TMV 09

Chapter 9

After breakfast, Ivan left the dining room and headed straight to the study. His expression was full of thoughts.

‘He’s more intelligent than I expected.’

The sharp blue eyes that shone briefly were quite pleasing.

At times, the boy looked far too mature for his age, which made him interesting—but in the end, he was still a child. The way he couldn’t take his eyes off the cake, swallowing his saliva in longing.

Watching the boy who had been chatting so energetically quickly melt in front of sweets made Ivan smile.

In truth, a precocious child was not something unfamiliar to Ivan. His only daughter, Isabella, had been the same.

In fact, Isabella had never once shown a childish side since she was young.

She was very intelligent and, perhaps because she resembled Ivan, rather quiet and composed.

Catherine often said, “She takes after you.”

Every time she said that, Ivan wondered if he was really that emotionless, like a wooden doll.

‘Isabella is born to be a head of the house. To lead the family, it’s better to be straight and rational rather than emotional.’

In any case, Isabella was a proud daughter. Even if he never expressed it, Ivan was deeply proud of her.

However, Catherine often overprotected her only daughter, and Ivan worried that Isabella might grow up spoiled because of it. So he became even stricter in her education.

Isabella was excellent. She never fell behind in even advanced lessons for her age. Every tutor who taught her called her a genius.

Each time, Ivan felt satisfied, and his expectations grew even higher.

A daughter worthy of leading the family.

Isabella would inherit Ivan’s title and wield great power. He had believed that without doubt.

Until the Empress interfered.

For several years, Empress Iana had been summoning Isabella to the palace.

She called her once or twice a week under the pretext of needing a companion for Prince Heireis.

It was unsettling, but Ivan thought building a relationship with the prince would not be bad for the future, so he allowed it.

That became the mistake.

Around her fourteenth birthday, Isabella suddenly declared that after she turned sixteen, she would become engaged to Heireis. She said she wanted to become Empress.

“Ridiculous.”

Ivan clenched his fist.

It was absurd.

A child he believed would carry on the family line was now saying she would abandon the duchy and enter the imperial family. Was she in love with Heireis?

‘But even so, she is not a child who would insist on something because of fleeting emotions.’

Ivan grew suspicious of Iana, who used to smile warmly and say, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she became my daughter-in-law?” He could not shake the feeling that the Empress was manipulating Isabella behind the scenes.

‘What did she say to the child?’

Isabella was intelligent. Ivan firmly believed Iana might have found some weakness in her.

‘To think she dares control Isabella after rising to that position…’

Ivan was the only one who knew the ambition hidden behind Iana’s gentle face. That was why he had helped her enter the imperial palace.

He had believed she would, by any means necessary, overthrow the former Empress and strengthen the power of House Weiss.

But now that she had become Empress, she was becoming greedy.

‘I can’t let Iana stand above Isabella.’

If Iana continued like this, Ivan decided he would find another girl to pair with Heireis in Isabella’s place. Through that girl, he would pressure Iana in the future.

‘Freedia.’

That child would be perfect.

Iana would not be able to handle Heireis, the son of the deposed former Empress.

Even now, Heireis, despite his young age, was trusted by the Emperor and stood on equal footing with Iana.

That was why she was desperately trying to keep him within her grasp, even abandoning her own child.

‘If the prince wants Freedia, Iana will have no choice.’

Ivan recalled those luminous blue eyes that had made it impossible to look away. Like a ball bouncing unpredictably, full of interest.

Freedia would surely capture Heireis’s attention.

As he imagined Freedia stuffing her cheeks with cake like a squirrel hoarding nuts, Ivan’s lips unknowingly curved into a smile.

Then suddenly, he remembered her shabby clothing.

“Derek, are you there?”

“Yes.”

At his call, the butler Derek—who always monitored Ivan’s affairs—entered the study.

“Go to Isabella and have her buy necessary things for Freedia.”

“To Miss Isabella?”

Derek’s tone carried an unspoken meaning: Not the lady of the house?

Ivan understood.

Thinking of Catherine, who had strongly opposed bringing Freedia into the house, Ivan nodded bitterly.

“Children’s things are best handled by someone their age.”

Right now, he could not burden Catherine with such matters. She was still so angry that she refused to even look at him.

A shadow fell over Ivan’s face.

The clothes of this world were not much different from the doll clothes I used to make. Thanks to that, the outfits I remodeled with my part-time skills turned out even more extravagant.

I added pleats here and there to make the skirt fuller, and refined the sleeves to look more elegant.

After all, anything learned once can be used at any time in life.

“Once I’m free, I could even work in a clothing shop.”

A rosy future bloomed in my imagination, my cheeks slightly flushed.

“Since I’ve got new clothes, maybe I should go explore the house!”

I planned to leave my room, learn the layout of this enormous mansion, and understand its overall atmosphere.

I would be living here for years. The faster I adapted, the easier things would be.

As I wandered out into the hallway, servants passed by and awkwardly bowed.

Some lowered their eyes and pretended not to see me, while others were too busy cleaning the windows to acknowledge me at all.

It seemed everyone was unsure how to treat me.

‘Well, of course. Ivan’s attitude at breakfast wasn’t exactly cold or warm.’

And everyone probably knew Catherine and Isabella disliked me.

They were likely afraid of upsetting Catherine if they treated me too well, but they also couldn’t completely ignore me since Ivan had brought me here himself.

The half-formal tone the maid used this morning was probably the minimum—and maximum—level of respect I could receive.

It also showed my ambiguous position here.

But it didn’t bother me.

‘I was a professional solo eater even before I possessed this body! Haha! I love being alone! Alone is freedom! Alone is love! My future belongs only to me!’

If someone had told me not to wander around alone, I would have been more depressed. But since no one approached me, I felt peaceful.

The mansion was like a palace. I had never been to one, but it felt like something out of Versailles.

The building had four floors, and its scale was unbelievable.

The ceilings were so high that even the fourth floor felt like seven or eight stories. The hallway stretched long enough to be the length of a football field.

There were large doors placed every few meters, probably for insulation.

I stopped counting after the seventh door.

The fourth floor was said to be for servants, but I couldn’t even find the stairs leading up. Maybe they were hidden, like staff rest areas in office buildings.

The third floor was for the ducal family, so I didn’t dare wander too much and quickly went down to the second floor.

The second floor had many guest rooms. Each room had a bathroom, dressing room, and even extra side rooms—so large they were practically suites.

I was too tired to explore everything.

“Who knew just walking around a house could be this exhausting? This is on a completely different scale than I imagined.”

Eventually, I wandered into a corridor filled with portraits.

“Wow.”

I looked at the paintings one by one and soon figured out who they were.

Seeing Ivan’s portrait confirmed that the older ones were previous heads of the house and their families.

On one side of the corridor was also a bookshelf filled with photo albums. One album lay open on a table beside it, likely placed there for guests to look at.

Carefully, I flipped through it and saw recent photographs.

There were images from some kind of event—Ivan in uniform riding a horse, stern-looking men standing beside him, and more.

There was also a warm family photo.

‘So this must be Catherine. Then this child must be Isabella?’

A beautiful red-haired woman rested her hand on Ivan’s shoulder, looking straight ahead with a queen-like, proud expression. My new stepmother was a stunning goddess.

‘Wow. Respect, respect.’

So what if she’s a villainess? So what if she hates me?

What’s the problem? If I get scolded by someone that beautiful, so what!

My head started spinning. I was already not thinking like myself anymore.

‘Huh?’

Then I noticed something strange in the photo.

‘As far as I know, Isabella is supposed to have red hair like Catherine…?’

At that moment—

“Found you!”

A sharp voice stabbed into my back.

Startled, I turned around.

It was the maid who served Isabella this morning, staring at me with a terrifying expression.

“How dare you steal our young lady’s clothes!