Hello again!
I see a lot of people saying Giselle was trying to literally kill Cross, but in case it was my TL that confused everyone I wanted to clear up that she just speaks VERY roughly and generally just means "beat the ever loving shit out of him". I highly doubt her intention was to kill him since her entire character is that of the protector of the other orphans who tries to do what's best for them and help them while realistically keeping them out of too much danger, even though she is obviously a bit of a course and vindictive person. This is also why the other orphans are helping her since they're not insane or as violent a person as she is, they just know she's an ass who tries to help rather than just an ass. In general her thoughts appear to be
"Cross is too weak, he's always been too weak, he'll get killed if he becomes an adventurer but he's too stubborn to fuck off when I tell him to."
Then she gets whacked by him, and thinking this is some kind of fluke and that he's still too weak while also being pissed since this is going to hurt her image which ALSO affects how the other orphans will be treated, decides she has to beat him to the point he finally realizes he's not cut out for it and can take some less dangerous path in life. Her intention with the monster appears to not be actually getting him killed by it, but beating the shit out of him until he accepts this and then coerce him into blaming it on the "monster" while still saving face since everyone else will pretty much know who actually did it.
This has a lot of speculation since as I said, I won't bring anything in future chapters into the comments as I refuse to spoil, but I wanted to bring that up in case the translation was the source of this confusion. Maybe it's because I have to spend a good amount of time on each line to make sure I'm not missing something so I don't mistranslate anything for you guys, so I'm getting a lot more time to analyze each line and each character as I go, but I actually think this is pretty above average writing for this kind of story if you think about it.
Thank you for taking the time to some clarification to this. I did take to the comment section again curious of other thoughts.
For me the honestly the difference in intent between beating the ever living shit out of the MC and attempted murder is paper thin (like wax paper thin). I never assumed she'd actually succeed in either. The problem to me is that she and her group led the MC out to the middle of the woods, ganged up on him, and regardless intended to do major serious damage. And the bigger issue (and most of the dissatisfaction I see) is that the act will most likely go completely unpunished and she'll immediately be reformed as a love interest or an ally. And I know you just said you won't deal in spoilers and I don't expect you to. It's just with the pacing of this chapter alone there's a lot of discomfort (starting with her and the orphans vs cross, dragon shows up, immediately going into a random flashback sequence to make her sympathetic, and cross returns on a cliffhanger).
I'm also just not seeing the logic. So her and the orphans thinking is that Cross is too weak to o survive as even a rookie adventurer despite beating her in a fair one V one, so to prove it to him they'll all gang up on him in an unfair fight? And then beat him within an inch of his life to make him finally see reason... which is apparently that he can't hold his own in a terribly unfair and underhanded fight? If they want to point out his naivety (an actual problem he has) there are methods that don't violence. If they otherwise care about his well being they could also just truly party up with him and help him gain necessary experience. There are just way too many options that don't involve jumping someone in the woods. Like just asking for a rematch.
This Manga definitely doesn't have the worse writing and it has a compelling premise. I'm a sucker for underdog stories myself and liked that along with the typical power harem fanservice the MC does have genuine growth and is earnest. However, I'm not a fan of making someone's good nature out to be a weakness, which I think is an unintended consequence of scenes like this. The MC wanting to apologize and even risking himself to save her are one thing. Both are heroic and good traits. Well the former itself is questionable (I'd have rewritten that from wanting to apologize to wanting to stand up for himself and repair their relationship now that he's gained confidence). The idea of him just forgiving a very intentional violent and criminal act against him is more the problem (and highly suggested when a good sized portion of the chapter was wasted on flashbacks and setting up her character as redeemable). Like if this ended with him saving the day and then the orphans turn themselves he or he turns them to some level of suitable punishment I'd have felt a lot better towards it.
That said it's really not your place to defend the story (unless of course you want to). It wouldn't even be the authors (unless of course they want to). I love it when creators give feedback, but at the end of the day it's their work and as long as they enjoy creating it and they can find their audience that enjoys reading it, it's hardly their problem that others don't like it. I mean assuming the author doesn't also need money (but then again sales show that critic response doesn't match general popularity either).
I do genuinely want to say thanks both for the translation and worrying if it's your translation that's causing any confusion between the author's image and audience. I don't think there is in this case, but knowing how tricky any translation is I think what separates good translators from great ones are those concerned with conveying the intended message to the new audience.
If the author didn't want the girl to die then they could've made it so a high ranking adventurer or something appeared to save her, which also reveals they were watching to see if she did intend to kill the MC. Thus upon saving and treating the girl's wounds the adventurer would turn her in to the guards/prison with his testimony as evidence.
It could've furthermore been a good lesson for the readers on being too kind by having the MC try vouching for her to be freed, only for the three monsters masters to talk him out of helping her because it'd only cause him trouble and tell the girl she can do whatever she wants without consequence.
The nemesis-to-lover trope is so overused already it's mind numbing.
I would love this as a story beat. For one it'd establish some basic consequences and give some world building to build confidence in the setting and general societal setup. Audiences usually don't feel too good when bad people get away with bad things. Then it'd also serve as a rude awakening for the MC. The groomers themselves said he has a confidence problem, so it's not just his skills that need to grow. There's a difference between being good natured and being downright naive to the point that you get yourself killed and others hurt.
It's also not like the author couldn't then future develop the girls character. I'd be okay-ish if they all fought together during the dragon fight and she ends up with a lighter sentence both for being an orphan and minor and admitting guilt. Something like that she's expelled from the school, has to serve a year or two in prison (or house arrest), and that she has to quit being an adventurer for some time. That would allow her character time to reflect on her actions. I still wouldn't want her as a love interest or even friend but an okay side character eventually would have been fine.
Alternatively I'd really just avoid this situation as a whole. Writing a character this consistently unlikable and giving them so much screen time just to be unlikable and awful in all of it just seems like a mistake to me. Like have her reflect on her loss against cross and then request one more fair match before she can decide if this can let this go. Or like ignore her character in general. She's never been that interesting. Her whole thing was just being a bully and acting like a mean person seemingly to make us feel more sorry for the MC and later be an obstacle he overcomes. She never had any development or background or interesting personality traits that made me want to read more of her. She didn't even really feel like a threat considering the premise and existence of his 3 groomers/teachers. Just like a really annoying persistent gnat.