The Fake Lady's Determination
The Duke found it rather unfortunate that while his daughter did not shy away from meeting distinguished new faces at the Imperial Palace or in smaller gatherings, she deliberately avoided any ties to her dark past.
Of course, he would love and cherish his daughter for the rest of his life no matter what she looked like…
Yet when he considered the character of someone who held the lofty position of lady of the house known as the Empire’s left heart, there was admittedly a touch of disappointment. Still, what could he do?
Our Tiana had endured such a harsh life that he could hardly demand she extend love and mercy to others. Perhaps in time, once the girl had come to understand people better and her temperament had matured, her outlook would change.
Tsk. With my wife being so fiery, I suppose I’ll have to limit myself to exchanging letters with the monastery for the time being. At least I bought plenty of wine in the autumn, so winter should pass comfortably enough.
“Father?”
At Cassel’s call, the Duke snapped out of his reverie and smiled warmly.
“Yes, Cassel. I thought you might rest after returning to the capital in the summer, but one major matter after another keeps landing on your shoulders. I worry your mind and body must be exhausted.”
“I can endure it well enough.”
When Cassel had been summoned back to the borderlands, the Duke had spent every day in anxious suspense, yet now that his son had been promoted to commander of the capital’s knight order, seeing him had somehow become more difficult.
Even so, the Duke felt boundless pride whenever he looked at Cassel, who had risen far beyond him to become a great talent of the Imperial Palace.
One day, Morris would surely grow up following in his brother’s footsteps.
“…Looking at you, I’m reminded of our ancestor, Lord Kaidov, whom you resemble completely. With each passing year you grow more like the portrait of him. Your fame will surely rise as high as the legacy he built.”
The Duke himself could barely ride a horse and had no talent whatsoever for swordsmanship or other martial arts.
Even though his second son Morris’s martial prowess fell far short of Cassel’s, he still far surpassed his father’s abilities.
That was how little talent the Duke possessed for anything physical.
The heads of the two ducal houses known as the Empire’s left and right hearts were both civil officials who wielded pens rather than swords.
“You flatter me, Father.”
“Flattery? Your grandfather sighed the moment he saw the pale hair on my head as a newborn. He said it was hopeless for me to become a knight since I hadn’t been born with black hair.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Haha, can’t you see it when you look at Morris, who doesn’t resemble me at all yet surpasses me? You will undoubtedly grow even greater than you are now.”
“Father…”
Does he simply miss scolding his second son when he’s home? Cassel understood his father’s contradictory feelings all too well.
After all, no matter how much he scolded Morris, he had never once considered casting his brother out.
“I want to believe everything is going well. We’ve finally found Tiana again after all this time, Morris will become a knight next year or the year after, and we should start preparing for your marriage soon.”
“……”
“Haah… At last, this house feels like a place where people actually live.”
“I still—”
Cassel had been about to say he had no such thoughts, but then he remembered that Tiana’s debutante ball had already been set for spring.
Even if he did not rush into marriage, it would be better for his younger sister—though the word still felt unfamiliar—to marry within two years at most. It would benefit everyone, especially Tiana, who dreamed of a splendid life.
Perhaps it is time to make up my mind.
The moment he returned to the ducal residence today, he had gone to the Selfia house with firm resolve. He had wanted to deal with the suspicious Undine and at least offer some apology for keeping his distance all this time.
But there had been no trace of the Undine, and the pond had frozen over, completely dried up.
Whether someone sent it or it simply left on its own, one of the two. Since my suspicions were wrong, whoever sent the Undine must have failed to achieve their goal as well.
It felt like only yesterday that he had discovered the Undine here and wrestled with his doubts, yet time had slipped away so quickly.
Cassel’s thoughts were interrupted by the Duke’s voice.
“Once I’ve taught you everything about being heir, I want to step back and live quietly, reading books. I should also travel around the territory a bit.”
“Father.”
“If your mother complains of boredom, we might even consider another child. Hahaha!”
“……”
He had no wit to respond to the second joke. No matter how many times he heard it, he doubted he would ever grow used to it.
With an awkward expression on his face, Cassel desperately turned his thoughts elsewhere—such as the sight of Pay soaring gracefully through the sky atop her Drakan earlier that day.
At once, his heart calmed.
Is it strange? Whenever I think of Lady Pay, I feel at peace. Always.
Cassel smiled awkwardly to himself once he was alone.
When his heart felt heavy and gloomy, simply recalling Pay’s existence brought him a measure of happiness.
* * *
A few hours later.
Most of the lights in the Klein ducal residence had gone out, yet a single flickering candle still burned in the lady’s bedroom.
The face illuminated by that light was hideously twisted.
Damn it all!
Why had Morghana changed her name to Pay? And become a mage of the Magic Tower—what nonsense was that? If she had possessed such talent, she should have been sent to the Magic Tower from the very beginning instead of the monastery!
The thought that the wretched Morghana had become someone entirely different filled Dot with unbearable anxiety.
Morghana, you… what exactly are you? You’re not really Morghana, are you? Did some demon steal Morghana’s body after time was turned back?
Dot bit her lip, then clutched the edge of her pillow and forced herself to think.
Should I claim that Morghana tormented me instead? That everything she says is a lie, and that the abbess and the other children were all bewitched so that I could never even breathe freely?
Ever since returning to the past, Dot had never felt a greater sense of crisis than when Silk Robe had interrogated her.
If I act now, it might still be possible! There’s no other way but to bring her down right here and now!
The Klein Duchess doted on Dot excessively.
The days when she had constantly scolded her during the Eina period seemed like a distant memory; now the duchess granted her every request. She had even hinted that the Crown Prince was showing romantic interest and that Dot should look forward to the spring debutante ball.
So perhaps the Crown Prince, who had ended his seclusion, would personally escort her to the spring ball. She was a noble existence beloved to that degree. Therefore, someone like that girl…
Dot, who had been brimming with hope, immediately sank into despair.
Ah… No. That wretched Morghana girl already has deep ties to the Imperial Palace. She’s grown wings called the imperial family, so a mere ducal house with no connections can’t possibly suppress her.
Realizing that Morghana had slipped beyond her reach, Dot felt a surge of irritation.
Curse it! How could she have become one of Crown Prince His Highness’s subordinates?
A few days before heading to the palace, she had overheard it in passing.
Her eldest brother Cassel had discovered a mage from the Magic Tower, and because the mage’s abilities were exceptional, the Crown Prince intended to take her in personally as a subordinate.
At the time she had dismissed it without a second thought, never imagining it referred to Morghana!
They hadn’t even mentioned she was a female mage! Even if they had, it would have been difficult to connect the dots.
Why had things turned out this way?
Now that they had casually skipped the bloodline verification as well.
Dot had thought Morghana would be an easy target to eliminate, yet she had escaped to become someone she could no longer reach.
The Magic Tower… They said even the Imperial Palace could not easily touch its mages. Someone had mentioned it casually during the summer fruit festival, hadn’t they? The mages of the Magic Tower could only be “requested” to cooperate; they could not be “ordered.”
Moreover, if she was the Crown Prince’s subordinate, no one would even question the petty harassment directed at her. At worst, she would only receive a few days of house arrest. Ah… what should she do?
No matter how much she thought, no clear answer came to mind.
Since no amount of scheming would produce a solution, Dot felt as though she might die from sheer frustration.
If she had known it would come to this… she would have run straight to the monastery the moment she returned to the past and strangled Morghana to death from the very beginning!
Ah, she knew. If she had done that, she would never have overcome the wall of bloodline verification… No. But this time it would have been different—she could have passed it easily even if she had gone alone!
Perhaps she had only passed the questions because she had stolen Morghana’s belongings and made them her own?
Argh, no matter how many times I think about it, I still don’t know. Surely that girl won’t set foot in high society as well?
Morghana suspected that the disappearance of Silk Robe was connected to Dot’s actions.
Even if she desperately tried to silence the people on this side, the main temple would never investigate Dot’s intentions in the same way.
Once spring arrived and she began wielding real influence as the Klein lady… they might spread that rumor through the main temple.
That they had restored the lady’s rightful status.
And the item used for that was none other than the Silk Robe Morghana was currently searching for!
If Morghana, who had already set foot in the Imperial Palace, learned of this through someone else’s mouth…
Would that clueless girl stay silent? Obviously she would blabber that someone had stolen her precious Silk Robe just like hers!
As long as Morghana lived, it was only a matter of time before the tail was caught.
She was running out of time. There was no time left.
“There’s no other way… I have to kill her. By any means necessary, I must.”
With her lips buried deep in the pillow, Dot’s eyes gleamed with malice.
When the Duchess had asked whether the Silk Robe was hers, she had thought it then. She had jumped onto a burning carriage and could no longer step down.
If her final fate was to burn to death inside this carriage without ever getting off…
Then she would drag Morghana along as her companion. She would ram into her like a buffalo and kill her. Do you understand? She would never allow herself to perish before that girl—not before dirt covered her own eyes!
A mage? Exceptional talent? Ha! She couldn’t even be recognized by her own parents.
In the end, she was just the fool Morghana, while she herself was the clever lady Tiana. Did she understand that?
She swore that the day Morghana was called Tiana would never come.
Because that was the order of the world she had decided upon!
* * *
Ever since returning from the Imperial Palace, Pay had been unable to escape a single thought.
Whether she was practicing riding Momo, researching joint magic with the Undines, or reading other books to change her mood, she unconsciously muttered the same words.
“In this world, are Pay and Dot the only ones who returned with memories of the past? At the very least, there might be others in the capital.”
Right after returning from death, she had been too consumed by disillusionment toward her family and hostility toward Dot to consider it.
The present, which differed so greatly from the past, felt utterly surreal.
She had wanted to change things somehow. She had wanted to prevent Grace Monastery from burning, to save the abbess and the priests, and to escape Dot’s clutches.
The fact that the firm resolve she had made in summer had become her current reality was nothing short of astonishing.
Dot, who had aimed for Tiana’s position as lady just as before and ultimately succeeded, and Pay, who had left the monastery to become a mage of the Magic Tower, a Drakan rider, and one of the Crown Prince’s subordinates.
“Dot also wished to change from the past. She stole my place as Eina to become the fake lady even faster. Could the choices of just the two of us have altered the world to this extent?”
Two people’s new awakenings.