Chapter 5
“Wait, Commander.”
When I glanced back, Carlos was awkwardly reaching his hand toward me with a very complicated expression on his face.
“What’s wrong?”
I asked, looking at his outstretched hand.
“You’re staggering right now.”
At his words, I hurriedly looked down.
Sure enough, my body was leaning heavily to one side.
“H-huh?”
A foolish sound escaped my lips.
The moment I realized I had lost balance, my head suddenly spun, and my body began to tip over.
I’m falling!
I tightly shut my eyes, bracing for the impact. But no pain came.
Instead, someone pulled on my arm. As if someone was holding me up…
“Sir Ivach?”
I called Carlos in surprise.
Carlos also seemed startled and abruptly let go of my arm.
“Ugh.”
With a groan, I landed hard on my rear, and Carlos looked flustered, as if he hadn’t expected me to actually fall.
The ground was cold and wet with melted snow.
“Ouch.”
As I rubbed my lower back and stood up, I saw Carlos still staring blankly at me with his hand stretched in the air.
“Well, it can’t be helped. Would you mind helping me up to the carriage?”
Rather than fall over again in an embarrassing fashion, I figured it was better to endure the awkwardness just once.
“…All right.”
Carlos nodded like he was in a trance.
Looking into the distance, I let him place my arm over his shoulder.
Carlos supported me skillfully and walked me to where the carriages passed.
“See you tomorrow, then.”
Once I finally managed to get settled in the carriage, I waved at Carlos.
He looked like he had a lot to say but swallowed it down and saw me off.
I was curious what thoughts hid behind that complicated expression of his, but now wasn’t the time to pry.
Why?
Because ever since I realized I was dizzy… I’ve been on the verge of throwing up.
“Uuurgh.”
“Oh dear, milady! You mustn’t vomit in here!”
“If we drive the carriage slowly, the nausea might lessen…”
“I’ll just drive like the wind and get you home fast!”
The coachman sped through the night streets and had me at the Elvington estate in five minutes.
“This is bad!”
As soon as the horses stopped, the coachman jumped off and rushed to fetch the household staff.
“My goodness, miss!”
The first to appear was Mary, Elia’s closest maid, with bright red hair and freckled cheeks. She gasped and rushed to support me.
Grunting in pain, I looked down at Mary with an odd sense of familiarity.
I’d never met her before, but thanks to Elia’s lingering memories, she felt strangely close.
“Quickly, you must go inside at once. I thought you’d be back at dawn again, but to see you this early…”
At the same time, I realized—Mary was scared of something.
If Mary was afraid, then it had to be…
‘Madam Doris.’
Madam Doris was the second wife of the Marquis of Elvington, Elia’s stepmother, and a wretched woman who tormented her constantly.
You could say about thirty percent of Elia’s bad personality came from that woman.
Before possessing Elia, I had thought she became a wicked superior out of jealousy over Carlos’s skill or bitterness over her injury.
But once I glimpsed Elia’s memories—there she was. Madam Doris.
She constantly poked at Elia’s insecurities, and Elia, in turn, took her anger out on Carlos. A vicious cycle.
Of course, Elia’s father, the marquis, and her brother Michael were part of the problem too… but the root cause was undoubtedly Madam Doris.
And the time when Madam Doris was most active was now—at night.
“Please hurry, this way.”
Mary, clearly anxious about running into Madam Doris, pulled me urgently.
I didn’t feel like facing Madam Doris either, so I tried to move quickly.
But things didn’t go as I hoped.
“Elia, don’t tell me you’ve been drinking again?”
The moment I stepped through the front door into the first-floor hall, I came face to face with her.
Mary flinched. I could feel her gaze, full of concern, turning to me.
“It’s okay.”
Knowing what she was worried about, I whispered to reassure her.
“Yes, I had a few drinks.”
I responded calmly and detached Mary from me.
Mary didn’t want to let go, but I shook my head firmly.
Madam Doris also glared sharply at Mary, forcing her to back off reluctantly.
I stepped forward to face Madam Doris squarely.
Her hair was pinned up perfectly without a strand out of place, and she wore her buttoned-up, uptight outfit as always.
“You had a few drinks?”
She repeated, just as prickly as she looked.
“Mother, just let it go. She’s always like that.”
While I was debating how to respond, a smug male voice piped up behind her.
“Right? That disgrace gets drunk all the time.”
Then came a woman’s voice.
With clicking heels, two siblings descended from the second-floor stairs.
Silver hair, delicate features—but stiff expressions that resembled Madam Doris.
“Ginata. Zachary.”
I said their names in a low, warning tone.
Ginata and Zachary were Madam Doris’s children, brought along when she remarried into the marquis’s household.
But unlike Doris, who rose in status by marrying the marquis, her children were never officially adopted into the Elvington family.
Their surname was still “Doris,” and their status remained semi-noble, just like before.
Madam Doris was never called “Marquis” either—because that would imply her children had become legitimate nobles.
That was their everlasting complex—and one of the reasons they tormented and envied Elia.
“She can’t even wield a sword anymore. Let’s just pity her.”
As expected, Zachary said something outrageous.
If this were the old Elia, she’d have lost control and smashed furniture at those words.
I could see the cheap thrill and expectation in their eyes—as if they were waiting for me to explode.
But too bad.
I’m no longer the reckless Elia they once knew.
I turned to Zachary and gave him a gentle smile.
“…Huh?”
He clearly hadn’t expected that and made a confused sound.
“What’s wrong with her?”
Ginata and Madam Doris also looked thrown off by my smile.
“Is that all you have to say, Zachary?”
I seized the moment and spoke.
Zachary flinched at my question.
“Your tone is… different.”
“Yes, I did drink. But bringing up my injury to provoke me is a rather low tactic.”
I cut him off coldly.
“Ha! You’re the one who goes around causing all sorts of trouble drunk, Elia! Don’t play the victim!”
Zachary recovered and fought back. Ginata and Madam Doris’s faces also hardened.
They still didn’t realize I’d changed.
Before showing them that I was no longer the impulsive, easy-to-manipulate Elia, I cast a glance toward the top of the stairs.
Someone I’d been waiting for stood there, watching the scene below with a stern expression.
“Playing the victim, huh.”
I turned back to Zachary and narrowed my eyes.
“Isn’t that a better fit for you three—Madam Doris and her children?”
Their reasons for tormenting me weren’t just inferiority complexes.
I leisurely let my gaze fall to the white epaulet on Zachary’s shoulder.
It symbolized a trainee knight—not yet accepted into any formal order.
That insignia was the very shape of both Zachary and Ginata’s desire.
Their only chance of becoming full nobles was by rising to the top of the Third Knight Order, the one that granted noble titles regardless of birth.
In other words—their only path was taking my position.
‘If Elia steps down as commander, maybe Zachary will get a chance.’
That’s likely what they were hoping for.
Of course, with Carlos around, that dream wouldn’t come true. But hope, however faint, is always a dangerous thing.
To achieve that dream, they chose to torment Elia—shattering her pride in swordsmanship, the very core of her identity as a knight.
Knowing this made me feel a bit sorry for Elia.
‘Alright, Elia.’
You may have acted like a brat, but now that I’m in your body, I won’t let you be pushed around like a puppet.
With that resolved in my heart, I raised my head and met the gazes of Madam Doris, Zachary, and Ginata.
“You really want my position that badly?”
This time, I struck their greatest nerve.
