CHAPTER 60……….
It was a portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Kanel.
It looked like it had been painted during the early days of their marriage. The Duchess sat in a chair, while the Duke stood beside it, resting his arm on the backrest as if to embrace it.
A gentle smile was on the Duke’s face, directed at me. A sight I had never seen before.
But the Duchess’s face…
I couldn’t see it.
Someone had completely cut out the face from the portrait. The space was just hollow.
It was an incredibly grotesque sight.
“What kind of thing is this?”
I turned over the other painting in my hand.
It was…
A portrait of Eunice sitting in the chair. Same posture, same size, same position as the Duchess in the first painting.
“No way…”
When I overlapped the two portraits, they fit together perfectly.
Eunice’s face filled the space where the Duchess’s face had been removed, as if the Duke and Eunice had posed together for a marital portrait.
“Oh my god.”
Goosebumps ran down my arms.
“So she deliberately had her own portrait painted separately just to do this.”
But that wasn’t all. I noticed a piece of paper sticking out from a book on the desk. When I unfolded it, the scene was equally astonishing.
Eunice Rosen, Duchess.
There were clear traces of her having practiced that signature multiple times.
“Wow…”
My head throbbed. All the vague, unsettling feelings I’d had until now suddenly solidified into reality.
Oh my, dear me. While her foolish daughter ran wild, she had been scheming to kick out her daughter and take the place of the Duchess of this household. And I hadn’t even realized there was a brigand in the family.
Who would have imagined that from the neat, polite demeanor of the elite chief aide?
“Hah, really.”
I exhaled in disbelief and returned the paper to the book.
“So, what’s this book?”
I flipped it over to check the cover. Embossed in a grand rose design were the words “Code of Discipline.”
The Code of Discipline of the Rosen Dukes? Why am I even reading this when I’m not a family member?
The paper from earlier seemed to be a bookmark, so I began reading the pages it marked…
“Miss! Miss!”
Ferdel whispered through the door crack.
I quickly checked the page numbers.
‘Pages 12–13.’
I memorized that, then returned the Code of Discipline to its place. I closed and locked the desk lid, gathered the mail, and slipped back outside.
“…I’m telling you, I definitely dropped the silk stockings here. I have to find them. They’re the young lady’s…”
Hanna, holding a laundry basket, blocked the butler’s path and fussed noisily.
Meanwhile, I slipped into the aide’s office across the hall. Nonchalantly, I dropped the letters into the mail slot…
‘Perfect.’
I gave a thumbs-up to the maids and returned safely to my room. I was starting to get the hang of this.
“Hand over the clothes here.”
“Have a seat. I’ll remove the makeup and hair dye.”
As I shed the maid outfit and erased the makeup and hair color, I reviewed the things I had just discovered.
“So, they set the stage for me to obtain the heir qualification…”
Since they couldn’t do anything about my body directly, their plan was to make me violate a critical family rule related to the heir qualification. That way, they could dispose of me completely.
I couldn’t know more than that.
But Ruelian said he was investigating diligently as well.
‘Let’s see if group project teamwork pays off in my life for once.’
It’s good to have someone to rely on.
The problem was communication. To receive messages from Ruelian without Eunice knowing, it was safer to be outside. Being visible made it easier to contact me.
‘So, I’m going to the social scene again.’
After a few days, I returned to the royal palace.
Aristina, the princess, appeared gracefully, blonde hair flowing and dress fluttering.
People poked each other, whispering.
“Look over there. Who’s that?”
“Didn’t she say she was going to vanish for a while?”
I had announced a sudden disappearance, but only a few days later, I reappeared. It felt a little awkward.
Why is there no phone in this world? Do people really have to go out in person to meet someone?
‘Hmph. Stop staring.’
Still, it was worth it. Leaning against the palace corridor window with a fan, feeling like I was detached from the whole world, someone approached me.
“Princess, hello.”
I turned around. A boy in a squire’s attire, with a sun and cross emblem on his chest, stood there.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m here to return this. When you visited the order last time to request relic purification, you seem to have left something behind.”
The boy handed me my pouch.
It was the same one Ruelian had sneakily taken during the High Council meeting. Evidence that he had double-crossed me.
‘And he’s going out of his way to return it.’
I accepted the pouch with a wry smile.
“Thanks.”
Something rustled inside. It seemed to be a piece of paper. I went to a quiet corner of the palace garden and unfolded it.
I understood.
“Be careful of men.”
That was all the note said.
“…?”
What’s that supposed to mean? I’m already being careful around men. And by that logic, you’re a man I should be careful of too.
‘How can you send a note like this with nothing else?’
I frowned at the note when suddenly—
Thud!
Someone landed in front of me, hands on the ground like a leopard.
“…!”
Startled, I aimed my fan at him…
“Hello, Aristina.”
He greeted me cheerfully.
Red hair, golden eyes, slightly tanned skin, broad shoulders, a top barely covering his chest, and gold bracelets on his wrists.
Prince Zikren.
Hadn’t I told him not to show up like this?
“Can you just walk normally?”
“I walked normally. From a tree.”
Zikren answered proudly.
“Then I saw you and came down immediately. I heard you wouldn’t appear in the social scene for a while, but here you are again?”
“Ah…”
I shrugged lightly.
“It was less interesting than I expected. Everything was boring.”
“Really?”
Zikren strolled closer and muttered.
“What’s interesting then?”
“What do you mean?”
“That note. You were reading it so carefully.”
“Oh.”
I folded the note and stuffed it into my pocket.
“It’s nothing.”
Zikren’s golden eyes narrowed.
‘Looks like he wants to see the note.’
Did he sense something suspicious? Not a chance. If he found out, who knows what would happen.
No matter how curious he was, he couldn’t openly dig into a lady’s pocket, right?
“….”
As we silently sized each other up—
“Your Highness!”
A court official ran shouting to Zikren.
“You were here? We’ve been looking everywhere!”
“I’m speaking with the princess right now.”
“But there’s something you must know.”
The official whispered some confidential report into Zikren’s ear.
Taking advantage of the moment, I shredded the note in my pocket so thoroughly that no restoration expert could ever piece it together. Then I looked back at Zikren…
His expression had changed.
“What? Who’s coming?”
Who? Where? To the palace?
Judging by his reaction, it must be someone important. My interest was piqued.
“Is it a man, by any chance?”
“Eh?”
The official looked flustered at my question, and Zikren blinked at me. I repeated myself.
“I’m just curious. Is the person a man?”
The official was even more flustered.
“Princess… excuse me, is it really that important to you?”
Of course. Ruelian just warned me to be careful around men.
“Very important.”
“….”
Zikren, who was listening, showed a subtly changed expression.
