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Chapter 5
As if she had made up her mind, Betty squeezed her eyes shut and blurted her words out like a battle cry.
Then she cautiously opened her eyes, let out a deep sigh, and continued.
“Anyway, His Grace usually stays in the west tower where his study is, not the main building. You’re very unlikely to run into him.”
“Then isn’t it fine?”
“Well… technically, yes. But still… could you not go? Please don’t worry about me at all! If anything, it’s the opposite that worries me…”
A quiet concern lingered on Betty’s face as she spoke.
For some reason, my chest felt faintly itchy.
Maybe because, even in my previous life, I was usually the one taking care of others rather than being looked after.
Even if she wasn’t good at expressing it, I could vaguely sense Betty’s sincerity.
“…Are you worried about me?”
When I smiled gently, Betty’s face turned bright red like a tomato.
“N-no, not really…! I’ve only served you for a week, and I don’t really know you, and you don’t really know me either…! I mean, when I first saw you, I did think you looked like a tiny white snow rabbit and very cute, but that was just for a moment, really—”
“Mm.”
Betty started muttering something incomprehensible again.
I quietly stood up, a small madeleine in one hand.
“To be honest, I’m small too, but you, milady… you’re small and so fragile. Somehow, I feel this protective instinct toward you that I’ve never felt with anyone else—ugh!”
While Betty rambled on with her eyes glued to the floor, I gently popped the madeleine into her mouth.
Her eyes went wide, completely stunned into silence.
Seizing the moment, I spoke quickly.
“Thank you for worrying about me, Betty. Like you said, we don’t really know each other yet. So shouldn’t we just get to know each other from now on?”
“Mmm…”
“I’m not as weak or soft as you think.”
“Mmm…”
“So let’s go. To the main building.”
Perhaps because I sounded unusually firm, the strength slowly drained from her round eyes, replaced with resignation.
After swallowing the madeleine, Betty pouted and muttered,
“…Don’t blame me later.”
Inside the main building, in the sunniest room of all.
A woman sat at her vanity, brushing her luxuriant golden hair.
Her soft hands were encased in pure white silk gloves, and her slender wrists were adorned with large pearl-and-sapphire jewelry.
Her dress was made of deep blue fabric that complemented the sapphires perfectly, shimmering with its own brilliance.
Delicate gold embroidery was stitched across it.
“Hmm~”
Upturned eyes full of allure, plump lips, and gentle facial lines that added a strange charm.
And that wasn’t all.
A body full of curves—especially her ample chest and a slender waist tightly cinched by a corset, narrow enough to grasp with one hand.
Even she herself had to admit that the reflection in the mirror was stunning.
Almost as if…
“She looks like a grand duchess.”
Truly, a flawless image of a grand duchess.
“If only that woman didn’t exist.”
Crunch.
At the thought of that “cursed woman,” her blue eyes flashed with malice.
The benevolent expression she’d worn just moments ago cracked instantly.
Grinding her teeth audibly, Katarina Hugo flung the hairbrush she’d been holding to the floor.
She was standing in the grand duchess’s bedroom in the main building of the grand ducal palace.
But Katarina was not the grand duchess.
“Ha!”
How had things ended up like this?
The arrows of her resentment and rage naturally turned toward the one who had stolen what should have been hers.
Renée Blanche.
What if that cursed bastard truly managed to enchant Xenos?
“No! Aaagh!”
Unable to contain her rising fury, Katarina screamed and gasped for breath—just as a timid voice reached her ears.
“E-excuse me… Lady Katarina.”
“What is it? Don’t you know how to knock?”
From the slightly open door came a maid’s voice.
Forgetting that this room was not actually hers, Katarina snapped irritably as she turned around.
The young maid went pale and bowed deeply at once.
Over the past few days since Katarina had arrived at the palace, her tantrums had been truly excessive.
Yet no one had been able to stop her.
“The carriage she arrived in—every decoration was made of real gemstones!”
“They say her family has long-standing ties to the imperial family. She was originally meant to become the grand duchess…”
“She’s the only daughter of Count Hugo! Ever since their regional business struck gold, they say even their toilets are plated in gold!”
“The Blanche Marquisate is prestigious too, but the grand duchess herself is said to be a bastard. That alone makes them incomparable.”
“But then… how did their positions end up switching?”
Indeed, Katarina’s arrival had been incomparably more extravagant than that of the quietly arrived grand duchess.
Unlike someone who had arrived in a miserable cargo wagon, with no one there to greet her.
Katarina had entered proudly through the grand gates of the Celeste Grand Duchy.
Officially, she had come as a companion and lady-in-waiting to the new grand duchess.
But everyone in the palace knew the truth.
One day, that woman will become the mistress of Celeste.
That was why the young maid spoke in an even more trembling voice.
“I have something urgent to report to you, Lady Katarina… I—I’m sorry.”
“What is it?”
“Her Grace, the Grand Duchess—”
“The Grand Duchess?”
Katarina’s brows drew together instantly.
The maid gasped and hurriedly corrected herself.
In front of Katarina, the word “grand duchess” was taboo unless it referred to Katarina herself.
“R-Renée… Lady Renée has come to the main building!”
“…What?”
That woman who had been quietly holed up in the annex—why now?
Why all of a sudden?
“She j-just passed through the lobby…”
“Is she insane?”
With an irritated motion, Katarina sprang to her feet.
Without responding further, she brushed past the maid and strode down the corridor.
So now she wants to reclaim her place? Does she have no shame?!
Biting down on her plump lips, Katarina quickened her pace.
Her grip on her dress tightened, wrinkling the soft silk.
When she reached the main staircase, the lobby came fully into view.
And standing there—
“Where’s the library?”
That woman was really there.
With an annoyingly innocent expression.
“…”
Unconcealed contempt filled Katarina’s blue eyes.
But then—she exhaled slowly and put on a pleasant smile.
“My goodness!”
She began descending the stairs gracefully.
Her voluminous dress, full of lace and frills, fluttered cheerfully with each step.
In contrast, the small woman dressed worse than a maid simply stood there, staring blankly at her.
What? She’s more pathetic than I thought. She’s nothing special.
Katarina almost felt foolish for having been wary of the annex all this time.
After all, Xenos hadn’t even given that woman the main building.
Of course, he hadn’t given it to Katarina either—but unlike Renée, who had been pushed aside into an annex, Katarina had been assigned the largest room in the auxiliary wing next to the main building.
At first, sharing lodgings similar to servants had hurt her pride as a count’s daughter…
But knowing that she openly came and went from the grand duchess’s room, and that Xenos did nothing to stop it—
That means I won.
Drunk on that strange sense of victory, Katarina stopped in front of a pair of old shoes stained with dirt.
“I greet Her Grace, the Grand Duchess.”
With flawless etiquette, Katarina bowed to Renée.
But the foolish woman didn’t seem to know proper greetings.
Renée only gave an awkward nod, blinking several times.
“I am Katarina Hugo, sent as Your Grace’s personal attendant. I apologize for not greeting you sooner.”
“My attendant?”
Their gazes met directly.
Those red eyes—despite the unreadable atmosphere—held an unmistakable firmness.
Perhaps because of the rumors of being cursed, Katarina’s shoulders stiffened involuntarily.
Then, from the mouth of that cursed woman—
“You’d think you were the grand duchess, the way you look.”
“!”
An unexpected barb flew out.
A crack appeared in Katarina’s perfect mask.
Steadying her expression, she asked again,
“What do you mean by that…?”
“I mean, you’re very beautiful. Are maids usually like that?”
Ha! What an audacious girl.
With an innocent face, Renée insulted Katarina.
What that statement truly meant was—
No matter how much you dress up and struggle, I’m the grand duchess, and you’re just a maid. Know your place.
“…”
In an instant, Katarina looked utterly ridiculous.
