Rapunzel Is Raised by Her Stepmother

Chapter 8 : A Walk with the Master (1)

As the physician’s fingertips touched the swollen end of her ankle bone, Dorothea frowned at the sharp pain. Just a while ago, her ankle had seemed fine, but now it was twice as swollen.

"Fortunately, it’s only a mild sprain. You don’t need to worry too much."

The physician, who had been examining her slender ankle, diagnosed her condition. A maid standing nearby let out a sigh of relief, grateful that it wasn’t a fracture.

"...Is that all?"

"Yes, as long as you apply the medicine properly, the wound on your knee shouldn’t leave a scar. I’ll set a splint for you, so you should rest for about a week. Avoid any exercise or walks."

Hearing that she couldn’t even take a walk for a week, Dorothea let out a heavy sigh. She wasn’t particularly fond of walks, but the thought of being confined to her room was suffocating.

"...Alright, thank you. You may leave now."

After the physician bowed his head and exited, Dorothea sighed once more as she stared at the splint on her left ankle. She had never imagined she would get injured in such a foolish way...

But there was no helping it. The sight of Rapunzel chasing after her had been like a nightmare. She had been so terrified that by the time she came to her senses, she had already fallen.

‘...She’ll probably appear in my dreams tonight.’

Dorothea shuddered and rubbed her arms to get rid of the goosebumps.

Rapunzel, tied up in ropes, bouncing up and down while her long hair fluttered in the air.

She looked similar to the eastern ghost called ‘Jiangshi’ that Dorothea had read about in a book while researching the ‘Remnant of a Witch.’ Or perhaps like the artificial human known as ‘Frankenstein’ from a distant land...

Either way, it was clear that she didn’t seem human.

And that wasn’t the only problem with Rapunzel.

The bizarre way she kept calling her ‘Mother’ was an even greater issue. All Dorothea had done was casually mention taking her in as an adopted daughter…

Yet Rapunzel looked at her with eyes full of certainty, calling her ‘Mother’ as if she truly believed it. The way she looked at her, the way she addressed her—it was so overwhelming that it made Dorothea nauseous.

How could she call me ‘Mother’ with such unwavering confidence? How could she be so bold, so desperate to be loved?

‘I... I couldn’t even call my own father that way…’

As a shiver ran down her spine, Dorothea trembled. Standing beside her, the maid, ‘Sophia,’ gently rubbed her shoulder.

"My lady, are you alright?"

"...I’m fine."

"Are you worried about the child locked in the tower?"

"What? Worried? Why would I worry about her? Didn’t you see how my ankle twisted because of her?"

Dorothea looked at Sophia with an exasperated expression, as if questioning whether she had heard correctly. In response, Sophia chuckled softly before continuing.

“Hu-hu, I’m sorry. You kept thinking about that child, so I just asked out of curiosity.”

“It’s not worry, it’s anger. Ever since she arrived, nothing has gone right. I got summoned by Father, ended up with a foster daughter at this age, and even twisted my ankle. Can you believe all this happened in just two days?”

Clicking her tongue, Dorothea crossed her arms and let out a long sigh. Watching her, Sophia placed a hand on one cheek and simply giggled, “Uhuhu.”

“So, what are you going to do now?”

“? Do about what?”

“That child. The Lord ordered you to ‘keep her alive, like raising livestock,’ didn’t he? That means someone has to take care of her…”

“Just get the other maids to do it. I don’t want to bother.”

“Hmm… But still…”

Sophia squinted slightly and glanced at Dorothea, peeking through half-closed eyes. Her expression, as if expecting something, made Dorothea glare at her in disbelief.

“…You want to go?”

“If you allow me, my lady.”

“I don’t really have a reason to refuse if that’s what you want, but…”

A creeping sense of unease climbed up Dorothea’s spine, making her furrow her brows. Honestly, Sophia might be the perfect person to handle ‘this kind of task.’ After all, she was already a mother to a child.

‘But… Sophia is… Hmm…’

The maids and the butler working here in the ‘annex’ all had ‘some kind of issue.’ Usually, the annex was where those expelled from the main house ended up.

“…Are you really going to do it?”

“If you allow me, my lady.”

Sophia repeated herself with a bright smile. That confident smile made Dorothea uneasy, but she no longer wanted to concern herself with Rapunzel.

…Well, even if Sophia was bad at handling work, incredibly clumsy, and so slow-witted that she got kicked out of the main house, she should still be able to handle something like this.

After all, Sophia was a mother.

“…Fine, you take care of her for now.”

“Understood.”

As soon as Dorothea gave her permission, Sophia beamed. Still, just in case, Dorothea decided to go over the precautions once more.

“Anyway, it’s fine to put handcuffs or shackles on her, just don’t let her escape. That’s the Lord’s order.”

“There are no handcuffs or shackles in the annex since we don’t have an underground prison…”

“…Then put a collar on her or something. Just make sure she doesn’t run away like last time.”

“Hmm… Understood.”

Did she really understand properly?

Honestly, Dorothea felt uneasy, but undoing a decision that was already made felt like too much trouble. Things would work out somehow. Letting out a deep sigh, she flopped onto her bed.

‘Ah… But since I left her to Sophia, I won’t have to see that child’s face for a while.’

“Hello?”

“Oh, um? Hello?”

At that moment, I was digging inside the fireplace with an old spoon. The sudden arrival of a maid left me unable to hide my bewilderment. Had my escape plan been discovered?

Hastily, I hid the dirt-stained spoon inside my clothes and looked up at the maid. She knelt down to meet my gaze and began introducing herself.

“My name is Sophia. From today, I’ll be in charge of taking care of Miss Rapunzel.”

“…Ah, okay. Nice to meet you.”

Someone assigned to take care of me!

Which meant… someone who would give me food!

The moment I realized that, my stomach let out a loud growl. Up until now, I had barely eaten, either starving or begging the guards for scraps. The idea of having someone responsible for me filled me with joy.

See? Mom isn’t such a bad person after all. I was a little disappointed when she locked me back in the tower, but if she assigned a maid to me, maybe that meant she was starting to like me a little?

Clutching my loudly protesting stomach, I looked at the maid. She smiled and pulled out a gift box she had hidden inside her clothes, handing it to me. But… this wasn’t food.

“This is a present from the young lady to Miss Rapunzel.”

“A present?”

“Yes, go ahead and open it.”

“...?”

A present from Mom?

That sounded like a lie.

After what happened earlier, I couldn’t trust it, but since the maid insisted, I had no choice but to open the gift box. If Mom had even a shred of conscience, wouldn’t she have sent food?

“...???? Seriously? Mom sent me this?”

I couldn’t hide my shock at the contents of the box. Wait, this? Mom sent this to me? Really? Was this actually something Mom thought was a suitable present for me…?

Inside the cutely wrapped gift box was none other than… a dog collar.

Not just any dog collar—it was the exact same red as Rapunzel’s eyes. I looked back and forth between the contents of the box and the maid, silently questioning if this was real.

“Yes, the young lady instructed me to put it on you.”

Wait, this is real?

…Thinking about it calmly, it did seem like something Mom would send me. Since I kept escaping from the tower, maybe she was telling me to behave by putting this dog collar on me…

“Oh, uh, hmm… Okay, well, if it’s Mom’s order, I have to follow it.”

“How is it? Do you like it?”

“Oh, uh. Well, it’s… fine. As her foster daughter, I’m seriously concerned about Mom’s taste, but respecting each other’s preferences is important in a family.”

“?”

I took out the red dog collar that Mom had gifted me from the box and put it around my neck. Even when I tightened it as much as possible, it was still loose—it seemed to be the kind used for guard dogs.

As I fiddled with the collar now hanging around my neck, I suddenly felt like I completely understood Mom’s exact intention behind this gift.

No way… Did this present mean that?

“Hmm… Ah, I think I know what Mom meant by giving me this.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Giving me a dog collar means she’s telling me to live like an animal, right?”

Sophia hesitated for a moment before recalling the Lord’s order to Dorothea. The command to keep Rapunzel ‘like raising livestock.’ Sophia nodded at Rapunzel’s conclusion.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I knew it! Then doesn’t that mean I can go outside as long as I wear this collar?!”

“What? What do you…”

“I mean, dogs usually wear collars and go on walks with their owners, right?”

“Th-That’s true?”

“So, if I want to go outside the tower from now on, I just need to act like an animal and go on walks with the maid while wearing this dog collar. Otherwise, why would she send me something like this?”

“Uh, um…?”

Sophia tilted her head in confusion.

Honestly, even I wasn’t sure what I was saying at this point. It felt like my thoughts were bypassing my brain and coming straight out of my mouth.

Well, I hadn’t eaten properly for two days and hadn’t had a single drop of water. Staying sane in this condition would be strange. That’s why I had been scraping the walls with a spoon.

“I’m sure I’m right. So…”

Deciding to just go with it, I attached the long leash from the box to the dog collar and held it out to the maid.

“Here, let’s go for a walk.”

The maid flustered and panicked at first, unsure of what to do. But taking advantage of her confusion, I pushed the leash into her hands. Seeing no other choice, she gave in with a resigned nod.

“We’ll walk until sunset, and head back when we’re tired.”