Chapter 3

“Hmm…”

After spending a week lounging around in my room, I had more or less figured out how Yvonne had lived her life.

Even though I couldn’t remember every single detail of the events that had happened, I had absorbed the major pieces of Yvonne’s memories.

She was the youngest of one son and one daughter born to the Argenthoz Ducal Family of the Bervent Empire, and she was twenty years old this year.

A remarkably talented mage.

And yet, strangely enough, the one thing most important to Yvonne—magic—was completely missing from my memories, as though someone had deliberately poured white paint over that part.

I had no idea why.

Since I came from a world where magic didn’t exist at all, I concluded that it simply took me some time to fully understand it.

‘Well, it’s not like I need to use magic anyway. In fact, magic is poison to me right now.’

I clicked my tongue as I recalled the last major incident Yvonne had caused.

The Nasiel District the duke had mentioned.

It was a bustling commercial district filled with all kinds of shops, including boutiques frequently visited by the upper class.

Yvonne had thrown a small magical artifact she had made herself into one of the shops, destroying no fewer than five commercial buildings in the Nasiel District.

And the reason she had committed the bombing was as follows.

‘Because the male lead, Crown Prince Adrian, deliberately took the female lead, Cordelia, to a famous boutique himself and bought her a whole bunch of dresses.’

I pressed a hand against my forehead as my head began to ache.

Apparently, Yvonne had been hopelessly in love with the male lead, Adrian, the crown prince, for quite some time.

It was understandable that she might have been angry when he not only refused to return her feelings but also flaunted his beautiful lover in front of everyone.

But—

‘That doesn’t mean you throw a bomb, you violent woman!’

Objectively speaking, I could understand why her father, the duke, had been absolutely furious.

Actually, considering he hadn’t had her imprisoned, perhaps I should be grateful.

I had thought he was a terrifying father, but seeing this, maybe he wasn’t actually that frightening after all.

After walking for quite a while with the maid, I spotted a large door that I assumed led to the duke’s study.

The memory of his thunderous shouting, which had left my ears ringing, came rushing back, and I tensed up again, clenching my fists tightly.

“Hey, mad dog. What are you plotting this time? Why did you obediently come to the study?”

A man’s mocking voice came from near the door.

“?”

I stopped walking, dumbfounded.

‘Did he just call me a mad dog?’

Seeing the servants bowing without making any attempt to stop him, I could guess who he was.

The man standing there arrogantly with his arms crossed was a handsome young man with the same silver hair and violet eyes as me.

Even his sharp jawline and cold eyes resembled Yvonne’s.

He was handsome, all right.

But what an asshole.

He glared at me coldly, as though I were some hopeless piece of trash.

That look was familiar.

When I continued staring at him without answering, he furrowed his brow, uncrossed his arms, and strode toward me.

“If you’re going to keep acting like a mad dog, then just leave. You’re a disgrace to the family. How much longer am I supposed to put up with you?”

“…”

Twisting the corners of his mouth into a crooked, distorted smile, he continued.

“What are you planning? I heard you’ve been holed up in your room for an entire week, which is completely unlike you. Now I’m afraid of what kind of trouble you’ll cause next. I’m sick of it.”

‘Ha.’

I take back what I said about him being handsome.

What good is having a decent face if you have such a filthy mouth?

Looks are important, but personality is just as important!

‘He’s annoying.’

This guy was incredibly unpleasant because his image overlapped so much with that of the senior coworker who used to torment me in my previous life.

He was Yvonne’s older brother.

Varden Argenthoz, three years older than Yvonne and the young duke of the Argenthoz Ducal Family.

He was the promising heir to the Argenthoz family who had been sent on a monster-subjugation campaign alongside Crown Prince Adrian, the male lead, and had returned with great accomplishments.

Of course, his terrible personality was a major flaw.

‘He doesn’t have much of a role in the original novel, so I don’t know much about him.’

I was annoyed at being insulted by him the moment we met, but Yvonne had caused a huge incident, so I supposed it couldn’t be helped.

Besides, I had decided to live quietly and behave myself from now on.

So I decided to treat him like the senior coworker who used to dump his anger on me because he didn’t want to return to work after vacation.

“Young Duke. I’m not plotting anything.”

I answered in the calmest tone I could manage.

I had become possessed by the spirit of a junior employee with nerves of steel, someone who wouldn’t be affected no matter how much her senior coworker berated her.

“What?”

Varden’s eyes widened in surprise, and I smiled sweetly.

“Today as well, Young Duke, you look as handsome, radiant, and capable as ever. You must be very tired. At times like this, something sweet is the best remedy. The cook here makes an excellent chocolate mousse, so I’ll have some brought to your room.”

Back in my previous life, whenever my senior coworker was being irritable with me, forcing some sweet snack on him sometimes helped improve his mood.

But as I continued speaking calmly, Varden’s complexion changed.

“Hey, what’s wrong with the way you’re talking? You’re creeping me out.”

“My way of talking?”

I had been speaking politely, just as I had with my senior coworker at work, but Varden’s words suddenly snapped me back to reality.

Yvonne normally spoke informally to Varden despite him being both her older brother and the young duke, and she had no qualms about speaking to him as bluntly as she pleased.

As those memories slowly surfaced, I bit my lip.

“Are you sick or something?”

Varden looked at me suspiciously as he bent down toward me, and my heart sank.

Damn it.

I had wanted to maintain the original character’s personality as much as possible while quietly living an ordinary life.

But my insane survival instincts had kicked in again.

Flustered, I quickly racked my brain for a way out of this situation.

‘Ah!’

I spotted an escape route not far away, and my eyes lit up.

“Fatherrrrr!!! Did you call for me?!”

As a way to escape Varden’s suspicions, I chose to throw myself at the duke.

Grabbing the hem of my long dress, I ran over and boldly flung open the door to the duke’s study.

“…What?”

Perhaps my sudden appearance had left him dumbfounded, because the duke, who had been sitting behind his desk handling paperwork, stared blankly at me.

Feeling embarrassed, I quickly spoke again, even louder.

“Y-You called for me, didn’t you?”

“I-I did call for you.”

While the flustered duke was getting to his feet, I glanced outside.

Varden was staring at me as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Then he raised a hand to his temple, spread his fingers, and spun them around while silently mouthing something.

Crazy.

That bastard!

He was openly treating me like a lunatic again.

Sure, Yvonne had been a villainess with absolutely no sense of propriety who caused nothing but trouble, but he was still her brother.

They were family.

Wasn’t this going too far?

‘Maybe… because I never had a family, I had this vague idealized image of what a family was supposed to be?’

I had expected family members to trust and care for one another unconditionally.

I knew there was no such thing as a one-sided relationship built entirely on trust, but I had thought family would at least be different.

Somehow feeling sad and empty, I quietly closed the study door and stepped inside.

“Ahem.”

The duke had already risen from his seat and approached me.

When I looked up at him, I thought he seemed less frightening than the last time I had seen him.

“Yvonne. Um, I… what… what happened that made you rush in and throw the door open like that?”

Where had the man who had thundered at me like lightning gone?

The duke was even stumbling over his words.

I answered calmly, explaining who had arranged this meeting.

“…I came because I was told you called for me, Your Grace.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

A slight trace of disappointment crossed the duke’s face, and I became uncertain.

Had I behaved too undignified for a noblewoman just now?

Worried that I might have offended the duke, I bowed deeply.

“I won’t fling the door open like that again.”

“…All right.”

“And I won’t loudly call out to you so rudely again, either.”

“Ahem. It’s fine, so raise your head.”

Hmm?

Wasn’t this what he wanted?

When I looked at the duke again, he seemed even more displeased, his nose scrunched up.

What had I done wrong?

I tilted my head, trying to analyze the cause, but the duke gestured for me to sit on the sofa in his study.

Once I sat down, silence descended.

Awkward.

The duke remained silent for quite some time before finally speaking.

“You have been behaving well during your confinement. Surely you haven’t been making some sort of strange plan?”

‘Haa.’

I sighed inwardly.

Varden had asked about my plans, and now the duke was asking the exact same thing.

That stupid plan.

I told them I didn’t have one.

I had simply decided that my future ambition was to become a sloth who lived happily and enjoyed every moment of this life.

‘But…’

I glanced at the duke.

Seeing the mixture of concern and suspicion on his face, I could understand his feelings to some extent.

Yvonne had been a troublemaker, after all.

With her seemingly endless stamina, she was constantly running around causing trouble, and as long as she had the wealth, power, and abilities to do whatever she wanted, she wouldn’t rest until she had done exactly that.

I answered as calmly as possible.

“I have been behaving myself.”

“Hmm. Surely not. It’s difficult to believe.”

“I really have.”

“I’ll give you additional punishment. Or, if you prefer, you can think of it as proof of your repentance.”

The duke clicked his tongue before suddenly calling for his aide.

‘Punishment?’

The thought of how terrifying the punishment might be made me nervous.

I stared at the aide who came running at the duke’s summons.

‘Will he whip me? Or make me go without food?’

As I trembled, the duke spoke with an extremely resolute expression.

“Give Yvonne some paperwork. I intend to give her a great deal of it as a sign of her repentance.”

“What?!”

The aide seemed so shocked that he practically leaped into the air, while I asked in disbelief for an entirely different reason.

“What? But…”

“Do you dislike it that much? It can’t be helped.”

The duke sighed and firmly cut me off.

‘Hahaha. I see.’

At first, I couldn’t understand.

But once I remembered Yvonne’s original personality, everything made sense.

Paperwork was poison to Yvonne.

She hated nothing more in the world than sitting at a desk and steadily writing something out.

So the duke had chosen a truly severe punishment.

‘Why is he so suspicious? Seriously. I’m genuinely remorseful.’

A hollow laugh escaped me.

Yes.

If this were the original Yvonne, she would have immediately used fire magic to burn every single piece of paperwork the duke had given her.

But I was different.

Who was I?

I was an office worker from South Korea who had spent every single day of her previous life doing paperwork.