Episode 17

“The library key, you say.”

The butler Harold tilted his head slightly as he looked at me. I stood tall and answered.

“What’s your problem? Ask the Duke if you want. He gave his permission.”

“……”

I glared at Harold, who indeed summoned another servant to go and confirm with the Duke.

‘Acting all righteous and loyal.’

Harold had worked at the Duke’s house for quite a long time. He had been there even before I was adopted.

‘But is he really loyal?’

In my previous life, or rather in the original story, I roughly knew who was responsible for the betrayal that led to the Duke’s house being reported. It was the betrayal of an insider.

‘And that insider was this man.’

I didn’t know the reason for his betrayal back then. I just heard that he reported the Duke’s house, the charges were pinned on me, and then he fled. A few days later, I heard he was caught and killed by unidentified mercenaries.

‘That’s why I asked what kind of person you are.’

Now, my maids, who had become obedient when no one else was around, provided answers.

 

‘Butler Harold, you say?’

‘He’s the most greedy person here. He’ll do anything for money.’

‘Everyone knows it, but no one reports him. What good would it do for a mere servant to report the butler?’

 

At first, the maids were hesitant, but once they started talking, they provided endless information about Harold. It seemed they had a lot of grievances as well.

 

‘Sometimes he even fines the servants for various reasons and takes their wages back.’

‘Where do you think those fines end up? In his pocket, of course.’

 

So, it was likely that he exposed evidence of the Duke’s rebellion for money.

There were quite a few families that would benefit from the fall of the Duke’s house. On the surface, they got along well, but the noble society was intricately entangled with mutual interests.

He probably went to one of those families and exposed the evidence in exchange for money.

Soon, the servant Harold had sent returned.

“The Duke has given his permission.”

Harold squinted his eyes upon hearing that.

“The library, huh. That’s unusual.”

“Why?”

“Not the dress room, nor the treasury.”

Indeed, he was shrewd and sharp. I scoffed and replied.

“Are you saying I’ll get scolded even more if I wanted something like that? Just how stupid do you think I am?”

“……”

“I’ll soon be put on probation. What am I supposed to do at home then? I might as well read a magazine.”

“Is that so.”

Despite saying that, Harold held onto the key and didn’t hand it over to me. His attitude was one of suspicion. I smiled inwardly.

‘As expected.’

Of course, I knew he wouldn’t trust me easily. Even if the Duke had given permission, Harold was fickle and could change his mind at any moment.

To avoid being reprimanded by the Duke if he later changed his mind, Harold would want a plausible reason or excuse.

This was exactly the reaction I wanted.

I sighed as if there was no other choice.

“Fine. I’ll tell you, but only you.”

“What will you tell me?”

“I heard there’s a secret passage in the Duke’s library.”

“……”

“It leads to the place where the old treasures of the Duke’s house are kept. I just wanted to find it and earn the Duke’s praise.”

In the original story, after my early death and when the Duke’s family was falsely accused of treason, Aria discovered the secret passage in the library where evidence of treason was supposedly found.

And at the end of the passage, she found an old relic of the Duke’s family. It was something that the first Emperor had bestowed upon the first Duke.

‘And then she takes it to the Emperor to appeal emotionally.’

About the Duke’s family’s long-standing loyalty to the imperial family.

Thanks to another noble family who took the blame instead of the Duke’s family, the incident was resolved peacefully.

‘It’s amazing that such a serious matter was resolved by an emotional appeal.’

Thinking about it, it seemed like a kind of narrative force was at play. This world was created based on a work written by an author, so such forces must be at work.

Including the mysterious power that keeps bringing me back to life.

Of course, I had no interest in the Duke’s relic.

But Harold certainly would. It was a very valuable and expensive item.

‘That relic is worth more than a fortune.’

He could become rich instantly if he smuggled it out. Of course, he would have to leave the Duke’s house to sell it.

That was exactly what I wanted.

Harold was the type of person who could mess things up by hastily accusing the Duke’s family of treason before I was ready.

‘Getting rid of him would be more beneficial.’

There was another advantage. Harold had worked at the Duke’s house for a long time, so as soon as he was gone, there would be a gap in handling internal affairs. And if he took the relic with him, it would prevent Aria from appealing emotionally during the incident.

Harold’s eyes clearly changed after hearing my words.

“So, hurry up and give me the library key. You’ve already heard that the Duke has given his permission, haven’t you?”

Harold slowly placed the key in my hand. I took it and immediately turned to head to the library.

I didn’t care even if I heard the sound of Harold searching for a spare key behind me.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“It’s not coming out as easily as I thought.”

I sighed despite expecting this.

I had been searching for days, but the Duke’s library was incredibly vast. The countless books filled not only the first floor but also the second floor.

Finding evidence by searching through each book in this massive area was extremely difficult.

‘I also have to consider the possibility that they haven’t started planning the treason yet.’

Even while thinking that, I didn’t stop my search. I pretended not to notice Harold occasionally searching for something on the opposite side from me.

At least no one was looking for me. The Duke and the others at the Duke’s house lost interest as soon as I went into probation and disappeared from their sight.

They had to focus on making Aria feel better.

I only went back and forth between the library and my room, occasionally hearing the footsteps of the servants and conversations about the gifts Aria received.

 

 

‘I can’t believe you gave me such a gift! I’m so happy!’

 

 

Thinking about it, I hadn’t received even a small gift since entering the Duke’s house.

‘When I lived on the streets, at least I sometimes received things from charity organizations.’

I suddenly remembered the first New Year’s Day after entering the Duke’s house. In the Empire, New Year’s Day was a day when children received gifts to celebrate getting older.

I too had been filled with anticipation back then, wondering what gift would be in my stocking hung in the living room.

I wondered if there might be delicious bread or a small doll from the charity organization inside.

‘I believed I could be happy with just that.’

And inside my stocking was a dead rat.

 

Seth, who was pulling out an intricately crafted dagger from his own stocking, laughed at me. That dagger was used for a while to poke my forearm whenever Seth was in a bad mood.

Servi, who was taking out a splendidly bound book and an expensive brooch, also looked at me with disgust. The servants all laughed at me.

 

‘P-please, take it away. Please…’

‘Why would we take away the gift you received? A rat. It’s your family, isn’t it, having grown up on the streets? Are you planning to throw away your family? How heartless.’

‘Please…’

‘You should know how to be satisfied with the gift you received.’

‘Take it away!’

 

I threw the rat at Seth in a fit of rage. I was sick and tired of rats. As they said, it reminded me of the hard and terrible times living on the streets.

‘How dare you!’

 

And as a punishment, I was locked in the underground prison of the Duke’s house for three days.

But in hindsight, it was better than the imperial underground prison. At least I wasn’t bound tightly and tortured two or three times a day.

I was just completely ignored, not even given food for several days, treated as if I didn’t exist.

‘Was it from then?’

That I started to act out, trying to be acknowledged.

Then I gave up, and eventually lived like a fool, letting things happen as they would.

It was meaningless. After all, during the repeated cycles of my three lives, there was always a rat in my stocking.

And before Aria returned, on the real princess’s birthday, more sadistic punishments awaited me.

‘Why you?’

‘Why is it you here instead of my real sister!’

Those punishments were gifts to me if they could be called that.

For a while, right after Aria arrived, those punishments stopped, and I even thought of her as my savior…

But the situation reversed in an instant.

“…Stop these useless thoughts.”

Dwelling on the past was pointless. I devoted myself more to the work in the library. But evidence was not easy to find.

A few more days passed, and as my probation was about to end, Marie came in holding a box.

It was a box with the seal of the Grand Duchy of Elzerian.

“Miss, the Grand Duke sent you a gift.”

“…A gift?”

“It was brought to the lobby, so I brought it right away.”

“Are you sure it’s for me?”

“I can only think of you, miss. Look, it says ‘To Miss Reinhardt.'”

“……”

For a moment, I almost asked if it was for Aria. But thinking about it, there was no reason for him to send a gift to Aria.

‘Chris hasn’t properly met Aria yet.’

Besides, it was Marie who brought it directly to me.

‘If it’s her…’

I could trust her.

I quietly took the box Marie handed to me. A card attached to the outside of the box had elegant cursive writing on it.

[Wishing Miss Reinhardt good health. Take care until we meet again.]