bad. Please, please spare me.”
Lani, terrified, desperately squeezed out her voice.
“I won’t kill you. I would never do something that absurd, would I?”
“I’m sorry!”
She continued to apologize with the sandy meat pie in front of her.
‘Ah, look at me.’
But those words were futile. Irene stood by her side, looking down at her like an angel administering punishment.
She was the Saintess, the standard of goodness in this world. Even if she complained about this treatment, no one would take her side.
She could only be forgiven if she finished the meat pie.
Lani, with trembling hands, picked up the fork again and put the ruined meat pie into her mouth.
Crunch, crunch.
She tried to swallow the sandy lumps forcibly.
“Ugh, ugh.”
She repeated the act of vomiting several times until she had finished the meat pie. Her face, hands, and clothes were a mess, but she managed to eat it all.
“Was it delicious?”
“Yes, yes. It was delicious.”
After that, when she lifted her head, Irene was already gone.
Lani sat alone at the dining table, crying and crying again. Her eyes swollen and dried out, not even tears could come out anymore, but her body shook with sobs.
After a while, she numbly stood up and walked out of the dining hall.
‘My clothes are a mess.’
Others might have been shocked to see her. Lani headed to her room to change her clothes, thinking that after completing all her tasks, a short break would be fine.
It was on her way to her room that she saw Mary and the other maids laughing and happily chatting.
‘Mary.’
She wanted to complain about how hard it was. She wanted to argue that it was all Mary’s doing in the past. She wished to say we shouldn’t have acted that way.
As she took a step forward, belatedly hearing their voices clearly.
“It’s so funny. A lowly back alley girl being a saintess.”
“Shh, what if she retaliates?”
“She can’t. Don’t you see how she’s behaving now? She only picks on Lani, who’s easy to bully. Lani’s a fool too. Why bother doing exactly as told? She’s just dumb.”
