The Girl Walking an Unknown Path, The Girl Repeating the Past
Above all, the Klein Duchess could not be underestimated even with her back turned. It was no exaggeration to say she had eyes on the back of her head.
‘Aah, I don’t know! Whatever! Yeah…. No one knows I’ve returned to the past, so how could she know? Beryl and Cheryl don’t know either.’
Dot quickly convinced herself in her haste.
‘I poured out all the things I’d been bottling up to her before I died. If she remembered, she’d have come after me already if she were sane! She wouldn’t have wasted ten days at the training center.’
As old memories flashed through her mind, Dot furrowed her brow.
‘I should have kept my mouth shut instead of letting my guard down thinking it was over. No. I suffered because of that stupid Morgana for two years. There was no pleasure as intense as when I exposed everything!’
With wicked intent once more, Dot lowered her eyes demurely and straightened her posture.
‘Fine. In this life too, I’ll trample you just like before, Morgana. Look forward to your glorious end! I’ll gratefully make use of your shell!’
Hoping that the noble ladies bringing precious autumn roses would whisper to the Duchess inside the hall that Dot’s demeanor was acceptable.
“…Huu.”
Unexpectedly encountering Dot, Pay felt more relieved than she’d expected. She’d tried to scratch at her insides with a bit of acting, and it seemed to have worked.
It wasn’t that she sneered because Dot, unlike her, had been kicked out of the Acadnia Hall.
Her feet had moved before her head.
‘As expected, I can’t move on without settling the grudges of the past. I thought I’d let everything go, but I can’t leave revenge behind, Dot….’
Since she hadn’t avoided the encounter, she had to fully bear whatever came after.
She wasn’t afraid of the trials ahead.
Honestly, today’s encounter had been refreshing.
‘Yeah, keep piling lies upon your dazzling lies. I’ll make sure to watch how far you go.’
Instead of repenting for stealing the silk robe, she’d pinned the blame on the trainees she’d shared hardships with. As expected, Dot was still Dot, even after being reborn.
Though both carried memories and had changed their pasts, the path Dot walked remained the same.
‘In the ancient tongue, Dot means a stain—that fits her behavior perfectly, really.’
Pay wore a cold smile reminiscent of Lucius’s and headed past the Acadnia Hall toward the Imperial Palace Library. She’d probably need to change her cafeteria lunch order to two portions.
Today, she didn’t want to meet anyone else from her past.
No matter who it was.
* * *
After returning from her nerve-wracking outing to the Imperial Palace, Dot headed straight to the Klein Duchess’s private chambers without a moment to breathe.
‘So tired….’
“Yes, your attitude today was passable, so that’s good. You didn’t even tremble and carried yourself quite well.”
It was only natural, since it wasn’t her first time walking such steps.
“Thank you.”
Before Dot could even recall Morgana’s foolish face, the Duchess’s words poured out without pause.
“From what you felt during your last visit to the salon, the Imperial Palace is incomparably stricter than that place. I left you outside the hall because your education was lacking—do you know how many people were watching you?”
“Four noble ladies passed by….”
“More than ten, at least. Well, how could a young girl like you grasp it all? Even I can’t. The Imperial Palace has eyes and ears on the walls, so whenever you go there from now on, you must always mind your conduct like today.”
“Yes.”
It was praise, yet almost a warning.
‘Poshet!!’
Recalling the arrogant scholar who was never satisfied with her achievements, anger surged within her. No matter what assignment he gave, Poshet always looked at Dot with disdain.
Morgana remained a fool even after turning back time, yet she was stuck with this stubborn scholar, wasting precious time!
Suppressing her rising fury, Dot spoke respectfully.
“I’m truly relieved to have shown even a slightly good side. However, there is one concern I have.”
“What is it?”
A pitiful gleam filled Dot’s blue eyes.
“The noble ladies who watched me today were talking about etiquette as they passed, and honestly, I couldn’t understand any of it. If I had been inside the hall, I might have been in great trouble due to my lack of learning.”
“Hmm….”
“Scholar Poshet is such an outstanding person that it’s hard for me to keep up with my head.”
The Duchess, in a rather good mood, asked.
“What have you been learning lately?”
“The ancient tribal period before the Empire’s formation.”
The Klein Duchess frowned.
“Hmm, that’s a bit excessive. It’s not as if you’re going to become a historian, and it’s not immediately necessary knowledge. Understood. Go and soak your body in water first.”
“Yes.”
“Remember to soak your hands separately in lukewarm water from another basin? Beautiful fingertips mean people won’t look down on you easily.”
“I understand.”
The next day, Dot inwardly cheered.
Thanks to the Klein Duchess’s order, that devilish Scholar Poshet would no longer come to the ducal residence!
Even before, he only came once a week, but the homework he assigned was enormous, always tormenting her. This was a tremendous stroke of luck.
She could use the time she’d wasted on useless studies for other important matters. Really, she’d overcome a great mountain. Dot could finally breathe a sigh of relief, if only for a moment.
‘Alright… it’s fine. Even if things are a bit delayed, it’s going well, isn’t it? There’s nothing for me to fear. If I just keep going like this, it’ll be okay.’
Though she still stayed at the Selpia House, she was being called to the main residence more frequently these days. Especially in the few days before her first Imperial Palace outing, she’d gone almost every day.
And each time, Cassel’s figure was nowhere to be seen.
The season had turned to autumn, and if it were like before, he should have quietly returned to the Logia border region—but why wasn’t he going?
‘Damn it, did he not go because he ran into me? No way. Tch, how annoying! It doesn’t make sense for the ducal heir to neglect his duties because of some mere eina. I won’t worry about it and just focus on my own work.’
After getting rid of the thorn in her side that was Poshet, she inwardly hoped Cassel would stay far away too. It was a shame that luck didn’t come twice in a row.
From the start, Dot had found it unbearable to even look at Cassel, who had scolded her, but she couldn’t show it.
No matter who it was, how could she carelessly touch the heir to the ducal house? She knew all too well what kind of trouble that would cause!
Therefore, Dot’s next target was the easier prey, Morris.
Despite the chillier autumn weather, he leaned against a tree stripped of its leaves, wearing only a single layer of shirt.
The bare tree seemed to mirror his pitiful state, and if no one were watching, she would have laughed to her heart’s content.
But she couldn’t do that.
“Hello, Lord Morris. It’s been quite a while since I last saw you.”
Even as Dot clasped her hands and offered a respectful greeting, he didn’t move an inch.
There was no need to feel embarrassed just because he didn’t return the greeting. Dot knew exactly what psychology lay behind his unacknowledged whining.
‘Hehe, before it was less because Lord Cassel wasn’t at the ducal residence, but this time his rebellious phase seems worse.’
The only two heirs to the prominent ducal house in the Empire.
At a glance, anyone would think they were objects of envy, but Morris’s situation was quite different.
Blocked by his elder brother Cassel, a towering wall, Morris had often shown rebellious streaks before.
One might think it was because he was the second son who couldn’t inherit the ducal title and lands, but Dot thought differently.
It was because he could never escape the shadow of Cassel, who at a young age had become vice-commander of a knight order.
His brother was simply too outstanding. No matter what achievements Morris made, he would always fall behind Cassel.
Since Cassel had suddenly returned to the ducal residence and stolen everyone’s attention, he must be angry. With his younger sister missing and his eldest brother summoned to the border, he’d been monopolizing wealth, glory, and love alone.
That too… would soon be gradually stolen away by her.
As she didn’t leave, Morris, who had been ignoring her all along, suddenly spoke.
“Why.”
“I was worried you might catch a cold in this weather. I received this coat from the butler, so please wear it.”
“No need. Do you really see me as such a weakling?”
Morris’s tone was curt, but there was no anger in it. Dot hadn’t made the mistake of calling him “Lord Cassel” and reminding him of his brother.
‘Good.’
Having grown accustomed to flattering others, she replied with great confidence.
“Of course not. When I first came to the ducal residence, Lord Morris’s tall stature and dignified bearing made me more careful with my conduct.”
“Hmph.”
“…However, Lord Cassel is still difficult. No matter how much I learn and learn again, it seems hard to please him.”
Though Morris still didn’t accept the offered coat, he did respond.
“My brother isn’t an ordinary person. From birth, everyone said he was born to be a general, and at such a young age, he left for the border as a vice-commander.”
“As expected of the heir.”
“People make a fuss trying to badmouth him, saying it’s a demoted knight order, but that’s just spitting on their own faces. His promotion to a higher position is only a matter of time.”
“When I first met him, I seemed to have incurred his dislike, so I’m very afraid. I find it hard to even breathe under his tremendous authority.”
Morris stared at the novice eina who found Cassel intimidating.
Hmm…. Cassel Deuplion Klein was indeed a difficult person to deal with.
Even their father, the Klein Duke, had treated him as an adult right after his knighting, and their mother had done the same—let alone their younger brother Morris.
So it was only natural for this Dorothea eina to think that way.
“He’s not the ducal heir for nothing.”
“Whenever Lord Morris was the only one here, I thought that if I tried hard enough, with time, I could receive everyone’s affection.”
She tried to win his favor with words subtly highlighting Cassel’s presence.
‘Look at this?’
In Morris’s mind, Dorothea’s words were quite impudent.
Who was she to casually say that Cassel was difficult or that she could receive affection from others?
Whether Cassel was at the Klein Ducal House or the Logia border, he was always the heir to the Klein Ducal House.
Morris had always felt his brother’s presence everywhere and been crushed by it, but he had never treated Cassel lightly.
So she wanted his brother to leave so she could live comfortably?
Morris’s lips twisted strangely.
The nasty thoughts he’d spat at Cassel recently remained, but there couldn’t be another person in the ducal residence who would say such things to his brother.
And it shouldn’t happen. As the second son of the Klein Ducal House, Morris wouldn’t allow it.
Unless, by some chance, Tiana returned alive!