“If I have to marry in this world, I can’t be more confident in finding a better partner.”

“When Elize appears, will this promise and my current feelings also disappear?”

The original protagonist of this story was Elize. While she struggled to find her own life and happiness, Serena, who had become the empress, was slowly withering away.

“Wait.”

The word ‘Elize’ oddly circled on the tip of her tongue. At the same time, the original text of a book she had thought about when she first became Serena flashed through her mind.

“[Elize plans to use the ambition of the new Duchess, who only has one daughter, to make her the empress.]”

At the time, she thought it meant that Serena, the existing empress, had no power when Elize appeared. But now she had goosebumps thinking about where she was staying.

“Anna, Anna!”

Frantically, Serena called, and Anna hurriedly ran in, closed the door, and widened her eyes.

“Miss, what’s going on? I vacated the place for the crown prince earlier. What happened?”

“No, never mind him.”

Could she discover something? But she shouldn’t jump to conclusions.

“Are there any other influential dukes in the capital?”

“There are other dukes, but none are in the Imperial Council now. Their capital residences are also empty.”

The plot activated when the Duchess, who had an only daughter, harbored ambition. In other words, the story only progressed if a duchess with an only daughter first had ambition.

“But a new…Duchess?”

A bothersome word unwittingly escaped her lips.

“Dear, where did you hear that?”

“What?”

Serena feigned ignorance, not realizing she had been talking to herself.

“You just mentioned a new Duchess.”

“Uh? Oh, that’s…”

“Correct. The current Duchess is a second wife. So there’s quite an age difference with the duke.”

Now the puzzle pieces clicked. The new Duchess was Miranda, and her only daughter was Lora.

“The Duchess hates talking about it, so she must have tightly sealed her lips. Who said that?”

“Just… I think I heard it passing by.”

Serena dodged with a mumble.

She couldn’t say that this world was originally a story she didn’t know well, and that she, who had died so emptily in her previous life, had become Serena.

“Don’t let it show. It’s taboo here.”

“Mm.”
It wasn’t because Serena wanted it that way, but because it was impossible. Several times she had tried to tell Anna, who always stood by her side, but her lips wouldn’t move, and no voice came out.

“It’s impossible anyway.”

Serena spat out the ambiguous words.

The conclusion reached after countless attempts was that she couldn’t tell anyone about the mysterious phenomenon that had occurred to her or about her past life.

“Anna, there’s something I need to investigate while I’m in this mansion.”

“Really? You were struggling earlier. You should rest now.”

“No, I need to investigate it while I’m in this Duke’s mansion.”

Seeing Serena’s determined face, Anna immediately nodded. Normally, Serena was always lively and cheerful, but when she made up her mind about something, one could never guess what she was thinking.

“What should I do?”

“Find out about a certain woman.”

“Who is that?”

Unfortunately, all she knew about the original story was almost entirely encapsulated in that sentence.

“I don’t know.”

“Then how will I find out? Moreover, why—”

“Elise. Her name is Elise. She must be somewhere nearby.”

Anna had many questions, but seeing Serena’s serious expression, she just nodded.

“Make sure only Peter knows. Don’t let anyone find out I’m curious about Elise.”

“Yes. I’ll be very careful.”

Elise had yet to appear.

However, knowing what she was doing and where would be a big help. At least she would know where the real protagonist might appear.