No Evil Lady in the World (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 166

As the conversation reached that point, Swan stopped crying and pouted his lips. He seemed to be trying to smile in his own way, but it wouldn’t quite come out.

“…That’s not very proper, you know.”

Meiana shrugged her shoulders and gave a little snort.

“So what if it’s not proper? Children aren’t supposed to be proper anyway.”

“But I’m already ten years old.”

“You still have ten more years before you become a proper adult, Master Swan. So for the next ten years, you’re allowed to run in the hallways, climb trees, and even knock over candlesticks. It’s perfectly legal—even His Majesty the King couldn’t arrest you for it.”

Swan let out a tiny laugh, tears still clinging to his lashes. Then he sniffled again and released a trembling sigh. His small fists, clenched tightly on his knees, curled inward.

“…Hey, what I… what I want to say is… it’s about Joslyn… about Head Maid Joslyn. And maybe… maybe I did something wrong too, just like Joslyn did. But… you won’t really hate me for it, will you?”

Meiana’s head bobbed up and down emphatically.

“Of course not! There’s absolutely no chance of that—please rest assured. And let me add one more thing: no matter what you do, Master Swan, you could never possibly do something as wrong as Head Maid Joslyn has. You can trust me on that.”

Swan decided to gather his courage. His throat felt swollen, numb, and prickling, but he slowly began to voice the words that had been stuck like thorns inside him—one by one, carefully. He spoke of how Joslyn had first taken him to the portrait room, and how she’d kept telling him afterward that he was “connected to the Valterminster bloodline”…

By the time his story finally reached the part about Ariante’s birth, Meiana bit down hard on the inside of her cheek to suppress her rising anger. The soft flesh pressed between her teeth made a faint squelching sound.

Sniffling, Swan spoke.

“I… I just… when Joslyn said those things, I just listened… I couldn’t say I didn’t want to hear them. I was scared…”

A tear dropped with a soft plink onto the back of his round hand. Meiana pulled out a handkerchief and carefully wiped Swan’s face, then wordlessly rose to fetch him a glass of water. While drinking, Swan kept glancing nervously at Meiana, and once he’d emptied the cup, he held it tightly without daring to lift his head.

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