He immediately leapt up from the coffin, causing the flowers to fall on the girl still smiling cheerfully at her.
"Mama is awake!" She cheered and buried herself in her skirts, tugging at them happily, a face now blinking back happy tears. The red mark was still visible on her pale skin, attracting Jasper's attention. He frowned unknowingly.
"I knew Mama wouldn't leave me!"
'Kid, I'm not your mother.' Jasper wanted to retort and pry her clingy hands away from him, but even he knew that that would be too mentally scarring for a child. This was already mentally scarring enough for him!
"Praise the Saints and Heaven's above! Lady Francessa is alive and back from the dead!" An old woman cried out as she sank to her knees in relief.
Jasper blinked in surprise.
This woman was one of the few actually happy about Lady Francessa's revival. He could see more shocked, horrified, and downright revolted faces when he stepped out of the coffin.
"Witchcraft!" One of the ladies began to scream. "Lady Francessa is a witch!"
Lady Francessa? Surely it wasn't her…
"Nonsense!" The old woman retorted. She looked vaguely familiar. "I've been living at the Lady's house for years, and I've never seen any sign of her practicing witchcraft!"
"She has unfinished business with you, Crescent Milliers!" The woman next to her began crying. "You offended her with your words and actions!"
"That's right!" Another voice chimed in. "You even kicked her child and pinched her cheek to hurt her!"
"Nonsense!" The apparent Lady Crescent Milliers exclaimed shakily. "I did no such thing! It was just a tiny playful pinch!"
"All of us saw you do it!" A chorus of voices agreed. Lady Francessa was so full of motherly love, she came back from the dead to punish the woman that bullied her daughter! It was a tale worthy of song!
Meanwhile Jasper glared venomously at Crescent Millers, the youngest daughter of the Duke of Pinrose. He had never seen her in person, but rumours of her picking on the weak still circulated, especially among the servants.
He was not surprised that this woman deliberately hurt a grieving child! He rolled up his sleeves, preparing to give her a beating on this dead Francessa's behalf. This would be his good deed for the day.
Crescent Milliers took a nervous step back. When had Francessa ever given her such a deadly expression before?
Even when she tripped her, embarrassed her, and tried to tar her with scandal, she had sailed through it all with a maddening grace and calm!
And when did she ever roll up her sleeves to expose her forearms? She always thought that excess skin was scandalous!
"So… not only did you spit on me in my grave," Jasper hissed slowly, deliberately wiping the spit off his hand and flicking it off his fingers in her direction. "But you pinched my poor daughter hard enough that her cheek bled."
Lilian looked up at her mother adoringly and tucked herself behind her skirts, peering at the bad woman. Mama was scolding someone! That rarely happened because Lilian was good. Mama didn't get angry, and it was a good thing, because Mama looked scary when she was angry.
"What do you have to say in your defense?" Jasper growled out, daggers in his eyes.
Crescent shivered, but still tried to behave haughtily by scoffing and looking down her nose at the mentioned daughter. She wasn't going to be intimidated by Lady Francessa, even if she did return from the dead!
"It was just a tiny pinch!" Crescent argued, waving her hand. "You're exaggerating things as usual. She's unhurt! She's just making a fuss, like how children do."
"And you would know, seeing that you've had so many children?" Jasper replied acerbically, smirking at the way Crescent's face turned black with rage.
Everyone's mouths fell open. Crescent Millers was unmarried, so of course she had no children. Lady Lawrence was insinuating that she had bastard children out of wedlock, which would be scandalous enough on its own!
"If this got out, I wouldn't be surprised if you were left on the shelf for the next century. No man would want a wife that ill-treats his future children." Jasper continued viciously as he stepped closer.
It was gratifying to know that even in this body, he was still intimidating enough.
"And if you had scarred my daughter irrevocably, damaging her social standing and her future marriage prospects, how will you make up for it?" Jasper asked silkily.
Every man knew that the paths for women were limited! Even Jasper, as an illegitimate son, could still make a career (if unorthodox) out of his abilities. He simply could not inherit his father's title or any of his property.
Women didn't even have that luxury! The best hope they had was to marry well, and this bitch of a woman just went and damaged this young girl's face!
"But I didn't, look! She is fine!" Crescent argued boldly, even trying to pull Lilian out to show her. Lilian of course, shrieked and hid. "I'm just making sure her cheeks have a bit of colour!"
"Don't touch her!" He yelled, slapping her hand away. Crescent drew back in shock. Lady Francessa was resorting to violence now?
"I am her mother," technically Jasper wasn't, but no one here knew that, so he shall be a temporary mom. "I decide if she's fine or not, and she was crying hard enough to bring me back from the dead."
"Now, does that seem fine to you?"
"She…she was just missing you!" Crescent stuttered a reply.
"I know, so I returned, and just in time to see you bully her." Jasper said. "Perhaps I should make you cry hard enough too, just to see what you'll summon."
Crescent quailed, turning paler at his words.
"No, there's no need I -"
Jasper smirked, and slapped her straight in the face!