Madam and the Stable Keeper (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 6
“He doesn’t seem much older than me… and he definitely wasn’t one of the patients I helped treat at the clinic.”
As she tried to recall more details, Vivian spoke first.
“When I heard your name, I had a hunch—but once I saw your face from afar, I was certain you were the one I remembered.”
Upon hearing those words, Edith immediately pictured the elderly woman her mother had once brought home and nursed through the night when Edith was very young.
“Could you be Madam Peril’s…?”
At those words, a gentle smile appeared on the woman’s lips.
“Yes. My name is Vivian Peril. Long ago, my mother owed a great debt to Miss Lowell.”
“Goodness…”
Miss Lowell. And Madam Peril.
Hearing those names instantly cleared the fog from Edith’s memory.
Back then, a plague had swept through the village, and the clinic could no longer accept any more patients.
Her mother, a capable physician, had brought home a noblewoman on the verge of suffocation due to a sudden seizure—and treated her tirelessly through the night without accepting any payment.
Edith still vividly remembered the daughter, tears and snot streaming down her face, begging desperately for her mother’s life. And then…
“Thank you for saving my mother, Lady Lowell, Miss Edith! I’ll repay this kindness someday.”
The image of Vivian bowing deeply, wiping tears of gratitude as Madam Peril prepared to leave after recovering—was preserved like a precious picture in Edith’s heart.
It was precisely at that moment Edith resolved to become a physician like her mother, someone who cared for even the most neglected people.
“I’m so glad to see you again, Miss Edith Lowell.”
“……”
Edith couldn’t utter a single word.
Ever since she’d been practically kidnapped by the viscount and treated like livestock by Sophia, she’d been beside herself—yet the moment she heard her own surname, “Lowell,” an indescribable sense of calm washed over her.
Edith Lowell. That was the name her mother and father had spoken with such love.
Not the name of some pitiful woman forced to fake a pregnancy just because she’d caught the viscount’s eye.
“Vivian—goodness! I never imagined we’d meet like this.”
“Please don’t speak so formally to me, Miss Edith. It’ll be easier for you in every way if you get used to plain speech.”
After introducing herself, Vivian brought over a warm soup, bread, and meat. The rich aroma of butter tickled Edith’s senses.
“Please eat. You’ll need your strength, even in a situation like this.”
“……”
Relief at meeting someone familiar had relaxed her so much that hunger overwhelmed her, making it impossible to refuse the food. Edith began eating carefully.
While she ate, Vivian quietly shared stories she thought Edith might wonder about.
“Thanks to Miss Lowell, my mother pulled through that crisis and was even allowed to keep working at House Portrion for the rest of her life—though Madam Sophia had wanted to dismiss her, claiming it was bad luck to employ a sick servant.”
Vivian’s eyes turned icy as she spoke Sophia’s name. That she clearly opposed Sophia was surprisingly welcome news.
“After that, she worked at the viscount’s estate until she passed away peacefully. So now, I wish to repay the kindness shown to Miss Edith.”
Edith knew she couldn’t afford to confide everything to this long-lost acquaintance—her situation left no room for such luxury.
‘Even if Vivian genuinely wants to help me, time might not allow it.’
Thus, rather than pouring out her heart or lamenting her pitiful plight, she needed to gather the information she sought.
“Vivian, I don’t think we’ll have much time, so let me ask right away—do you know a stable hand named Walter?”
To her question, Vivian gave an unexpected answer.
“There’s hardly a servant here who doesn’t know that man. He’s the amnesiac the viscount suddenly brought in one day, isn’t he?”
“Amnesiac?”
“Yes—about seven years ago? The master himself brought in a boy who looked around fifteen or sixteen, and it caused quite a stir among the staff. Walter already couldn’t remember anything except his own name.”
“……”
“Moreover, although the master claimed he’d employ Walter as a stable hand, he even had a separate cottage built for him in the estate’s backyard. I recall he specifically warned everyone—not just the other servants, but even the ladies—not to bother Walter.”
That hardly sounded like treatment for an ordinary employee.
Edith narrowed her eyes, deep in thought.
‘Walter clearly knew a great deal about binding magic.’
Magic, after all, was the exclusive domain of the highest nobility—hiring a mage or purchasing enchanted scrolls required astronomical sums of money.
For someone like Edith, practically a commoner, it was a world she might never have understood in her entire life.
“Vivian, has that man ever attacked the estate’s master?”
Vivian’s eyes widened in surprise at Edith’s pointed question.
“How did you know? That incident was under strict orders of silence.”
“Did he really attack the viscount?”
“Yes… To put it simply, he once charged at our master with a sword—but failed.”
“And yet the viscount kept Walter here in the estate?”
Vivian nodded.
From this information, Edith deduced a crucial fact.
‘If someone attacked the estate’s master and wasn’t executed—or even expelled—it means the viscount needs him.’
Though she couldn’t yet understand why the viscount was so fixated on Walter, Edith found a glimmer of hope.
‘Perhaps Walter is just as trapped here as I am.’
It seemed clear that, to escape House Portrion, she would need to form an alliance with him.
“Vivian, there’s something I’d like to ask of you…”
Edith knew exactly what was required to secure an alliance.
The next day, right after lunch, Sophia summoned Edith—claiming it was out of kindness, since Edith must feel lonely with no acquaintances yet in the estate, and suggesting they share tea together.
In truth, however, it was a chance to test Edith’s intentions.
“Does the tea suit your taste, Edith?”
“…Yes. It’s fragrant.”
Sophia lifted her teacup again, noticing Edith’s face darkening slightly—this time to hide the subtle upward curve of her lips.
She recalled Vivian’s report.
“Madam Sophia, as you instructed, I checked on that woman. Her body was covered in bruises, and her eyes were swollen—she’d clearly been crying.”
As she spoke, Vivian had presented a torn undergarment. Though it was a prop Edith and Vivian had carefully crafted together, Sophia had no idea of that fact.
“Well done. Keep serving her closely and watch her well. Jane has been with me too long—she’s likely grown bold enough to defy a commoner-born mistress like me.”
‘After being caught trying to run and suffering such humiliation, even a fool like her must’ve finally grasped reality.’
Edith seemed slightly subdued compared to their first meeting. It appeared she was slowly realizing that, trapped within House Portrion, she had no choice but to comply.
“Um, Madam Sophia—”
“Just call me Sophia. After all, we’re both Nicholas’s wives.”
“Yes, Sophia. Um… if I complete my tasks well, could you tell me how much money I’ll receive?”
Just as expected. For an instant, Sophia’s eyes sparkled with delight.
This was exactly how commoners always behaved. When cornered by despair, they’d abandon all pride and frantically cling to their own safety and greed.
Seeing Edith—once so defiant—now meekly submit filled Sophia with immense satisfaction. It confirmed her belief that commoners’ pride was worthless before life and money.
Simply witnessing Edith’s apparent change of heart made Sophia feel as though she’d already secured the foolish girl and her unborn child to claim all of Portrion for herself.
“You’ve made a wise choice, Edith.”
“……”
She had no idea what thoughts lay behind Edith’s shy smile.
“You’ll be generously rewarded for helping House Portrion remain independent from outside interference.”
With a warm voice, Sophia took Edith’s hand and began detailing the wealth she’d gain merely from carrying out this one pregnancy.
‘As if someone who rushes to create a fake heir the moment her husband falls gravely ill would ever share her fortune.’
Edith knew this from experience. People—especially those who exploited others without hesitation to satisfy their own desires—never changed easily.
Yet no one was easier to deceive than someone who openly revealed their greed.
“…You’ll really give me all those things?”
Edith asked in a trembling voice. Naturally, Sophia’s expression brightened even further.
“Of course. I always repay those who help me.”
Sophia rose from her seat, took a few gold coins from a drawer, and handed them to Edith. Edith’s eyes widened in astonishment.
‘One gold coin equals half a year’s wages for me.’
Though Edith appeared hesitant about the coins, she clutched them tightly. Watching this, Sophia suppressed a smirk.
‘She glared at me like she’d defy me forever when we first met—yet now her attitude flips completely over a few coins.’
Sophia concluded Edith was shallower than she’d thought—though, admittedly, all commoners were much the same.
“This is an advance payment. For now, wear the clothes I’ve set aside for you. I’ll send for a tailor within a few days.”
“Really? Can I keep those clothes?”
“Certainly. There’s a Harvest Festival banquet next week, where we’ll host merchants from the guild. Even if custom-made gowns aren’t feasible, you’ll need ready-made attire befitting a viscountess.”
Sophia examined Edith up and down. Nicholas’s usual reluctance to meet women alone suddenly made sense—Edith’s beauty was striking enough to convincingly deceive others.
“I’ll cover all expenses, so choose whatever dresses and jewelry you like.”
Once adorned in lavish gowns and jewels, people would surely accept this vulgar woman as a proper lady. To Sophia, nothing mattered more than Edith convincingly playing the role of mistress.
Only then would the child in her womb be recognized as House Portrion’s heir—and only then could Sophia use that child to drive out the other wives and buy time to monopolize the viscount’s inheritance.
“Yes. Thank you, Sophia.”
Thinking of how useful the gold and jewels would be, Edith smiled faintly in return.
When yandere male lead believes she loves him — but she never did
“How dare you!”
“How dare you make me love you, only to cast me aside as nothing more than a friend?!?
“I will never accept that.”
“I will never let you return to him.”
“Even if I have to burn myself to ashes.”
“Even if I must shatter my purity, my dignity, my very soul.”
“I will never let you escape me!”
This was the first novel that introduced me to the matriarchal genre. I’ve read it three times already!
At first, the male lead despised the female lead. Later, he misunderstood that she liked him, so he condescendingly and reluctantly reciprocated her feelings.
Then, he suddenly discovered that she was kind to everyone in the same way, and there was already someone she cherished in her heart, and that person was not him.
The male lead couldn’t believe it, he became angry and crazy. He was determined to capture her body and heart by any means necessary.
Synopsis:
Want to see how a green tea bitch male lead falls in love with the female lead?
Want to see how he flirtatiously pursues the female lead?
Want to see how he gets slapped in the face repeatedly?
The male lead is a green tea bitch, a poisonous lotus, jealous, ruthless, unscrupulous, with a venomous heart, and he’s also a delusional maniac.
The female lead is righteous, positive energy-filled, kind, a holy mother.
Let’s see how two people with extreme personalities come together~
_____
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