Chapter 8

An aesthetic young lady lying on a bed adorned with cute pink ruffles woke up screaming.

“Aaaaaah!”

Since it wasn’t the kind of scream a woman with beauty that seemed to transcend the world should make, the maid waiting outside anxiously flung the door open and rushed in.

“W-what, what is wrong, Lady Harmiel?”

“Gasp, gasp… W-where is this…?”

Harmiel looked around in shock. A familiar face caught her eye, but it looked somewhat younger than usual. Just in case, she called out the maid’s name.

“Rachel?”

The maid nodded at her words.

“Yes, it’s Rachel, your primary maid.”

At Rachel’s words, Harmiel suddenly choked up and burst into tears.

“H-hic, snif-waaaah, I-I’m alive. I’m actually alive.”

Watching the young lady utter incomprehensible words while tears poured out like a waterfall, Rachel gently hugged her and patted her back.

“There, there, it seems our dear young lady had a bad dream.”

At Rachel’s words, Harmiel just kept shedding tears without saying a word. Since Rachel was holding Harmiel tightly in an embrace, she had no way of knowing what kind of gaze or what kind of thoughts were harbored in Harmiel’s heart.

The eyes of Harmiel, who was shedding tears, burned with firm resolve.

“Rachel, what is today’s date?”

Rachel, who had been watching Harmiel with a worried expression lately as she kept asking strange questions, thought for a moment before telling her.

“Hmm, today is precisely July 15th, 1689 of the Imperial Calendar.”

“Right, thank you.”

Wondering why she was asking for a date when she normally never did, Rachel asked.

“Is there a reason you’re suddenly asking for the date?”

“O-oh? It’s nothing. Just thinking that summer is truly here.”

“That’s true. The rainy season passed just a while ago, after all.”

“Come to think of it, doesn’t Rachel’s friend work at the ducal household of Celion?”

At Harmiel’s words, Rachel nodded, then quickly wore a worried expression.

“Yes, that’s right. It’s a girl named ‘Maya’ who’s been with me since childhood. I suggested we both go to the ducal household of Harun together, but the ducal household of Celion offered slightly better pay, so she went that way instead. I was lucky enough to become a lady’s maid, but Maya is working as a housemaid, they say.”

Though she had more she wanted to say, Rachel couldn’t say any more than that. Lady Harmiel was kind as far as nobles went, but she was still a noble in the end. Perhaps sensing those thoughts, the very words Rachel had been meaning to say came out of Harmiel’s mouth instead.

“Aren’t you worried? Lady Armienne’s temperament is notorious for being terrible.”

“Gasp! N-no. It should be fine.”

Rachel, who had never once been seen speaking ill of others in the past, shook her head in surprise. Ever since having that nightmare, Lady Harmiel had become a bit more proactive, or perhaps one could say she seemed a bit more confident.

“Really?”

At Harmiel’s continued questioning, Rachel nodded with a slightly stiffened expression.

“I am actually a little worried, though. Just as you said, Lady Armienne’s personality is notorious even across the kingdom. Still, we’re planning to meet in a week, so I’ll hear directly from Maya then. Whether she really is someone with such a bad personality.”

At Rachel’s words, Harmiel let out a snort.

‘Even without hearing it, it’s already decided.’

Harmiel was confident that she was probably the woman who knew Armienne best in this entire world. Vowing that she would never be put through the wringer by Armienne in this lifetime, she checked the time.

July 15th, 1689 of the Imperial Calendar… This was precisely the day when Armienne, who loathed her more than anyone else, would visit the ducal household of Harun alongside other noble daughters to mock and ridicule her during tea time.

This time, she was confident she wouldn’t be swayed by her at all. Because she possessed memories that Armienne knew nothing about.

‘Just you wait.’

Harmiel clenched her fists tightly and hardened her resolve.

And time passed. A day went by.

Armienne did not show up.

As a result, Harmiel was shocked enough to nearly fall backward.

‘H-how could this be?’

She began to wonder if, just as Rachel had said, she really had simply experienced a bad dream. A sliver of doubt started to creep into the mind of Harmiel, who had firmly believed she had regressed.

A week later, Rachel reported back to her with a cheerful expression. She looked happy, as if she had just spent a delightful tea time with Maya, her best friend. Harmiel managed to conceal her nervous feelings and calmly asked Rachel.

Today was the day she was supposed to hear news about Armienne from the maid who worked in the estate where that woman lived.

“So, did you have fun today?”

“Yes! I ate delicious cake with the money you gave me, and we had a great time playing. Ah, I want to eat some again.”

“You’ll get fat if you keep that up.”

“Heh, you think so?”

Harmiel, sipping her herbal tea with trembling hands while listening to Rachel speak as if she had genuinely enjoyed herself, slowly waited for Rachel to open her mouth once more. And she anticipated the information she wanted to hear coming from Rachel’s lips.

“Ah, come to think of it, almost all our talk today was about Lady Armienne, of all things.”

“…!”

Harmiel opened her eyes wide, thinking that the information she desired had finally arrived.

“R-really? What kind of talk was it?”

Rachel tilted her head at Harmiel’s question and unspooled the story.

“Well, thinking about it anew, I suppose the rumors floating around the world aren’t really worth believing. It’s true that Lady Armienne is scary, but she apparently hasn’t ever treated anyone terribly, and she seems to have quite a warm heart, or so they say.”

“…N-no way.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, nothing. Go on.”

Harmiel’s voice shook heavily, but Rachel, absorbed in telling the story, failed to notice it.

“On top of that, they say she’s awakened to a talent for magic and the sword recently and is learning them super diligently. Besides, who was her instructor again? That famous person from back then. Didn’t a genius of the sword appear—wasn’t it Sir Carusien de Farba?”

Clatter-clank.

The moment Rachel finished speaking, Harmiel dropped the teacup she was holding. Startled by the sudden accident, Rachel quickly hurried over and cleaned up the broken shards of glass.

“A-are you alright, my lady?”

“T-that can’t be….”

Harmiel’s suspicion that she might have truly just had a bad dream began to grow stronger. Even after that, the thoroughly bewildered Harmiel heard even more stories about Armienne from Rachel’s lips, and the more she listened, the more she realized it didn’t match the Armienne she knew, causing her to shake her head.

‘T-this makes no sense. Armienne has a dull head, and her personality is even worse—she’s the peerless villainess of the century.’

And yet, hearing Rachel’s talk, she snapped at a maid who got mud on her face, only to forgive her with a smile?

She discovered a talent for magic and swordsmanship and was throwing herself diligently into her lessons?

It was an unbelievable reality for Harmiel. Unable to bear it any longer, Harmiel, who had been tossing and turning in agony for days, sprang to her feet.

‘At this rate, I’m going to die of stress again before I even meet her.’

To put an end to this doubt, the next morning as soon as she woke up, she quickly washed up and pulled out her outing clothes to wear.

Seeing that, Rachel approached in surprise.

“Where are you planning to go, my lady?”

“Yes.”

“Where on earth are you heading? You need to report it to the head butler.”

At Rachel’s words, Harmiel’s two eyes flashed chillingly.

“I’m going to the ducal household of Celion.”

Meanwhile, Lady Armienne of the ducal household of Celion was….

“You must get up, my lady.”

“I’ll sleep five minutes more. Yul.”