Recovery and Revelations

When I woke again, a servant told me that my so-called father had visited.

Word that the steward teaching me etiquette had knocked me unconscious with two lashes had reached my so-called father. As I was nominally his daughter, he had made a token visit, then graciously allowed me to recover before returning to my lessons in proper conduct.

After telling me this, the servant tried to find an expression of tearful gratitude on my face, but I simply looked at him calmly.

He waited a while, and a strange expression gradually appeared on his face. He even looked a little angry.

If I had to describe it, it was as though he was thinking, It's already more than enough that Lord Naobito Zenin came to visit an illegitimate daughter. He even allowed her to recover before resuming her etiquette lessons. How can she not feel the slightest gratitude?!

I couldn't care less.

I was now filled with loathing for the Zenin Clan. This world really was utterly awful.

What was it like outside the Zenin Clan? Was it just as hopelessly backward?

I wanted to see for myself.

Unfortunately, my wish was dashed yet again.

My little courtyard was very remote. Although it was within the Zenin main residence, even that was only thanks to my so-called father.

After all, my status was hardly respectable. I was merely my father's illegitimate daughter.

My mother hadn't come from a powerful family, either. She had only been an ordinary woman who was "unfit for polite society."

In many people's eyes, my father's willingness to bring me back after my mother's death was already something I ought to be eternally grateful for.

What's more, I heard that although my father was already the next heir chosen by the head of the Zenin Clan-my nominal grandfather-his position was far from secure.

My uncle, Ogi Zenin, watched that position like a venomous snake, waiting to get something on my father so he could drag him down without mercy.

...Bringing me back to the Zenin Clan had put my father in a difficult position.

When I first heard about this, I could only marvel.

It was astonishing. The Zenin Clan really was rotten inside and out.

Its rules were rotten, its moral codes were rotten, its hierarchy was rotten, and its relations between men and women were rotten... It was truly disgusting.

The servant said that someone of my status, an illegitimate daughter without a powerful maternal family to rely on, who hadn't awakened a Cursed Technique, was now allowed to live in the residence-

Even if it was only the tiniest courtyard in the most remote corner, having a maid assigned to care for me as well was already an exceptional act of generosity, granted out of respect for my father.

I said, "..."

Even with more than twenty years of experience from another world, I was genuinely left speechless.

Good grief. So all those infuriating shows and movies I'd watched before had actually been holding back.

What's more, this world also had a supernatural element called "Jujutsu." Combined with feudal moral codes, it could only produce an even worse chemical reaction.

During the days I spent recovering in my little courtyard, I also heard this saying: "Those who are not Zenin are not sorcerers, and those who are not sorcerers are not human."

-Pretty extreme.

And how could someone like me, at the very bottom of the Zenin pecking order, possibly be qualified to go outside?

Only after trying a few times did I understand that.

Damn the Zenin Clan. A family like this ought to rot away sooner or later.

Naoya Zenin came again. This time, he brought several children around his age.

They barged into my courtyard, crowding the already cramped space until it felt hard to breathe.

They looked around the courtyard, passing judgment with undisguised disdain.

"This courtyard is way too small. It's not even as big as my bedroom!"

"Young Master Naoya, Uncle Naobito Zenin really does love you the most..."

"Exactly! So what if Kamu Zenin is Uncle Naobito Zenin's daughter? She's still just a worthless embarrassment!"

Naoya Zenin stood in their midst, thoroughly enjoying the flattery around him. He raised his head smugly, like a proud peacock.

He gave a derisive chuckle and looked around, trying to find that illegitimate daughter so he could mock her properly.

When he'd heard a while ago that the steward teaching her etiquette had knocked her unconscious with two lashes, he'd been delighted for ages.

-See? She's so weak. What powerful Cursed Technique could she possibly awaken?