Chapter 14
The white elephant on the cover was striking.
I had no idea what the story was about, but it gave off a very moralistic vibe.
“Luca… you should read this.”
As soon as the fairy tale book was handed to him, Luca’s face twisted in disgust.
sigh… So he thinks fairy tales are boring. This is exactly why you shouldn’t expose kids to sensational media—they get desensitized!
I looked at Luca with disapproval and sternly said,
“I’m going to check later to see if you read it properly.”
“Alright, alright.”
Luca dragged out his response in a sulky voice. That ended the conversation about the gossip newspaper… or so I thought.
But when gossip is right in front of you, curiosity inevitably takes over. I couldn’t help sneaking glances at the crumpled newspaper I had stuffed aside.
After quickly checking that Rüdiger and Luca were both absorbed in their own reading, I unfolded the wrinkled newspaper.
Seeing the name Winterwald plastered all over the pages, I couldn’t help but mutter,
“Wow… they’re really popular.”
I wondered if calling it “popular” was really the right way to put it.
Do families like the Winterwalds always go through this kind of thing? If so, no matter how wealthy they are, life can’t be all envy-inducing.
“I thought there’d be no digital footprint in this world, but noble families get immortalized like this anyway… and not by choice.”
The thought gave me chills.
“Luca’s going to have a hard time too… if he gets enrolled into the Winterwald family, won’t newspapers like this start flooding again?”
I clicked my tongue in disapproval.
“Well, at least I’m safe… right? Wait, am I really safe?”
My face turned pale. No way… I’m not even a Winterwald, I’m just… a civilian.
Even if I worked at a newspaper, I doubted they’d leave me alone.
The material was too juicy to ignore. The moment my name appeared in print, I could imagine it selling millions of copies.
I didn’t even have to read the article to know what it would say:
“A One-Night Miracle: The Fall and Rise of a Nobility”
“Jonas Winterwald’s Woman: Larisa Maibaum and Her Sister Judith Maibaum—Who is She Really? A Con Artist or a Woman Blessed with Extraordinary Luck?”
“A Well-Placed Nephew Beats Ten Sons? The Cinderella Story of Judith Maibaum”
Dozens of headlines flashed through my mind. Just thinking about it was horrifying.
I suppressed the urge to scream, took a deep breath, and unconsciously tightened my grip on the newspaper, crumpling it even more.
The already wrinkled paper was now a complete mess. With a sigh, I opened it.
Then, my eyes landed on an article titled “The Shattered Dreams of the Lady of Winterwald”.
The idea of an article about me was terrifying, but I couldn’t help being curious about its contents.
I skimmed the article:
*“Count Jonas Bülow of the Winterwald family, who had long enjoyed the admiration of debutantes in society, was once the coveted husband for every young lady dreaming of becoming the lady of Winterwald. But Jonas Winterwald tragically passed away in an accident, and now his younger brother, Rüdiger, Count of Sachsen, inherits the title.
Although Count Sachsen is also unmarried, it does not mean he is free. Unfortunately, he is more like a painted fruit in a picture. The contract with the royal family regarding railway construction rights is still in place!
With the death of Count Bülow, who had royal blood, Winterwald must now produce a successor with royal lineage. Will the Duke of Winterwald remarry, or will Count Sachsen form an alliance with the royal family? Since Count Sachsen has reached marriageable age, the latter seems more likely.
Moreover, the unmarried second princess has a friendship with Rüdiger, who previously served as a soldier in the capital…”*
Ah… railway construction rights. A familiar topic.
How could I not know? That was the main cause of conflict in the original story—the reason a legitimate son like Rüdiger would inherit the title over the illegitimate Luca.
First, how did they acquire the railway rights? Railways had only recently begun to appear in this world. The royal family restricted railway construction rights tightly, and everyone competed to secure them. The winner, as you can see, was the Winterwald family.
The current Duke of Winterwald, Maximilian, achieved this by negotiating a marriage with Princess Vanessa. But marriage alone wasn’t the only requirement. There was a critical condition: the Winterwald heir had to carry royal blood.
However, Princess Vanessa died after giving birth to Jonas due to puerperal fever. Subsequently, her maid Sophia became the Duchess and bore Rüdiger.
As a result, the only person in Winterwald carrying royal blood was the illegitimate Luca.
Of course, there were other options. As the newspaper suggested, Rüdiger could marry into the royal family and produce another heir with royal blood. But we all know… this handsome man is a staunch bachelor!
That made it impossible for the Duke to remarry, so someone else had to marry the royal line—someone close to the direct family, a young man of marriageable age. That man was Rüdiger’s cousin, Franz Berkenreiss, who became the person sending assassins this time.
Franz thought that once Jonas was gone, he would inherit the title and rejoiced… but Luca’s arrival ruined everything. Despite being illegitimate, Luca was direct bloodline and carried royal blood, so why bother with a collateral branch?
With Luca’s appearance, Franz became like a dog chasing a chicken—completely desperate. And in the original story, he became the villain, plotting to kill Luca at every opportunity. Many, including Rüdiger, were killed by him. Even Judith’s use and death came at his hands.
The main villain of the novel. In short, he was my greatest adversary.
“If only Rüdiger hadn’t declared himself a bachelor, Franz wouldn’t have gone completely mad… he wouldn’t even have dreamed of it.”
I clicked my tongue.
“Why on earth is Rüdiger such a bachelor?”
Of course, I had no intention of marriage either. In both the original and this world, surviving on my own was difficult enough. I had no time for romance, nor any desire to improve my status through marriage.
But Rüdiger’s circumstances were entirely different. He had everything—status, wealth, honor, power, looks… a man who could never be ignored anywhere.
Yet he chose to remain unmarried, even giving up the ducal succession.
While others were sacrificing everything to inherit titles, Franz included…
Ah, when I mentioned dignity, that was Franz, not Rüdiger.
Of course, Rüdiger could have disliked political marriages, but judging from the fact that he had no intention of marrying even when Jonas was alive, it seemed he simply had no interest in marriage at all.
“The original story said nothing about this… maybe he had a childhood crush who died young?”
I busied myself imagining the story in my head. Otherwise, I couldn’t make sense of it.
“I really don’t know what handsome people think… Well, Judith isn’t much different. She had a complex about her looks despite being beautiful.”
In any case, there was no point in me arguing about Rüdiger’s bachelorhood.
I shrugged and moved on to the rest of the article:
“Will the dreams of debutantes to become the lady of Winterwald remain in vain? But it is too soon to give up… considering the current Duchess of Winterwald…”
Regardless of the specifics, the article was perfect at drawing readers in. I was completely absorbed, forgetting even to moisten my dry lips.
As I turned the page to continue reading, someone suddenly snatched the newspaper from my hands.
