Chapter 42
“Instead, I’ll serve you wholeheartedly for my own future advancement!”
At Becky’s quick exclamation, Riina could only let out a hollow laugh.
“It’s truly presumptuous of me to say this, but please don’t misunderstand.”
Becky waved her hands, her eyes sparkling.
“I absolutely won’t do anything for you, my lady. It’s all for myself! That’s what will make my future comfortable!”
It wasn’t… wrong.
Until Riina leaves the Bolshevik family, she is undeniably the sole bloodline and heir of the Bolshevik ducal family.
Anyone would know without having to spell it out how many benefits one could gain just by being at her side.
But no matter how you look at it or listen to it, it’s clear that what Becky is saying now is nothing more than a transparent excuse.
Riina’s lips moved, but in the end, she said nothing.
Perhaps, just a little.
She saw a tiny glimmer of hope.
Even the tremendous accident that occurred due to her terrible misfortune at the hunting competition ended up turning out relatively fine when intertwined with Einar’s luck, didn’t it?
So unlike her past life, this time things might be a little… different.
‘My lady, please don’t cry. Please don’t be sad. This person who should have died long ago is just finding his rightful place now.’
The man who tried to smile at Riina even as his last breath was leaving him…
At least it wouldn’t end up like that.
Even knowing how futile hope can be, Riina wanted to grasp onto those fragments of hope.
Because of Einar, Riina was able to do so for the first time since her regression.
Riina looked down at what Becky had carefully placed and spoke.
“Thanks to you, I won’t need to go back to the forest.”
“Yes!”
At those words, Becky smiled broadly.
Being of help to someone is always a joyous thing.
Even more so when that someone is a person you sincerely want to devote your heart to.
“My lady? Shall I open the window?”
Seeing Riina touch her nose, Becky quickly approached the window, but Riina shook her head.
“No. There’s a quite familiar scent coming from here.”
At Riina’s words, Becky wrinkled her nose and even put her nose close to the remnants of what might be a plant or flower and sniffed, but soon tilted her head.
“I can’t… really tell.”
Becky tilted her head again and buried her nose in it once more, but still looked puzzled.
“It seems like there’s some kind of smell, but…”
“You can’t smell anything?”
“No.”
Riina also tilted her head, not having thought she had a particularly keen sense of smell.
“Is your nose not feeling well?”
“No, it’s normal.”
As Becky rubbed her nose hard, Riina soon shook her head.
“Rather than a common grass smell, it’s a scent I’ve smelled somewhere else.”
Riina soon took her eyes off it.
It was an unusual fragrance for a plant, but it must be familiar because she had smelled it somewhere else.
Not knowing where that other place was, Riina casually passed it by, while the remnants of what might be a plant or flower still emitted a lingering scent.
* * *
While Riina was vaguely trying to grasp the tail of something Jane had dug up in that forest but ultimately drifted away, Jane was examining the ingredient she had obtained at the risk of her life.
Although parts were crushed and juice had leaked because there wasn’t time or leisure to carefully dig it up or handle it gently to avoid damaging even a single root, it wasn’t ruined beyond use.
“Huh… hmmph.”
Jane, who was about to sigh, immediately inhaled and tightly closed her mouth.
If the roots were to be further damaged by her weak sigh, wouldn’t that be a disaster?
How could she let such a precious ingredient go to waste due to a minor carelessness after obtaining it with such difficulty?
She held her breath tightly and moved the ingredient very carefully.
Only after moving the ingredient to her secret space with extreme caution, afraid it might fly away if blown or crumble if squeezed…
“Haaah.”
Along with the sigh of relief that escaped through her slightly parted lips, a faint laugh also flowed out.
“Finally, it’s finally beginning.”
Hadn’t it been such a long time?
Since learning that she was the true heir of Bolshevik, she had endured for a long, long time, making plans.
And at last!
As Jane’s shoulders shook and she smiled so wide her mouth might tear, a thumping sound was heard behind her.
Jane, who unconsciously turned her head without managing her expression, discovered a huge figure in the dim space where no light entered.
At this, Jane slowly raised her hand and stroked her lips.
As if her previous expression had been a lie, only a neat and calm smile now spread across her lips.
But because her murky blue eyes were still gleaming, Hans, who was flustered, blinked his eyes and barely opened his mouth.
“J-Jane?”
Hans seemed frightened by Jane’s almost manic eyes and hunched his large shoulders.
But as always, Jane simply ignored Hans.
She truly had no interest to spare for the likes of Hans.
Now that she had obtained the first ingredient, she had to immediately start on the next plan.
But she should give some attention to that fool hovering in front of her eyes.
As Jane stepped forward, Hans reflexively took a step back.
Seeing him, the smile on Jane’s lips deepened a little more, and she soon waved her hand gently.
“Come here. Why are you standing so far back?”
Because that voice was as soft and calm as usual, Hans approached her as if bewitched.
Jane’s hand slithered up Hans’s shoulder like a snake.
The white hand she had desperately kept delicate while vowing to someday enter the Bolshevik family reflected palely in the dim light.
Her slender fingers tidied Hans’s messy collar and stroked it.
“What did I tell you to do if I didn’t come out when you came home?”
Because her gentle voice was as cool as a lizard’s scales, Hans swallowed hard.
“Hans.”
“To wait quietly in the living room.”
“That’s right. That’s what I said.”
“I’m… I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
Towards Hans, who was apologizing like a child, Jane whispered.
“You shouldn’t do things that require an apology in the first place.”
As if that was a sentence, fear filled Hans’s eyes.
Jane stepped back from Hans and gestured with her chin.
“You know how to reflect, don’t you?”
“Y-yes.”
Hans disappeared, walking backwards like an animal being dragged to the slaughterhouse, all hunched up.
The smile on Jane’s lips remained as she stared at Hans until he completely disappeared.
But between her parted lips, an extremely annoyed voice flowed out.
“Stupid fool. I’ll have to dispose of him as soon as he becomes useless.”
She’d leave him be for now since she’d need his handiwork even after entering the Bolshevik family, but once she reclaims her position…
Jane turned around sharply and meticulously searched her secret space.
Eventually, she took out the paper with the poison recipe written on it, which she could recite without a single mistake from having looked at it so many times.
She scratched the corner of the paper.
Her lips slowly began to twist as she stared blankly at the first ingredient, neatly wrapped in white cloth.
Although her eyes weren’t smiling at all, the eerie smile created by twisting only her lips was truly grotesque, but neither she herself nor anyone who saw that expression was present.
Jane picked up a pen, feeling around without taking her eyes off the first ingredient.
As she drew a line through the center of the ingredient name at the top of the recipe, suppressed joy flowed from between her lips.
“Finally.”
In her blue eyes, which had become even murkier with boiling desire, a truly brilliant future was being painted.
The perfect tomorrow she had been envisioning for as long as she could remember.
The night was fading, just days away from when Jane would be brought into the Bolshevik ducal family as Riina’s ‘shadow’.
* * *
Around the time when invitations for quite substantial gatherings signaling the start of the full-fledged tea party season began to circulate after the hunting competition ended, regardless of gender, age, or family, people were busy whispering about one topic whenever they gathered.
The engagement of the Second Prince, who had been rumored to have some problem since there had been no talk of engagement or even romance until now, with the Bolshevik lady who had declared her broken engagement with the Third Prince.
“I knew it would turn out like this.”
“Right? Aren’t they such a well-matched pair?”
“My goodness, someone might think they’ve been together for a long time!”
No one denied the joking words of the person laughing loudly.
“It really is. It’s also amazing.”
“That’s right. I thought they had no points of contact at all.”
“Maybe they met when she was going to the Third Prince’s palace?”
“That could be possible, but.”
“Come to think of it… Now that she’s engaged to the Second Prince, it’s really completely over with the Third Prince.”
“Oh, that’s true.”
“More importantly, have you seen the black tiger’s hide? His Majesty the Emperor was so pleased with it, they say he hung it near the throne.”
“Wasn’t there a big hole in the jaw?”
“They say he likes it even more because it’s not perfect.”
Smith was briefly mentioned in the middle of the conversation, but his name quickly disappeared.
In fact, even before this, Smith’s name only came up in people’s mouths when it was related to Riina, so it wasn’t that strange.
“They said she’s not coming today, right?”
