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Chapter 8

Meanwhile, when Helena received no response from Elenor, she puffed out her cheeks and said,

“El. Why aren’t you saying anything? Ah! Is your injury worse than I thought? This won’t do. I’ll go get the physician right away…!”

“No. I already saw the physician and received treatment a little while ago. It isn’t a serious injury either. Hmm. Is this the first time I’ve called you by your nickname?”

When Elenor changed the subject, Helena, who had looked ready to jump up and rush out at any moment, sat back down and smiled at her.

“That’s right. Even though I always asked you to call me by my nickname, you always called me Lady Demera or Miss Demera. I was a little disappointed because I was always the one calling you El. But finally, the day has come when El calls me by my nickname. I’m really happy!”

“…Then I’ll call you that from now on. Ren.”

Helena clapped her hands happily. The cheerful sound of clap! echoed through the sitting room.

“Wonderful! Doesn’t it make us look so much closer? Since we’re closer now, why don’t we go to that new bakery that recently opened in the outskirts? I heard the owner used to be a chef who made desserts in the Imperial Palace.”

“A bakery?”

“Yes!”

Elenor didn’t know which new bakery had opened in the outskirts around this time, but she readily accepted the suggestion.

Helena had asked half-seriously and half-jokingly, so when she received such an immediate positive response, she was so surprised that she clapped her hands and cheered.

She had actually accepted!

Since Elenor always rejected her suggestions first thing, Helena seemed especially delighted that she had agreed so readily this time.

“You really promise?!”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go together this weekend.”

“All right. Just tell me the time and place.”

Helena hurriedly nodded, as though afraid Elenor might change her mind.

Elenor quietly watched Helena’s obvious delight and smiled.

She knew that Helena wanted to become closer to her. But Elenor had always rejected Helena’s invitations because she was afraid that Helena’s reputation might be tarnished simply by associating with an illegitimate child.

Looking back now, her past self had been such a fool.

Helena herself hadn’t cared about such things at all.

Perhaps, by rejecting her under the pretense of doing what was best for Helena, Elenor had only ended up hurting her instead.

It’s not too late to change now.

Thinking that, Elenor smiled.

While Elenor and Helena were chatting over some snacks, the door to the sitting room opened and a maid entered.

She kept her eyes demurely lowered and her head bowed, so at first glance, there seemed to be nothing particularly different about her from the other maids.

However, her maid uniform appeared to be of higher quality than those worn by the other servants, and she was even wearing a small but expensive-looking piece of jewelry.

Is she the Grand Duchess of Raiwens’s personal maid?

Elenor carefully studied her face.

“Lady Elenor, Lady Helena. My name is Abel. I serve Her Highness the Grand Duchess.”

Helena nodded after placing a cookie she had been enjoying onto Elenor’s plate. She wiped the corner of her mouth with a napkin and asked,

“What is it?”

“The reason I have come is that Her Highness has asked me to bring Lady Elenor to her.”

Elenor put down the cookie she had been holding and inwardly scoffed.

Only then did she remember something she had completely forgotten.

Right. This happened.

In her previous life, Elenor had received an invitation from the Grand Duchess that morning, just as she had today, to attend the gathering together.

But she had refused.

As though she had already expected Elenor to decline, the Grand Duchess had said nothing and attended the gathering alone.

At the time, Elenor had thought that it was better for both of them not to attend the family gathering together.

But later, the Grand Duchess’s personal maid had told her that the Grand Duchess had suffered considerable humiliation at that gathering.

The Grand Duchess of Raiwens had always tried to put the Grand Duchess of Frihosen down in any way she could. She wanted to see her face twisted with humiliation and embarrassment, or even see her cry.

But was the Grand Duchess of Frihosen really someone so easy to deal with?

She was the sort of person who wouldn’t even blink when something major happened.

Whenever a one-sided confrontation broke out, the person who ended up taking the hit was always the Grand Duchess of Raiwens.

The Grand Duchess clearly knew this, yet she was still an unbelievably foolish woman.

She spent all day thinking about how to insult the Grand Duchess of Frihosen, and as a result, she remained oblivious to what was happening around her.

After all, she had eventually been betrayed by her own husband and died in the prime of her life.

Elenor had always wondered why the Grand Duchess of Raiwens was so hostile toward her mother.

Elenor remained silent.

Helena, on the other hand, seemed to think she had misheard and asked again,

“Whom did she ask you to bring?”

“Lady Elenor.”

Helena’s clear eyes turned toward Elenor, as if she couldn’t understand what was going on.

Unlike Helena, Elenor understood immediately.

The Grand Duchess of Raiwens was trying to humiliate both Elenor and the Grand Duchess of Frihosen.

Even after I’ve come back, she’s still the same.

The Grand Duchess of Raiwens… How can she continue doing such foolish things?

Honestly…

Elenor shook her head in disbelief.

She was truly sick and tired of people who lived solely on their own sense of superiority.

Elenor imagined what her mother must have looked like when the Grand Duchess of Raiwens told her to bring Elenor.

She had probably continued drinking her tea with her usual indifferent expression.

Even though that was certainly not how she felt inside.

The maid, apparently assuming that Elenor was unable to move because of her injured foot, cautiously approached her and stood nearby.

Elenor rose from her seat and said,

“Then, if it isn’t too much trouble, would you show me to Her Highness?”

A look of bewilderment appeared on the maid’s otherwise expressionless face.

Apparently, she hadn’t expected Elenor to accept so calmly.

Rather than Elenor, who remained completely composed, Helena was the one who became anxious.

She glanced at the maid before leaning toward Elenor and whispering,

“El. If you don’t want to go alone, should I come with you?”

It was an unexpected offer, but Elenor soon shook her head slightly.

Then she whispered back,

“No, it’s all right. Is Her Highness some kind of wolf that eats people or something?”

“Hmm. Of course she isn’t.”

Seeing Helena’s serious expression, Elenor smiled.

“Exactly. She isn’t. Then, could you show me the way, Abel?”

“…”

“I’m rather curious about what Her Highness has to say.”

Elenor smiled brightly.

The sitting room on the first floor that the maid led her to was the largest of the reception rooms in the Grand Duke of Raiwens’s residence.

It was large enough to accommodate around forty people with room to spare.

The Grand Duke of Raiwens had specifically had the room built for his wife.

The Grand Duchess of Raiwens often complained that her husband had wasted money unnecessarily, yet she would proudly puff out her chest whenever she showed the room to others.

When the maid knocked on the sitting room door, a voice from inside told them to come in.

The maid immediately opened the door and entered, and Elenor followed behind her.

In her previous life, she remembered being extremely nervous in situations like this.

But after living through it once again, it suddenly seemed like nothing worth worrying about.

Without looking away, Elenor calmly met the openly scrutinizing gazes of the noblewomen staring at her and straightened her shoulders.

In the past, she had been intimidated by their gazes and would lower her head so deeply that she could barely answer when spoken to.

But things would be different now.

Unlike these women, who had grown up sheltered and precious, Elenor had experienced every kind of hardship in her previous life.

Subtle, cold, contemptuous gazes like these could no longer intimidate her or wound her pride.

Besides, she knew that some of the people gathered here would soon be dead, while others would eventually bow their heads before her and beg for her favor after she became the Imperial Consort.

Elenor’s gaze shifted toward the table.

Every teacup and teapot sitting upon it was an exquisite treasure that was practically impossible to put a price on.

They were extremely expensive items that even Elenor, as Imperial Consort, had never possessed.

Her eyes sharpened as she looked down at them.

Slavery no longer existed in the Lesgerham Empire.

No—more accurately, it had been effectively prohibited.

Anyone who ignored the law and privately bought or used slaves could not escape legal punishment.

They said human greed had no end.

Apparently, even the Grand Duke of Raiwens, who already possessed immense wealth and honor, had been unable to restrain his greed.

In her previous life, he had gone so far as to privately keep slaves in violation of the law.

When the Grand Duke of Raiwens was brought before the court, he had desperately pleaded his case.

He placed a hand over his heart and swore that he had never once purchased slaves for his personal use, nor had he ever beaten them to death, insisting that he had been wrongfully accused.

And without even blinking, the Grand Duke of Raiwens shifted all the blame for his wrongdoing onto his eldest son, Sebastian Raiwens.

When the image of his face, drenched in tears and snot, came to mind, Elenor unconsciously frowned.

At that moment, an irritated voice rang in her ears.

“Lady of Frihosen?”

Elenor immediately snapped back to reality.

She composed her expression, put on the brightest and most obedient smile she could manage, and looked toward the Grand Duchess of Raiwens, who was seated in the place of honor.

All the noblewomen’s searching gazes turned toward Elenor.

Elenor elegantly gathered the hem of her dress and bowed.

“It has been a long time. Your Highness the Grand Duchess of Raiwens, and ladies. I am Elenor Frihosen.”

She placed particular emphasis on her surname.

At Elenor’s flawless and elegant greeting, the hyenas that had been watching her like predators snorted disdainfully and quietly waited for their next opportunity.

“I heard Your Highness wished to speak with me privately.”

“That’s right, Lady. But did something happen on your way here?”