IWAP - Chapter 14

Act 4 Taming

The Marquis's garden was so overgrown that it was embarrassing to call it a noble's garden. Typically, a noble's garden absolutely reflects the taste of the mistress of the house. For this reason, the beauty of the garden was directly linked to the mistress's pride. This was precisely why most noble ladies devoted themselves to tending their gardens. The Marchioness had no talent for gardening. No, it would be more accurate to say she had no interest.

'Well, I wonder if there is anything she is interested in besides the Marquis.'

I strolled slowly through the garden. The green grass rustled softly. A pleasant breeze blew under the warm sunlight. I savored the moment of leisure.

The commonality between Bjornne and Lee Ji-ah is that they both lived very busy lives. Bjornne was busy going crazy with love, while Lee Ji-ah was busy with the daily routine of making a living. It was a sense of leisure I hadn't felt in a long time.

Rustle.

I closed my eyes, savoring the sunlight, when I heard the sound of tree branches rustling. I was in a garden located deep within the estate, exclusively for the mistress of the house. No one was allowed to enter this garden without permission. Not even the Marquis, the head of the family, could enter without the mistress's permission.

With the Marchioness absent, I was the mistress of this mansion. I did not want to be disturbed, so the nanny, of course maids were all bitten as well.

I looked around for the intruder.

A bush about ten paces away was swaying back and forth. I approached the bush.

The bush, as tall as me, was a plant resembling a rose vine. Sharp thorns, just like those of a rose, shot up from it. I grabbed a thornless section and gently pushed it with my hand. The tightly intertwined vines did not budge. The vines swayed violently again. I took a step back and carefully observed the inside of the vines. I was on edge, worried that a dangerous animal might suddenly jump out.

Something small and black moved inside the vine. The vine swayed with its movement. The black mass appeared to be struggling to break free from the vine.

I hesitated for a moment about whether or not to help. The thorns of the vine looked very sharp.

'It didn't hurt much, though.'

My hesitation didn't last long. I removed a few thorns from the vine to make the stem easier to grip. I became curious about the identity of the black lump.

It was a garden inside a mansion guarded by knights like an iron fist. There was no way a dangerous animal could have entered. I grabbed the stem from which the thorns had been removed and pulled with all my might.

As the gap opened, a black lump rolled out. I had expected a small animal like a rabbit or a raccoon, but the lump was a little bigger than I thought. Moreover, it wasn't an animal like a rabbit or a raccoon.

The lump that emerged from the vine was a small child. Covered in wounds here and there, it was quite inside the vine.

The child, who looked like he had a hard time, appeared to be about four or five years old.

The child who had been crouching lifted their head. Their dark brown eyes looked just like those of an abandoned puppy.

'You look just like Ttorong.'

The child's dark brown eyes reminded me of Ttorong, whom I raised when I lived as Lee Ji-ah. Ttorong was Lee Ji-ah's pet dog with brown eyes and golden-brown fur. I vividly recalled the memory of it wagging its tail and following me around.

"..."

"..."

The child looked up at me with eyes full of wariness. I lowered my head and pressed firmly on the chubby child's cheek.

"...!"

The child, who had been crouching, fell backward in surprise. I crouched down and looked down at the child.

The child's eyes were filled with confusion. The expression was so blatant that it naturally brought to mind question marks floating around. It made me laugh for no reason.

I pulled the child's cheek with my thumb and index finger. It was soft and chewy like a sticky rice cake.

Perhaps because I pulled a little too hard, moisture welled up in the child's dark brown eyes. The teary dark brown eyes, unable to even cry out loud, looked exactly like Ttorong, who used to wait endlessly for my commands with food right in front of him.

'For some reason, I feel like I'm about to discover a terrible hobby.'

I wasn't a pervert who felt pleasure in tormenting children, but for some reason, this child was fun to torment. His reactions were immediate, and he reminded me of Ttorong, the pet dog who had been with Lee Ji-ah during her childhood. Furthermore, the child's hair, which looked messy with dirt and leaves, was the same navy blue as the Marquis's.

“Did you find it?”

“No, I can’t see it.”

"Where on earth did that tiny thing hide?"

I was about to reach closer to pull the child's cheek again when I heard the sound of people talking nearby.

I was slightly annoyed by the uninvited guests who had suddenly barged in. The place where I was was a place where no one could enter without my orders. It was unpleasant for someone I hadn't authorized to invade my space.

“What’s going on?”

"Gasp!'

"Miss!"

I stood up. The maids, who had never even imagined I was there, were startled and bowed low.

"I asked what was wrong."

"Uh... that, that..."

The maids exchanged wary glances and delayed their answer. I glared at them.

"You entered my garden without my permission and aren't even answering? I suppose I can take this as you ignoring me."

“Oh, no!”

“Yes. I was wrong.”

"Please forgive me, young lady!"

The maids sat on the floor and begged.

I glanced at the child lying sprawled at my feet, unable to move an inch. The child was looking up at me with eyes trembling with anxiety.

It seemed the maids hadn't seen the child because of the bushes as tall as me. Even if they had, it was because of me.

They must have been out of their minds. They trembled and pressed their foreheads to the floor.

"Please have mercy, young lady."

"I was wrong. Please forgive me."

Even without hearing an answer, I knew that the reason they had come all the way here was because of this child. I discreetly spread out the hem of my skirt so that they might not see the child.

"It's noisy, so go away."

"Sorry...yes?"

The maids looked up in surprise. I waved my hand at them.

"Go away, it's too noisy. I'll tell the nanny about this, so be prepared to get scolded."

“Th...Thank you, Miss!”

"Thank you!"

"Just hurry up and go."

They exchanged glances and bowed their heads to the floor again. I yelled at them to hurry up and leave. Fearing that I might change my mind, they hurriedly greeted me and disappeared.

Having confirmed that they were gone, I looked back at the child at my feet. Still in the same position, the child had somehow managed to tightly grip the hem of my skirt. I crouched down again and met the child's eyes.

'Hmm.'

The fact that the ladies-in-waiting had entered the Marchioness's garden to look for this child meant just how important he was to them. Of course, this was possible because they hadn't even suspected I would be there. I rarely came out into the garden. Moreover, this was the garden of the mistress—the Marchioness. They likely never imagined I would be in a garden that had been neglected for so long.

"Now, what shall I do with you?"

I raised my index finger and tapped the child's cheek. The child's dark brown eyes darted back and forth.

As I had felt earlier, the child's plump bosom was even firmer than a sticky rice cake. It was quite fun to touch. I pulled the child's cheek again. The child's soft bosom stretched elastically. I felt like I was going to get addicted to this sensation.

“Why did you come out?”

The child said nothing. Even though tears welled up in their eyes, they did not even let out a groan. If I had known nothing about the child, I would have mistaken them for being mute.

'Landt Veiron Elliot.'

It was the child's name.

Just as the saying goes, 'you cannot steal a seed,' Landt was remarkably similar to the Marquis, except for his dark brown eyes. It was as if one were looking at a miniature version of the Marquis.

The Marquis brought Landt not long after the Marchioness's death. At that time, I only found out about it long after Landt had arrived at the mansion. The nanny burst into tears in outrage. She wailed for days, saying the Marchioness was pitiful.

I hated Landt. My pride, knowing that I was his only child, was shattered. Moreover, unlike me, Landt resembled the Marquis so closely that anyone could tell at a glance that he was his son. I also did not like the fact that the Marquis had arranged Landt's residence in the annex. To me, this meant that the Marquis was paying that much attention to Landt.

I tormented Landt until I became the Crown Princess and entered the Imperial Palace. Not only did I have my ladies-in-waiting tamper with his food, but I also found fault with him over trivial matters and had the servants beat him severely. No one stopped me.

I had been publicly designated as the Crown Princess. No one dared to displease me. On the contrary, people voluntarily harassed Landt to curry favor with me.

The Marquis, the only person who could stop me, showed no reaction even then. Although he surely knew that I was tormenting Landt, he remained silent just as he always had. I became even more arrogant and tormented Landt.

Landt silently endured my malicious harassment. He did not let out a single scream even when beaten with clubs by the servants. Seeing Landt like that made me even more furious. It felt like seeing a Marquis who wouldn't even bat an eyelid no matter how much I craved his affection, and it made me even angrier.

There was never a day when the wounds on Landt's body would heal. He sustained serious scars that would never be erased for a lifetime. Once, he even nearly died. Yet, no one tried to stop me.

'Come to think of it, it's a strange thing.'

Landt is the only heir of the Elliot family. The Marquis never once mentioned the succession, but there was no one to succeed the Elliot family other than Landt.

The Marquisate of Elliot had been a family with few heirs for generations. The previous Marquis was a single man, and the current Marquis had only Landt and me. I heard that the Marquis had one younger sibling, but that he died quite a long time ago.

I cannot inherit the family because I am a woman. If I were to marry, my husband could succeed to it, but that was only if there were absolutely no men left to inherit the family. Moreover, at that time, my husband was the Crown Prince. Unless the Marquis remarried and had a son or adopted one, the next Marquis of Elliot would be Landt.

The Marquis did not publicly announce that Landt was his son. He also did not reveal who Landt's mother was.

He simply took Landt to the annex and had him study only what was necessary for a nobleman. But he did not say anything.

No one knew. There was no one who would say that Landt, who looked like a miniature version of the Marquis, was not the Marquis's son.

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