I had to spend a considerable amount of time facing the mountain breeze blowing through the wide open window with my entire face.

It was to at least calm down the heat that had filled my cheeks.

‘Cedric, why did you have to say unnecessary things.’

Not long after arriving at the cottage, Cedric received a message from the village chief Devin and went outside again.

The message said there was something to discuss for the maintenance of the village.

After a long time of needlessly blaming Cedric and cooling my excited mood.

Only after the heat had subsided a little did I suddenly remember what Cedric had said before he left.

‘If you want to help the villagers, go near the community center. The villagers gather there every day to work together.’

Even as he said that, he didn’t forget to add that if the villagers act rudely, I should return straight to the cottage.

It seemed that Cedric could also clearly sense that the people here were grinding their teeth at me.

‘They will all hate it if I go, but since I’ve come this far, I should at least try.’

I left the cottage and moved my steps, savoring the tranquility of the secluded path.

The chirping of birds and the clear air filling my lungs seemed to clear my mind.

But that was short-lived.

The closer I got to the village center, the more I could feel the sharp gazes directed at me increasing.

“Who likes her that she came all the way to our village?”

“Exactly! She really has no shame! Ugh, ugh, she’s so brazen!”

There were people standing far away clicking their tongues and stomping their feet, and those glaring at me menacingly while holding dangerous farming tools.

Being subjected to sharp glares and criticism despite having done nothing wrong, all I felt was a sense of injustice.

I wanted to pour out a bucket of curses at Rebecca, who lived her life doing things deserving of such abuse.

But the real Rebecca who should be cursed had already left a mountain of garbage as my share and disappeared with peace of mind.

‘Sigh… Of all things, you should blame me who is possessed by this body, who else can you blame.’

All I could do now was ignore the glares and criticisms directed at me as if it were my own fault.

Walking alone for a long time, hiding my frightened appearance.

Finally, far in the distance, the village community center building slowly started to come into view, and I saw Mina waiting for me in front of it.

A sigh of relief naturally flowed from my lips at that moment.

“Oh? Princess Bi!”

As soon as Mina spotted me, she ran towards me with a bright smile.

Next to her were other maids as well.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke was with you in that cottage until now, right? Just the two of you, right?”

At the same time, the other maids also flocked around me and began to pour out questions one after another.

“What have you two been doing until now?”

“It’s been quite a while since you headed to the cottage!”

There was an inexplicable anticipation sparkling in their eyes.

Then they burst into giggles, and I pursed my lips at them.

“Stop with the nonsense. By the way, were you all here without me? Especially you, Mina. I’m a bit disappointed?”

At that, Mina bit her lip with an expression of imagining something that shouldn’t be imagined.

“Aing… You must have had a better time without us!”

She even blushed her cheeks and twisted her body.

I looked at Mina pathetically, shook my head firmly, and turned my gaze to the community center.

“Did you come to help with the village work too?”

Among the maids who were nodding their heads vigorously, Mina answered in a bright voice as always.

“Yes, since we know them and everyone is busy working, we thought we’d help out a bit too!”

The moment she finished speaking, Mina’s face, which had a bright smile, gradually began to stiffen awkwardly.

She seemed to have a bad feeling all of a sudden.

After exchanging uneasy glances with the other maids for a moment.

Mina’s gaze, tinged with anxiety, slowly turned towards me.

“Come to think of it, Princess Bi… What brings you here?”

.

.

.

Thwack! Thump—!

The sound of chopping fish roughly resonated through the workroom.

As expected, the people in the workroom showed signs of being displeased by my appearance.

They soon ignored me and started focusing only on their work, muttering.

The work mentioned here was preparing the fish caught from the sea below the cliff to be suitable for sale.

It was one of the main means of livelihood for the Grayzon Village, which had mountains and the sea nearby.

“Princess Bi, are you really… okay with this?”

“Huh? With what?”

When I turned my head indifferently, Mina and the other maids all had long faces.

“For someone who has lived her whole life without ever experiencing anything like this to personally come here…”

“You don’t feel like you’re going to faint, do you? No, this won’t do! Let’s just leave right now!”

The village women in the workroom seemed to think the same.

They had all been pretending to be uninterested with their backs turned, but they all turned to look at me and shouted.

“Ah, yes! Don’t interfere and leave! What is someone who has lived her whole life without getting a single drop of water on her hands doing fish preparation for? It’ll be fortunate if she doesn’t cause an accident!”

“If that woman faints here, it will only be embarrassing for us in front of His Highness the Grand Duke!”

They seemed very displeased that the delicately raised Grand Duchess Rebecca had come to help with their work.

Looking at them, a dry laugh slipped from my lips.

In my previous life, thanks to my incompetent husband who was not only useless at outside work but also household chores, I had no choice but to take care of all the housework by myself.

‘Someone like me who has experienced that is not going to faint over something like preparing fish, you know?’

I walked past the maids who were looking at me with worried eyes and headed to the center of the workroom.

Then I lifted the hem of my dress high and sat on an empty work chair.

At that moment, I could feel all the gazes in the workroom focusing on me.

Ignoring those gazes, I nonchalantly picked up a fish with my bare hands.

“Is this where I should start?”

Simultaneously, all the faces in the workroom were painted with shock.

“P-Princess Bi, please don’t do this! We’re telling you that you really can’t do it, Your Highness!”

“Oh, our noble Grand Duchess! Please stop interfering and quickly move away from the work table…”

Dissuasion and criticism poured out from all directions at the same time.

I unhesitatingly lifted the heavy knife.

Thump—!

.

.

.

“Did Princess Bi really… do all of this herself?”

Jacqueline, the work leader, dropped her thick lower jaw as if she couldn’t believe it.

She was the one who had been making the biggest fuss about telling me to leave until the moment I appeared here.

After being surprised for a moment while looking at my basket piled high like a mountain with prepared fish.

Jacqueline narrowed her eyes again and began picking up and examining the fish I had prepared one by one with her thick hands.

“She probably just pretended to do it somehow…”

Judging from her muttering, it seemed she doubted I could have properly prepared the fish.

Jacqueline examined the fish I had prepared for a long time, turning them this way and that.

And soon, unable to hide her bewildered expression, she blinked her eyes.

“H-How is this… When did you learn to do this?”

I showed Jacqueline a resigned smile.

‘Try living with a supervisor who only knows how to nag about side dishes despite earning an annual salary of 10 million won, and see if it works out or not.’

That’s what I really wanted to say, but I suppressed those words and lifted the corners of my mouth.

“Hoho… Who knows? Should I say it’s all innate talent?”

At that moment, when I was letting out an awkward laugh to defuse the situation.

The villagers who had gathered around me at some point couldn’t hide their amazed expressions.

“Did the Grand Duchess really do all of that by herself? That amount would be nearly three days’ worth of work, right?”

“Oh my, oh my! Her skills are much better than yours, dear.”

“…Is that what you thought of me?”

They whispered among themselves, but when our eyes met, they immediately averted their gazes.

Only my maids openly expressed their admiration.

“Is there anything Princess Bi can’t do?”

“I don’t know for sure, but thanks to Princess Bi, the profits will be much higher than before when we go down to the village this time, right?”

Mina, who was making a fuss, poked Jacqueline’s chubby side, hinting at her.

“Right, Jacqueline?”

Then Jacqueline glanced at me with a face that still looked displeased with me but also somewhat grateful.

“I don’t know what kind of talent you were born with… but you did well for your first time, Princess Bi.”

“Thank you, Jacqueline.”

At my words, Jacqueline casually threw the fish she was holding into the basket and continued.

“But don’t think our hearts will be appeased by this trivial work.”

“……”

“The fact that we, who were once treated as elites, ended up in this state of just preparing fish here is all,”

“……”

“because of you, Grand Duchess.”

Jacqueline crossed her arms, and a displeased expression was evident on her face again.

The same was true for the other people standing around me.

“That’s right, that’s right! Do you know how proud our parents were of us when we got a job as an aide to the Twins family?”

“You didn’t just take away our jobs from us!”

The villagers each expressed their sense of injustice.

The only fortunate thing was that their expressions had softened a little compared to before.

I slowly looked around at them and nodded my head.

“I am well aware that I cannot be forgiven just by doing something like this. And I don’t think the pain I’ve caused you is so light that it can be forgiven just by doing this kind of work.”

At my words, the villagers exchanged glances with each other.

I paused for a moment, then turned to face the people.

“This is just something I did out of a desire to help you in any way I can. And the reason I established the welfare foundation was also…”

The workroom became so quiet that it felt like everyone was focusing on my words.

I paused for a moment, then slowly bowed my head towards them.

“So please, I hope you can at least understand that sincerity of mine.”

People started to stir at my sudden action.

Mina must have been surprised too, as she hurriedly grabbed my arm.

“Princess Bi! Please don’t do this! Bowing your head to those who once worked as servants!”

Despite the dissuasion from Mina and the other maids, I didn’t move at all.

And I continued the heartfelt apology that they should have received from Rebecca long ago.

“I know well that an apology alone is not enough.”

“……”

“But for realizing too late what my responsibility is as the lady of the Twins family… I really wanted to apologize to all of you for that.”

At that moment, the inside became noisy again.

After a round of murmuring passed.

I saw Jacqueline’s feet, visible from my lowered gaze, slowly moving towards the door of the workroom.

When I slightly raised my head, Jacqueline was already preparing to leave.

“What are you all doing? If the work is finished, hurry up and go out to prepare for the next thing to do!”

Her loud voice resounded greatly inside the workroom.

‘I knew they wouldn’t accept it easily, but still…’

As I was dejectedly lowering my gaze, at that moment.

Jacqueline’s voice resounded through the workroom once again.

“Ah, hating is hating! But since she’s the lady of our Twins family, shouldn’t we at least throw her a welcoming banquet or something!”