🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 7
When I arrived at the Zenkishi Ducal Estate, I was even more nervous than I had been when meeting the Empress.
Even if the Empress had summoned me to the capital with ulterior motives, she was still someone who welcomed my existence. But the people of this cold, gray mansion were different.
Of course, I had met them before through the original story, so I felt a strange sense of familiarity toward them. But to them, I was nothing more than an uninvited guest who had suddenly rolled into their lives.
The moment I stepped out of the carriage, I saw that the servants were already lined up waiting for me, apparently having received word in advance. Among them, an elderly man with neatly combed white hair stepped forward first to greet me. The monocle he wore glinted calmly.
“I am the butler who oversees this estate. Her Majesty informed us beforehand, so we have prepared a room for you, my lady.”
The instant I saw him, his name nearly slipped out of my mouth.
“Yan!”
Yan Hessen was the butler who managed everything that happened in this mansion. He was meticulous to a fault and lacked warmth, but because of that, he was also deeply loyal and honest.
Even in the original story, he never showed Keila or Stella much human warmth, but when it came to treating the lady of the house, he was always impeccably proper.
More concerning than Yan were the servants and maids standing behind him, already staring at me with cold eyes.
Led by the head maid, they looked down on and disregarded the duchess whom the duke himself did not acknowledge. In the original story, a large part of why Keila came to be seen as a villainous duchess was because these people maliciously exaggerated and fabricated stories about her.
“I will guide you inside.”
“Thank you.”
As I followed Yan, I could feel the servants’ piercing gazes sticking to the back of my head. I forced a polite smile toward them, but not a single person responded.
“I’m completely public enemy number one.”
The icy wariness and deep hostility directed at me felt suffocating.
“They all know it too, don’t they? That their master is being forced into an absurd marriage because of the Empress.”
Now that I had met them in person, I understood why Keila had never managed to adapt to the ducal estate and had always remained an outsider.
Yan turned toward me and spoke.
“His Grace is currently absent, but we have received word that he is returning from the battlefield. He should arrive by tomorrow.”
At the butler’s report, I slowly nodded.
“I understand.”
The thought of meeting Ricardo made me feel strangely unsettled.
Even if he was an arrogant bastard, he was the reason I had started reading the original novel in the first place—and the man who would become my husband. While reading the book, I had imagined him more than anyone else, yet now that the moment was approaching, I strangely couldn’t picture him at all.
“Would you like a tour of the estate?”
“No. Thank you, but I’m tired from the journey and would like to rest today.”
That part was sincere. Since transmigrating into this world, too many things had happened in such a short time that all I wanted was to rest.
My body was exhausted, and mentally I felt worn down as well. I needed to recover before I could calmly think through everything that awaited me.
“Very well. Then I shall guide you through the estate tomorrow. Please rest comfortably today.”
Yan’s attitude toward me was almost excessively respectful, but strangely enough, it put me at ease. I already knew he was someone whose inside matched his outside.
“If there is anything you need, please call for us at any time.”
With that, I was guided to a guest room attached to a small garden.
Only after finally relaxing and looking around the room did Molly—who had been silent as if she didn’t exist until now—start grumbling again.
“This place looks pretty decent. Anyone who didn’t know better would completely believe you were a real noble lady.”
Ignoring her, I closed the curtains and replied flatly,
“The maid’s room is next door. Why don’t you go get some rest too? I’m really too tired to deal with you right now.”
As I began taking off my dress, she approached with a twisted smile.
“That won’t do. Since I came here as your maid, I should properly act like one, shouldn’t I? Otherwise you’ll really become a laughingstock. Didn’t you see the way the people here were looking at you earlier?”
As she helped me undress, her hands were anything but gentle. It felt less like assistance and more like she was forcibly stripping the clothes off me.
“We came all the way here together, so in this unfamiliar place, we should rely on and help each other, don’t you think, future Duchess?”
Apparently amused by her own words, she burst into shrill laughter.
I wanted to shove away those disgusting hands immediately, but I bit down hard on my lower lip and endured it.
“Not yet.”
Throwing Molly out right now would only create problems. As she said, a duchess without even a single maid would become a joke. The Empress would have every excuse to force one of her own people onto me.
Unpleasant as it was, I had no choice but to keep Molly by my side until the right opportunity came.
Molly smirked as though she had won.
Watching her, I smiled back.
“Fine. Enjoy yourself while you can, Molly.”
Because before long, she would regret it.
*
The next morning.
The chirping of sparrows tickled my ears. My fluttering eyelashes suddenly flew open.
“Ah!”
I shot upright like a spring snapping loose.
“I only closed my eyes for a moment, and I completely fell asleep.”
Realizing an entire night had passed in an instant, I let out a troubled sigh.
Last night had been my first night at the ducal estate. I had planned to stay awake thinking about the events that would happen in the future and how I was supposed to survive in this mansion.
“Seriously, why was I so relaxed?!”
I must have truly been exhausted. The moment my head touched the pillow, I had blacked out before even realizing I’d fallen asleep.
Fortunately, it was still early dawn, so no one had come to wake me yet. The next room was deathly quiet, which probably meant Molly was still asleep too.
I had expected to have nightmares or sleep paralysis in this mansion, but instead I’d slept absurdly well.
“Maybe this place suits me more than I thought.”
Laughing helplessly to myself, I got out of bed. Thanks to the deep sleep, my body felt much lighter than yesterday, and my previously tangled thoughts were now clear.
Looking outside, the fresh dawn air seemed crisp and refreshing. To shake off the lingering drowsiness, I wanted to step outside and walk around a little.
“The room was connected to the garden, right?”
The mansion at dawn, while everyone else slept, carried an oddly mysterious feeling. Draping a robe over my shoulders, I quietly slipped out through the door connected to the garden.
The garden, still covered in morning mist, looked pale and bluish. With every step, damp dew brushed against my feet, and the cool air filling my lungs felt invigorating.
Unlike yesterday when I first arrived, now I could properly see the details of the estate.
The red-brick chapel spire.
The ivy draped over the gray stone walls.
The towering pillars of the mansion.
“So this is what the ducal estate really looks like.”
Once again, it truly sank in that I had entered the world of the novel.
Curious, I wandered farther than intended, wanting to look around just a little more. I walked slowly along a path overflowing with pale purple forget-me-nots, until suddenly unease crept over me.
“I came too far. I should head back.”
But every flower-lined path looked the same.
“Wait… which way was it? This way?”
Both directions looked identical, as if I had wandered into a maze.
“This won’t work. I should find someone.”
Even though it was early morning, surely someone would already be awake. I looked around.
Crunch.
Just then, I heard the sound of grass being stepped on somewhere nearby. Assuming it was a gardener or servant, I quickly headed toward the noise.
“Excuse me, is someone there? I—”
Hearing my voice calling for help, the person ahead turned around.
In the faint mist stood a tall man, his gaze meeting mine directly.
The moment our eyes met, it felt as though I had been trapped in air so dense I could barely breathe. Perhaps because the fog still lingered lightly around him, his existence didn’t feel entirely real.
The tall young man wore a white shirt with the buttons loosely undone down to his chest and tight black trousers. Though dressed casually, instinctively I knew he was neither a gardener nor a servant.
Black hair naturally fell across his forehead.
Sharp, well-defined features.
Cold blue eyes gazing at me indifferently.
Despite the hollow aura surrounding him, there was also an overwhelming charisma that seemed to dominate the space around him.
As he looked at me, I stared right back at him, and for that brief instant, it felt as though time itself had stopped.
There was no doubt the man standing before me was Duke Ricardo Zenkishi.
The bastard male lead of the original story.
The master of this estate.
And the man who would soon become my husband.
The moment I realized who he was, confusion immediately flooded my mind.
“Wasn’t he supposed to arrive tomorrow? Why is he already here?”
Then again… technically, tomorrow had already come. An entire day had passed while I slept like the dead yesterday.
“So he must have arrived late at night or at dawn.”
I had never imagined I would run into him in a place like this at such an hour.
My mind went completely blank.
