Four days had passed.
But I was still stuck in the filthy state of a maid, and every time I went to sleep and woke up, I opened my eyes in the shabby annex room.
By this point, I had no choice but to accept reality, whether I liked it or not.
“This isn’t what I meant when I said I wanted to live.”
Next to the annex, I lay down on the empty lawn and blankly stared up at the sky.
Of course, I hadn’t spent the past few days doing nothing but escaping reality.
I had gone around seeking out the servants of House Valentis to grasp the situation.
They seemed to dislike NeLia and didn’t want to talk to me.
But since I was desperate for information, I clung to them persistently, and fortunately, a few of them eventually gave in and spoke.
‘Fine! I’ll tell you, just stop pestering me!’
Their attitude was basically telling me to take what I got and get lost…
Still, thanks to them, I came to know one undeniable truth: this was not the same world I had lived in.
As unbelievable as it was, in this world my parents really had died eight years ago.
They said it was a carriage accident.
While rushing south after hearing news that my grandmother was gravely ill, their carriage fell on a rain-slick road, killing them instantly.
My brother Ruik, still in our mother’s womb, also perished with them.
Only nine-year-old Nelia, left behind in the Capital’s mansion due to the flu, was spared from that horrific tragedy.
And so, from that point on, the worlds of me and of this world’s Nelia— two lives that had flowed identically until then—began to diverge completely after the death of our parents.
After my father’s death, when the matter of succession for the next Head of House Valentis came under discussion, some of the household’s servants raised suspicions that Nelia might not truly be his daughter.
They whispered that my mother Rose had secretly shared love with Jack, the stablehand.
It was a baseless, malicious slander.
In the first place, Jack’s romantic partners had not been women at all, but men.
It was something I had discovered only by pure chance, and I had kept it secret all this time to protect Jack’s private life.
But some of the servants testified that they had directly witnessed my mother and Jack meeting in secret.
‘It must have been Uncle’s scheme.’
The line of succession to the title of Count placed Nelia ahead of my uncle.
Normally, Nelia would have inherited, with Uncle serving only as her guardian.
But to seize the title for himself, he smeared my mother with a filthy accusation and sought to eliminate his niece, Nelia.
Jack, the false partner in the alleged affair, was said to have taken his own life.
‘Suicide? Really?’
No—Jack had been killed, to ensure the truth could never be revealed.
In this way, Uncle’s plot proceeded successfully.
Branded with suspicion of being illegitimate, Nelia was forced to undergo a bloodline test using a magical tool that could distinguish true heirs of the family.
‘They say Uncle even convened an emergency family council for that purpose?’
But whether he had tampered with the device beforehand or not, the result declared that Nelia was not her father’s daughter.
“A man lower than trash…”
The Daris Empire, following the dogma of its state religion, strictly upheld monogamy.
Therefore, illegitimate children were not recognized as offspring, nor could they inherit status or wealth.
Thus, at nine years old, Nelia was branded a bastard and lost all rights in an instant.
Worse still, she had no maternal relatives to turn to.
The young Nelia had nowhere to go, and Uncle made her a maid in the Capital mansion.
Naturally, his family never treated her kindly. Over a long time, their harassment continued, and in the end—
“She took her own life.”
Pitiful and tragic.
“How is it that Uncle can be equally vile here as he was there?”
Anger flared at the actions of a man who was supposed to be family, and I clenched my fists tightly.
The reason my father, the younger son, became Head of the House over his elder brother was because the difference in ability between the two had been overwhelming.
And yet, that incompetent, greedy uncle had never been able to accept it and had tried attacking Father with cowardly tricks.
Of course, not once had it ever succeeded.
“They say nothing in the world is certain.”
Shaking my head, I recalled the despicable face of my uncle—here, now Count Valentis.
The clouds drifting across the sky were peaceful, so unlike my troubled heart.
I let out a deep sigh.
There was one more thing I knew for sure.
The original me had died, and from now on, I would have to live here instead.
“At least my arms and legs are still intact. So I need to come up with a plan.”
I didn’t know why I had ended up in this place, but I was not the same Nelia who had died. I had no intention of living on like this forever.
I resolved to think more seriously and began to rise from the grass.
But perhaps because I hadn’t eaten properly for several days, dizziness overcame me, and I couldn’t get up all at once.
As I staggered, thinking that next time I should at least eat properly even if the food tasted awful—
“Um, excuse me.”
Suddenly, a hand stretched out before my eyes.
Who could it be?
I slowly turned my head toward the voice and met the eyes of someone holding out a hand to me.
It was a boy with brown hair, dressed in shabby servant clothes.
“Do you need something from me?”
“Well…”
“Or were you trying to help me up?”
He hesitated, then gave a small nod.
I blinked in surprise. Until now, no one had ever willingly shown kindness to Nelia first.
And judging by his behavior, he didn’t seem to be particularly close to her either.
Still, this was the first goodwill I had received in this place. I gladly took his hand and stood up.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, it was easier to get up.”
I offered him a smile of gratitude.
Once I was standing upright, I naturally got a closer look at him.
He had a delicate face for a boy. His clear golden eyes were especially striking.
His build was thin, and his height just a little taller than mine, perhaps?
Unconsciously, I stared intently at his face, then tilted my head.
‘Have we met before?’
It was a completely unfamiliar face, yet somehow it felt oddly familiar.
“Who—”
I had been about to ask his name, but the boy suddenly turned his head and bolted, fleeing the scene.
“…He just left.”
It wasn’t as if I was that curious about his name anyway, so I didn’t chase after him.
Maybe I’d just seen someone who resembled him before. Accepting that explanation half-heartedly, I too walked back toward the annex.
Once inside Nelia’s room, I frowned, deep in thought.
“If I just had that magical tool, I could clear away this accusation of being a bastard immediately.”
The very item Uncle had tampered with during Nelia’s bloodline verification—the so-called “Red Stone.”
But that was easier said than done. A lowly maid couldn’t possibly gain access to a family treasure.
On top of that, because of the commotion on the first day, I was now banned from even entering the main mansion.
Sadly, as I was now, there was absolutely nothing I could do alone. I needed help.
I needed someone who would aid me—
“…Dave.”
A face came to mind instantly.
Dave Chester. My fiancé in the other world.
***
The next morning.
As soon as I woke, I headed straight for the maids’ washroom.
For someone who had always bathed in lukewarm water even in midsummer, washing my body with cold water was hardly a pleasant task.
But I had no choice. Worse than that, there was another problem.
“Still the same?”
No matter how much I rinsed with water, the black soot smeared on my face wouldn’t come off.
“What on earth did this world’s Nelia put on her face?”
The repeated rubbing made my skin sting, but without cleanser this was the best I could do.
I had no choice but to stop washing there. At least the black smudges were lighter than before, and I had to be content with that.
Still, was it really all right to go see Dave looking this shabby? I hesitated for a moment, but decided to just go through with it.
Dave wasn’t the type to judge others by their looks. Besides, appearing like this might actually stir his sympathy.
“All right. Then, shall I go?”
The moment I resolved myself, my stomach let out a loud growl.
“…”
Meeting my fiancé was important, but so was filling my belly. First I needed to eat.
The servants of House Valentis had no set meal time, since everyone’s working hours differed.
When I arrived at the annex dining hall for servants, I went straight to the shelf where the food was laid out.
Of course, a noble’s meal and a maid’s meal were nothing alike.
Looking at the crude food that could hardly be called cooking brought a bitter smile to my lips.
But unfortunately, I was in no position to be picky.
With a reluctant sigh, I ladled some soup, grabbed a large chunk of bread, and sat down at a table.
The hard bread crumbled into powder the moment I bit into it, and the cold potato soup gave off a musty smell.
“Tasteless.”
I ate because I couldn’t starve, but I couldn’t get used to it. I truly missed the world I had come from.
“Did you hear? A few days ago she spilled the whole pot while trying to ladle soup?”
As I took another bite of bread, the voices of the maids who had arrived earlier in the dining hall reached my ears.
“Cece and I had to clean it all up. And she just stood there staring blankly the whole time. Isn’t that funny?”
“Not surprising. That’s just the way she is. Filthy, lethargic, and useless.”
They were talking about me loudly, making sure I could hear.
The pot had spilled because I hadn’t known how to use the ladle.
I’d only stood there while others cleaned because every time I tried to help, I made the floor messier.
I had tried in my own way, but having never done such things before, there had been nothing I could do.
From their perspective, though, I must have been an annoyance who only made their work harder.
I had no excuse, so I didn’t argue. I quietly finished spooning up the soup.
“And look at her eat so well. Do you think Nelia’s suicide attempt was even real?”
“Maybe she just pretended, to get out of work? She still lazes around now, always using her injury as an excuse.”
“So annoying. The pay is the same, but some people work while others loaf.”
Scrape— I pushed back my chair and stood.
These criticisms were really just an extension of how this world’s Nelia was regarded.
So I wasn’t particularly hurt.
But it wasn’t pleasant to sit with people insulting me to my face either, so I picked up my bread and left the dining hall.
‘I’ll eat while walking.’
Crossing the annex courtyard, I gulped down the bread.
I recalled my mother’s scolding that it wasn’t proper to eat while walking, but I decided not to care.
“More importantly, how do I even get to the Chester estate?”
Mouth pursed, I frowned at the immediate problem before me.
The road itself was clear in my mind, but I couldn’t use the family carriage.
With no money to hire a private one either, the only option left was to walk.
But I had barely started walking when I already felt my legs growing sore.
Thinking of doing a short stretch, I paused for a moment.
“Hey, trash. Looks like you need a beating today.”
From beyond the shrubs in the courtyard, I heard the sound of people quarreling.
Instinctively, I turned my head.
