'It's been a while.'
It was quite a novel feeling to have a long-dead ghost standing tall with its head held high in front of her.
'Is it the past?'
Roselyn slowly scanned her surroundings and recalled the woman from her memory who had died ugly while begging to be saved.
"Because of you, your father is ashamed of you, and Father too..."
She turned her head to look out the window, letting the rambling chatter from beside her go in one ear and out the other.
A dry, crackling laugh escaped from between her lips.
"...You. Did you just laugh?"
It was only after hearing a shocked voice that Roselyn realized her stepmother was still talking next to her.
"You have tarnished our family's honor so much, yet I was always on your side! How could you ignore me like this? How... sob. Do you hate me that much?"
Roselyn paused, mulling over the voice she had heard the moment she suddenly came to her senses.
'Did I attempt suicide?'
That's strange.
'In the past, I would have gritted my teeth and endured it, or rather, attacked with a sword; I wasn't the type to die.'
Her stepmother had tormented her more than a dozen years ago, without knowing any better.
Then one day it happened.
At a banquet, Roselin realized that staying still was not the answer, so she overturned the table, drew the decorative sword hanging in the dining room, and started attacking like a madwoman, at which point they stopped openly harassing her.
'Instead, after that, there were a series of assassination and poisoning attempts.'
So, she is certain that Roselyn did not have a past like this.
She has never given up on life or remained silent after hearing words that belittled me.
'...It’s not the past.'
It doesn't seem like she returned to the past.
Thinking about it that far, what naturally comes to mind is what Marquis Garen said at the end.
'Parallel worlds...'
Is that really true?
"Don't ignore me! I just wanted you to do a little better..."
She frowned.
It was because the voice interrupting her thoughts was quite annoying.
"It's noisy."
"... What?"
She opened her eyes wide.
"Ah. Excuse me. It was noisy because you kept buzzing around next to me like a mosquito. I'm sorry, but if you're going to feed me more, could you please go outside? As you can see, I look like I've just gotten out of bed."
"Oh, my God, look at, look at how she's talking! How could... I be your mother! How could you say such things? Who on earth are you! Why have you suddenly become so ill-mannered..."
"No. To be precise, you are my prospective stepmother. You haven't had the wedding yet, have you?"
Judging by her modest attire with minimal jewelry, it was clear that she was still in the prime of her acting coy.
Roselyn opened her mouth as she looked at her future stepmother, who was just gaping.
"Lady Carmel, it does not matter whether you enter this household or not... just please do not offend me. Then you..."
Roselyn smiled sweetly.
At that, Lady Carmel involuntarily paused. It was because the person in front of her seemed like a completely different person.
"I won't care if you sell off the Duke's business secrets, poison my father to kill him slowly, or place your own people in that mansion."
“Roselyn-!”
Lady Carmel's mouth dropped open at Roselyn's words.
It was enough to make one feel a sense of dread at the sight of that beautiful face spitting out chilling words without even a change in expression.
"Let's both be at ease. As long as you don't bother me, whatever you do... I won't have any reason to interfere."
Roselyn kindly gave advice and counsel.
Lady Carmel looked down at the child who would become her adopted daughter, speaking clearly while meeting her eyes straight in the eye.
'...Who on earth is this guy?'
She felt disgusted by the fact that she had felt a chill, yet she unconsciously swallowed hard.
It was as if she were thrusting her head in front of a wild beast.
This sickly and timid princess of the Bellion ducal family, truly the most insignificant of all, who is intimidated by her words and cannot even utter a single word properly.
This was exactly the kind of woman without honor who would only glare fiercely and keep her mouth shut even when ignored by maids.
It was surprising that Rosalyn, who used to grow out her bangs to cover her ugly face and hide her blood-red, disgusting eyes, was now pushing them aside and meeting their gaze.
But what's even more surprising than that is...
'How did you know?'
That is what she is muttering as if she knows her entire plan.
"Haaa... It's so annoying that these beast-like bastards just can't understand when I speak nicely."
At Roselyn's voice, which was muttering softly as if to herself, one of the maids who usually followed Lady Carmel spoke up.
"Miss, aren't you being too harsh? The young mistress... Aaaah!"
Lady Carmen opened her eyes wide.
It was because something seemed to whiz past in front of her eyes, and soon the faithful maid who had stepped forward in her place screamed.
"Not the Young mistress, but Lady Carmel. And I am a Princess."
"Aaaah, it hurts, it hurts!"
"Roselyn! What on earth are you doing...!"
Lady Carmel let out a scream-like sound.
"Lady Carmel, if you wish to become the mistress, you must first properly train your maids."
Roselyn turned her head with a smile.
Her lips were smiling sweetly, but her eyes were cold.
Her disheveled hair, with its unkempt ends, made her look even more unsettling, and seeing the red eyes peeking through, Lady Carmel could not open her mouth any further.
She, who had been merely gaping her innocent lips, froze as she pointed her finger at Roselyn, who was still laughing while gripping the maid's hair.
"Do I have to tell you to get lost one more time before you leave my room?"
"...You, really...”
"Go away."
"...Don’t think today’s events will just pass by like this. I’m just so heartbroken..."
Lady Carmel, who had been glaring at Roselyn's innocent daytime gaze, turned around while tears streamed down her face.
"It's really no use giving you advice."
Roselyn clicked her tongue, anticipating that troublesome matters would come soon.
She meant it sincerely: as long as they didn't bother her, she wouldn't care what they did at the Duke of Bellion's mansion.
However, conversely speaking...
It meant that if they bothered her, she was willing to send them to the abyss.
And exactly three days later, she was invited to a formal dinner at the Duke's house.
***
Over the past three days, Roselyn gathered information and organized her thoughts while inferring a few things about her situation.
1. This is a 'parallel world' from about 10 years before the day I died, and I am now seventeen years old.
2. Even if it is a 'parallel world,' the people I know are here as well, and the big and small events I know exist similarly.
3. Unlike in the past, my situation here is bad. The servants subtly mock or ignore me, and I don't even have a personal maid.
4. The people I remember are not all exactly the same, but are almost similar.
Roselyn recalled that the maid who used to be friendly to her was now Lady Carmel's henchman, and she finished tidying her sagging hair.
Roselyn made only one decision while gathering information.
In this world, just living a quiet, gentle, comfortable, and ordinary life.
'I'm sick of being chased and pointed at.'
Roselyn opened the closet and frowned at the sight of the old and dreary dresses.
"My stepmother hasn't changed at all."
Still stupid and still one-dimensional.
Indeed, that is why, even after achieving the feat of bringing down the Duke of Bellion, she still could not escape the title of 'Bishop'.
Even here, she received instructions periodically and just did as she was told.
'So it was easy for me to kill her.'
Roselyn parted her long bangs, which looked like they would poke her eyes, in half and tucked them behind her ears as she thought.
Looking in the mirror with a clear view, she put on a pitch-black dress she had taken out of the closet.
"There are many things to fix."
She looked in the mirror after putting on a pearl necklace that looked obviously fake and applying bright red lipstick that looked somewhat vulgar to hide her pale complexion.
The bright red eyes and bright red lipstick stood out vividly against the pure white skin.
She smiled.
'How long has it been again?'
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