Part 1. What happens when you transmigrate into the body of the daughter of a runaway sub-heroine?
“Mom, what’s a mistress?”
When I was 5 years old, before I transmigrated, I overheard the villagers talking about something. It was about the richest merchant in town and the woman he was seeing.
The village women were saying that she was his mistress, and the men were snickering.
“Wow, he’s got a lot of money. He can keep a young and pretty woman like that, and…” They would mutter things like that and sometimes even get hit by their wives.
I didn’t know what a mistress was, but it seemed like it was something bad. I thought my mom would know, so I asked her as soon as I got home, but I got a completely unexpected reaction.
Clang!
As soon as I finished asking, my mom dropped the plate she was washing.
“Oh, I was just distracted for a moment.”
As my mom was picking up the pieces, her hand was shaking, and then I heard a small cry of pain. Her finger was bleeding.
“Mom?”
I ran to my mom, but she quickly waved me away.
“It’s okay, it’s not safe for you to be here. I’ll clean this up myself.”
In the end, I didn’t get an answer to my question. But I instinctively realized that I shouldn’t ask my mom about that again.
Later, I found out what a mistress was from the older girl who lived next door. It meant a woman who sold her beauty to a man.
But I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I knew that my mom was definitely a beautiful woman. She never wore fancy clothes or makeup, but she had a certain aura about her.
With luxuriant silver hair, deep and clear lake-like eyes, finely sculpted features harmoniously arranged, and a slender figure, Mom’s striking appearance made her life far from ordinary. Many men around eyed this beautiful woman without a husband.
But that wasn’t the only problem; as I grew older, there were even men who would try to approach me.
In response, Mom would glare fiercely and chase them away before hastily taking me back home. The next day, we moved away from that village.
From then on, Mom dressed me in boys’ clothes and cut my hair short, holding my arm firmly.
“Arcadia, you must never tell anyone you’re a girl. Understand?”
Mom started calling me ‘Ar’ instead of my full name to make it sound more gender-neutral.
Wearing pants was more comfortable than skirts, and playing with boys was more fun than with girls. I freely roamed the mountains and fields with the boys.
One day, while climbing a tree with the boys as usual, I slipped and nearly fell. In that moment of impending fall, a flood of knowledge poured into my head, so vast that it was hard to comprehend. Specifically, it was the moment when my current consciousness entered Arcadia’s body.
This place was straight out of the novel I was reading. In the novel, after falling from this tree, Arcadia severely injured her head. To treat me, Mom had to sell her precious ring.
As a result, Grand Duke Iskas discovered my mother’s whereabouts and took us away. A year later, a rebellion broke out, and both of them ended up dying.
Realizing all of this in an instant, I quickly reached out my hand. Instead of falling like in the novel, I managed to grab onto the tree. I lost my grip soon after due to exhaustion, but instead of injuring my head, I sprained my ankle.
After that, the novel’s plot completely changed. Mom didn’t sell the ring, and Grand Duke Iskas couldn’t find us.
I considered it fortunate. At least now, I could potentially save my mother’s life.
In the novel, my mother was passive and indecisive, even dubbed ‘the goddess of sweet potatoes’ for her lack of assertiveness.
(TL/N: In Korean culture, potatoes are often seen as a humble and unassuming food, lacking in distinctive flavor or character. Similarly, when someone is called a “고구마” (potato), it means that they are perceived as lacking in strong personality, conviction, or leadership qualities.)
However, as my mother, she was brave and resilient. She gave birth to me at the young age of 18 and never shied away from hardships for my sake. The tender hands that once held me were now calloused. Her once-fair skin had been bronzed by the hot sun.
Yet her beauty remained undiminished. Many men tempted her with promises of an easier life, but she chose to endure hardships with me.
To her, I was her only family, and to me, she was the same.
My past life before transmigrating had lost all meaning to me. What was important to me now was the reality I was living in and my only family, my mother.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
“Where is Libby?”
The Grand Duke’s voice echoed above my head. His face was stern. When I didn’t answer immediately, he raised his sword and pressed it against my throat.
“I won’t ask twice. Where is Libby?”
His knights beside him gasped in unison, holding their breath.
It was only natural. It was excessive for anyone to threaten a powerless child like me with a sword, especially after the recent unexpected attack. Moreover, given the recent conversation, anyone could predict I might be his child. Yet here he was, threatening the child he met for the first time with a sword.
“Your, Your Highness…”
Even the knight who had just threatened me with a sword a while ago intervened.
“Please lower your sword and speak…”
Rather than being shocked or trembling in fear at the Grand Duke’s actions, I cautiously bit my lip.
Grand Duke Iskas was always like this. Cruel and ruthless to anyone who wasn’t my mother. Even if I were his daughter, he would show no mercy. In fact, to him, I was simply the villain who made my mother flee from him.
Because my mother ran away after hearing his words to get rid of the child in her womb.
I lifted my head and shouted,
“I’ll tell you where my mother is right now.”
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
After the incident on the street, Grand Duke Iskas immediately headed towards my mother.
Upon hearing that my mother was dying from the poison of a demon, his face turned pale.
Meeting his own child, whom he didn’t even know existed, did not evoke any surprise or joyful feelings. His interest was solely on my mother.
He pathologically disliked the idea of having children. For him, who had been plotting rebellion for a long time, children were unnecessary and annoying.
Even after recovering my mother and me in the original story, he used me as a hostage to threaten her again. Once more, he threatened that if she fled, she would never see her child again.
To him, I was just such an existence. I already knew that, so there was no disappointment.
“Um…”
The knight who was riding with me struggled to speak.
“Well, first, let’s speak comfortably.”
He seemed to be experiencing severe cognitive dissonance about how to treat me.
Although I seemed to be the Grand Duke’s child, the Grand Duke hadn’t acknowledged me as his own and even pointed a sword at me.
If he treated me as the Grand Duke’s blood now and later the Grand Duke denied I was his child, the situation would become a very awkward position. Therefore, for now, it seemed he had decided to treat me as an ordinary child.
“Don’t worry, your mom is fine. Oh right, I know your mom well, Olivia. We’ve known each other for a long time. Don’t fret too much. If His Highness intervenes personally, everything will be fine. He’s someone who can resolve any situation.”
With his distinctive presence, light brown hair, eyes of the same color, and notably young face among the knights, I immediately recognized who he was.
Jas Rikaind, a confidant of the Grand Duke and a loyal servant who dies for him in the original story.
He was known for being gentle and talkative and had become a full-fledged Black Knight at a very young age.
“And don’t take His Highness’s actions too personally. He’s naturally cold-blooded, even with us. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. He still cares in his own way, and over time, he may change towards you too. And also…”
I appreciated his concern, but I decided to cut him off there. My mind was too complicated right now to listen to his words.
“Mister.”
“Oh, right. Ask me anything you’re curious about. And I’m not ‘mister,’ I…”
“Can you please be quiet for a moment? I need to think.”
His mouth closed immediately.
I usually speak like a six-year-old, but I don’t have the luxury of considering such things right now.
With a face full of shock, he whispered to the knight next to him,
“Seeing her temper, she’s definitely from His Highness’s bloodline!”
