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In a corner of an empty, cold, old hallway, I, Countess Ram, was being tortured. Someone grabbed me by my messily combed light green hair, and I groaned pitifully from the pain,「Ugh」
This has been my everyday life since I married into the historic Count of Mercure family, who has produced a number of outstanding wizards.
「You really are a useless wife! Why don’t you quickly advise my Master to take me as his concubine?」
La’cryma, the head maid, together with other maids and servants commanded loftily.
She is the first and foremost of the evil maidservants in the Count’s household. She’s a beautiful woman with shoulder-length black hair and cool eyes. She is also the daughter of a viscount and is very proud of herself.
「I’ve never known a woman so featherbrained, so careless, and so neglected by her husband. Aren’t you ashamed to call yourself, Countess?」
「……！」
「You can’t do anything to benefit the family. You’re too weak to be of any use. Can’t you at least introduce me, a woman, who can give birth to an heir?」
「Woo…」
I am too cowardly to retort. I just got scared and retreated backward in the corridor as she accused me.
Everything La’cryma said is true.
I came from a humble and inferior baronial family. I’ve been sickly since birth, so I’ve never left the house – a hardcore naive person.
I’m also considered a lagging bad debt, a young lady whom the Count of Mercure has taken in as his second wife out of compassion.
However, that doesn’t mean he loves me.
Not to mention meddling in her family business, his low-ranked and frail wife was just a convenience for the Mercure family.
After the death of his previous wife, those around the Count had been urging him to take a new wife. As a matter of duty, he took me, a woman who never uttered unnecessary comments.
In exchange for this daughter, the Baron’s family continues to receive financial support from the Count’s family.
「Madam, you really drive me crazy when I look at you! You’re useless and an eyesore. Would you please just quickly go back to your room?”
La’cryma ordered crisply, and her cronies prodded me with their nasty laughs and took me to my room.
I haven’t got a single ally in the Count Mercure household.
My husband, the Count, is busy every day and is indifferent to the wife he was obliged to acquire.
I don’t even know if he is aware of what’s going on, or perhaps despite knowing, he ignores it.
And so it goes, the fainthearted me has been spending my days in the gray and suffering verbal abuse by the maids and servants daily.
One day, however, my cramped life comes to an abrupt end.
*
It was revived in me in a flash.
In a dimly lit corner of the Countess’s room, where no one ever approaches, the head maid was abusing me as usual. At that moment, I hit my head on the wall after she pushed me…As I collapsed on the floor, I, Countess Ram Mercure, regained my memories of my previous life.
I braced myself on the hard wooden floor, at the mercy of an enormous wave of memories that suddenly sprung up in my brain.
After a few moments, my mind sobered up clearly.
「That’s right. I…I am not a cowardly Countess.」
I stood up quickly and glared at the person who had pushed me away ―― La’cryma, the head maid.
She flinched at my appearance which she had never seen before and stiffened slightly.
「What’s with the impertinent glare, Madam? Haven’t you reflected enough? Then…」
「La’cryma! It’s you who lacks introspection!!」
I dodged La’cryma’s hand as she moved to attack again, and swung my right arm over my head.
「W-What the hell?! This……gwah――――!!」
La’cryma received my fist in the cheek and was flung to the corner of the room, spinning and crashing into the wooden wall.
I was going to slap her normally, but I think I unintentionally put too much force into it.
「Oh, dear, I’ve tied up something so trivial.」
I wiped my hands on the floor and looked at the unconscious head maid indifferently.
It was a shame that I had been bullied by such a woman day in and day out until now.
But those days are over now. Today’s Ram Mercure is no longer a wimpy Countess.
「Nevertheless, it’s really interesting to note the existence of such a thing…where memories of a previous life return after reincarnation. I’d love to write a paper on it, but first I need to know more about how this world works. 」
Now that I’ve regained my memories, I have no intention of living as a cowardly and timid countess as before. That’s totally unnecessary, because I can live quite freely.
Ram Mercure was a legendary and the most powerful wizard in her previous life who left her name in history.
*
I――Ram, was a woman named Aurora Ibrusus, the top wizard, who was active about 500 years ago.
Since the name “Aurora” remains in the history books that Ram knows, the present world must be an extension of my previous life.
Nowadays, wizards seem to be losing their power, and their numbers are quite small.
Since my death in my previous life, the birth of wizards with power have gradually dwindled, and the overall status of wizards has been declining.
The Count of Mercure is a family of wizards, a rare breed nowadays.
The current Count is said to be a brilliant man, but I’ve never heard of any wizards outside of the Mercure family.
(What does that signify?)
Ram Mercure is so naive that she doesn’t know anything about current affairs.
「First off, gather information. Ram is a scaredy cat and has mostly withdrawn in her room, so even though she’s a Countess, she hasn’t a single clue what’s going on in the Mercure household.」
Gathering information about the point of existence is essential. I want to be comfortable anyway I can.
If I go outside, I might get tangled up with someone again, but then I can talk back or fight back.
Ram Mercure was too weak.
That’s why she has been berated and treated unreasonably by all sides.
There was no willing person who would protect her free of charge, so she was constantly oppressed.
(Now that my memory is back, I will do everything on my own terms.)
Generally speaking, it was just  too abnormal for the maids and servants to bully the mistress.
「Get over it because there’s nothing else to do. I’ll punish these evil people!」
For me, who is older than I look, these in the mansion are no different from babies.
If torturing them doesn’t work, just replace them.
Do I still need to care about the Count’s consent?
(He neglected his wife from the start, so when the people in the mansion saw it, they treated me badly.)
Why should I care about him after what he’s put me through?
「I will carry it out without permission.」
I tossed an unconscious maid into the corridor and continued on my way, determined to take control of the mansion.