Episode 12
Was I too servile? That was a little embarrassing.
Instead, Isabella stopped me.
“It’s not that I’m pleased to see you. But there’s no need for you to starve.”
“Really?”
What? Far from a villain, she’s kind!
“Even if I starved you, Father wouldn’t disown you, would he?”
She’s smart, too.
“Unless you fail to adapt to life here and beg to be sent back to the orphanage.”
Huh…?
Isabella wore a stern expression.
“I have no intention of doing petty things to you. If you’re the sort who’ll fall away on your own, you’ll do so without me doing anything. Even for me, who was born and raised here, becoming a true member of the Weiss family wasn’t easy.”
With a bitter expression, she added quietly, “Even now, it still isn’t.”
But she quickly returned to her proud look and said,
“Try to adapt. If you do, I’ll acknowledge you as my younger sister.”
Then she gestured to one of the maids and had someone brought in. A young girl about my age entered the room.
“As the first thing you’ll need, I’ll give you Leah as your maid. She’s the daughter of Helen, who works in the kitchen. She’s never been anyone’s personal maid before. Take her. You probably wouldn’t trust the people who’ve been serving me.”
Isabella glanced at Karen, who stood far away, hunched over and unable to even lift her head. Karen flinched.
Leah, watching our mood, hurried over and curtsied.
“Please take good care of me, my lady.”
Isabella gave me clothes to wear for a few days and some items she no longer used, saying I could use whatever I needed, then sent Leah and me out.
I returned to my room in a daze.
If I just adapt to life here, she’ll acknowledge me as her sister?
I thought Isabella and I would have a huge confrontation, but instead I heard something I never expected.
And she had good manners, too.
Since The Suspicious Duchess is a first-person novel, all the characters are described strictly through the protagonist’s perspective, so maybe my interpretation of the characters was different.
After all, even the same person in the same situation can act differently depending on how the other person behaves.
The original heroine thought everything Karen did had been ordered by Isabella. Since Isabella was a villain in the original novel, the heroine naturally suspected her and made that assumption.
To a justice-driven heroine, villainous Isabella was someone to defeat, so she must have seen her only negatively.
But now that I’ve experienced it myself, Isabella doesn’t seem like someone who’d do cruel things for no reason. It even feels like she has her own circumstances.
“Even for me, becoming a true member of the Weiss family wasn’t easy.”
That line lingered in my mind. What did she mean?
Well, anyway, it’s a relief Isabella doesn’t seem to dislike me. If she said she’d acknowledge me as her sister if I adapt…
I was feeling reassured when Leah cautiously spoke.
“My lady, I’ve organized everything Lady Isabella gave you. Is there anything you’d like me to do?”
“Ah, Leah!”
I looked up in surprise, and Leah’s eyes widened.
“I’m sorry. Did I startle you?”
With her rounded brown bob brushing her jawline, Leah was an incredibly cute girl.
Looking at her wide eyes, my brain started racing.
What kind of character was Leah again in the novel?
There had been one maid who supported the heroine as she adjusted to life in the duke’s household. The heroine had gotten permission from Ivan and brought in a maid herself.
I think that maid was Leah.
Do characters appear somehow no matter what?
Even though my actions differ from the heroine’s and events are unfolding differently…
Does that mean I’m still going to follow the novel’s main plot to some extent?
That made me uneasy.
No matter how hard I try, am I still going to end up marrying Herais, becoming the Crown Princess, fighting Iana, and witnessing the duke’s family collapse…?
No way, right?
Come on. Leah ending up with me must just be coincidence.
Then something I’d forgotten flashed through my mind, sending a chill down my spine.
If “what if” really comes true…
Then…
Does that mean the Second Prince driving me to the brink of death could happen too?
The final boss of this novel wasn’t Iana, who caused mother-in-law conflicts—
It was Iana’s biological son, the Second Prince.
Neglected by Iana and overshadowed by Herais, he grew up unnoticed, only to become a twisted, deranged murderer later.
He would even throw away his life to kill Iana, Herais, and the heroine—Herais’s lover.
A hopeless lunatic.
There had been many reasons he became such an atrocious villain.
He was the one who struck a chord in me, with my strange fondness for villains.
Even though he was horrifyingly cruel, I cried so much when his past was revealed.
Because I sympathized with him so much, while reading The Suspicious Duchess I saw only the duke’s family and Iana as villains.
That’s why I only marked them as people to guard against and completely forgot about the Second Prince.
Later, he torments the heroine and even tries to stab her to death.
You can only like villains when you’re a third party.
If you get reincarnated into a novel where your favorite villain might stab you and leave you hovering near death…
It’s not so fun anymore.
I absolutely do not want that.
Even when a silly tarot reading says “beware danger this week,” I spend the whole week nervous.
So if a mad killer is fated to stab me to death someday, of course anyone would want to change the future.
It must hurt like hell, right? Even if a priest rushes in and saves me before I die, I do not want to experience getting stabbed in the stomach!
No matter what, I have to twist the original plot.
Everyone around the Second Prince dies. I am never going near him.
Whew.
The small pebble Leah tossed had planted anxiety into my once-peaceful heart.
“My lady…?”
Leah waved in front of me after I stayed lost in thought too long.
“Ah. Sorry, Leah.”
Leah smiled brightly.
“You can speak comfortably with me.”
Her voice was gentle.
Completely unlike Karen, who had acted hostile for Isabella’s sake the moment she saw me.
“Okay, Leah. My name is Fredia.”
A transmigrator, after all.
“Please take care of me.”
“I look forward to serving you too.”
Since arriving in this world, she was the first person who had smiled kindly at me without protagonist buffs or hidden motives.
I hoped Leah, who stayed loyal to the original heroine to the end, would get along with me too.
But I don’t want to be greedy. If she gets too close to me, Leah might suffer.
I’m barely managing myself, not really in a position to worry about others—
but Leah seems too kind not to worry about.
“Leah, aren’t you worried people will hate you because of me?”
“Why would you think that?”
“My position here is awkward. The duchess doesn’t like me.”
Leah tried to manage her expression, but her smile looked slightly stiff.
Talking about this before she even knows what kind of person I am must be uncomfortable for her.
Wanting to reassure her, I said,
“If someone bullies you or pressures you because of me, just say you were forced into serving me. It’s okay if you speak badly of me.”
“What?”
“People without power need to know how to be a little cowardly sometimes. I’m going to have to live here watching everyone’s mood anyway. No need for you to suffer with me.”
I’ve never had a dependable shelter that would protect and trust me no matter what I did.
So I’m used to living carefully, reading the room.
But Leah has her mother Helen in the kitchen.
She isn’t like me.
“It’s exhausting always being on guard so no one can find fault with you. So align yourself with the strong when you need to, Leah. Okay?”
Big sis doesn’t usually share this kind of wisdom, but I’m making a special exception.
Life lessons earned through experience.
Call it seasoned wisdom.
Heh.
“Please don’t say things like that, my lady…”
Leah’s face crumpled.
Why is she making such a sorrowful expression?
This is awkward.
“There’s no need to get emotional over it… I’m really fine. R-really.”
Her warm green eyes shimmered with tears.
“What’s wrong? D-don’t cry.”
“I’ll help you a lot from now on, my lady. I’ll make sure you have no trouble living here.”
That was the opposite of what I meant.
Ah, don’t do this…
I can’t be harsh with someone this soft-hearted.
Leah suddenly grabbed my hand.
Her small hand was warm and surprisingly firm.
“Lady Isabella said she’d acknowledge you if you adapt well. If you earn her approval and make a good impression on the master, then surely madam will open her heart too!”
How romantic.
To someone planning to quietly endure mistreatment until she can leave, it sounded laughable.
Even if my interpretation of the original heroine differs somewhat, the broader situation hasn’t changed.
Ivan only intends to use me.
Catherine doesn’t want to recognize me as family.
Even if Isabella someday accepts me as a sister, as long as Ivan tries to pair me with Herais, we’ll remain rivals whether we want to or not.
Could the warm future Leah imagines really exist for me?
I don’t expect that. Hopes like that only become wounds.
But I didn’t want to disappoint Leah, whose eyes sparkled with determination for my sake.
So I hid my true feelings and nodded.
“I’ll try.”
“Yes! I’ll help you!”
