“It’s Helen, Helen.”
“Shhh! I’ll notice.”
Hermia took a sip of her lemonade, ignoring the whispering voices.
I would have liked to have had three glasses in a row, but I couldn’t because my stepmother was watching me closely from not far away.
She took a step forward, thinking she might move her seat, but her expression slightly crumpled. The bandage on her heel seemed to have fallen off. The leather touched the wound and a sharp pain shot up her ankle.
‘Where is the break room?’
The pain was too intense to ignore. I couldn’t just walk around with blood stains on the floor, so I had to go to an empty break room and put the bandage back on.
Hermia slowly turned around with a calm expression and started walking. The crowd dispersed along the direction she was moving as if they were treating her like she had a contagious disease.
‘Do I stink?’
I tried to sniff the sleeve of my dress, but stopped myself to save face.
So… when did it start?
I started to feel completely excluded from social gatherings.
Just last month, the young ladies who had been pretending to be friendly with me completely disappeared.
I wasn’t embarrassed because I only had one friend to begin with, but today was the first time I’d heard someone gossiping so openly.
Hermia thought back to the Marquis’ garden party where it all began.
* * *
The short-cut grass crunched with every step I took, which felt good.
This was already the ninth party I’d been dragged to this month, but it didn’t matter. When I got back to the mansion, my mother was always so exhausted that I didn’t even bother to scold her.
Moreover, it seemed like he wasn’t even interested in himself as he was busy choosing from the flood of invitations.
‘It’s all thanks to the talk of marriage between the Duke and the Queen.’
Hermia consciously lowered the corners of her lips that were rising on their own.
This is how the Duke of Rockford, at the pinnacle of power, came to form a relationship with an ordinary earldom.
This is the will of the former Duke of Rockford.
[Marry the young lady of Count Bansen’s family and maintain the marital relationship for more than one year.]
Otherwise, it was nothing less than a threat to donate all of his inheritance to the country.
The Duke of Rockford, who had written the will, went out to war, showing off his experience, but was killed in action. He too fell on the battlefield where he had lost his only son ten years earlier.
It was a sad story of how his twenty-two-year-old grandson, Walter Rockford, became the head of the household at a young age.
‘But it’s not a bad thing for the Duke since the condition is that the marriage only lasts for a year.’
Hermia had no intention of asking for a divorce first, so she planned to take the alimony Walter Rockford gave her and leave the dukedom.
Even in the royal family, not to mention the powerful families, they would often bring in princesses, so there was no need for him to continue the marital relationship with me.
You can receive an inheritance, remarry to a bigger family or someone you love, and become free.
It was a very neat and perfect ending.
“Hermia Bahnsen!”
“… … !”
Hermia was startled back to reality by the sound of her full name being called.
“You got fooled again?”
Irene was a friend who seemed to enjoy surprising herself by imitating her mother.
Even when you realize it’s a joke, your spine stiffens. It’s an old habit.
“Irene, you surprised me.”
Hermia answered, her chest clearing. Her voice was calm, in contrast to her still pounding heart.
“That’s not the issue right now.”
Irene spat out her words and took Hermia’s glass and gulped down the drink. How dare you take someone else’s thing without permission. Hermia tried to say something but then closed her mouth.
“Do you know how long I’ve waited for this day to come?”
There was no hesitation in the excited voice. Hermia whispered cautiously instead.
“Irene, you’d better lower your voice a little. If your mother sees… … .”
‘Irene Schwein, how many times have I told you not to associate with that country bumpkin?’
You must have said this.
Hermia’s stepmother was extremely displeased with Irene, calling her a brat who had no sense of dignity, but Hermia knew that was not all.
To be exact, he was dissatisfied with the fact that a family of a humble background with a small fief in the province had come to the capital.
The nobles who were born and raised in the capital were very wary of the nobles from the provinces who kept trying to advance to the center because they had a lot of money. They would laugh at them in front of them, but if they turned their heads away, they would often gossip about them and look down on them.
Anyway, being with Irene at a garden party with so many eyes on her was enough to warrant an hour of scolding.
Unlike Hermia, who was watching the situation closely, Irene looked around without paying any attention.
“I don’t care about that. More importantly, where is your maid?”
‘That’s right. It’ll be me who gets in trouble, not you.’
Hermia smiled bitterly. Still, she must endure it, since she is my only friend.
“My maid?”
“Yeah. Mel Greenwood. You have to meet him.”
Why was Irene suddenly looking for Mel? A lovely girl with bright brown hair and purple eyes naturally came to mind.
“Mel is resting at the mansion today because she’s not feeling well. Why is she there?”
“I’m really into romance novels these days. I was looking through the new releases and I found something interesting.”
Irene smiled meaningfully and handed over a thin book that she had been holding at her side. It was not a hardcover book, but a regular book made of paper.
So, isn’t this kind of thing… the so-called subversive books that commoners read?
Hermia instinctively bit her body. Irene pushed the book away even though she saw Hermia observing her mother’s movements.
“Don’t worry. I covered it with a Bible cover.”
Looking back, I could see that, as Irene had said, there was a trace of glue roughly applied over the original cover. From a distance, where the material could not be confirmed, it could have looked like a Bible.
Only then did Hermia feel a little relieved and take the book. When she opened the first page, large letters caught her eye.
[The stolen Yeong-ae decided to get everything back.]
“Is this the title?”
“That’s right. Isn’t it unique? Maybe that’s why it stands out more. You already have a lot of fans.”
Irene whispered as if she was part of a secret society.
“We call her ‘Thief Youngae’ for short.”
Judging from the fact that she said ‘we’, it seems that Irene is also a fan of this book. Hermia hesitated for a moment before turning the page.
[Chapter 1. The Lady of Count Vince]
‘Count Vince’s family? Similar to Count Bahnsen’s family.’
Her coral-blue eyes sparkled with interest.
[Belle Vince was a girl with dazzling brown hair, like a golden wheat field bathed in sunlight. And what about her eyes? They were a beautiful purple, like amethysts set in stone.]
After reading that far, she suddenly looked up. Irene met her eyes and slapped Hermia’s arm as if she had been waiting for it.
“In this novel, your housemaid, Mel Greenwood, is the main character!”
“What?”
The physical description resembled Mel Greenwood. And, coincidentally or not, their names were similar.
But when Hermia made a face that said she didn’t understand why Mel was the main character of the novel, Irene pounded her chest in frustration.
“So! The female protagonist, Belle, is Mel Greenwood? Now, look.”
Irene unfolded the page she had folded in half and tapped it with her finger. Hermia lowered her gaze again.
[Belle was most happy when she was invited to the castle. It was because she could meet her favorite friends. Although there was a gap in status between them to call them friends, they were an unstoppable trio.]
When I saw the other two names listed below, my pupils dilated on their own.
Jade Malone, prince of the Malone Kingdom.
William Langford, the Duke’s son.
Although the names were slightly changed, it was impossible not to recognize them. The prince and duke of a country appeared as characters in the novel.
“That’s ridiculous!”
Hermia, who had shouted without realizing it, was so surprised that she forgot that Irene had even put her mouth on it and drank the rest of her drink.
“So what if it’s a novel? Isn’t it novel? Prince Gerard Muller and Duke Walter Rockford appear in it.”
Irene, who had brought a new glass, crossed her arms and pulled her lips towards mine.
“This seems like a fictionalized version of a true story. Belle’s real-life character is Mel Greenwood, who lives in your house. The Countess of ‘Bins’ also refers to your house, the Countess of ‘Bahnsen’.”
Then he came closer and whispered.
“In the novel, Belle has an accident when she’s young. She loses her memory and goes to an orphanage, becoming ‘Belle Greywood.’”
“So Mel wasn’t originally a maid… but a daughter of a count?”
That too, of the Bansen family? I couldn’t bring myself to say that. Irene narrowed her eyes as if she was looking at Hermia, who had become serious.
“Doesn’t something smell fishy? Why, Mel is from the ‘Greenwood Orphanage’.”
“Oh my god, Irene… … .”
“Yes, Hermia! You can tell me anything you know. I will keep it a secret no matter what.”
In contrast to the expectant Irene, Hermia was confused. If the novel was really a true story, then Mel, the daughter of the countess, was her sister.
No way. Mel and I didn’t have even a little bit of similarity.
Not only was her hair as white as silver threads scattered, but Mel’s eyes were not as blue as mine, but rather purple. Besides, Mel was a lovely girl to anyone, but I’m not sure.
If I had to be picky, it’s more like… rather than lovely…
‘Urban beauty?’
Sometimes, when she had a blank expression, the maids would grumble, “What don’t you like?”
“It’s nothing, Irene. This is a novel, so of course the content is fictitious. They just took the names and made them similar.”
Irene smiled awkwardly, twisting one corner of her mouth as I awkwardly denied it without realizing it.
“If you read it all the way through, you won’t hear anything like that. I’ll lend you the book, so take it home and look at it slowly.”
“Ugh… … . Thank you.”
“Oh. I heard that the second volume is coming out tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to it.”
It was a cold voice from somewhere. Irene added a word and then turned away.
It felt like a huge storm had hit.
Hermia, who was looking down at the book in her hand, unconsciously bit her thumbnail. It was a childhood habit that would come out unconsciously when she became anxious.
‘What if Mel is really my sister? Then it could be Mel who marries the Duke, not me.’
It was when she was constantly comparing Mel’s and her father’s facial features in her head.
“Hermia! Come and greet the Marchioness!”
This time it really was the Countess’s voice.
Contrary to his gentle tone of voice, his pretty face was filled with anger. It seemed that he had finally been caught being with Irene.
Hermia hurriedly straightened her clothes.
It was time to go back to Hermia Bahnsen, the good daughter with no will or self-assertion.
“Who is this?”
At that moment, the voice of the man I most did not want to meet pierced into my ear.