chapter 21.1

Even if I go back a little bit, I’ll find happiness in the end.

Thinking about those things, I didn’t envy Harris at all. I was not envious of anyone.

“I wouldn’t fix that. I don’t even know what it means to act like a child, and I like myself.”

“I like you, too. To be honest, I think it’s okay not to be a little childish. You have your own train of thoughts.”

“Yes! I’m me. I’m not Harris!”

“Yeah, so, while you’re at it, tell me some things about Lady Harris? Are you all right?”

Cecilia was cautious whenever there was a story about Harris.

‘You’re afraid I’m gonna get hurt… Is that it?’

My mom was always like that, so I didn’t listen to what the knights said, and I used to say that everything they said was a lie.

The expression Cecilia made was almost the same as my mother’s. That’s why I had to listen more.

My mother was my guardian then, but now I’m her guardian. The men who threatened my mother may be regarded as childish… and I won’t forgive them.’

“Then I’ll tell you. It’s not too bad. It’s a story about why she became so grumpy. As I told you before, Lady Harris was recognized as a lady because she brought the pendant that the Grand Duchess had.”

“Yes, I heard it.”

“But when Lady Harris came here for the first time, and immediately after showing the pendant to Her Majesty, she collapsed.”

“Oh my!”

“She is on the weak side. She is more careful because she was discovered as the Lost Lady in the Grand Duchy, and because she thought everyone is on her side no matter what trouble she stirs, Miss Harris’ whining got worse, especially since no one can stop her.”

Cecilia spoke to me as carefully as she could. But it’s strange as it was, wasn’t it?

I didn’t know, but the back of my head keeps tingling.

“The once Lost Lady…”

“Yes.”

“But…”

“What?”

“The baby that was really in the belly of the Grand Duchess… was it really Harris? It’s that I don’t like her. I’m just curious… ”

I waved my hands quickly in case Cecilia doubted.

“I know you don’t feel that way about Miss Harris. You think ‘She’s really annoying’.”

I nodded profusely and looked at her as she guessed exactly what I was thinking.

“Right! That’s it.”

“Ah so it’s like that. Sometimes you don’t act like a child. You act like an adult the most, especially when you are in front of Miss Harris.”

“Oh… so that’s how I look?”

How could she get it right? I scratched my head in embarrassment as if I had been caught.

“Yes, that’s why I thought it was ‘Oh, she’s bothering me again’. Anyway, I did some research on Miss Harris.”

“You did?”

“His Highness is not that naïve. That’s why he did his research. Miss Harris said that an old couple had been raising her for quite a long time before coming to the Grand Duchy. They said they picked up a child wrapped in cloth that was washed up in the river, and showed him the cloth that was wrapped around the child.”

“No way.”

“It was the shawl the Grand Duchess was wearing when she went out. Patterns of the Grand Duchy were sewn on it. Everything that enters the Grand Duke is embroidered with the family’s pattern. It meant that it entered the Grand Duchy. Most aristocrats do that.”

All the evidence proved it…

That Harris was a perfect child of the Grand Duke.

But why was I so uncomfortable?

“There’s evidence, and there’s also a witness, and everyone has come to believe it even without the power of the Grand Duke.”

What? Something’s wrong.

Obviously, I didn’t know anything about this insider story of the Grand Duke in my past memories on whether Harris really was the Grand Duke’s biological daughter. However, without knowing what happened, I kept feeling uncomfortable.

I felt like I missed something big.

‘Did I hate her that much?’

Did I keep thinking like this because I didn’t like her?

‘I can’t believe I was such a bad girl.’

I felt disappointed in myself. My complexion turned dark because of that. Was this jealousy, something I’ve never experienced before? I didn’t know I had feelings that I had only seen in the book.

‘But… maybe jealousy… but there really is something wrong. When she was in the palace… Or, who did I meet during my past life? What rumors have I heard?’

Otherwise, it was too much to be simply jealous, nor was it discomfort. I wasn’t sure why.