---- 311.


    I PREFER THE NEW ROSSELLA ELLIOT Lavinias nanny screamed as she was dragged by her hair, gripped tightly in Rosses unyielding fist, all the way to the staircasending.


    "Go find a woman for your son in another house, you wretched hag!" Rosse shouted over Mrs.


    Elenas piercing cries as the woman clutched at her own hair, her face twisted in pain.


    In the midst of the struggle, the nannys panicked eyes met mine.


    "Your Lordship, I beg you! The Duchess is using me unfairly! Ive only cared for her little one as if she were my own! She...


    AAAAHHHH!"" Ashrill scream echoed as Rosse mercilessly shoved her, sending her tumbling down the stairsjust like I had done the day she arrived with the ountants corpse.


    I didnt even flinch as her body rolled down, muffled groans escaping her lips, her hands iling desperately in the air, trying to grab onto something, anything, until shended with a dull thud in the foyer.


    My eyes remained fixed on the cold, ruthless woman who descended the stairs at a calm pace, following right behind the nanny, who tumbled like arag doll, possibly dead by the time she reached the bottom.


    Rosse didnt even blink.


    The servants around us covered their mouths, stunned and terrified they had only ever seen memit such cruel acts before.


    How can a person change so much in just a few months? Is this an extreme reaction to all the humiliations she endured, the scorn ---- she swallowed in silence? She didnt seem to know who Theodore was, but perhaps she simply didnt remember a mere stable boy.


    The burdens of the Duchy had never really mattered.


    And that knowledge about the grains...


    Since when was Rosse this sharp and intelligent? Inow regret never paying attention to her before, especially to the physical details.


    Had she been hiding all these years? Had she always been this...


    fascinating? I recall the question she asked me.


    The answer is undeniable: I prefer this new Rosseif she truly is Rossebecause the more time passes...


    the more doubts creep into my mind.


    sek KATHERINE "Get her off the property! Her and her son! What are you waiting for?!" I roared at two servants who stood frozen in ce.


    The tips of my boots hovered close to the bloodied body on the floor, struggling to rise with groans of pain and muffled sobs.


    They hesitated, but after a nce behind me, they rushed forward, grabbing her and dragging her toward the garden entrance.


    The wound on her forehead and her broken nose left a bloody trail dripping onto the floor.


    I stepped over it as I followed them toward the exit.