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Chapter 7
The moment the door opened, a huge cloud of dust and a musty smell rushed at us.
“Cough! Cough What in the world…!”
I had proudly thought that after cleaning and scrubbing the cabin, I had built up some resistance to dirty environments.
But this body is incredibly weak!
After waiting for the dust to settle a little, I carefully stepped into the library.
Swish!
Moving faster than me, Betty reached the window across the room and pulled back the thick curtains covering the largest central window without hesitation.
The biggest window in the middle was made of beautiful stained glass.
Colored light poured in, scattering through the dust and brightly illuminating the inside of the library.
“Wow.”
Swish! Swish! Swish!
After pulling back all the curtains, the scene changed completely from before.
“I knew it would be big, but it’s even bigger than I expected! It’s comparable to a temple library!”
Betty, now standing beside me, exclaimed sincerely.
I nodded vigorously in agreement.
If I compared it to my previous life, the inside of the library was about the size of a school playground.
Between the ornate pillars, an arched ceiling stretched beautifully overhead.
In the center of the hall, there were easily over a hundred bookshelves lined up in rows.
“This is…”
In one word, it was heaven for a print addict!
My heart pounded, and I broke into a huge grin. Betty smiled along with me.
“You like it that much?”
“Yeah! With this many books, I could survive in the cabin for ten years.”
“…That’s not exactly a good thing.”
“Why? It’s great!”
Haha! Ten years, twenty years—I don’t care.
I have plenty of time anyway!
I’ll read every single book here!
I was so excited that I started bouncing without realizing it.
Then Betty poured cold water on my mood.
“First… you’ll need to clean, right?”
“…Of course.”
“Alright then, let’s do our best! If we work hard, we might finish before spring comes.”
“That’s way too far away!”
But what choice did we have?
I let out a deep sigh, then quickly pulled myself together.
Everything is hardest at the beginning.
‘Let’s just start.’
My future self will figure it out somehow!
“Haah…”
Sadly, even my future self is failing.
How many hours had passed?
When we left the cabin, the sun had been bright and clear, but now it was slowly growing dim.
Even with the help of experienced maid Betty, all we had managed to do was clean the windows and clear a couple of bookshelves.
“Ugh, my back.”
“Your Grace, are you alright?”
“Yeah… But even if just the two of us clean every day, I don’t think we’ll finish before spring.”
“…That’s true. Spring was an optimistic estimate. Please rest a bit. I’ll handle it.”
For some reason, Betty’s eyes looked slightly teary as she said that.
Worried she might misunderstand again, I quickly replied,
“What are you talking about, Betty? I said I’d do this, so I should see it through. You rest for a bit instead. I’ll go look through the shelves we cleaned.”
“Your Grace… Yes. Be careful. You don’t know what might be on the floor!”
I planned to at least pick one book from the cleaned shelves.
‘I’m so tired I might collapse as soon as I get back… but I can read it later when I’m bored.’
Still, there’s a big psychological difference between having books and not having books.
As someone who used to live in the content-overloaded 21st century, I desperately needed dopamine.
“Let’s see.”
I had noticed while cleaning that the shelves were quite tall.
Or… maybe I’m just short?
Thankfully, there was a wooden footstool nearby.
It looked a bit old and unstable but good enough for temporary use.
I began slowly scanning the books on the upper shelves.
Strangely enough, the language of this world appeared to me in Korean, so I felt no discomfort reading it.
‘Maybe this is a domestic novel, not a translation?’
Even better. A proper Korean romance-fantasy patch.
I still had no idea what kind of world I was in, but there was no need to rush.
I’d find out naturally as I lived here.
Maybe that’s too relaxed? Still!
“Hehe.”
With no immediate danger in sight and my favorite thing—books—right in front of me, I even started humming happily.
I looked at the titles lined up neatly.
“Looks like mostly history books.”
The History of the Rembrandt Empire
The Brilliant Life of the First Emperor, Albert Rembrandt
The Oath Between Rembrandt and the Dragon
So the empire’s name must be Rembrandt.
If dragons and oaths are mentioned… is this a world with dragons?
But considering I couldn’t even remember the long, foreign-sounding names of novel characters in my previous life—and never even tried—there was no way I’d identify this story just from “Rembrandt Empire.”
‘Still, it’s probably a good idea to read at least the history.’
Just as I pulled out The History of the Rembrandt Empire and was about to leave—
“Huh?”
My gaze, which had been drifting past casually, suddenly stopped.
There it was.
The Super Ultra Strongest Imperial Magic Transparent Dragon Roared
What is that?
“That title is definitely attention-grabbing…”
A transparent dragon? I can’t ignore that.
The title alone screams, “This is fun.”
“Hehe. Two books it is.”
I pulled out The Super Ultra Strongest Imperial Magic Transparent Dragon and hugged it carefully to my chest.
One history book for studying and one novel—probably—for entertainment.
Perfect balance.
Ideal for parallel reading.
‘For some reason, I feel spiritually fulfilled…’
As I walked back from the shelves, I saw Betty still slumped over.
Judging by the way she was nodding off, even muscular Betty must have found today exhausting.
I felt a little guilty.
She should sleep properly.
“Betty, let’s stop for today and head back.”
“Ah! Yes…!”
Embarrassed that she had dozed off, Betty quickly wiped the corner of her mouth.
But since we had been in a dust pit all day, the more she wiped, the dirtier her mouth became.
I wiped the soot off her cheek and said,
“Looks like I’ll have to wash you today.”
“What?! That’s ridiculous! With those tiny hands, how would you wash me? I was planning to give you a full-course massage after all your hard work today!”
I—I was joking.
She reacted so strongly that I missed the chance to explain.
Betty picked up the wooden buckets and rags we had used and continued chatting as she headed toward the door.
“The cabin bathroom is too cold. There’s a guest bathroom nearby. If you’re alright with it, how about using that today?”
“Is that okay?”
The cabin was great, but the only heating was the fireplace.
We had to boil water over the fire and mix it with cold water to get the right temperature.
Every time I washed, I missed Korea’s heating system.
Even in a tiny studio apartment, the bathroom floors were always heated and warm.
So honestly… the idea of a proper bathroom was tempting!
Seeing my wavering eyes, Betty whispered mischievously,
“Your Grace, you’re the Grand Duchess. Is there any problem with the Grand Duchess using a bathroom in the grand duchy?”
…Why are you suddenly talking like that?
But instead of questioning her tone, I tilted my head thoughtfully.
“Hmm… He did tell me not to stand out.”
“You mean His Grace the Grand Duke? He left for a while, so he probably won’t return today.”
“Really?”
And honestly, I liked her sly tone.
She was only saying things I wanted to hear. Approved!
Until now, I had obediently followed what that man said because I had just transmigrated.
But thinking about it, wasn’t I already unusually well-behaved for a romance-fantasy transmigrated character?
The Grand Duke was funny too.
Who does he think he is, telling me not to stand out? I don’t want to get involved with him either!
Maybe I’ve been too quiet.
To be completely honest, I just desperately wanted to soak in warm water!
When my hesitation dragged on, Betty dropped the sly act and delivered the final blow.
“If it still bothers you… how about we sneak in and use it? It’s in a corner, so not many people pass by.”
“What?”
Are you suggesting we secretly use the bathroom?
“Alright!”
That’s a great idea!
“Haha!”
“Hehe!”
Just as Betty and I giggled at our perfect plan and pushed open the library door—
“Hmm?”
A group of unexpected people stood blocking our way.
