Chapter 03
After calming down, I continued to pretend that I had lost my memory and asked Daisy various questions.
The kind and gentle maid, Daisy, neatly organized the situation I was in for the sake of her amnesiac mistress.
The owner of the body I was now inhabiting, Briana Elwin, had just turned twenty this year and was the only daughter of a baronial family.
The Elwin barony had never been wealthy to begin with, and to make matters worse, a few years ago Baron Elwin died in an accident after falling into heavy debt, leaving the mother and daughter barely scraping by.
On top of that, Madam Elwin’s chronic illness had worsened, so Briana had resolved to rebuild the family by using her beauty to marry a wealthy man in high society.
“Miss said it was the only way to overcome this desperate situation…”
Daisy said, wiping the corners of her eyes.
Briana had been embroidering handkerchiefs in her spare time and selling them.
With the money she saved, she rented a dress and jewelry, spent a large sum to obtain an invitation to today’s event—the Empire’s Founding Anniversary Banquet—and even secured the famous matchmaker of high society, Madam Eleanor, as her chaperone.
After preparing everything perfectly, she suddenly collapsed a month ago, only to miraculously wake up today.
Though the explanation wasn’t long, I could clearly feel how resilient and determined Briana Elwin was.
Unlike me.
“Everything is ready, Miss!”
I snapped out of my thoughts.
My eyes met Daisy’s through the mirror.
She smiled brightly.
Soon, my gaze shifted to myself in the mirror.
The Briana reflected there was truly beautiful.
Daisy was indeed a highly skilled maid.
The dressing room she brought me to was so poor it was hardly worthy of being called one, but the final result made me look no less than any noble lady of high rank.
The pale yellow dress, richly adorned with lace, revealed more of my chest than I was comfortable with.
I also wore large topaz earrings and a matching necklace.
For someone like me, who preferred simple clothing and minimal adornment, it felt quite unfamiliar.
“You look so beautiful, Miss.”
“And thankfully, we finished preparing just in time.”
“You should head out now.”
“Madam Eleanor will be at the ballroom.”
With Daisy and Madam Elwin seeing me off and urging me to be careful, I boarded the carriage.
Daisy stayed behind, comforting Madam Elwin, whose eyes were red with tears until the very end.
Inside the rattling carriage, I stared blankly at the scenery outside.
At last, I was alone.
I erased the forced smile from my face.
Leaning my head lightly against the window, I closed my eyes.
Perhaps… I had wanted to die all along.
I had thought I would die, yet now that I had survived, I felt a strange sense of regret.
Death, after all, could also mean eternal rest.
A life filled with loneliness, receiving nothing but hatred and scorn—ending that life might have been a sweet release.
And yet… I ended up living again.
As a young lady whose identity I didn’t even know.
Tears streamed down my cheeks.
Even though I didn’t want to cry and ruin the makeup Daisy had carefully done for me, the tears wouldn’t stop.
I wiped them away with the back of my hand and took a deep breath.
…Let’s not cry.
I tried to comfort myself.
Whether I liked it or not, I had come back to life, and I didn’t know what had happened to the original owner of this body.
So I must not act recklessly.
I steadied my breathing and organized the facts I had learned.
First, three years had passed since the carriage accident.
Second, the original me—Princess Diana—had died in that accident three years ago.
Third, the body I had awakened in belonged to Briana Elwin, the only daughter of the Elwin barony.
Why did I awaken in this body?
What happened to the original owner?
There were questions I couldn’t answer right away.
“We have arrived. Please step out.”
Lost in thought, the carriage had already reached the front of the imperial palace.
The Founding Anniversary Banquet…
It was an event I had never attended even when I was Diana.
For no reason, I felt nervous and took a deep breath.
A large crowd had gathered outside.
At last, the carriage door opened, and with the doorman’s escort, I slowly stepped down.
The dress felt heavy, making every movement sluggish.
Where is Madam Eleanor?
Since I needed to find my chaperone first, I looked around.
At that moment, a mocking voice came from nearby.
“What’s that? Isn’t she the lady obsessed with marriage?”
My gaze instinctively turned toward them.
I met the eyes of unfamiliar faces.
A group of young noble ladies giggled while looking at me.
Realizing their ridicule was directed at me, my face flushed red.
Now that I noticed, many people were staring.
Some even pointed fingers.
What… what is this?
A lady obsessed with marriage?
Is that Briana’s nickname?
I wanted to escape immediately, but I didn’t know where to go.
As I stood there flustered, someone cast a shadow over me.
“Briana Elwin.”
I lifted my head.
The first thing I saw was a fan made of dazzling peacock feathers.
Beneath a wide-brimmed navy hat adorned with elegant flowers, a pair of gray eyes, faintly lined with wrinkles, looked at me.
It was Madam Eleanor.
With a stern expression, she extended her hand.
“What are you doing here?”
“Come along at once.”
“Y-Yes.”
I barely regained my senses and entered the ballroom beside Madam Eleanor.
A few people still glanced our way, but not as blatantly as before.
Once we reached a quieter area, Madam Eleanor stopped and spoke in a low voice.
“So you’re Briana.”
“As rumored, you are quite beautiful.”
“I hear you prepared everything yourself with money earned from embroidery.”
“I like that boldness.”
“But be careful.”
“If you act as clueless as you did earlier, you won’t survive in high society.”
“…Thank you.”
I managed to respond.
I was curious why Briana was labeled as a “marriage-crazed lady,” but it wasn’t the right time to ask.
Besides, returning to the imperial palace made me nervous.
Even when I lived in the abandoned palace, it had been a place I rarely stepped into, and after marrying Claude, I had never had the chance to come here either.
He disliked events like this, so naturally, I never attended them.
As soon as I passed through the doors, a beautiful melody filled the air, and countless nobles gathered inside.
Some whispered while glancing at me, but that wasn’t what mattered.
My nerves had been on edge since earlier.
Did Claude really come?
Was he seriously injured from the accident?
Will I get a chance to speak with him?
Did he… grieve my death?
“Mind your posture.”
“If you keep looking around like that, you’ll appear unrefined.”
Madam Eleanor warned quietly.
As expected, she was strict.
“Yes…”
I answered softly.
As the ball began, the crowd grew denser.
The Claude I remembered disliked crowded places like this.
He often avoided attending banquets.
But Daisy had said I would see him here.
How could she be so certain?
I wanted to see him alive again.
If I did, I felt like the weight on my heart would lessen.
At the very end, he had clearly tried to protect me.
So regardless of loving him, it was only natural to feel guilty.
“Over there—you can see members of the imperial family.”
I turned my gaze to where Madam Eleanor pointed.
Members of the imperial family—my father, my mother, my half-sister Verche Isabella Felix, and my half-brother Louise Edmund Felix—stood together, speaking warmly with one another.
Thud.
My heart sank.
I lowered my gaze.
My family…
Did they grieve my death?
It was foolish to even hope so.
The emperor had once had an affair with a lowly maid, and I was the daughter born from that relationship.
They were not good memories.
With a bitter feeling, I turned my head away.
Madam Eleanor pointed toward a sofa prepared for noble ladies.
“Let’s go over there first.”
Just as I was about to follow her—
In the distance, I saw a face I couldn’t believe.
It was Claud.
