Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The huge lake that had just turned red at the end of the sunset was a picture-like scene.

A beautiful lake surrounded by reeds, harmoniously living animals, and colorful flower bushes made me think of the heaven I’d never been to.

“……”

Well, after seeing this, could there be any other heaven?

I approached the lake, step by step, but then halted my footsteps.

For the first time since I’d transmigrated, I felt another person’s presence. I was surprised, but my expectations subtly rose as well.

Seeing her outfit, she definitely looked like a servant of this place, but what would she call me by when she saw me?

Lady? Princess? If not that, then……

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!” (the servant)

「…… 」 (female lead)

T/N  「 」 : it’s used for the female lead’s thoughts.

Her surprised reaction is just like how the characters act shocked in novels.

She’d shattered my expectations of talking to a servant character, but I watched with slight interest as the woman backed away with a pale face.

But anyway, is there something weird stuck on my face?

I rubbed my cheeks but didn’t feel anything odd.

「……Ah, seriously. Why is she like that.」

The woman had dropped her basket and was running on the path she’d taken to get here. Perhaps, if I followed her, I’d be able to find out more about my situation.

T/N 아마 저쪽 편으로 가면 또 다른 곳이 나오는 모양이었다: Perhaps if I went that way I’d be able to go to another place.

I was feeling a little frustrated at her terrified reaction to my appearance, but she was only one person.

I needed to find out about my situation before I started to make life plans.

Other than being a transmigrator, I didn’t possess any buff or abilities, so I had no choice but to be self-sufficient.

I didn’t even know my name. Feeling anxious, I sped up as I chased after the woman in fear of losing sight of her.  My ankle had gotten caught in my dress, which I’d worn for the first time, but I couldn’t stop here.

「Excuse me! Hey, wait a second…」

No matter how much I called out to her, the woman continued running until she quickly disappeared. When I lifted my head, I saw that the sunset had passed and the glowing moon had appeared.

What do I do now?

Did I have to go inside that house and be alone again? I suddenly felt chills up my spine and then shook my head.

Though I couldn’t catch up to the woman, there would surely be others in the direction she had run towards.

Now in the middle of a barren stretch of land without any lampposts, I had to hurry before the night fully descended.

「Pant. Pant!」

……But why was it so hard to move? Though I was only running in a straight direction, my body felt strangely heavy.

No, to be precise, it didn’t exactly feel heavier.

Rather than simply lacking strength or being wrapped around by the hem of the dress, I was completely unable to walk.

Instead, I felt like I was enveloped by something very fluffy.

My body felt like it was buried in a blanket filled with something like feathers…….Yes, feathers! That ticklish and fluffy feeli–……

「AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!」

For your information, I tried my best to alter the scream above so you could comprehend it quickly.

But actually, the scream I made wasn’t that “human-like.”

“Honk, Honnnnkkkkk!”

I sat down in shock as I heard the animal scream that rang out from my throat.

I could only sit down.

I needed legs to be able to run, but I couldn’t see my own legs.

And then what about my hand?

Even my white hands that had been gripping onto the sides of my dress had disappeared. Left, right, up, down! No matter how many places I looked, I could only see black and more black feathers covering my entire body.

“HONKKKKKK!”

What is this! What is all this!

After running in a circle in the dirt, the reality of this situation sank in.

A black swan shivered under the dark blue moon.

T/N black-blue moonlight (changed to moon). it’s what the raws said. -shrugs-

If anyone saw this from afar, they might say it’s a pleasing sight to see next to a beautiful lake……but that’s me they’re talking about!

Oh my God! I’ve turned into a black bird!

“Hmm, I was wondering what the fuss was about.”

A black shadow suddenly fell over my head just when I was about to faint.

She was gorgeous, with blue eyes and silver-white hair, a woman who seemed like she would thrive in any sort of novel setting.

If it was her beauty, I was sure she could be the heroine of a fairy tale.

“That’s why I told you to just stay inside……Mother.”

If it wasn’t for that cold smile that chilled me all the way down to my feathers.

◇ ◆ ◇

After that, three months passed.

Of course, they didn’t just pass like that. During that time, I learned about my identity and the situation I was in.

During the time other transmigrators, who knew of events in advance, had married and started businesses, I had only figured out my name and circumstances.

And on top of that, I now had this fluffy body.

“Honk!”

That’s right, honk. Read this at littleajummas on wordpress, honkity honk honk bishes.

I still couldn’t get used to this voice of mine, but it’s not like I could live with my mouth shut all the time.

First off, my name is Catherine.

Just by that name I could tell I’m not a main character, since “Catherine” wasn’t a name you found in a novel. Even in the outside world, at best, it was a name you’d see maybe two to three people using at the neighborhood language cram school.

T/N ehem, in my humble opinion, catherine is an excellent name for a heroine.

Anyway, the story’s like this. Originally, I was the daughter of a baron situated at the frontier……well, you could probably tell what kind of household I was from based on the fact I had been sold off to a man as old as my father.

Had I only read a novel or two? I could guess what happened.

My father had passed away early on, and my stepmother, who had used all the family funds on luxury goods, had eventually sold me.

And as to what kind of family bought this beautiful woman…unexpectedly, it wasn’t a gambler, sex maniac, or nutcase.

And not just a count, or a marquis, but a duke!

In addition, Duke Evendell was the lord of the northern region of the empire.

「……Wow.」

My god! I’m a duchess!?

Please read this on the original website, littleajummas.wordpress.com.

But the reason I couldn’t be overwhelmed with happiness about this is that my husband, the duke, had passed away. He actually died the night I’d arrived, so I probably didn’t even have the chance to hold his hand.

Since the expression of the person who’d told me this story didn’t have a speck of sympathy, I guessed that I probably wasn’t registered as married to the duke before he died.

Alright. If you’ve heard up to this part, you’ve probably noticed that this marriage was never normal in the first place.

I hadn’t been bought just for the charity of it, and if a woman was being forced to be a duke’s wife, there had to be some underlying reason to be brought into this extraordinary household.

The former duke, who had collapsed due to an injury from the empire’s continental conquest, was without a wife, and only had two daughters. And so the eldest daughter, Lady Rania, had ruled the northern lands for many years in her father’s stead.

T/N 공녀 – lady; it’s different from 공주, and in this case, it’s referring to Rania as the duke’s daughter. A duke’s daughter is 공녀 (gong-nyeo) because a duke is 공작 (gong-jahk)In the same way, a count’s daughter is 후녀 (hoo-nyeo) because count is 후작 (hoo-jahk).

However, her crisis began when her father showed signs of passing away.

In accordance with the imperial law, a son was to inherit the titles and properties Rania had used and enjoyed until then……to put it in plain terms, she’d only return to square one after working like a dog.

But of course the smart lady wasn’t going to quietly let this happen.

Before her hard work went to someone else, she found a loophole in the system.

In the case that a duke left behind a widow, all processes of inheritance would be suspended for a year, so as a temporary measure, she quickly found someone to fill up the spot as a stepmother.

The year of suspension was originally for the widow to give birth in case she was pregnant with the duke’s child after her husband’s death.

But Rania used this instead to make preparations. And if she found a proper husband and married him during the one year, she’d succeed, game over.

Whether it was the titles or wealth, she’d be able to keep them all.

Of course, she wouldn’t automatically inherit this, she would have to formally inherit everything from the stepmother, who would at that point, have the rights and authority. So in other words, the stepmother had to be chosen carefully.

A nobody, someone who didn’t have support from their family and would naively hand over the position without a shred of greed……

“That’s me.”

I’d won the lottery.

I rapidly shook my head and laughed at myself.

That is, it would have been if I could laugh that way, except I had a beak.

「Ugh, that bitch.」

That’s right, bish. Read this at littleajummas on wordpress, bishy bishy bishes.

Perhaps there had been something that made her suspicious, as the clever Rania had put a curse on the stepmother she’d chosen with great care.

Maybe she was worried I’d run away and make trouble, or find a lover and have a child secretly, because as soon as the duke passed away, I was brought to this place and had been turned into this mess.

“As you know, Duchess Evendell, no, my stepmother, is struggling with shock over my father’s death, making it difficult for her to take the position. It looks like I have no choice but to serve you as her proxy.”

How was she able to concoct such poor lies about me as explanation?

Even if Rania’s words were questionable, no one would dare to question her. Since she had been ruling the northern lands for many years, her words had become law.

And it looked like rumours that I had done something to do with the duke’s death were circulating, which only gave Rania more of an advantage over me. The stepmother who’d gotten rid of her husband in just a day and the sensible daughter of the legal wife.

Which of the two do you think will capture the people’s hearts?

Rania was really someone who’d do anything to achieve her purpose, as she’d even go to the extent of using dark magic to make me like this.

The maid who was frightened to see me on the first day of my transmigration must have believed whatever malicious rumors that Rania had spread about me.

「……Sigh.」

What kind of bad luck is this, seriously.

I smashed my red beak into the ground.

I really needed to have a long talk with the god or author of this novel.

What other novel world has a better transmigrator than me?

Overnight transmigration? Okay. That’s a given.

An unprecedented marriage? Well, it’s a little rattling, but it’s something I can deal with.

But the fact that my husband died on my first night in the household, and that my stepdaughter had placed a curse on me? This completely broke away from any sense of business ethics, author.

「…… 」

I could spend time as the beautiful Catherine when the sun was up, but I changed back into a black swan during the night.

However, after a while, I realized that nighttime wasn’t the trigger for my transformation.

Instead, I turned into a black swan when I was directly hit by moonlight.

Which still meant that I couldn’t easily run away from here.

Because if I ran away and turned into a black swan, it could get extremely dangerous.

Honestly, even if I was a beauty among black swans, where would I go?

I wasn’t being delusional just because these were my feathers, but seriously, if you went out and searched every inch of this lake for feathers that shined like mine, you’d probably return empty-handed.

「Ah…..」

I don’t want to rate animals by their looks, but I was leagues ahead in appearance compared to the elephants and giraffes in the zoo I’d worked at in my previous life.

I think it’d be easier to describe me as the BTS of birds.

I was sure that there’d be a countless number of people who would come to see me as much as I was sure of my chubby body’s noble and dignified appearance.

But that didn’t mean I wanted to be a spectacle.