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Chapter 29
The moment she found the necklace, scenes from the original story came flooding back.
‘The treasure-hunt episode was pretty scary.’
Eselian had given Titiana a chance.
The only chance to escape the Grand Duke’s castle. After dismissing all of Titiana’s escorts, he emphasized that she must leave “in the guise of another person.”
When Schwen read that part, she had thought it simply meant changing clothes.
But after reading the next chapter, she realized that wasn’t what it meant.
It was literal.
Not as Titiana, but in the form of someone else, she would escape the Grand Duke’s castle.
Eselian told Titiana about a mysterious magical artifact that could temporarily change one’s appearance.
He even showed her a drawing of what it looked like.
It was a necklace so beautiful that even Titiana—who had seen every gem imaginable—had praised it lavishly.
L.
Seeing the alphabet engraved on the back of the necklace, Schwen became certain.
After slipping the thin chain around her neck, Schwen closed her eyes.
This necklace activated when you imagined the appearance you wished to take and spoke that person’s name three times.
‘Eselian. Eselian. Ese—’
That was when it happened.
The tightly closed door slowly began to open.
Schwen hurriedly repeated Eselian’s name.
By the time she hastily turned her back, the door was already halfway open.
Roni was in a very bad mood. That foolish woman hadn’t moved the way she wanted.
She had disliked the Grand Duchess from the very first time she saw her.
The person who stood beside him—always perfect—should be just as perfect as he was.
The Grand Duchess had too many flaws.
Setting aside how transparent she was, she seemed like someone who didn’t think at all.
The way she laughed so easily, as if everything amused her, looked careless and cheap.
She was far, far from someone suitable for the position of Grand Duchess.
She hated her. She hated her so much.
Because it felt as though the only reason she hadn’t claimed the seat beside the Grand Duke was her status—and the medicine.
That felt unbearably unfair.
‘Maybe I should just kill her.’
No.
That would make things too big.
The Grand Duchess wasn’t some insignificant noblewoman.
She was Lucenia’s precious jewel.
It would be better to break her mind and send her to a mental asylum instead.
Roni headed to a place where she could rest alone, without being disturbed.
The only place in the castle no one else ever went was the storage room where unused items were kept.
Roni opened the storage-room door.
But she couldn’t step inside.
Thunk. Her hand slipped off the doorknob.
Through the narrowing gap of the closing door, she saw the Grand Duke Ranied, looking oddly flustered.
“…Your Highness?”
The one who reopened the closing door was Roni. With an incredulous expression, she strode inside.
“Yes, Roni.”
The Grand Duke had never once sought Roni out.
She had even wondered whether he remembered her name at all—so when the man spoke her name gently, a surge of pent-up sorrow welled up inside her.
The sense of loss nearly took her breath away.
The Grand Duke touched her face.
Roni didn’t see him tracing her straight nose and forehead with his fingers.
She had lowered her head in a hurry, afraid she was about to cry.
“Roni, let’s talk for a moment.”
She tried to excuse herself, but the Grand Duke stopped her with words. Roni couldn’t move.
“What… what are you trying to say…?”
When Roni turned her body as if to leave, her gaze met the Grand Duke’s as he touched his prominent Adam’s apple.
He smiled awkwardly.
Perhaps he had been drinking—he couldn’t even walk properly and staggered.
He leaned back against the sofa, facing away from her.
His long legs stretched out in front of him.
“Roni, we’ve known each other for quite a long time.”
So he knew…
“I’ve always been grateful to you, too. For staying in Ranied all this time.”
Roni’s eyes reddened.
She had loved the Grand Duke for a long time.
His gentleness felt unfamiliar, but it still made her happy.
“But I’d like you to leave now.”
Plop.
A tear fell from Roni’s eye as she struggled desperately not to cry.
What did he just say?
Roni lifted her head in shock.
“What do you mean? Suddenly… suddenly telling me to leave?”
The Grand Duke seemed flustered, as if he hadn’t expected her to cry, his lips moving soundlessly. Roni, unable to steady her blurred vision, hurriedly continued.
“Why are you telling me this, Your Highness? Why… why are you saying it to me?”
Normally, dismissals were delivered by the head butler. The Grand Duke had never fired someone personally—especially not so suddenly.
“I’m saying this because I happened to meet you. The reason for your dismissal is the same as why you were expelled from my bedroom. Do not argue with me.”
Eselian—or rather, Schwen wearing Eselian’s guise—was flustered by Roni, who was shedding thick tears.
When the door opened—
‘Eselian. Eselian. Eselian…!’
Schwen shouted his name three times.
Fortunately, by the time Roni lifted her head from staring at the floor, Schwen had already taken on Eselian’s outward appearance.
This magical artifact reproduced the imagined person’s appearance exactly as they were.
What Schwen had imagined was the “uniformed Eselian” she had seen endlessly in the carriage.
“So leave. Immediately.”
She spoke like Eselian, yet it felt somehow wrong.
Eselian wouldn’t say things like this…
After thinking for a moment, Schwen awkwardly added another line.
“This is your only chance to leave here alive. So choose wisely.”
‘Good. That was perfect.’
Schwen felt proud.
She looked down at Roni, who was biting her lip and staring at the floor.
Schwen had always looked up at others.
‘So this is what the air up here feels like.’
“Roni, your answer—”
“Do you love the Grand Duchess?”
“Huh?”
The gaze that had been fixed on the floor slowly lifted.
Schwen couldn’t believe the hatred in Roni’s eyes as she glared at her.
‘She shouldn’t be looking at me like that.’
Right now, Schwen looked exactly like Eselian.
So flustered she couldn’t speak, Schwen just opened and closed her mouth without sound.
That seemed to provoke Roni.
Roni clenched her fist and took a single step forward.
Just one step.
“This has nothing to do with the Grand Duchess. I decided it on my own. I—me—Eselian.”
“Do you love her?”
“That’s rude. Calm yourself first—”
“What good is calming down when I’m about to be thrown out? You know it. You know I love you. That’s why you drove me out of your bedroom and sent me to another wing!”
Gasp.
Having accidentally stolen someone else’s confession, Schwen covered her mouth in shock.
What should she do? Pretend it never happened? No—no…
Schwen recalled her original goal.
To drive Roni out of the Grand Duke’s castle.
With as little damage as possible…
“Don’t love me.”
“…What did you say?”
“I’m not someone worth loving.”
Tears welled in Roni’s eyes as soon as Schwen finished speaking.
“Then just say you hate me!”
Roni finally broke down in tears.
This is bad!
Schwen jumped up from the sofa, but because Eselian’s legs were so long, she fell backward instead.
Roni glared at Schwen and cried like a child.
“I know… I know you don’t love me, Your Highness. I know!”
“……”
“But isn’t it wrong to control even my feelings like this?”
Schwen gathered herself and stood, but she didn’t approach Roni.
‘Don’t forget I’m Eselian.’
Right now, she wore the face of Eselian Ranied.
Eselian wasn’t a gentle man who comforted a crying maid in love with him.
“Roni, it would be better not to do this.”
She said only that—but things seemed to worsen.
Roni, looking wounded, tapped the area over her heart.
“Don’t love you? Why? Do you think feelings work that way?”
“Because I’m not a good man.”
Trying to calm the increasingly emotional Roni, Schwen rattled off negative things about Eselian.
She felt bad about it—but…
‘I need to survive first.’
As an apology, she’d give him extra medicine today.
“With these hands, I can crush a man’s jaw. My personality isn’t good either. I—I have a hobby of taxidermy.”
Of course, Eselian had a gentle side too—but Schwen didn’t mention that.
Roni shuddered at the sight of the Grand Duke suddenly introducing himself like this.
‘Did it work?’
If she was going to be a villain, she might as well be thorough.
Roni was already hurt anyway.
“I don’t have the confidence to love you.”
“……”
“I was born with a heart that can’t love anyone. There’s no place for you inside me.”
‘Reading novels in my past life really helps at times like this.’
The lines flowed easily.
“Then why are you so kind to Her Highness?”
“Huh?”
Why is she coming up now?
“You treat her specially. You told me to always stick to the same recipes, but you said it was fine to research new ones for the Grand Duchess!”
Roni looked unable to control her emotions.
She didn’t even seem aware that the person in front of her was Eselian.
“That’s because…”
Schwen was a little startled.
She hadn’t known that at all.
But she had a perfect excuse.
“Because she’s the Grand Duchess.”
“……”
“And you shouldn’t even be calling her that.”
Schwen didn’t show it, but she felt a little hurt.
She had never done anything that deserved Roni’s hatred—yet Roni despised her intensely.
So much so that she would give Eselian recipes containing foods he was allergic to.
‘Why?’
There was only one reason.
Because she was the Grand Duchess.
Even knowing the reason, it still hurt.
“But still, that woman—!”
Just as Roni shouted angrily, a deep crease formed between the Grand Duke’s brows.
With an expressionless face, he looked down at Roni.
