Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Have I died before?

Yes.

Mm I see. How?

I think its because you got so upset from suffering under Mister Verdic.

Carynne tried to trace her memories. The fief lord didnt die every time. There were times when he lived and stayed with Carynne until the day before she died. But in most cases, he didnt live.

As the fief lord had been thoroughly beaten by Verdic, he often went in shock and became bedridden, and after a long bout of this illness, he would pass away.

I think you had a hard time after the business failed.

Carynne lowered her voice to a whisper. Fortunately, Verdic and Raymonds attention were on Isella instead of this side.

I didnt think I would care about it so much.

After his wife died, he considered everything else ephemeral. Be it the land or its people. Did he even feel any passion? The fief lord felt a bit disturbed.

Carynne comforted her father by patting him on the arm.

Humans are more multifaceted than they think they are. But in the next life, Ill be sure to observe your death more closely, Father.

T-Thank you.

Its nothing.

Clink.

Over there, the countess was ridiculing Isella to her face. And sure enough, Isella was entirely flushed red. Whenever Isella was embarrassed, her movements grew stiffer and her voice would get louder, making her all the more difficult to deal with.

Carynne looked fondly at her adorable rival. Meanwhile, Verdic couldnt bear to look and even covered his eyes with his hands.

Verdics face looks funny.

Isella over there looks interesting, too.

One pair of father and daughter sipped their champagne as they watched another pair of father and daughter embarrass themselves. The fief lord set down his glass and got up from his seat. To this, Carynne asked.

Where are you going?

To do Mister Verdic a favor.

Ugh.

Carynne could feel a headache coming in as she thought of what shes about to go through as Isellas lady-in-waiting. A lot of things happened this time, so she was getting even more peeved.

I should have killed Isella first.

Its already come to this though, so what could she do with regrets? Still, it was a good thing that Nancy, the person closest to Carynne, had died like that.

Determined not to be bogged down by such trivial matters, Carynne smiled as she saw Isella approaching.

Miss Isella.

Carynne.

Sit down and drink some brandy to calm you down.

Thank you.

Isellas voice was sharp.

No, you might not know it.

Are you mocking me for not being a fief lords daughter like you?

Dont exaggerate, Isella. Youre the only one who thinks that.

But you smiled!

As if you dont know, but am I not allowed to smile? If it made you feel bad, I apologize.

Y-You

Im sorry, Isella.

Are you mocking me right now?

Yes.

As Isella was at a loss, Carynne thought that Isella was being quite adorable as she was showing a variety of expressions like this.

Now that she thought about it, why didnt Verdic teach this to Isella? She wondered if this was because they were from a merchant class. Most lessons on etiquette should have been given before ones debut in society. If theres someone out there whod want to speak ill of someone else, a minor mistake like this could blow out of proportion and become like high treason.

Then the person who taught me It must have been Missus Deere, not Nancy.

If this repeated life was true, then was it also true that this was a novel? How difficult. When rationality and insanity were so intertwined like this, truth, illusion, falsehood and hallucination were all mixed upit made her so dizzy.

The biggest problem was that, thus far, she was enjoying her life as Carynne for so long only because she was under the faint presumption that she was an outsider of the novel. That she was not Carynne.

Is there a way to prove it?

Carynne frowned. She heard that Catherine said so, but Carynne wasnt sure because her mother also said that the world was like a novel. And beyond Carynne, Catherine might have been delusional herself, then she might have also fed that same delusion to her daughter.

Carynne!

Give me a sec.

She didnt know which one of them was more pathetic, given that Carynne had already repeatedly explained the same thing to Isella about thirty times.

Carynne felt grim as she recalled that she had to teach Isella about high society one by one as she was her lady-in-waiting. At the core of it, Isellas personality made it so that she didnt take direction from others very well.

Sure, shes good at crunching numbers, but when it came to etiquette and interpersonal relationships, she knew almost zilch about those. She held no curiosity for it, neither interest as well.

Its cause the parents ruined the child.

What?

Ah, the words left her lips. Carynne clicked her tongue at the words she uttered unconsciously.

And at the incoming palm she could already see, Carynne clenched her teeth.

SLAP!

the conversation about Lady got a bit confusing in translation, but to explain, here are the different titles used in Korean:

literally the English word Lady but in Korean romanization; this is the title used for the countess (as Lady Elva or Lady Orphen)

means esteemed daughter and is the title to politely call the young lady of another family, so I also translate this word as Lady; this is the title used for Carynne (as Lady Carynne or Lady Hare)

also like but somewhat less formal, so I translate it as Miss; this is the title used for Isella (as Miss Isella or Miss Evans) and sometimes for Carynne (Verdic called her Miss before)

essentially, the hierarchy goes as: Miss () < Lady () < Lady ()