At those words, the servants hesitated to lay a hand on my mother.
Just then, the lady approached us.
“You say you’ll compensate for the costs? Do you have any idea how much this is?”
“Whatever the amount, I will cover it all.”
The woman’s gaze scrutinized my mother’s attire closely. Soon, a look of dismay appeared on her face.
My mother was wrapped in nothing less than luxury, adorned in a high-end dress and jewelry. It dawned on her that my mother had the means to afford such things.
“Please keep the promise you made a moment ago. Didn’t you say you’d let us go if we paid compensation?”
“……”
The woman seemed to have no more words left and only chewed on her lips. After all, she had made that promise herself.
However, her gaze suddenly landed on my mother’s hands. Immediately, her eyes glinted coldly.
“What family do you come from, madam? Your attire suggests nobility, yet your face is unfamiliar. I know the faces of most noblewomen from Rosen.”
With a click of her heels, she stepped closer.
“Allow me to introduce myself first. I am Catherine Skarsdale. My father is the Marquis of Skarsdale.”
As she introduced herself as the daughter of a Marquis, my mother’s complexion turned pale.
“Now that I’ve introduced myself, you should introduce yourself as well.”
“……”
My mother couldn’t speak and only clutched the hem of her dress. As she looked at my mother, the woman lifted one corner of her lip.
“Now that I see, your hands are quite rough. They look as if you’ve just come from doing hard labor. It’s strange; a noble wouldn’t have such hands.”
As she said, my mother’s hands were nothing like those of a smooth, fair noblewoman. They were rough and sunburned.
It was only natural. Mother had done everything to raise me, from dipping her hands in icy water to sewing and farming until her fingers were numb.
As my mother instinctively hid her hands, the woman’s face filled with contempt and mockery.
“You’re not a noble, are you?”
She laughed menacingly.
“That explains why you sided with that lowly thing. Just because you dress like a noble, do you think you’re really one? How dare a lowly mistress like you meddle in my affairs without knowing your place?”
What is that woman saying right now!
“I…”
Just as I was about to rush in, unable to hold back any longer, the woman suddenly screamed.
“Kyaaaah!”
To my astonishment, a pile of dirt was pouring over the head of the Marquis’s daughter. Next to her stood a noblewoman holding an empty flowerpot.
I stared in disbelief at the incredible scene, even as a very refreshing voice rang out.
“Oh my? I’m so sorry. My hand slipped suddenly.”
So, that noblewoman just dumped the flower pot over the Marquis’s daughter.
I had seen people getting splashed with water in dramas, but a flower pot shower?
I genuinely admired it.
How bold! Isn’t it just spectacular?
“How dare you do this to me…”
The Marquis’s daughter, who had been shouting angrily, quickly stammered as she recognized the face of the person who had poured dirt on her.
“…Duchess?”
Duchess? There’s only one duchess in this country, right? So that must be the Duchess of Acanthus?
I stared blankly at the original story’s heroine, whom I had suddenly encountered.
The count’s daughter, Leah Ferris. No, now she is Leah, Duchess of Acanthus. The heroine of the novel, known for her radiant presence, often referred to as the ‘Sunshine Heroine.’
True to the novel’s description, she had a dazzling appearance that anyone would find charming. Her light brown eyes sparkled with mischief. A smile that seemed to have never known sadness naturally graced her lips.
Her flax-colored hair, shimmering in the sunlight, was still lovely, even now that she was a mother of two.
In contrast, the Marquis’s daughter trembled, covered in dirt.
“Duchess, what on earth are you doing!”
Leah Acanthus tossed the flower pot aside with vigor and placed her hands on her hips.
“Lady Skarsdale, apologize to her right now.”
“Apologize? The one who should be apologizing is the Duchess! What kind of outrageous act is this?”
“Why? I think this is the most fitting appearance for you right now.”
“…What, what did you say?”
“The one who is truly out of place is you, draped in those expensive clothes.”
The Duchess pointed at the child sitting on the ground.
“To injure someone just because they got your clothes dirty! That little one jumped in to prevent you from making an irreversible mistake. Yet instead of expressing gratitude, you insulted the child’s mother, so you should naturally apologize.”
“Are you defending that lowly thing right now?”
“I don’t know who this lady is, but just by teaching her child not to turn away from the unfortunate, I can see her character. She is a much better person than you. So stop embarrassing the Marquis family and step back immediately!”
“Wha…”
The woman was trembling, unable to respond.
“Your Highness the Grand Duchess.”
Suddenly, a voice rang out from behind, drawing everyone’s attention. Jas stood there, though I didn’t know when she had arrived.
The atmosphere became chaotic in an instant.
The Grand Duchess? Who? Who is the Grand Duchess? Could it be from the Iskas Grand Duchy? No, when did the Grand Duke get married?
Amidst the murmurs, Jas approached us. Then, she swiftly swept her cloak aside and knelt on one knee.
“Oh my, it really is a knight from the Grand Duchy?”
As the black dragon emblem revealed itself over the uniform hidden beneath the cloak, whispers erupted from all around.
I almost burst into laughter, realizing that Jas had deliberately thrown her cloak open to display the family crest.
“Your Highness, Grand Duchess Olivia, Lady Arcadia. I apologize for the delay. The carriage is ready, so you may leave now.”
The shock was not only felt by the audience. The Marquis’s daughter looked as if she had just received a hard blow to the head.
It was understandable, as the Grand Duke of Iskas was a royal with a claim to the throne. Naturally, his family was also treated as royalty. The Marquis’s daughter, who loved to assert her status, had just spoken to a royal in a manner bordering on rudeness.
The woman’s lips trembled.
“Th-that’s impossible… The Grand Duke hasn’t married yet…”
“Since His Highness met with His Majesty today, the official marriage license will be issued within a few days.”
With that, Jas looked her straight in the eye and delivered a chilling remark.
“I believe all the major nobles will be invited to the wedding… Unfortunately, it seems the Skarsdale family will not receive an invitation.”
At those words, the Marquis’s daughter staggered. In a matter of moments, she had turned one of the most powerful families in the kingdom, the Iskas Grand Duchy, into her enemy.
“I-I…”
Her gaze wandered aimlessly. She looked at Jas, then at the Duchess, and finally back at my mother.
Just as she was about to say something, the Duchess suddenly grabbed my mother’s hand.
“Oh my, so you are Libby?”
In the midst of all this, the Duchess’s eyes sparkled brilliantly. Her expression was as if she had just found a sister she lost ten years ago.
In contrast, my mother looked bewildered.
“…Duchess, do you know me?”
“Of course! Karim—no, the Grand Duke has been searching for you for so long. Oh, I’m so glad! So you’re having a wedding with the Grand Duke soon? I knew it would come to this. I realized it from the very beginning!”
She shook my mother’s hand up and down enthusiastically. It was a chaotic meeting between an extremely extroverted person and an extremely introverted one.
My mother, who was being pulled into her energy, managed to regain her composure and asked a question.
“What do you mean you realized it from the very beginning?”
“Well, it means I knew from the start that he had someone he loved!”
“What does that mean…?”
“Your Highness the Grand Duchess.”
While everyone except the Duchess was in a daze, Jas interjected.
“There are many eyes watching here. It would be best for you to enter the carriage and continue your conversation there.”
At those words, I recalled the injured child.
“Oh, before that, we need to treat the child first…”
I turned my head toward where the child had been. However, the child who had been sitting on the ground just moments ago was already gone.
