Chapter 6: 6

Chapter 6

The wizard Young Lady who rushed to the capital after hearing the news that her cousin, Duke Diorat, has died, and the abandoned Prince who happened to meet her. That was the start of the novel.

But that story… cannot be starting right now. It had begun six months later than now after the Duke approached death. However, her letter was coming now. 

“Little Madame?” The butler worriedly asked Alice, who had suddenly stiffened.

Unable to straighten her face, Alice said, “…I will get going now.”

Alice left the butler in a panic and moved quickly.

She could feel his gaze following her, but she couldn’t care  less. The fact that Baron Meltain’s Young Lady appears now… only meant that the original was twisted.

The original has changed. It was unexpected. 

“Why on earth did the female lead appear now…?”

Alice returned to the room and slammed the door in front of Maris’s disgruntled face. Because she wasn’t relaxed enough to accept Maris’ bad disposition.

Young Lady Meltain.

The butler clearly said that Baron Meltain’s daughter would come to the capital, and that was the beginning of the book [I Give You the Crown] – the world she possessed. The contents were as follows.

Upon hearing of her older cousin’s  death, Kaillus, Sienna Meltain rushed to the capital. His death was questionable, but Kaillus’ death was completely dealt with by the time she arrived – because the Duchess was already on trial for poisoning the Duke.

Young Lady Meltain was present at that trial, and she becomes deeply suspicious upon seeing the Duchess denying her guilt and wailing throughout the trial. There was another reason behind the Duke’s death. She naturally suspects Madame Quillian, the Duke’s stepmother, and digs about her, but Duke Diorat’s family disappears from the Empire due to a villainous conspiracy before she can even find any evidence pointing to Madame Quillian.

There was no one to help the fall of the Duke’s family because they had already lost their estate. Furious at the loss of Duke Diorat, Young Lady Meltain eventually went looking for the Duke’s scattered vassals to clear the accusation of the Duke. That was also the time she happened to meet the unfortunate abandoned Prince.

Young Lady Meltain then brought the injured Prince and healed him. As soon as he regained  consciousness, the Third Prince fell in love with Young Lady Meltain at first sight. Their first meeting just like any romance novel. They met that way, overcame hardship, confirmed their love for each other, and finally met their happy ending.

It may seem like any other romance novel if you look at it that way, but this wasn’t just a heartwarming novel. Though the main characters were happy, the problem was that there were unusually many dead supporting characters in this novel. Starting with Kaillus’ death in the first chapter, the last case of death was when the supporting characters who helped the main characters died. So, even though the main characters defeated the villain and reached a happy ending, there were a lot of outraged comments. Because the supporting actors they liked in their own way died.

‘This is happy, but not happy too. Save my favorite character.’

There were a lot of comments like that.

So, when Alice accepted that she possessed this place, she made up her mind.  She will never get involved with the main characters in the book.

She didn’t have the tremendous ability to break out of any danger, and Alice Diorat was just a small supporting character in the beginning of the play, being executed. In the yard where all the big supporting actors have died, she could lose her life again if she gets entangled with the main characters for nothing – because death flags were buried deep around them.

I want to live. I really hate in particular to be a shrimp  between a whale’s fight. I thought I was lucky to have possessed this body before the story started….

This was Alice’s plan.

Since she had transmigrated here before the story began, she would get out of  the Duke’s house as soon as possible and live quietly as possible until the main characters reached the happy ending. Just like passerby 1, she will just  cross the bridge as she watches the events unfold. And after everything was settled, she wanted to travel to this new world and live happily.

Appearing in only one line in the first chapter, Alice Diorat was only a nobody character, so she thought that the future wouldn’t  change much even if she survived. So, it wasn’t like that? It wasn’t time for the female lead to appear and yet, she was already coming to the Duke’s Family.

It was strange how the time was moved forward to six months earlier. Young Lady Meltain was the beautiful protagonist of the book, but she was like the Grim Reaper to Alice. If she enters the Duke’s house now, Alice wouldn’t be able to avoid her.

If I ever get involved with Young Lady Meltain in any way….

There was a high probability that Alice would also be on the train to the underworld, which was ridden by pitiful supporting actors.

“Argh!”

Alice pulled her hair out.

“No, I haven’t done anything yet! I couldn’t even get out of the Duke’s house! Why is Young Lady Meltain appearing?!”

The female lead appeared earlier.

It wouldn’t feel this unfair if she had twisted  something big and this kind of division happened. However, Alice has yet to get out of the Duchy and hasn’t started anything yet in particular. But what the heck could have caused something crappy to happen? 

Alice took a deep breath and shook her head in frustration.

“No, is it so wrong to have decided to live a little bit!?”

I just made up my mind, but the female lead  timely appeared as if I shouldn’t dream of anything! I wonder if he gave me a divine power buff that I even thanked Him….

Alice, who was poking at a d**n god somewhere over the ceiling, somewhere in the sky, was startled by the sudden voice.

Knock, knock – 

“Little Madame!”

“You surprised me!”

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For a moment, she thought that there was a thief breaking in and mistakenly thought that Maris’  voice was coming from above. The door swung open as soon as she patted her startled heart.

“What on earth are you doing that you weren’t answering no matter how I called for you?”

Maris entered the room grumpily as if it wasn’t  the first time she had called her.

Have I been thinking too deeply? However, there was no need to explain everything to Maris.  Looking at Maris crumpled expression on her face, Alice put her slightly tangled hair behind her ear and asked, “…Why, is there anything urgent?”

“It’s time to serve the Duke.”

“Serve?”

Opening her eyes widely as if asking her what she meant, Maris looked at her with her unique cheeky look and said, “Yes. Old Madam wants Little Madam to take care of the Duke even with the very trivial matters.”

Trivial matters. Do you want me to stick close to the Duke like glutinous rice? Just in case no close acquaintances can be prevented from getting close to  the Duke? 

This was unwelcome news for Alice, who had a lot to think about and prepare for. However, there was still a watcher named Maris for her to goof around.

“Why are you standing absentmindedly there, let’s go.” Maris raised her eyes and said.

A jerk’s head I wanted to hit. It’s okay, Maris is destined to deal with Madam Quillian anyway even if I don’t hit her. 

Alice knew their future, and that future was never beautiful. So this kind of tyranny can be tolerated. As she imagined the day when Maris would be out, Alice smiled softly.

“Okay, let’s go to Duke.”

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The Duke’s bedroom was dark even though the sun was shining brightly in the afternoon. The windows were tightly closed and the blackout curtains were placed to prevent a single ray of sunlight from entering. In the middle of the bedroom, where there was no warmth, there was Kaillus.

He regained consciousness yesterday morning and he headed straight to the butler’s room. He was worried that the butler may have changed because he couldn’t tell how much time had passed since he was in a coma, but the butler was fortunately not kicked out. The butler immediately burst into tears as soon as he saw the conscious Duke as if he saw a ghost. He soon confessed everything that had happened after the Duke had collapsed.

[‘As soon as the Duke passed away, the Old Madam moved from the annex to the main castle. She also kicked out your aide and the Commander of Knights of the Duke’s family for not being able to properly look after you.’] 

The Black Lion Knights of the proud Duke Diorat who made a big contribution to the war – they  were a group of knights with the same skills and reputation as the Imperial Knights of the Empire. They were also the perfect people of Kaillus.

So to Madame Quillian, it must have been a thorn in her eyes.

Kaillus asked with cold eyes, [‘Is the Knights Order completely disbanded?’ 

‘… There were still a few of them, but they were almost disbanded. Old Madam cut their salaries by more than half, and the rest of them were thrown out, accusing them of ridiculous sins. For someone like me to have stopped her….’

‘You must’ve been lacking in ability since Thesiri nor David was here.’]

After he collapsed, the first thing she did was to kick out his hands and feet, so there would be no one to protect the remaining knights.

[‘…… Adolf, how long have I been in a coma?’

‘A little over six months.’

‘6 months…. That must have been enough time for Madam Quillian to take control of the Duke’s house.’

‘….’]

The butler couldn’t help but tell Kaillus. Because now, the Duke of Diorat had fallen into the hands of that woman.

 I didn’t know it had been six months already. 

Kaillus narrowed his eyebrows as time passed more than expected. Fortunately, for six months, Madam Quillian did not completely cut off his breath, and the butler remained.

[‘I should have found a way… I’m sorry.’]

Kaillus asked the butler, who couldn’t raise his head.

[‘It’s not your fault. Rather, Thesiri and David were also expelled, and the Knights Templar were almost disbanded…. Are there any other important things I should know?’

‘The fact that the servants were completely changed to the Old Madam’s people, and Helkin becoming her doctor. Also….’]

The butler, who continued to speak, blurted the end of his speech with a sad face.

[‘Say it.’]

At Kaillus’ command, the butler took a deep breath and carefully spoke out.

[‘…Your Excellency the Duke is married.’]

His expression, which had not been shaken by any news, showed sudden agitation for the first time.

[‘… What? Who got married?’]

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