Chapter 5: Confirmation procedure (1)

Rumble, rumble.

My body swayed slightly each time the carriage went over the cobblestone path.

Though I leaned back against the seat, my tension didn’t easily dissipate.

My fingertips needlessly stroked the hem of my dress, then fiddled with the ribbon again, and I once more looked down at my feet, which I had already seen just minutes ago.

“Milady, are you alright…?”

Sara, sitting opposite me, asked with a worried expression.

The maid whose name I didn’t even know until recently.

It turned out she was Sennet’s personal maid, and the person who cared for and worried about her milady, Sennet, more than anyone besides her family.

She was the one who screamed when I cut my hair, and also the one who secretly placed novels on my bookshelf to alleviate my boredom.

Just having her sitting across from me made me feel a little more at ease today.

‘Yes, it’s a relief it’s Sara.’

If my family had accompanied me—I didn’t even want to imagine it.

Especially Father, he would have made me even more anxious.

So, I deliberately left them behind and came out alone.

“I’m not entirely alright, but there’s no turning back now, is there?”

I said with a forced smile, but in truth, I wasn’t just ‘not entirely alright’; I wasn’t alright at all.

The thought, ‘Perhaps it would have been better to just stay quiet and still,’ kept swirling in my mind.

It had been a month since I resolved to meet Isellia just one more time.

Finally, I had the chance to meet her.

It took several days just to elegantly and politely phrase the words, ‘I wish to apologize for what happened that day,’ and put them into a letter.

That was the purpose of today.

To formally and sincerely bow my head for the rude behavior I displayed a month ago.

But, of course, that was merely the pretext.

The real purpose was to confirm with my own eyes whether Isellia was still a villain at this point in time.

In fact, someone who knew the original story would feel the risk was high.

Because if she was still a villain, there was a high possibility I wouldn’t be safe upon meeting her again.

“We’ll arrive soon, Milady.”

The carriage slowed down.

Beyond the window, I could see the black gate, tall iron decorations, and beyond them, the sprawling garden and mansion.

I slowly straightened my back and put strength into my hands.

****

When the ducal mansion’s gates opened, a garden, utterly different from the outside air and incredibly serene, unfolded before my eyes.

Under the early summer sunlight, the foliage was unbelievably well-maintained, and the stone-paved garden path was smooth, without a speck of dust.

The colorful flowers, tended with such care by the gardener, bowed their heads quietly, without a single breath of wind.

“I shall escort you to the garden.”

At the words of the servant walking ahead, I took a short breath.

My steps along the garden path were more cautious than I expected.

The servant’s back ahead of me gradually receded, and only Sara’s presence, quietly matching my pace behind me, was strangely distinct.

‘…Sara, I don’t look strange, do I?’

I turned my head slightly and whispered softly to Sara, who was following behind, asking for a final check.

For today, I had carefully chosen my dress.

A subdued grayish-brown tone that wouldn’t stand out, and a single, understated brooch.

The ribbon, tied five times, was neatly fastened, and now that my hair was short, I surely wouldn’t look gloomy.

“No, Milady, you look very neat today.”

“Really? Well, that’s a relief then.”

Sara, who had been Sennet’s personal maid all this time.

If such a Sara said I looked fine now, it meant that at least my appearance wasn’t bad.

As I felt a small sense of relief, the servant’s footsteps quietly stopped.

I followed suit, stopping a step behind.

The garden was silent.

A black-haired girl sat at a white table under a parasol, drinking tea.

Her head wasn’t lifted at all.

As if she didn’t care who came or went.

“Lady Isellia, I have brought Lady Sennet.”

The servant quietly announced.

Only then did she set down her teacup.

She slowly turned her head and cast her gaze towards me.

In the windless garden, her black hair shimmered in the sunlight.

I stopped a few steps away from the table.

Isellia spoke calmly, her voice tinged with a slight annoyance rather than welcome, as if she were bothered.

“…You’ve arrived? You said you came to apologize for that day… I don’t particularly want to hear it, but since you’ve come all this way—”

But her words stopped there.

“Who…?”

A low voice, but the confusion was clearly conveyed.

Isellia’s eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly.

Her face truly looked as if she didn’t know me.

It wasn’t politeness or sarcasm; it was truly the expression of someone seeing me for the first time.

She tilted her head, gazing at my face.

I quietly and courteously bowed my head.

“It’s been a while, Lady Isellia. I am Sennet Windsor.”

At my words, her eyes widened by half.

Isellia, still holding her teacup, very slowly straightened her back and stared directly at me.

“Sennet Windsor…?”

She muttered to herself, then her eyes scanned my face again, as if in disbelief.

Her eyes, her mouth, her hair, even her posture.

A confusion that suggested something familiar yet seeing a completely different person was conveyed.

“No way… Are you really, truly, Lady Sennet…?”

Then her eyes trembled, and her lips parted slightly—the moment she took a small breath, she immediately covered her mouth with both hands.

‘Do I look strange somewhere?’

“…Please, have a seat first.”

As Isellia broke the silence and spoke briefly, I carefully sat down in the chair.

I didn’t lean back, but instead sat up straight with my hands on my lap.

Isellia sat down again across from me.

Despite her invitation to sit, the garden remained quiet.

Gentle sunlight, the slightly humid early summer air, and a dessert plate and teacup carefully placed on the white table.\nFeeling that such an atmosphere might make me unnecessarily nervous, I carefully moistened my mouth with a sip of black tea.

It was smooth and fragrant.

Next, I picked up a cookie from the plate.

– Crunch

The texture was surprisingly good.

The outside was thin and firm, but the inside melted softly.

‘Delicious.’

Despite the atmosphere, it was strangely, remarkably delicious.

I reached out a little more naturally and picked up a small slice of cake.

When cut in half, cream and apple pieces flowed out smoothly, and I carefully lifted it with a fork and put it into my mouth.

It was the first time since possessing this body that I had eaten food with my own power.

“…Your hair.”

Only then did Isellia speak.

Her voice was calm.

I hurriedly chewed the cake that filled my mouth, barely managing to swallow it down my throat.

“Gulp… Pardon?”

“Your hair… What happened to it?”

I smiled slightly and said without hesitation.

“It was just a bother. It covered my eyes when it was long, and it was inconvenient to manage.”

“…That’s a lie.”

Isellia quietly lowered her gaze.

There was no change in her expression, but strangely—I felt as if she had held her breath for a moment.

She nodded, her lips tightly sealed.

I, not finding her reaction strange, picked up another small piece of pastry.

‘…Ah, wait a minute.’

‘I came here to apologize to Isellia, not to leisurely enjoy refreshments.’

I carefully took a breath and raised my head.

Isellia, who was holding her teacup with both hands, kept her gaze lowered, and her expression was too quiet to read.

I had already missed the timing to speak—but I just opened my mouth anyway.

“I apologize.”

No particular prelude, no conversation, just a quiet swallow of a pastry, then a sudden, almost blurted-out remark.

Instantly, Isellia’s motion of tilting her teacup stopped.

“Apologize? What do you mean by… Ah…!”

Only then did her wavering gaze find focus in the air.

Her shoulders stiffened ever so slightly, and the teacup she held in her fingers was carefully placed back on its saucer.

‘…Surely, she didn’t forget why I came to see her?’

“…Ah, ah… Yes, that, that!”

Isellia needlessly picked up the teacup again.

It was empty.

Realizing it was empty just as she was about to take a sip, she put the cup down, her face slightly flushed with embarrassment.

She avoided my gaze and spoke as if to herself.

“Well, at that time, it was a bit, you know. A little… No, a lot… No, it’s true that I was upset, but I’m fine now? But that was Lady Sennet’s fault. No, no, now that I think about it, maybe it wasn’t even a fault? And, and I told you to leave in a fit of pique, but I didn’t really mean it? I don’t know why you cut your hair, but if it was because of me… I… that…”

Isellia’s clear and composed tone disappeared, her voice growing softer and losing its way.

At some point, her hands were carefully clasped together, and her index fingers were touching each other in the middle.

Very small and careful, tapping irregularly as if gently bumping.

And another thing.

Her face was faintly flushed.

To attribute it to the sunlight, the color spreading from her earlobes to her cheeks was too distinct.

Isellia was still struggling to organize her words.

“I’m not upset at all now, rather… No, not rather… Anyway, it’s fine. Really.”

I felt puzzled watching Isellia, who rambled on, unable to meet my eyes.

‘Why is she suddenly like this?’

This Isellia was so unfamiliar, but one thing was certain.

‘At this point, Isellia is definitely not a villain like in the original story.’

Rather.

“So, rather than a fault… a mistake? No, is ‘mistake’ also a bit… Uh… just… Anyway… I apologize. My words… aren’t coming out right.”

“…It’s alright.”

‘She might even look a little cute…?’