I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 23

“Wouldn’t it be Count Marcus?”

Mielo spoke with absolute certainty.
Yet the Duke standing by the window shook his head firmly, dabbing the cold sweat from the back of his neck with a handkerchief.

“It won’t be.”
“Why are you so certain? I’d wager there isn’t a man in the entire world with a smaller brain than Count Marcus of Calmani. Have you forgotten how the previous Count sold off an entire castle and its mines just to get his thick-skulled eldest son through his education?”

It was true enough—Count Marcus was notorious for his scholarly incompetence standing in stark contrast to his polished appearance.
But that hardly meant he possessed the audacity or capability for something of this magnitude.

“No, absolutely not. That mad woman has him in her clutches—I know that much because he let it slip to me.”

The Duke recalled Marcus trembling in abject terror.

Roselina’s warning—’Breathe a word of our arrangement and I’ll have you killed’—had done nothing to stop him from nearly soiling himself the moment her name was mentioned.

“Ah, that. He begged Father to keep it secret, so I promised I would. But then he grew anxious and confessed everything to that woman anyway, didn’t he?”

Unexpectedly, Roselina Mersh had been kind enough to tell him: ‘You and he are exactly the same, you know.’
No one could speak of being blackmailed by her. So when a man looked sufficiently guilty, one could only guess: ‘He’s in her grasp too.’
In that sense, Count Marcus and Duke Brilliant were exceptional—the only two who knew each other’s predicament.

“A fool who can’t keep a single secret—how could he manage something so bold?”
“But that’s precisely what troubles me. He must have deliberately targeted Father’s tribute arrangement. And there are whispers that he’s been shut up in the Mansion these days, hardly seen—that’s suspicious enough. Couldn’t we simply dispose of the assassin and be done with it?”

Such pretty lips, yet such harsh words.
The Duke sighed and looked away.

“According to the small errand boy who came yesterday, he was killed on the spot.”
“Count Marcus wouldn’t be stupid enough for that. Could he have laid a trap deliberately?”
“A trap?”
“A ploy to pressure Father. A cunning woman like her could hire some unknown nobody to stage an elaborate hoax and still have cards left to play.”

Mielo’s eyes gleamed.

“So we should investigate every Guild in the area, Father!”
“…Yes, you have a point. You truly are my daughter!”

Yet even as he said it, the Duke could not shake the strange sensation he’d felt at the Mersh Baron’s Residence.
That woman who’d been obsessed with biting her tongue and dying over the smallest mistake—she had been oddly… calm. Could this be another test?
And watching her father lost in private reflection, Mielo thought to herself:

‘I need to meet that woman myself.’

She didn’t know what leverage that woman had over her father, but it didn’t sit right with her.
The servant who’d shielded her was dead now, so matters required clarification.
This reckless Young Lady who dared to threaten her Brilliant. And her father’s weakness.

* * *

She stood blank.
Creak, creak.
In five years living as a servant, she’d prided herself on knowing this world—every piece of information necessary to survive in it.
Squeak-squeak-squeak.

‘But no one can read what I’ve written?’

Yesterday I couldn’t believe it, so I’d kept Ted cornered for over thirty minutes.
Eventually he must have thought I was being difficult, and he even went down on his knees.
A second Transmigration where men old enough to be my father bow twice a day…….
Squeak-squeak-squeak, squeak.

“Young Lady?”

In any case, I’d learned something else yesterday.
The servants had all arrived at different times, and the first butler to arrive had been here for a year.

‘The Mansion was fitted out lavishly around that time too.’

The timing matched up.
I’d learned of his Transmigration a year ago and started sharing information with him.
And the fact that this was the butterfly effect.

‘But it was all to help him adjust.’

Squeak.
It was good intentions on my part…… yes, I’ll admit it. I was fussing over things, worried we might make trouble for ourselves.

“Young Lady.”

But what does that matter. Wasn’t it obvious something was off about him?
Squeak.

“You don’t seem quite yourself.”
“M-Master? Is the meal not to your taste, sir?”

Squeak-squeak, squeak-squeak.

“Butler, I think the Young Lady might be possessed by an evil spirit—shouldn’t we send someone to the Temple at once? Or perhaps something similar if not that…….”
“What outrageous talk! M-Master! Master!”

Clang!
A sudden shout cut through the air near my ear, and I flinched hard, my body trembling.
The Knife and Fork I’d been holding slipped from my fingers and clattered loudly.

“Master, are you all right?!”

From the right side, Ted’s voice—one I’d grown accustomed to by now—asked as he bent forward at the waist.

“Young Lady, shall I cut your plate for you?”

Across from me sat a man whose face I’d never quite gotten used to, chin propped on his hand, grinning.
Only then did I come to my senses.

‘Right, I was eating.’

Fourth day of Transmigration, and for the first time I’d come down to the Dining Room on the first floor for breakfast.
The usual Transmigration inhabitant apparently made do with simple, haphazard meals. So the butler had been bringing simple fare like sandwiches to his room.
For me, that would have been much better.
I wouldn’t have time to feel hungry, and even a single slice of bread was kneaded and baked with the utmost care.

―Master, the… the guest is waiting to share a meal with you. No matter how much I explained—no, advised—that you would eat simply, he wouldn’t hear it—or rather, he remained absolutely immovable…….

If Ted hadn’t come by first thing this morning with that request, I wouldn’t have had any reason to come down here.
Glancing over, the man’s plate was spotless—even his cutlery arranged with perfect precision.
My plate, meanwhile, still held half a steak, untouched.
Instead, the rim was smeared with sauce in a messy sprawl.

‘Ah.’

My mind had been elsewhere, and I’d apparently taken the knife to the plate instead of the meat.

“Shall I bring out a fresh plate, madam?”
“No, absolutely not. I’m fine.”

I refused Ted’s offer outright.

‘That means I’d have to sit at this table with him even longer!’

Just then, one of the three women standing quietly by the door glided forward.
She approached without a sound, like a ghost, and replaced my fork and knife with fresh ones.

“Pardon me, madam.”

The two servants still standing over there looked young, their faces fresh.
Which meant this woman was…

– Head Cook
• Needed to ask for an advance on 30 years of wages at the Mansion to pay for her mother’s hospital bills, then got fired for it;;;
…
• Anyway, these damn nobles are the worst; bunch of useless fools who can’t even feed themselves; pathetic; they all deserve to die
└ Paid the full hospital bill upfront

The person with the most detailed information recorded about her.

[Seeing her mother reminded me of my grandmother; couldn’t just pass by;; I miss Grandma ㅋ Masa doesn’t look like our mom though ㅡㅡㅋ Hmm;; or maybe a little?]

Perhaps the one whose heart that transmigrated soul had touched.
Masa was a middle-aged woman whose somewhat weathered features were brightened by a gentle smile.

“…Thank you.”
“Not at all, madam.”

This time I pressed the fork firmly into the properly cooked steak and drew the knife across it.
But the meat crumbled beneath the blade instead of slicing cleanly.

‘Is the knife dull, or is it my hands…?’

I hadn’t slept properly in days, so my condition was naturally in ruins.
Today especially, I felt unusually dizzy, and my hands refused to obey.

“Young Lady?”

At the soft call, my head lifted reflexively.

“Shall I do it for you? You look like you’ve no strength in your hands, and your complexion—you look ready to collapse at any moment.”

The man, bathed in the morning sunlight streaming through the window, spoke in a tender voice that tickled like silk.
If I’d known nothing of him, I might have nodded as though entranced.

“I appreciate the thought.”
“After you pushed yourself so hard last night… I did tell you to pace yourself, didn’t I?”

Screech.
The knife, unable to withstand the sudden force, scraped across the plate once more.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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