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Chapter 10
“…?”
What kind of nonsense barking is that? Don’t make me lose my temper.
“Ah, really. I told you not to talk nonsense earlier, didn’t I?”
“What do you mean nonsense!”
“You give it to me and then accuse me of stealing it. Isn’t that a very old, boring, unoriginal cliché? If you do it like this, all the novel readers will leave, you know?”
Even I know that, but since you’re originally a character in a novel, shouldn’t you be more interesting? Right?
I stared at her with a bored expression. The maid walked over as if she didn’t understand what I was saying at all.
“When did I ever give you that dress? I gave you the most outdated, ugliest dress!”
“Hah, admitting it yourself? That line is really tacky.”
Instead of shrinking back, I used her words to mock her. The maid, who hadn’t expected this reaction, stammered.
“Th-That’s not the point right now!”
“That sounds like a big problem too! Saying ‘most outdated and ugly’—so there were other dresses too?”
“N-no…”
The moment she started searching for words, the argument was already over. She had already lost momentum.
I looked at her calmly and tilted my head.
“Don’t cry, just explain slowly.”
“I’m not crying!”
“Alright, alright. Just explain one by one. You can do it!”
I exaggeratedly put my hand to my ear as if I was ready to listen carefully.
The maid’s face turned red and blue with anger. No matter what I did, she still got mad.
“It’s not that I’m saying something else! You stole Lady Isabella’s dress!”
“So you gave me a torn, ugly dress, and then when I appear wearing a pretty dress, you assume I stole it?”
“Stop making excuses.”
What is this?
“I think there’s a misunderstanding,” I said, shrugging.
“This is the same dress from earlier. If a ‘tacky’ dress suddenly looks pretty, maybe it’s because the person wearing it is good-looking?”
I made a cute flower pose under my chin and winked.
The maid forcibly looked away from my gesture and said sharply,
“Say that in front of Lady Isabella too!”
Then she grabbed my arm roughly and dragged me away.
My small, thin body—barely fed properly in the orphanage—was dragged helplessly.
“Ow! It hurts!”
I was dragged all the way up to the third floor where Isabella’s room was, and tears almost came out.
Damn it. I won’t let this go.
“Lady Isabella, it’s Karen!”
The maid introduced herself and knocked on the door. From inside, a voice told her to enter.
Karen opened the door and shoved me onto the carpet without warning. My paper-thin body tilted and almost fell.
‘Fine, if I’m falling anyway, I’ll make it a Hollywood performance!’
“Kyaaah!”
The moment Karen’s hand left my arm, I screamed and threw myself onto the soft carpet.
I rolled forward twice like a somersault, then used the momentum to roll once more before ending up under the sofa.
“Cough! Cough!”
Good. A magnificent flying squirrel performance.
I pretended to tremble weakly while listening carefully to my surroundings.
I heard shocked gasps from all around.
“Oh my!”
“What is this! Karen, what did you do?”
“N-no, I just lightly—”
“Cough! Cough! Aghh! Cough!!”
“Who threw her like that?”
“I didn’t throw her!”
Several hands carefully helped me up.
Karen was now being glared at, completely different from her earlier confident attitude.
“Don’t tell me… this child is the one the Duke brought…?”
Someone spoke while looking at me. Everyone’s gaze shifted.
At the end of those gazes stood a girl my age with a stiff expression.
‘Isabella!’
She was a girl with beautiful red hair and a pale face, sharp yet elegant.
‘But wasn’t her hair mint-colored in the family portrait?’
In the picture, her hair looked like mint cream on a cupcake. I was surprised at how different it was.
But now it was red, like “crimson sunset,” just as described in the novel. Maybe the portrait was wrong?
‘No matter what, she’s really pretty… I could keep looking at her forever.’
I quickly looked away so I wouldn’t stare too much.
The moment Isabella realized I was the one who had fallen dramatically in front of her, she quickly hid her surprised expression and began giving orders.
“Sophie, call the doctor. Maril, help her to my bed. And Karen.”
Karen flinched at her call.
“Yes, yes!”
“Explain everything that happened.”
Wow. That gaze. Even though she was only fifteen, her presence was no joke.
Her sharp golden eyes resembled her father’s completely.
I quickly stopped Sophie, who was going to call the doctor.
“I-I’m okay…”
I knew how to fall properly.
Of course, I was limping slightly while saying that.
Isabella looked at me and asked like a queen,
“What’s your name?”
“Freedia.”
“Freedia. I believe a servant should never dare to throw away someone brought by my father. Since it is my failure in training, you will be examined by a doctor. Lie down on the bed properly.”
Karen bit her lip, looking like “this isn’t how it was supposed to go…”
“But I really am fine.”
Isabella cut me off.
“Whether you are fine or not doesn’t matter. This is an order, not a request.”
Then she signaled sharply at the maid beside me, who quickly helped me onto the bed.
“Yes…”
I obediently lay down under Isabella’s pressure-filled gaze.
‘They say she’s the annoying side villain in a Cinderella-type story?’
I couldn’t clearly remember what she did to the heroine in the original story.
All I remembered was that she bullied the heroine a few times, built up her anger, and then got completely destroyed in a satisfying revenge scene.
So I thought Isabella was just a tool to highlight the heroine’s charm.
Honestly, she’s only fifteen. I’m a second-time life 21-year-old—there’s no way I’d lose to her.
I planned to just pretend to be obedient and stay out of trouble.
‘But she’s scarier than I thought. If I get on her bad side… will I survive?’
The doctor from the duchy arrived soon.
I stayed quiet and obedient while being examined so as not to upset Isabella.
After the doctor confirmed I had no injuries, Isabella finally turned to Karen.
“Now then, Karen. Explain.”
“W-well…”
Karen hesitated, not sure how to refer to me, then finally said,
“That girl stole the young lady’s dress. That’s why I brought her here. I never pushed her that hard!”
You did hit me emotionally though.
Isabella looked at me.
“Stole the dress? Freedia, is that true?”
Is she asking seriously, or just formally?
‘Either Karen is acting on her own, or she’s following orders and being loyal.’
I decided to stick only to facts that couldn’t be twisted.
“How could I steal a noble lady’s dress? Lady Isabella, weren’t you in your room the whole time? If I had entered your room, you would have noticed immediately.”
“But I never gave you that dress!”
Karen pointed at the dress I was wearing.
I spoke directly to her.
“Please look again. Didn’t you say it was the most outdated and ugly torn dress you gave me?”
Karen flinched and glanced at Isabella.
‘Huh.’
I had thought Isabella was the one behind this, like in the novel, but Karen’s reaction made it seem like she might not be.
‘So maybe this whole conflict started from a misunderstanding…?’
I need to pressure Karen more.
I continued calmly.
“You told me to repair it myself since the household was short on hands. Even when there wasn’t enough firewood and I had to wash with freezing water, I realized the duchy was struggling.”
“…!”
Karen’s eyes widened, not expecting that.
I continued calmly.
“So I thought even a torn, ugly dress should be repaired nicely and worn properly. I only tried my best to not embarrass the Duke…”
By turning the story into a poverty issue, Karen panicked.
“L-Lady! This is all a misunderstanding! I would never insult the duchy like that!”
But Isabella, after slowly examining the dress, said firmly,
“You’re quite skilled, Freedia. The neckline proves it. That dress is something I threw away years ago.”
“What?!”
Karen’s face turned pale.
Now I was the one confused.
‘So Karen really acted alone? And the heroine just assumed Isabella ordered it?’
It felt like a game where choices change the ending.
Just as my thoughts got complicated, Isabella suddenly laughed.
“Freedia… not only your skill, but your words are quite impressive too?”
