Chapter 3: Diana Kasser

I had felt severe muscle pain the day after my first horseback ride here.

I felt like my whole body wasn’t mine. My stomach hurt when I tried to laugh, my legs hurt when I tried to take even a single step, and my arms hurt whenever I raised my hand to grab the tea cup. Because I used muscles that I didn’t use before.

The owner of the body, ‘Milena’, had never learned to ride a horse before her marriage, so her negligence came back to hurt me.

She must have been afraid of getting hurt and getting a small scratch on her body because it would lead to a decline in product value in the conservative marriage market. But I was more afraid of dying.

When I’m abandoned, or if I have to run away, I thought it would be better to have six legs instead of two, so I learned how to ride a horse.

Come to think of it, a woman who was afraid of riding a horse for fear of getting hurt was cut and killed by her husband with whom she was so obsessed. It was a great tragedy.

Riding on an animal that I had never ridden on before in order to live left me with a lot of pain and the current situation was not much different either.

When I remembered last night, my heart instinctively beat faster.

I sighed, burying half of my face in the pillow and rubbing my stiff eyes. The blazing afternoon sun rippled through the shadows of the window.

My husband won’t be around.

I didn’t expect that much kindness from a cruel man. When I tried to get up from my place, I frowned at the intense pain that came.

“Are you up?”

I shuddered for a moment at the friendly voice I heard. A cool sensation penetrated deep into my bones when I saw the shadow on his face. His face, visible in both eyes, was almost perfect.

Siegfried put his mouth on my tightly closed lips, and then crept open my lips and pushed his tongue in. Yesterday’s senses came to mind, and my fingertips that pushed his shoulder were clearly trembling.

As soon as I hit the cold man and turned around, a solid arm pulled my waist. My ears, which seemed to be worn out in the aftermath of yesterday, slipped under his teeth. I struggled with the thought of his body engraved with tattoos and the hands that could break my neck at any moment.

“Milena.”

A sweet voice that could become cold at any time tied me firmly.

“I didn’t know your skin was this white.”

“…….”

“I should have looked inside that damn dress earlier.”

His arms wrapped around my waist. His body felt hard from behind.

“…Before another bastard caught the attention of my wife.”

“…divorce.”

“Divorce?”

He raised his eyebrows. Perhaps it was too late to regret, but rather he closed his eyes in a more obedient way and whispered affectionately.

“It’s all my fault.”

He swept my legs down and lifted my leg up and pulled it backward, towards his body.

“I’ll be nice.”

Contrary to what he said, he pulled me even harder and put me in his arms. Something pushed deep in from behind and I bit my lower lip.

“…shhhh.”

He gently caressed me as I flinched. I exhaled and barely matched his movements. Maybe he was happy that I did not push him away, Siegfried licked my cheek.

I double-checked to confirm my suspicions, but the planned future has now changed.

As a result, my husband did not give me the divorce papers.

For now.

.

.

.

.

.

“Did I neglect you too much?”

I looked at myself in the mirror at the sound of my husband’s voice.

The hickeys stretched out all over my body reaching my neck, just like a deer’s neck. The face on top of it was so small that it looked so pretty whenever I looked at it. The eyes were stretched upward, and the straight lips were closed.

Where did these scarlet jewel-like eyes come from? I looked into Milena’s eyes and thought. The father of “Milena” was a man who looked good with black hair, her deceased mother was a woman with pale blonde hair and a beautiful face. The blonde hair must have been from her mother, and the scarlet eyes from her father.

Below it I could see a blue sapphire jewel that complimented my eyes perfectly. The cold metal touched my skin. My husband bowed his head, delicately handling the knot of the necklace, and carefully set it down. His fingers brushed the skin behind my neck, making my slender shoulders tremble.

In the mirror, ‘Milena’s’ face was now pushed to the side by my husband’s face.

“If it weren’t for that, you wouldn’t have been looking for a man to heat the bed.”

A low voice whispered in my ear. He kissed me on the cheek, the only part of my body that maintained its milky glow.

His hand wrapped around my hand fiddling with the necklace. His other hand, which held my arm, gained strength.

“Don’t take it off.”

He grabbed my hand and stopped me, dropping it down.

“If you’re going to, take something else off instead,” [1]

As he said that, his eyes were frozen cold. How should I deal with this person? He was trying to tie me down.

Having made a decision, instead of answering, I lifted my head and kissed his lips with the intention of giving him what he desired.

For some reason, it seemed like he was trying to change his plans and keep me in the mansion, unlike in the original. I didn’t know what happened, or why he needed me, but I needed the name Duchess of Roam.

So it was a good deal.

It was a trade-off between healing and saving face.

I would have no regrets if he wanted to extend the deal that he and I had been tacitly maintaining. I was willing to match him if his intentions were wrapped with the word called affection.

The kiss I gave him wasn’t about obedience, it was about offering a deal to get the peace I wanted.

He closed his mouth as if in surprise, then opened his lips, gladly covering my clumsy tongue, and skillfully rubbed my tongue as if he would swallow it. When our lips fell, he curved his eyes with satisfaction.

He let go of my hand, whispered something in my ear, and left for the restroom. I looked at my scarlet eyes in the mirror.

“It’s almost impossible to lose these things to a motherfucker whose name I don’t even know.”

The vulgar words he whispered to me were still clear.

“I’m a fool too.”

With a small laugh he then walked away.

I didn’t know what those words meant, but I could see that he was pleased with the deal I approved.

***

“Information about Diana Kasser.”

The same morning. The House of Roam’s aide, Andrew Harrison, held out a black leather file. Siegfried, sitting in a crooked position, gave the file a heartless glance and looked at Harrison.

“…You instructed me to prepare it before the wedding.” (Andrew Harrison)

People said that the family’s Godmother would always be correct as always, but all of that was lip service. He saw that his mother’s death was imminent. The evidence was in this file. His marriage to Milena was entirely his mother’s will but he wanted a marriage that was practically beneficial to him.

New bride.

Diana Kasser, the new bride, was a very good pawn to hold on to.

The daughter of the Marquis was naive and lovely, and believed in happiness and love. If he married her, the Kasser family would be a dog with a leash. It was about his business that his mother didn’t know.

So Siegfried, as his mother’s great heir to Roam, married a woman who would be helpful to him during his mother’s lifetime, and he intended to marry a woman who would help him after his mother died.

After disposing the former one.

So before marriage he ordered to find information about Diana Kasser, which was the secret he was supposed to receive today. As expected, Andrew Harrison never let him down.

“Dispose it off.”

Harrison did not ask back, even though he did not understand Siegfried’s order. Greeting politely, he disposed of the documents whose value could easily bring a fortune worth a small kingdom.

This information was about the Marquise Kasser. Since it was information about the famous daughter of the tycoon, the value was considerable, but an order was an order.

Watching the papers burn, Harrison recalled what his boss had ordered around 5 a.m. this morning.

He said to get the “Eternal Life of the Deep Sea” which he had been eyeing at the last auction. The super luxurious blue diamond that already had an owner.

‘Is the diamond’s owner the Marquis of Edinburgh?’

At first, he thought it was a plot to break the will of those watching with a bated breath. [2]

A greedy wife who loved jewelry would be a good reason to attack the House of Edinburgh, and the Duke would just put all the blame on his soon-to-be-forgotten wife and family, and then throw her away. The timing was good too. [3]

The jewel eventually went to the bottom of the lady’s neck, but this……

While letting go of his thoughts, he noticed that the information about Diana Kasser was burning well in the fire.

The thought led to the owner of the diamond in question.

Edinburgh and all the powers related to it became a name that did not exist in that short time. Their names were trampled and erased even in the records.

‘In the end, it’s strange that the lady has no blame to take on.’

The duke was a man who moved according to his needs. If it wasn’t to pass all the blames on to the Madame, there was another purpose.

‘No way…’

Was his excellency just thinking of giving a diamond to his wife?

Harrison soon solidified his judgment.

If the Edinburgh family had been such menacing figures in the first place, they would not have been alive.

There was only one reason that the Duke, who left his political opponents intact no matter how annoying it was, took on that troublesome task overnight.

Harrison’s eyes sparkled after finishing his calculation. He soon fixed his expression and moved on.

“I prefer the facial features of the Rochester side; It’s a pity.” [4]

Those were the words of Siegfried, who was looking at his wife’s portrait before marriage.

Milena.

He quietly recited her name and recalled the pale woman’s face.

***

The maids who came in after my husband left, chattered and pleased me as usual. I listened to them without being awkward.

I smiled but didn’t believe them.

Was there a difference between humans who were adorned by nobles and the decorations nobles set up in their own gardens? Their functions were the same. These maids were not meant to help me, but rather a tool to create comfort.

At the same time, they were my watchdogs, optimized to squeeze information out of me. The disparity between yesterday’s dreary look and today’s sunny smile was only natural when knowing that fact.

I learned something new while having this conversation.

My necklace was a blue diamond, not sapphire. It was worth 6 billion Merchet (about 60 billion Korean Won= 4,55,39,760.00 USD).

The aesthetic that I had been cultivating while participating in society was overshadowed.

‘It’s not sapphire, really… It was a diamond.’

I didn’t know there would be such a deep blue diamond.

‘Isn’t it natural for an ordinary citizen to conclude that this stone, which is amazing in size, is a sapphire?’

It would be a surprise to my previous self that I had a treasure hanging around my neck which I had only seen as a result of a search on a famous portal site.

And it was weird.

‘…too quiet.’

By this time, Siegfried would be sitting at the office table and receiving information about the heroine, Diana Kasser. Since yesterday’s fatal injury variable had also been removed, it should have been concluded that it would be reasonable to carry out the plan as it was.

The document he would receive today would remind him that last night’s work was nothing but an impulse and that the new marriage was something he had planned for a long time.

In less than a week in the original work, “Milena,” who was obsessed with Siegfried, died and Diana stepped into the mansion with an innocent face. As expected, it was much more plausible to flow like that.

‘Yes, Diana Kasser is a pharmaceutical genius.’

She was a woman with a genius that couldn’t be compared to the healing techniques that I had been learning. A good woman who looked like a painting, suitable for a bad man. A bright woman. A woman who will be loved by everyone.

‘I still haven’t healed the pain in my heart.’

There were thousands of ways to implement healing magic, but my method was not very efficient. For example, I was like a singer who sang well but consequently had a vocal cord nodule. We were the same kind of people who held chopsticks in an X shape and ate rice.

Even if there was no problem right now, it was not good to use this method in the long term.

‘But he gave me a blue diamond instead of divorce papers, what is he thinking….’

The reason my husband wasn’t making a move was probably because he didn’t know that my abilities were still incomplete.

‘If that’s the case, I need to find a way that doesn’t strain my heart by using healing magic.’

I had a powerful ability to solve fatal injuries, but it was an ability that would someday run out.

Even if he didn’t bring up my divorce because I was useful now, it was clear that if I became useless, Siegfried would dispose of me.

‘And I’ll find Diana. Even if it’s not now, while sticking to my original plan.’

As I was lost in thought, I heard a cheerful knock. Soon the door opened, and an ocean that could not be in this mansion flooded through the cracks.

“Milena!”

“Jane.”

She was the younger sister of the male lead.

‘It’s already been this long.’

I was so absorbed in my troubles that I forgot for a moment that she was coming.

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

[1] he is implying to her to take off her clothes instead.

[2] this line means, convincing/tricking someone to do something, especially to a person who is neutral.

[3] in this novel we were never explained the scene how the OG!Milenia got killed but in this paragraph we get a glimpse that Siegfried might have plotted a whole plan in the original. The plan might have been like this: by giving the blue diamond necklace to the marquis Siegfried might have provoked the OG!Milenia to attack the marquis, and he would kill Marquis in the name of his wife and Siegfried could successfully dispose of OG!Milenia and at the same time too.

[4] He is saying, the face of Milena is of his taste but it’s a pity because he will be throwing her off soon.

Kasser name meaning: The roots of the distinguished German surname Kasser lie in the region of Bavaria. The name is derived from the German word “Gasse,” meaning “street, alley,” and denotes someone who lives either on the main road of the village or in an alley.

This means that the House of Kasser rose from the scraps and don’t have a very noble background.