Chapter 005
Betty, who had squeezed her eyes shut and fired off her words like a desperate shout, slowly opened one eye.
She let out a long sigh and continued.
“Anyway, the Grand Duke spends most of his time in the West Tower where his study is, rather than the main building. You will likely never run into him.”
“Then it doesn’t matter, does it?”
“Technically, yes……. But still, could you please not go? You don’t have to worry about me at all! It’s actually the opposite……”
As Betty spoke, a trace of genuine worry etched onto her face.
It gave me a ticklish feeling in my chest. Perhaps it was because, in my past life, I was always the one taking care of others rather than being cared for. Though she was clumsy at expressing it, Betty’s sincerity reached me.
“Are you worried about me?”
When I gave her a bright smile, Betty’s face turned as red as a tomato.
“N—N—Not really……. It’s only been a week since I started serving you, Milady. I don’t know you, and you don’t really know me……. Of course, when I first saw you, I thought you were as dainty as a white snow rabbit, but that was just for a split second……”
“Hmm.”
Betty started mumbling incomprehensible things to herself again.
I quietly stood up, holding a small madeleine in one hand.
“Honestly, I’m small too, but you, Milady…… you’re not just small, you’re too fragile. Strangely, I feel a protective instinct I’ve never felt for anyone else before……. Mmph!”
Into the mouth of the rambling Betty, whose eyes were fixed on the floor, I popped my portion of the madeleine.
Betty’s eyes grew round, and her words were cut short.
Taking advantage of the gap, I spoke quickly.
“Thanks for the concern, Betty. Like you said, we don’t know each other well. So, shouldn’t we start getting to know each other from now on?”
“Mph-uuu…….”
“I’m not as weak or soft as you think.”
“Mm.”
“So let’s go. To the main building.”
Was it because I looked quite determined?
The tension in her wide eyes gradually softened, replaced by a look of resignation. Swallowing the madeleine in one gulp, Betty let out a grumble.
“……Don’t you dare resent me later!”
* * *
Inside the sunniest room of the main building.
A woman was brushing her luscious golden hair in front of a vanity.
Her soft hands were encased in pure white silk gloves, and her slender wrists were adorned with large ornaments made of pearls and sapphires.
The dress she wore was a sapphire-blue fabric that boasted its own brilliant hue, embroidered with delicate gold thread.
“Mmm~”
With cat-like eyes that slanted upward with allure and plump lips, her soft facial lines added a mysterious charm to her beauty.
That wasn’t all.
Her body was full of curves—most notably her voluptuous chest and a waist so slender from the tightly laced corset that it looked like it could be gripped in one hand.
The figure reflected in the mirror was so beautiful that even she felt it.
It was as if…….
“I look just like a Grand Duchess.”
Truly, it was the perfect image of a Grand Duchess.
“If only it weren’t for that woman.”
Grit.
The moment she thought of “that woman” who was said to be cursed, her sapphire-blue eyes flashed dangerously.
The face that had looked more benevolent than anyone else just a moment ago instantly cracked with malice.
The woman, Katharina Hugo, bit her teeth audibly and irritably threw down the hairbrush.
The place she occupied was the Grand Duchess’s chamber in the main building of the castle. But Katharina was not the Grand Duchess.
“Ha!”
How did things end up like this?
The arrows of grievance and rage naturally flew toward the one who had snatched what was hers.
Renée Blanche.
What if that cursed illegitimate child actually…… managed to bewitch Zenos?
“No! Aaah!”
Unable to contain the rising anger, Katharina let out a sharp shriek and breathed heavily. Just then:
“U—Um…… Lady Katharina.”
“What? Don’t you know how to knock?”
A maid’s voice came through the crack of the slightly open door.
Forgetting for a moment that she wasn’t the owner of this room either, Katharina turned around with a sharp display of temper.
The young-looking maid, her face turning pale white, bowed her head instantly.
For the few days since Katharina had arrived at the Grand Duke’s castle, her tyranny had been immense.
Yet, no one could stop her.
* * *
“That carriage the young lady arrived in, the decorations are all real jewels!”
“I heard she has a long-standing connection with the Imperial Family. She was the one originally meant to become the Grand Duchess……”
“They say she’s the only daughter of Count Hugo! After their local business became a huge hit, even their toilet seats are reportedly plated in gold.”
“The Marquis of Blanche has a high reputation too, but the Grand Duchess herself is an illegitimate child, isn’t she? In that case, you can’t even compare them in the first place.”
“But…… how did their positions get swapped?”
* * *
It was only natural, as Katharina had made a grand entrance that was incomparable to the Grand Duchess, who had arrived without a sound.
Unlike someone who came here miserably in a luggage wagon without a single person to greet her, Katharina had entered through the main gate of the Celeste Grand Duchy with her head held high.
Thus, although her nominal role was that of a companion and lady-in-waiting to the new Grand Duchess, all the servants of the castle knew.
‘Someday, that woman will be the mistress of Celeste.’
That was why the young maid had no choice but to continue in an even more trembling voice.
“I have something urgent to tell Lady Katharina……. I—I’m sorry.”
“What is it?”
“The Grand Duchess……”
“The Grand Duchess?”
In an instant, Katharina’s brow furrowed.
Gasp.
The maid, catching her breath, hurriedly corrected herself. In front of Katharina, the term “Grand Duchess” was a taboo unless it referred to Katharina herself.
“L—Lady Renée has come to the main building!”
“……What?”
Why would she, who had stayed cooped up in the annex as if she didn’t exist, suddenly come here?
“S—She just passed through the lobby……”
“Is she insane?”
With an annoyed gesture, Katharina stood up abruptly.
Without even replying to the maid, she brushed past her and strode down the hallway.
‘I suppose she wants to reclaim her place now? She doesn’t know her station!’
Biting her plump lips, Katharina hurried her pace.
She gripped her dress skirts so tightly that the soft silk became covered in wrinkles.
Standing at the top of the main staircase connected to the hallway, she could see the lobby at a glance.
And there, in front of her…….
“Where is the library?”
That woman was truly there.
With a despicably innocent-looking face.
“…….”
An irrepressible contempt seeped into Katharina’s blue eyes. However, after letting out a breath, she soon masked it with a bright, cool smile.
“My goodness!”
She then began to descend the stairs with light, graceful steps.
Her voluminous dress, filled with lace and frills, fluttered rhythmically with her gait.
In contrast, the small woman wearing clothes worse than a maid’s just stood there blankly, looking at her.
‘What? She’s even more pathetic than I thought. She’s nothing.’
She felt a bit foolish for having been so wary of the annex’s presence.
Indeed! Come to think of it, Zenos hadn’t given the main building to that woman either.
Not that he had given it to Katharina, but unlike Renée, who had been cast out to the annex, Katharina had been assigned the largest room in the wing next to the main building.
At first, it wounded her pride as a Count’s daughter to share quarters with the servants, but…….
Even though he must know she openly frequented the Grand Duchess’s room in the main building, Zenos hadn’t made any attempt to stop her.
‘So, I’ve won.’
Intoxicated by a strange sense of victory, Katharina stopped in front of the worn-out shoes stained with dust.
“I greet the Grand Duchess.”
With more perfect etiquette than anyone else, Katharina offered her greetings to Renée.
But that stupid woman didn’t even seem to know the proper manners for greeting.
Renée, nodding awkwardly, blinked her eyes several times.
“I am Katharina Hugo, who has come as your personal lady-in-waiting, Your Grace. I apologize for not greeting you sooner.”
“My lady-in-waiting?”
At that moment, the eyes of the two women met directly.
Unlike the strange atmosphere where one’s inner thoughts couldn’t be read, those red eyes held a firm resolve.
Perhaps because of the rumors of her being a cursed illegitimate child, Katharina’s shoulders reflexively tensed.
And from the mouth of that cursed woman……
“Anyone would think you were the Grand Duchess.”
“!”
An unexpected piece of sarcasm flew out.
A crack suddenly appeared in Katharina’s perfect mask.
Gathering her slightly faltering lips, Katharina asked back:
“What do you mean by……?”
“I mean you’re truly beautiful. Are ladies-in-waiting officially always that pretty?”
Ha! What a cheeky girl.
Renée insulted Katharina while wearing a face so innocent it looked like she knew nothing.
What those words actually meant was:
‘No matter how flashily you dress up and struggle, in the end, I am the Grand Duchess and you are just a mere lady-in-waiting. Know your place.’
……That was the meaning.
“…….”
In an instant, Katharina’s position became laughable.
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