She's Not Our Daughter!

Chapter 24

Ijel frowned and stared again at the softly smiling princess.

“Come on in, Marchioness.”

They caught a woman at the end of their gaze. Marchioness Andante Mails. She hesitated and went inside. She was the only one who had personally run into Sierra before. Furthermore, Sierra had humiliated her in the social world, so she was likely almost blazing with her desire for revenge. She was from the same family as the godmother who cared for Sierra, and was easily swayed by her weakness.

Andante was a useful hand in many ways, and the princess straightened her back.

“You’re quite wicked, Your Highness.”

“If I want something, let’s just say I don’t care about the consequences and will take it by any means.”

Ijel shrugged. He, too, was the type to go out of his way to get what he wanted, so it was reasonable for him to side with the princess. “So, what do you want from the noble Lady Andante?”

The princess grinned and tapped on the table. There was a small invitation embroidered with red roses. “Madam, you want revenge on the commoner, don’t you?”

She was definitely referring to Sierra, a commoner. Andante bit her lip as she faced the piercing gaze of the princess. In fact, she didn’t want to get revenge that much. She just came because the Empress called her.

“…I never really wanted revenge, Your Highness.”

The princess decided the Marchioness was lying. She continued with a slight frown on her forehead.

“Throw a beautiful masquerade ball, Marchioness.”

“I will, Your Highness.”

“Your Highness, can you help me? I want to meet the child, but I can’t invite commoners to the ball at the Imperial Palace. It’s unbecoming.”

The Empress lifted the fan and brought it to the tip of her chin, smiling gracefully.

“So you wanted to meet Sierra’s child.”

If you invite a trivial commoner to a ball or salon, your rank will be lowered. Therefore, it was impossible to ask those who were close to the princess to hold a ball and invite Sierra. Andante, too, trembled at the idea of insulting the nobles like that.

“…Then I will make her attend, Your Highness.”

The princess smiled leisurely. Andante’s expression grew anxious.

“I heard that your husband is dead.”

The Marchioness grabbed the hem of her dress, pressing her hand on her knee.

“…There is a misunderstanding, Your Highness.”

Ijel, who provided the information to the Empress, looked at them leisurely and folded his arms, an impassive expression on his face.

“No, but can I talk openly about your husband’s illness?”

The princess attacked Andante’s weakness with a soft look on her face.

Her successor was not yet strong, and the Marchioness was far away and couldn’t manage her estate. In that situation, if it became known that her husband was dead, it would have a negative impact on the entire family.

Investors even seemed to be considering the timing of withdrawing funds due to rumors of a feud with the Duke of Ideos in the social world.

“…!”

Andante stared at the Empress with her lips pursed.

“As Your Highness said… If we hold a masquerade, won’t our family be harmed?”

“Oh, my God, of course, it won’t be a problem at all.”

The Empress planned to ruin Sierra, a wicked commoner trying to take her place.

The stage would be set beautifully by letting Andante sit in front of it.

 

* * * 

Sierra, having spent a boring day at the Duke’s mansion, began to learn everything about Cassius and what kind of life he led.

When she hinted at her curiosity, the maids were delighted.

“I’m a little worried because everyone likes it so much. I’m just going to make friends with Cassius and leave.”

It’d take a month to three months to get the results of a paternity test. During that time, she would make good friends with Cassius, and after proving that Hanael was not his child, she would leave this mansion with a cool goodbye… and preferably with a bag of money.

Sierra smiled happily and couldn’t hear what the maids said. She put all the gossip tabloids and records the maids gave her on the desk.

[Duke Ideos, absent today?]

[No. 1 most mysterious person in the social world, Duke Cassius Ideos]

[His first love? Is it a matter of wounds or side effects?]

She carefully scrutinized the records and came to a perfect conclusion. Cassius was like that when he was at the academy, but he didn’t change at all…

“He was a reclusive loner…”

One of the maids standing next to her quickly intervened.

“Oh no!”

Sierra was surprised that someone had heard her talk and corrected her statement.

“What I said was a mistake, but does the Duke have close friends?”

“That…” the maid trailed off, at a loss as to whether or not to speak about her master.

Originally, such things should be kept under wraps, but the one asking was Sierra, who was loved by the godmother and the Duke.

“It’s because Cassius has been through a lot of wars.”

In other words, he had no friends. Sierra nodded her head.

Now that they’d checked the archives, it was time to ask the maids about Cassius.

“I see, so what was Cassius like?”

Everyone told her to use informal language, but honorifics just kept popping up. Fortunately, the maids paid more attention to Sierra’s message than her tone. When Sierra asked about Cassius, the maids began to babble.

“The Duke stayed in the mansion and missed you and the baby.”

“And, he made a small room for the baby.”

“It’s been quite a while since we even designed this room.”

Sierra shook her head.

The maids were exaggerating. Maybe it was because Cassius had been in the rain that time. They were afraid of the gloomy atmosphere returning.

“…Are you serious?”

Sierra considered the facts. It was obvious that Cassius had lost the opportunity to show his face in society during the war. He had no friends at the academy because of his lonely childhood. And all that served to isolate him even further.

“I feel a little bad that you’ve been fighting alone all this time…”

Cassius must have been just as poor at human relations as she guessed. Her resolution flashed into her head.

‘I’ve made up my mind. If I build a relationship with Cassius, won’t I be able to break up with him without any problems when I leave?’

She should probably make an appointment with Cassius.

 

* * * 

A minute after she told the maids that she wanted to meet Cassius, Sierra looked at Cassius hesitantly.

He stared at her with an innocent expression on his face.

“I heard you called me.”

“Uh…”

Sierra wasn’t the type to spit on a smiling face. Looking at Cassius smiling happily…

‘I thought it would take an hour or so! This is way too soon!”

So, instead of sorting the messy thoughts in her head, she decided to get to the main point.

“You know, let’s go out and socialize.”

The idea of making friends with Cassius reminded Sierra of a social club. Although she was a commoner, the social circle of aristocrats was known through various romance novels and tabloids.

All the beautiful parties she had heard of popped into her head. There were masked social churches, horseback riding parties, and various other opportunities to bump into people.

“Don”t you think it’s going to be a lot of fun? A social event or something?”

“A social event?”

“Yeah!”

“I’m not going without you.”

Cassius was a little stubborn.

‘Am I like a doll attached to him now…?’

Sierra was a little confused about what exactly he was thinking.

What he felt for her wasn’t quite love. If he learned to socialize and showed growth, surely people would also want to be his friends, even lovers.

He would then be thankful to Sierra for showing him a whole new world, and then he would be able to let her go. It would be a wonderful, happy ending.

Sierra smiled brightly as she looked at Cassius, who let go of her hand, trying to gently wipe her face.

He opened his mouth carefully.

“…You wanted to go to a social club, Sierra?”

Cassius seems to have misunderstood a little, but…

“Oh, I was curious about them because they’re so famous.”

It was somewhat true, with all the masquerade parties and the like.

‘When will you begin associating with the nobility?’

She had a very strong feeling that Cassius would help her if she was ignored due to her social status.

‘It’s time to show my skills to the world’

Her eyes gleamed in anticipation of her entire plan, which was to make money by showing off to society and treating the sick.

Cassius stared at her.

“I’m sorry, Sierra.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t even know that you liked social clubs.”

Wasn’t he being too nice and gentle?

“Then, I’ll prepare right away. There are several clubs, so I’ll prepare a booklet.”

Sierra smiled, satisfied with how earnest he seemed.

“Take it slow, you have plenty of time.”

He smiled brightly at her words.

They enjoyed a peaceful tea time, chomping on a row of rose cookies on the table, sipping on black tea. Cassius felt like he was back in his academy days at this moment, while Sierra was delighted to think that everything would soon be perfectly in place.

Meanwhile, Andante fainted from stress inside the mansion while making invitations to the masquerade, including Sierra’s. Although she was staying at the Duke’s manor, the godmother was also aware of how the Marquisate’s manor was running.

The godmother was informed that Andante had a mild illness. He didn’t know that she was running out of time, but he noticed that her heart was pounding and her hands and feet were cold. Of course, the godmother was still harsh. But she was a cold-hearted judge who makes no family without my daughter-in-law.

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So, the godmother chose to interview the twin doctors of the Hippo Kingdom.

“…Well, I’d like you to make some medicine for my daughter-in-law.”

The twin doctors answered in unison.

“Oh, yes. Godmother! Where is the patient? What are the symptoms?”

At the words of the twin doctors, the maid who served Andante stepped forward.