You Said I Was a Persecuted, Terminally Ill Grand Duchess? - Chapter 5

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 5

As if having made up her mind, Betty closed her eyes tightly and fired off her words like shouting a battle cry, then cautiously opened her eyes.

Then she let out a deep sigh and continued speaking.

“Anyway, His Grace the Duke mainly stays in the western tower where the study is, rather than the main residence. You’ll hardly ever run into him.”

“Then it doesn’t matter, does it?”

“Well, that’s true for now… But couldn’t you just not go? You don’t need to worry about me at all! If anything, it should be the other way around…”

Betty’s face showed subtle worry as she continued speaking.

Somehow, I felt a tickling sensation in my heart.

Perhaps it was because in my previous life, I was more often the one taking care of others rather than being taken care of.

Though she might be clumsy with her expressions, Betty’s sincerity came through faintly.

“Are you worried about me?”

When I smiled brightly, Betty’s face turned red as a tomato.

“N-n-not really… I’ve only been serving you for just a week, and I don’t know you well, and you don’t know me well either… Of course, when I first saw you, I did think you were as adorable as a white snow rabbit, but that was really just for a moment…”

“Hmm.”

Betty started muttering incomprehensible things to herself again.

I quietly rose from my seat.

I was holding a small madeleine in one hand.

“Honestly, I’m small too, but my lady… you’re not just small, you’re too delicate. Strangely, I feel this protective instinct toward you that I’ve never felt for anyone else… Mmph!”

As Betty rambled on with her gaze fixed on the floor, I popped my share of the madeleine into her mouth.

Betty’s eyes widened in surprise and she was rendered speechless.

I took advantage of that moment to speak quickly.

“Thank you for worrying about me, Betty. As you said, we don’t know each other well. So from now on, we can get to know each other, can’t we?”

“Mmm…”

“I’m not as weak or soft as you think I am.”

“Mm.”

“So let’s go. To the main residence.”

Perhaps because I looked quite resolute?

The strength gradually left her round eyes, revealing signs of resignation.

Betty, who had gulped down the madeleine, complained half-heartedly.

“…Don’t blame me later!”

* * *

In the room with the best sunlight within the main residence.

A woman was brushing her luxurious golden hair in front of a vanity.

Her soft hands were adorned with pure white silk gloves, and her slender wrists were decorated with large accessories made of pearls and sapphires.

The dress she wore was also made of blue fabric that complemented the sapphires beautifully, showing off its own unique color.

Delicate gold thread was embroidered over it.

“Hmm~”

Her seductively upturned eyes and plump lips exuded sensuality.

In contrast, her soft facial features added a mysterious charm to her.

Not only that.

Her body was full of curves.

Among them, her full chest and slender waist that seemed like it could be grasped in one hand thanks to her tightly laced corset.

The reflection in the mirror was incredibly beautiful, even to herself.

Just like…

“A duchess.”

Indeed, it was the perfect appearance of a duchess.

“If only that woman wasn’t there.”

Grind.

As she thought of ‘that woman’ who was said to be cursed, her bright blue eyes flashed menacingly.

The face that had been more benevolent than anyone’s just moments ago cracked in an instant.

The woman who ground her teeth audibly, Katarina Hugo, irritably threw away the brush she had been using to comb her hair.

The place where she was located was the duchess’s room in the main residence of the Duke’s Castle.

However, Katarina was not the duchess.

“Ha!”

Why had things turned out this way?

The arrows of resentment and anger naturally turned toward the one who had stolen what was hers.

Rene Blanche.

What if that cursed bastard really… bewitched Zenos?

“No! Aaah!”

Unable to contain her rising anger again, Katarina let out a shriek and was breathing heavily when—

“Um, excuse me… Lady Katarina.”

“What? Didn’t you knock?”

A maid’s voice came through the slightly open door crack.

As if forgetting that she too was not the owner of this room, Katarina turned around with all sorts of irritation.

The young-faced maid had turned pale white and quickly bowed her head.

This was because Katarina’s outrageous behavior had been quite something during the few days since she arrived at the Duke’s Castle.

But no one could stop her.

“That carriage Rene arrived in, all the decorations are real jewels!”

“She has long ties with the imperial family, right? I heard she was originally supposed to become the Grand Duchess…”

“She’s the noble daughter of House of Hugo! Ever since that family’s regional business hit it big, even their toilet seats are supposedly plated with gold.”

“House of Blanche has a high reputation too, but the Grand Duchess herself is illegitimate, right? Then there’s no comparison from the start.”

“But… how did their positions get reversed?”

That was understandable, as Katarina had arrived far more splendidly than the Grand Duchess who had come without any fanfare.

In stark contrast to someone who had come here pitifully in a cargo carriage with no one to greet her.

Boldly through the main gate of the Duke’s Castle of Celeste.

So while nominally she had come as the new Grand Duchess’s companion and lady-in-waiting, all the servants of the Duke’s Castle knew.

‘Someday that woman will become the mistress of Celeste.’

That’s why the young maid could only continue speaking with an even more trembling voice.

“There’s something urgent I need to tell Lady Katarina… I’m, I’m sorry.”

“What is it?”

“Her Grace the Grand Duchess…”

“Grand Duchess?”

Instantly, Katarina’s brow furrowed.

Gasp.

The maid who had drawn in her breath quickly corrected herself.

In front of Katarina, the word ‘Grand Duchess’ was taboo unless it referred to herself.

“L-Lady Rene has come to the Main Residence!”

“…What?”

The one who had been holed up only in the Annex as if she existed or didn’t, why now?

Why all of a sudden?

“Sh-she just passed through the lobby…”

“Has she gone mad?”

Katarina sprang up from her seat with an irritated gesture.

Then without responding to the maid’s words, she swept past her and strode through the corridor with large steps.

‘Now she wants to reclaim her position? How presumptuous!’

Chewing her plump lips, Katarina hurried her steps.

The hand gripping her dress skirt was clenched with such force that the soft silk was completely wrinkled.

Standing on the main staircase connected to the corridor, she could see the lobby at a glance.

And in front of it was…

“Where is the library?”

That woman was really there.

Disgustingly wearing an innocent face.

“…”

Undisguisable contempt flickered in her blue eyes.

But after letting out a sigh, Katarina soon wore a gentle smile.

“My goodness!”

Then she began to descend the stairs with light steps.

Her voluminous dress skirt, full of lace and frills, fluttered cheerfully with her steps.

In contrast, the small woman dressed worse than a maid just stood there blankly, staring at her.

‘What? She’s even more shabby than I thought. Nothing special at all.’

She felt a bit foolish for having been wary of the Annex’s existence all this time.

Come to think of it! Zenos hadn’t given the Main Residence to that woman either.

Though he hadn’t given the Main Residence to Katarina either. Still, unlike Rene who had been driven out to the Annex, she had been assigned the largest room in the annex building next to the Main Residence.

At first, it had hurt her pride that she, a count’s daughter, had to use the same quarters as the servants…

Knowing that she openly came and went from the Grand Duchess’s room in the Main Residence, Zenos made no attempt to stop her.

‘So I won.’

Intoxicated by a strange sense of victory, Katarina’s feet stopped in front of worn shoes covered in dust.

“I greet Her Grace the Grand Duchess.”

With more perfect etiquette than anyone, Katarina greeted Rene.

But that foolish woman seemed not to know proper greeting manners.

Rene nodded her head awkwardly and blinked several times.

“I am Katarina Hugo, who came as Her Grace the Grand Duchess’s personal lady-in-waiting. I apologize for not greeting you sooner.”

“My lady-in-waiting?”

At the same time, both women’s eyes met directly.

Red eyes that felt resolute and firm, unlike the strange atmosphere where inner thoughts couldn’t be read.

Was it because of the talk about being a cursed illegitimate child?

Katarina’s shoulders unconsciously hunched.

And from that cursed woman’s mouth…

“Anyone would think you’re the Grand Duchess.”

“!”

Unexpected sarcasm burst out.

A crack suddenly appeared in Katarina’s perfect mask.

Composing her slightly disheveled lips, Katarina asked again.

“What do you mean by that…?”

“I mean you’re truly beautiful. Are all maids like that?”

Ha! What an impudent little wench.

René insulted Katarina while putting on an innocent face as if she knew nothing.

What she had just said meant.

‘No matter how lavishly you dress up and struggle, in the end I’m the Grand Duchess and you’re just a mere maid. Know your place.’

…That’s what it meant.

“…”

Katarina’s expression instantly became ridiculous.

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