MBSGBC 02

Chapter 02

I only came to my senses after mentally kicking Pascal’s indecisive backside out the door.

This isn’t a dream!

As I left the reception room, I saw familiar hallways and landings.

It was a place I knew well, yet it felt foreign.

This capital mansion, passed down through generations of the Otreha baronial family, had been sold off by my mother after she married her third husband following my own marriage.

And after that, I no longer had a place I could call home.

I spent a long time looking around the house, and it wasn’t until I looked into the mirror in my room that I was jolted fully awake.

A plain brown dress. Lustrous light-brown hair. Smooth skin. And above all, olive-green eyes that had not lost their luster.

It was me.

Me from the days when I still had dreams and hopes—the me I thought I’d lost completely!

I raised both arms and spun around in place. I could walk without a cane. I could see clearly, and I could breathe easily.

Tears, embarrassingly welling up, streamed down both cheeks.

I probably look quite a mess right now.

But so what?

I’d come back to before all of that happened!

I flopped down onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling I’d only ever seen in memories, organizing my thoughts.

‘First, I need to deal with the debts.’

If I didn’t resolve the debts my brother had racked up through his business ventures, I’d be sold off to any man—not just Pascal.

First, let’s make some money.

What can I do?

Irina Otreha. Twenty years old.

Not stunningly beautiful, nor a mage of great achievement. Not an elegant woman who excelled in art, music, or literature. Just a dull, ordinary woman whose greatest life achievement was having dated the heir to the Voltain Duchy for a year.

That was me right now.

Even if I tried to start something using the knowledge from before my regression, I’d need capital. Capital I didn’t have.

‘Ha. Here I am, back ten years, and I’m still worrying about money.’

Just as I was swallowing my tears and racking my brain, my door burst open without a single knock.

“Irina Otreha! What on earth have you done?”

Pascal must have already complained, because my mother, with her eyes wide, lashed out at me.

“He’s handsome! He’s a gentleman! Aside from his status, he lacks nothing—what’s not to like! Go apologize right now! A marital spat is like cutting water with a knife.”

“So you’re saying this wonderful groom got another woman pregnant and still wants to marry me?”

“…Another woman? And he has a bastard?”

“Leah Vestine. The eldest daughter of the Vestine merchant guild.”

My mother, who had momentarily gone pale, quickly regained her composure and raised her voice.

“Dear, she’s just the daughter of a merchant family. Having a mistress is hardly a flaw! The child—well, anything can happen to it. What matters is that the wife sworn before God is only you.”

For the record, my mother’s lifelong creed was: ‘A woman needs a husband.’

“I can live without getting married.”

In my past life, even Leah Vestine lived steadfastly despite being pointed at as an old maid!

Though she was secretly raising my husband’s child under the surface, but still.

Seeing me unfazed, my mother swiftly changed her strategy.

“So, you’re fine with your brother losing his title and me ending up on the street? If the Oker family turns their backs on us, this house won’t have a single breath of air left by tomorrow. Would that make you happy?”

I was at a loss for words at her blatant question, stripped of all pretense and pride.

In the end, I was being sold off to pay off my brother’s debts.

“You should never have gone to the Magic Tower! You wasted the most beautiful years of your life there, so of course there’s no good marriage prospect for you besides Pascal!”

That was absolutely something I could not let slide!

“Mother, I earned more money as a mage than my brother ever made from his investments!”

“But you never even became a high-ranking mage!”

Just then, with a heavy stench of alcohol, an intruder stumbled in with unsteady steps.

“Irina! Are you out of your mind?”

My brother, Schule Otreha, thoroughly drunk, reached out and grabbed my hair, shoving me.

“Hey! What if you hurt her—she’s supposed to get married!”

“Mother, is that really the issue right now?! You, you stupid… what exactly did you say to make Pascal Oker want to call off the engagement?”

Schule shouted, his hands trembling.

“Just wait a little longer! If this investment succeeds, I can make up for everything! And you—you ruined it!”

I sat on the cold floor, looking up at the two of them hopping around.

Good grief.

Past me—how on earth did you live in a house like this?

If I were really the me of this time, I would have been hurt. I might have despaired, given up, and done exactly as Schule and my mother told me.

But now was different.

Now I was no longer the young, twenty-year-old Irina.

My emotions felt distant, as if I were watching someone else’s misfortune.

I staggered to my feet.

I didn’t even bother to fix my disheveled hair or wrinkled skirt. All I knew was that I couldn’t keep living the way I had been.

In my past life, I had already learned that this family would never protect me.

The idea of someone I could rely on was nothing but an illusion.

My path ahead depended entirely on me.

“If the title and honor can only be maintained by marrying Pascal Oker, then consider them as good as gone from the start!”

“Irina! How can you be so selfish?”

“Yes, yes! I’m a selfish person who does whatever she wants. So just give up on all of it!”

I whipped my head toward Schule Otreha, who was clenching his fists beside my mother.

“Brother, have you ever thought about what would happen to this family if you lost everything after pouring all our fortune into an investment?”

And I also had a word for Lady Otreha—who was Schule’s mother but had never once felt like mine.

“Mother, have you ever worried about bankruptcy when you buy jewelry and dresses every season? If you sold all the jewelry you’ve bought over the years, maybe you wouldn’t have to sell your daughter. Didn’t that ever cross your mind?”

A moment of silence passed, and then Schule shoved my mother aside.

“Have you lost your mind…!”

Here it comes.

I squeezed my eyes shut—just as I heard hurried footsteps.

My mother, who cared deeply about appearances, managed to barely restrain my brother, and someone peeked through the open door.

“M-Madam! Master!”

It was Rita.

She was the only chambermaid left in our household.

Rita, who was in charge of my mother’s and my attire, held a relatively high position among the servants, so she didn’t usually run errands like delivering messages unless it was important.

Knowing this, my mother lifted her chin slightly and urged Rita on.

“Such recklessness. Just state your business briefly.”

“The butler said an important guest has arrived…”

“Is that so?”

My mother brightened and quickly led the still-fuming Schule out of the room.

“Rita, I don’t know what might happen, so tidy Irina up a bit! Ugh, just looking at that girl makes my blood boil.”

An important guest for this house?

What could that possibly be.

But my mother and Schule seemed to think otherwise. They were probably hoping Pascal Oker had changed his mind.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t it.

Pascal Oker was probably busy meeting his beloved, darling Leah Vestine right about now.

Once my mother and Schule were out of earshot, Rita hurried closer.

“What are we going to do? Miss…”

Kind-hearted Rita, with tears welling in her eyes, checked me over.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine.”

Her trembling fingers brushed my disheveled hair and smoothed my wrinkled skirt.

Sensing something was off, I asked,

“Rita, what’s going on?”

“Well, the butler said a very high-ranking person has come.”

“For what?”

“The butler was worried they might be here to collect a debt. Miss, what if that’s really the case?”

Rita looked completely dejected.

If our family went bankrupt, she too would have nowhere to go. They’d probably give her a letter of recommendation, but a recommendation from a fallen house wouldn’t carry much weight.

I reflected on what had happened around this time.

Originally, I had been swayed by Pascal’s persuasion and apologized for ‘misunderstanding’ the relationship between Leah and Pascal.

It was my first humiliating defeat, and a wrong choice that determined the rest of my life.

Once I cleared up the ‘misunderstanding,’ Pascal became kind again. The marriage proceeded smoothly according to plan.

Had any debt collectors come during that time?

I don’t think so.

“Miss, I’m done. It looks perfect now.”

Rita, who had roughly finished fixing my hair while I was thinking, spoke in a calm voice.

Just as she was smoothing out the wrinkles in my skirt, my mother, who had gone back downstairs, returned.

Looking unusually urgent.

“Rita, Rita! What are you standing there for? Is that how you call that fixed? Braid the side hair long in the latest style and tuck it behind the ears! It suits Irina well.”

My mother paced frantically around my room, hands clasped together as if in prayer, muttering to herself.

“Oh my, and your brother just had to be drunk right now! I hope he’s receiving them properly…”

“What on earth is going on?”

My mother looked at me and beamed. That seductive smile that had charmed countless men throughout her life.

“Irina, Irina! Your trials are over—happiness begins now!”

“Pardon?”

I felt a chill.

That was exactly the same thing she’d said when she sold me off to Pascal.

“The young Duke Voltain has come!”

Gasp—I involuntarily caught my breath.

I swear, this never happened in my past life!