MAS 06

-chapter 6-

Perhaps I was the one who had been starving all along.

“I can’t eat anymore.”

She was only twelve years old, yet most of this terrifying amount of food had somehow disappeared into her tiny stomach.

Humans really are amazing.

Shaking my head in disbelief, I met Mary’s eyes as she patted her round belly. And then—

“Uuugh.”

“…Mary.”

“Oops, my mistake. Oh my, did you hear that?”

“It was kind of hard not to hear.”

“Come on. It’s not that bad.”

“That’s not a compliment…”

“More importantly, my lady, it’ll take a while to clean all this up. Why don’t you go for a walk in the meantime?”

Mary got to her feet without even pretending to listen to me.

By now, I didn’t even have the energy to be shocked by her shamelessness.

Yeah. Guess this is just my fate.

I awkwardly rose from the picnic mat and asked,

“How long do you think it’ll take?”

“About twenty minutes.”

Mary answered while looking down at the disaster zone that used to be a picnic.

…Well. We really did eat a lot.

“Alright.”

Since I was a kind and considerate mistress, I should listen to Mary.

With that pointless thought, I walked farther and farther away from Mary as she began cleaning up the mat.

Maybe the grass had been watered—damp blades brushed against the soles of my shoes.

Each step carried a faint, fresh scent of grass to my nose.

As I wandered around, I suddenly looked up at the sky.

Whether it’s my past life or a world inside a book, the sky is still blue.

It still didn’t feel real.

The fact that I had become a character inside a novel.

I can’t go back… can I?

Thinking about my past life filled me with nostalgia, but strangely, I didn’t feel a strong desire to return.

It might sound odd, but the best way to describe it was this:
the world I used to live in felt like a dream, and this one felt like reality.

No—this wasn’t the time for that. I needed a plan!

My plan wasn’t anything grand.

Get a safe divorce from Siderion, then enjoy a peaceful, wealthy, unemployed life.

In novels, people usually squeeze out alimony and compensation…
I wonder if I could manage that too?

Besides that, I’d need to study if I wanted to adapt to this world.

I hated studying, but this wasn’t optional—it was necessary.

Of course, the biggest issue was the “safe divorce.”

It’ll be fine. According to the original story, I still have eight years before Siderion kills me.

I just needed to divorce him before he met the female lead!

I nodded to myself, desperately activating my positivity circuit—

“Why are you standing there like an idiot?”

A familiar voice came from behind me.

I stiffened instinctively.

No way.
Of all places—here?

When I turned around, sure enough, Siderion was standing there.

“What are you doing here?”

There he was—the very person I’d been hoping to divorce safely just moments ago.

His usual expressionless face felt like it was stabbing straight through me.

I’m nowhere near brave enough to deal with you yet…

Truthfully, I tended to talk a big game.

I went on and on about safe divorces, but actually carrying it out?
I didn’t have that kind of confidence.

To be honest… I’m scared of him.

Back when I was just a reader, I often felt frustrated watching reincarnated heroines who stuck rigidly to the original plot.

Surely the story won’t play out exactly the same. If it were me, I’d act differently.

But now that it was my life, instead of using my knowledge as a weapon, I was too busy trying to escape the hidden villain alive.

Mom… please save me…

When I didn’t answer, he fired off a few more remarks.

“Suspicious. Were you trying to steal something?”

“S-steal?!”

I shouted in disbelief.

Hey, that’s crossing a line!

Besides, what could there possibly be to steal in this garden—

Why is there a gold statue just sitting there so blatantly…?

I swallowed hard.

For the record, it wasn’t because I wanted it.
I was just nervous and needed to wet my throat.

“If you want it, take it.”

“Huh…?”

“Of course, you’ll have to deal with the consequences.”

His voice was so chilling that goosebumps broke out all over me.

What kind of thirteen-year-old is this scary…

Well, that’s why he’s a hidden villain, I guess.

Siderion suddenly started walking toward me.

W-wait, what?!
Startled, I squeezed my eyes shut as my body trembled.

Thankfully, he stopped a few steps away.

Then he said,

“Don’t misunderstand.”

What kind of vague nonsense was that?

I blinked in confusion, and he continued,

“You didn’t become part of the Asytria family because you were qualified.”

…What is he even saying?

“So don’t act like you’re someone important.”

This was ridiculous.

All I did was take a walk in the garden—did I really deserve this lecture?

I’d been trying to stay quiet because he was a budding villain,
but he was the one who started this.

I opened my mouth.

“You’re the one misunderstanding. I’m not here because I want to be either. I was used because your family is being watched by the Emperor! Do you think I wanted to be here?”

I’d only meant to vent a little, but the more I spoke, the more wronged I felt.

It wasn’t just about being forced into marriage at a young age for political games.

I had my own family.
My own life.
My own home.

And in one day, I was dragged to an unfamiliar place and forced to live as someone who wasn’t me.

How unfair was that?

What would someone like you, who seems to have no emotions, even know?

My vision blurred as my emotions surged.

I could clearly feel tears welling up. Damn it—how embarrassing.

I raised my sleeve and rubbed at my eyes.

They said baby skin was delicate; my eyes stung almost immediately.

“So… if you hate me that much, then just pretend we don’t know each other! Isn’t that easier?”

I was barely managing to suppress the emotions boiling inside me when Siderion suddenly asked an unrelated question.

“Then why did you do that back then?”

“Back then…?”

Back then?

Don’t tell me he means what happened in the hallway…?

After that day, I’d avoided the dining hall out of sheer bad luck, so that had been the last time I’d run into him.

“That time—!”

“That wasn’t something you needed to interfere in. You just stuck your nose in and got yourself hurt for nothing.”

Why do you even care?

“Whether someone gets hurt or not—”

“Know your place. You don’t need to pretend to care about me. This marriage is just for show anyway. Whatever you do, it’s pointless.”

Ah. Right.

What is his problem?

Even if you didn’t say it, I already know my place very well, thank you!

Still… what kind of children’s argument is this?

I guess it made sense for me—I had an adult inside.

But Siderion… he really didn’t seem like a child.

He actually seems more mature than me.

Could he be reincarnated too?

Also… he’s really handsome.

I wonder what he’ll look like when he grows up.

I should at least see that before I leave.

As I was thinking that, he continued,

“Don’t stick your neck out. Until I go to the battlefield, live quietly like a dead mouse. If you do that, Ken and the servants will stop paying attention to you.”

With that, Siderion turned his back on me without hesitation and walked away.

I’d been minding my own business before getting picked on, and all I could do was stare blankly at his retreating figure.

*

Stupid girl.

Siderion recalled what had happened a few days ago.

“The Grand Duke really is like a monster.”

“How can someone have no expression at all? He doesn’t seem human.”

Words he’d heard his entire life.

A monster.

Am I really that strange?

There was a time when he’d wondered.

So he asked his father.

“Father, am I a monster?”

After a long silence, his father looked down at him and said,

“We are monsters. Never forget that. Since you were born into the Asytria family, that is the fate you must carry for the rest of your life.”

I see.
So I’m a monster.

After that, he stopped questioning it.

His life simply continued that way.

Being called a monster by others, and believing himself to be one.

But then—

“How can a maid who serves a family hostile to Asytria insult her own master in that house?”

There was a girl who stood up against what should have been unquestionable.

The moment he saw her, a strange thought crossed his mind.

You’re not a monster.

What was that?

Who had said those words?

It felt familiar, yet no matter how hard he tried, nothing else came to mind.

Siderion quickly dismissed the thought and focused on the girl before him.

She’s irritating.

That insignificant child—nothing more than someone who had been sold off—looked at him with pity.

He had never cared how others saw him before, yet now it bothered him unbearably.

But even more irritating than that were—

The butler, and the loudly chattering maids.

Who are you, exactly,

to make me feel this way?

Thinking back, it had been like this from the first time they met.

The hand she’d offered him so casually stirred unfamiliar emotions.

It made his stomach churn, like motion sickness.

At first, he’d thought it was just a fleeting oddity.

But now, it seemed the cause was her.

Up until now, if something irritated him, he simply removed it.

But strangely, when it came to her, he couldn’t act the same way.

…Getting rid of a maid would be easier than getting rid of the Grand Duchess.

He knew his thoughts were heading in the wrong direction, but he wanted relief from the suffocating frustration first.

Siderion quietly called for the butler, Ken.