BCD 2

chapter 2

“Milady… ah, no, not ‘young lady’ anymore—ahem—milady, it’s Lillie. May I come in?”

Lillie? And who on earth is Lillie?

I let out a long sigh.

‘This is not the time to be fussing over dreams.’

Right. My top priority right now is to naturally act as Cielina Seifried.

‘Since I have none of this body’s memories, I need to stay completely alert.’

I took a deep breath and spoke clearly.

“Come in.”

The one who peeked her face inside was a girl who looked no older than fifteen or sixteen—baby-faced and fresh.

Her pure white bonnet couldn’t fully hide her tightly braided twin ponytails, which stuck out adorably.

“Milady!”

Lillie hurriedly set down the tray she had brought and scampered right up to me.

“How was it?”

“How was what?”

“What do you mean what? Hehe, I mean His Grace the Duke, of course! Was he kind? Was he gentle? Hmm?”

I gently pushed away the girl’s face, which had come far too close.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Mi—young lady… no, milady! You promised you’d tell me everything!”

Lillie pouted, looking genuinely disappointed.

Judging from how casually she acted around me, she and Cielina must’ve known each other well.

“I promised you that?”

“Are you pretending you don’t know now?”

“I honestly don’t remember. When exactly did I make such a promise to you?”

“In the carriage on the way to the ducal estate!”

“And when was that, again?”

“When was it? After the wedding, we left the Imperial Capital right away, so it was… fourteen… no, eighteen days ago…”

Lillie wriggled her fingers, counting seriously. But suddenly she looked near tears, then snapped her head up indignantly.

“Oh honestly, milady! You’re teasing me because I can’t count well, aren’t you? You used to secretly read romance novels every night before your wedding and told me all abou—”

“Yes, yes. I remember now.”

I cut her off before the embarrassing conversation could continue.

According to Lillie, Cielina married the duke and arrived at the ducal estate about a month ago.

In the original novel, the story begins with Zion, who is away from home, hearing the shocking news of his sister Cielina’s marriage to Killian.

‘So this is right around the very beginning of the original story.’

The two protagonists begin to truly intertwine a few months from now—at Cielina’s birthday party.

The male protagonist, Zion—Cielina’s younger brother—deeply admires Killian, who is famously known as the Empire’s Shield.

But at her birthday party, the moment he meets Killian again, he realizes his feelings are not mere admiration.

Zion tries to hide his emotions, but—well.

Killian, despite having a wife already, also feels an intense, undeniable pull the moment their eyes meet.

And so the two fall in love.

If you ask how they fall in love so quickly… well, maybe the author assumed “a handsome face” is enough for narrative plausibility.

“Lillie, when is my birthday?”

“Well, early summer when the lilies bloom…”

“And it’s winter now?”

The frosted window behind the curtains caught my eye.

“Milady… did something happen last night? If you’re joking, please stop. You’re scaring me.”

There was much more I wanted to ask, but continuing like this would only make me look suspicious.

‘So Cielina’s memories aren’t returning at all? That’s a problem.’

I can’t keep asking Lillie about things Cielina should obviously know.

And I knew far too little about the ducal household.

The original novel was entirely from Zion’s first-person perspective—so almost everything was about his emotional anguish over forbidden love.

‘Ah yes, the love of a thousand years.’

I mocked inwardly.

Sure, in my past life I had sniffled and rooted for Zion’s love…

…but that was back when I believed it was just fiction.

Now that I’m in Cielina’s shoes? There is no love more selfish than theirs.

A love worth ruining someone else’s life for?

I don’t get it.

‘Well, whatever. If I can live here comfortably, then that’s a happy ending for everyone.’

And to do that—I need a divorce.

I just have to wait until those two fall in love, then slip away at the perfect moment when the original plot would naturally erase Cielina.

‘First, I need to figure out what exactly is going on around here.’

Lillie anxiously watched my expression.

“Lillie, who knows the social gossip of this empire best?”

She answered without hesitation.

“Oh, that would be Lady Robelleni, the seamstress, of course.”

“Really?”

I finally got out of bed and stretched.

“To celebrate becoming the duchess, why don’t I have a dress made?”

“Milady, it’s time to wake up.”

“Mmm…”

I opened my eyes at the gentle whisper of the head maid, Anna.

“Madam Robelleni arrived this morning.”

The curtains opened wide. The midday sunlight filtered through the drapes and into the canopy bed.

“That was today?”

It had already been several weeks since I possessed Cielina’s body.

“Yes. I thought we’d have to wait at least a year, but she said she’s always wanted to design a dress for you, so she cleared her entire schedule and rushed over.”

Apparently, Lady Robelleni was currently the most famous designer in the empire’s high society.

Any dress she designed became the next major trend—and even the imperial princess had to wait months for one.

“She must’ve recognized that milady can perfectly suit any dress.”

Anna murmured under her breath.

“There isn’t a noblewoman in the empire as beautiful as you, milady.”

She seemed quite proud that the elite, snobbish Robelleni herself had dropped everything to come.

‘Cielina really is pretty.’

I had been shocked the first time I saw my reflection.

Long silky platinum hair falling to my waist, mysterious green eyes…

In an ordinary romance-fantasy novel, this face would definitely belong to the protagonist.

But even so, my beauty couldn’t be the only reason Robelleni rushed here.

‘Milady, milady, I overheard the head maid and the butler… apparently, they paid Madam Robelleni 500 gold in advance!’

Lillie had fussed, saying 500 gold was enough to commission dozens of the finest dresses.

‘I wondered why His Grace was so eager to have you married off, but maybe it was because he knew the ducal estate had this much wealth! And I was foolishly worrying about you being sent to this cold border region…’

But for all that wealth, life at the ducal estate was surprisingly modest.

Over the past few weeks, I realized almost the entire household budget was spent on me.

I had intended to take full advantage of being reincarnated as a noblewoman—but this was far beyond my expectations.

Everything I needed was always prepared in its highest quality, without me even asking.

And it wasn’t as though they pressured me to play the role of the lady of the house.

All the servants treated me with utmost respect.

I ate, slept, spent money, relaxed, slept again.

A rich, unemployed bum. That was me.

Is that what noblewomen normally do?

I would’ve thought a noble family’s lady would manage finances, host social gatherings regularly…

I assumed they had lots to do.

It almost felt like they were terrified I’d become dissatisfied with the marriage.

Well—except for my husband, who hadn’t shown even a shadow of himself since that day.

‘I’ll find out soon enough.’

I changed into comfortable indoor clothes and headed to the drawing room.

Lady Robelleni, sipping tea elegantly, immediately stood the moment she saw me.

“A pleasure to meet you, Duchess. I am Shevon Robelleni.”

“Thank you for coming. It must have been quite the journey.”

“Oh no, think nothing of it.”

I gestured for the head maid to leave us.

“Shall I bring tea for milady as well?”

“No, it’s fine. I want to chat with my guest from the capital without interruption. I’m dying to know how the social scene has been lately—more so than the dress.”

I made my intentions obvious.

I even sighed as if annoyed.

The moment the head maid disappeared, Robelleni leaned in.

“Well… it must be difficult for Your Grace to live in such a countryside.”

As expected of the empire’s greatest gossip, she immediately took the bait.

“Exactly. People here don’t even understand fashion, and there’s no one to talk about social rumors with. It’s suffocating.”

I paused deliberately, then hinted:

“You… know, don’t you?”

“Know… what?”

“You know.”

“…Know what, exactly…?”

She examined me carefully.

Gossips can’t stand situations like this.

I let my shoulders droop in disappointment.

“I really thought someone like Lady Robelleni would already know… but it’s too embarrassing for me to say it first…”

Sure enough, her lips twitched anxiously.

She clearly did know something, but didn’t want to risk being wrong.

‘More cautious than I expected.’

At this rate, we’d be here all day.

Time for some terrible acting.

I pressed my sleeve to my eyes.

“Sniff…”

“D-Duchess?”

“Sniff… I can’t tell anyone… sniff…”

She panicked and hurried to sit beside me, lowering her voice.

“Um… Duchess… then is it true that His Grace… those hideous rumors about him… are they true?”