Surviving as the Adopted Daughter of the Genius Duke (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 11
The food stacked on the plate scattered in all directions.
Just as I was about to flop face-first onto the spilled pudding, crushed tarts, and sticky jam, I snapped back to my senses.
Right now, I’m worth as much as a palace maid’s lifetime salary.
Gathering every ounce of reflexes I’d ever have in my life, I barely managed to avoid collapsing onto the food.
When I finally lifted my head, I found myself surrounded by several young noble ladies.
“Did you just push me, commoner? Oh wait—Lady Reina?”
I calmly set down my plate first and stepped back from the scattered mess on the floor.
Since I hadn’t fully adjusted to this young body yet, I often struggled to control it perfectly.
But judging by how things were unfolding, even a tiny mistake would clearly work against me.
“How dare you push someone like that? You’re not even a commoner!”
The brown-haired noble lady who’d shoved me advanced threateningly a few steps. Behind her stood two other noble girls, arms crossed.
It wasn’t surprising at all.
Seeing this exact cliché from the romance fantasy novels I’d read in my past life play out right before my eyes made it finally sink in—I really had fallen into a novel.
The young lady pointed at a speck of dust-like stain on her skirt.
“My dress is ruined because of you! This dress is incredibly expensive—how do you plan to take responsibility?”
The two girls behind her immediately chimed in enthusiastically.
“Yes! If you pushed someone, you must take responsibility!”
“Don’t even think about running away! We all saw it!”
Their voices rang out so loudly that even the adults nearby stopped their conversations and glanced over.
I fell into brief thought.
I had two choices: borrow the Duchess’s influence or handle this myself.
I broke into a wide smile.
“Oh, you’re willing to take responsibility? It seems you’ve truly learned basic propriety, my lady.”
When they didn’t get the reaction they wanted, the three noble girls exchanged bewildered glances.
I stretched out my leg and pointed to the food splattered on my shoe.
“What a relief! These shoes are made from dragonhide tanned for a full hundred years. I was worried you’d shove me and then rudely try to slip away without a word. But of course—you’re a well-bred lady, so we understand each other perfectly.”
I made my point clearly without causing a scene big enough for the nobles to scold me.
Surely, if I borrowed the Duke’s influence, I could resolve this incident quickly and quietly.
But the nobles already looked down on me for being common-born; if I used the Duke’s name, they’d surely brand me as an arrogant child riding on the Duke’s power without knowing my place.
The brown-haired ringleader frowned, clearly not understanding. She didn’t seem particularly quick-witted.
“No—you’re the one who pushed—”
“Yes, I know. You pushed me, my lady. Everyone here saw it perfectly clearly.”
With a bright smile, I met the eyes not only of the noble girl but also of everyone watching nearby.
Adults might have intervened, but instead, they merely watched with interest and took no action.
So that’s it—I’m just a commoner, huh?
But honestly, it didn’t matter much. How old was I now? Easily old enough to handle kids barely out of elementary school.
“No! I mean, it wasn’t me—it was you—!”
“How kind of you to admit your mistake right away and even apologize. Thank you.”
“What are you even—”
“You’ll compensate me by any means necessary? How thoughtful of you.”
The brown-haired noble girl’s face grew steadily redder. Clenching her plump fists, she stomped her feet and started shouting in frustration.
“No! That’s not it! It wasn’t me! It was you! You pushed me!”
As the noble girl began shrieking loudly, disapproving stares from the surrounding nobles started piercing through.
“Isn’t that Lady Ramira, daughter of the Count?”
I overheard a noblewoman fluttering her fan and whispering to another.
“For a young lady to cause such a scene at a banquet—unthinkable in our day!”
As the murmurs turned unfavorable, the two girls who’d stood behind the ringleader quietly slipped away, leaving only Lady Ramira, Count’s daughter, huffing alone.
I smiled brightly again.
“Well then, once you’ve arranged the compensation amount, please come find me.”
I carefully stepped back, avoiding the scattered remains of food on the floor.
It was time to make my exit.
Though Lady Ramira, Count’s daughter, was the one throwing a tantrum, I risked being seen as equally responsible for the commotion if I stayed.
“Where do you think you’re running off to!”
The Count’s daughter stomped toward me, fuming.
And just as expected, her shoe heel landed squarely on a burst apple tart. The crushed apple jam slid out, and the Count’s daughter tumbled backward with a thud.
As she swept the floor’s mess onto herself, small bursts of laughter erupted here and there. No one came to help her up or check if she was alright.
Even the noble girls who’d come with her to threaten me merely stared at the Count’s daughter without offering help.
“Ugh, I’m too tired to live as a noble.”
I muttered under my breath. Clearly, a swift escape was the only solution.
I watched the Count’s daughter flounder on the floor for a moment.
The apple jam must have been incredibly slippery—every time she tried to stand, her feet kept slipping.
My hesitation didn’t last long.
I walked over and held out my hand.
“Take it. As your elder sister and life senior, I’ll give you a break this once.”
The Count’s daughter seemed reluctant to take my hand and glanced around as if seeking help from someone else, but all she met were cold stares.
Tears welling in her eyes, she had no choice but to grasp my hand.
But I’d apparently underestimated her weight, thinking only of my past-life body.
“Whoa!”
My body wobbled along with the Count’s daughter.
The thought of “a maid’s lifetime salary” flashed through my mind—but it was too late.
Just as I was about to land messily onto the chocolate pudding, someone grabbed my waist.
“Are you alright?”
A neatly-featured boy looked down at me. Beneath his fine brown hair, his light green eyes sparkled with genuine concern.
He seemed only a few years older than me, yet his demeanor was far more mature than the adults who’d merely watched.
“I’m fine. Thank you.”
As I quickly straightened myself and stepped back, he released me willingly and gave a gentle smile.
“I’m glad.”
He was an exceptionally well-mannered boy.
Just then, a noblewoman rushed over and hurriedly helped the Count’s daughter up. She vigorously brushed off the various snacks stuck to the girl’s dress, but the sticky jam only soaked in deeper.
“What on earth happened! Who did this to my daughter!”
It was Lady Ramira, Count’s daughter’s mother.
“Did she push you?”
The Countess immediately jabbed a finger toward me.
When the Count’s daughter nodded tearfully, the Countess glared and took a step toward me.
I sighed inwardly.
I’d thought about wrapping things up here, but now that an adult had gotten involved, the situation had escalated.
“What kind of ill-mannered behavior is this? What kind of upbringing did you—”
“Excuse me, Countess Ramira.”
A calm voice cut through the Countess’s outburst. It was the boy from earlier.
“I’ve been watching the whole situation. Your daughter pushed this child first. Then she slipped on her own after stepping on the food that had fallen to the floor.”
The Countess stood momentarily speechless, mouth agape.
“Y-you’re certain?!”
The fact that she used honorifics with the boy suggested he held a status too significant to ignore.
“You might have seen it wrong! My daughter isn’t the type to do such a thing. Your Highness probably doesn’t know—this young lady isn’t actually of noble birth—”
“I’m certain.”
A new voice interjected this time.
Esmeralda, who had approached unnoticed, pointed at Lady Ramira, Count’s daughter.
“I saw everything too. The Count’s daughter pushed her.”
So she’d been watching all along.
If she were the original heroine, she would’ve rushed in immediately—but this time, Esmeralda had stepped forward just a little late.
Esmeralda confidently scanned the crowd.
“Everyone here must have seen it too—the Count’s daughter pushed Princess Reina.”
The title that had consistently been “Lady Reina” had now subtly shifted to “Princess Reina.”
It was a clever choice of words, quietly reinforcing my position despite my previously dismissed commoner origins.
Though she was only eight years old, she was clearly no naive little girl.
At Esmeralda’s remark, the other adults reluctantly began to agree.
“Yes, Countess. Reina—or was it Rena? It’s hard to blame that child.”
“It was just a minor accident between children. Please calm down.”
The Countess wavered slightly.
“No, if it was an accident, she should’ve spoken up right away.”
Yet she still displayed her miraculous logic, blaming only me.
“This is utterly impossible.”
I finally muttered under my breath.
“To exhaust even a graduate student’s patience—you truly are impressive.”
“What did you just say?”
The Countess’s sharp voice stung my ears.
She didn’t even know what a “graduate student” was, yet she bristled instantly.
I let out a short sigh.
“What must be said plainly should be said plainly. It wasn’t me who pushed—it was your daughter. Because of that, I’ve lost the snacks I worked so hard to gather.”
I stretched out my foot again, showing the glossy toe of my shoe—bright red strawberry jam stained the smooth blue that perfectly matched my dress.
“These shoes, specially crafted by the Duchess for the Founding Day celebration from dragonhide, are now stained.”
I hadn’t wanted to play the “Duke’s household” card, but with adults intervening, I had no choice.
“Dragonhide?”
The Countess frowned.
It was understandable—only the Duke’s household used dragonhide for shoes, as the Duchess had once mentioned.
“Yes, the very dragonhide that requires a full hundred years of daily tanning to complete.”
That wasn’t entirely true.
When the Duchess had asked the head designer to make clothes from dragonhide,
“D-dragonhide?! The kind that even after a hundred years of pounding to soften, can barely be cut except with dragon bones or teeth?!” the designer had exclaimed in shock.
But the Duchess had simply tilted her head, puzzled by the fuss.
“My husband can handle the hammering and cutting—just focus on the design.”
Thus, the soft ballet flats covering my toes weren’t made from hide tanned for a century, but whipped up in just a few days.
“The compensation amount must be substantial.”
That, too, was a lie.
Dragonhide, impervious even to ordinary blades, wouldn’t be damaged by mere strawberry jam.
Even now, the jam sat on my toes like water droplets sliding off a waterproof coat, refusing to budge and making my toes twitch helplessly.
But apparently, few people knew much about dragonhide—the Countess turned pale and began trembling violently.
I straightened my toes and gave the Countess a sweet smile.
“The Duke’s household will send you an official notice shortly.”
Male lead first thought she played hard to get, only to realize she
really disliked him
Short intro:
What she can’t stand the most is the streets full of effeminate men, especially that so-called top beauty whom she avoids at all costs.
Shen Yaoxing looks at Jiang Mingyue, who keeps approaching her with coy shyness.
Shen Yaoxing: Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up!
She fears nothing in heaven or earth, except for him getting close to her.
*
At first he thought she was just using the trick of feigning indifference to attract his attention. Later, he learned that she truly despised him.
This dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Mingyue, and he vowed to make her, like everyone else, fall at his feet in worship!
***
Synopsis:
Before transmigrating, Shen Yaoxing only wanted to find a reliable man to spend her life with. Who knew that after transmigrating, she would become a reliable woman herself…
A forced misandrist, highly skilled, and reliable female lead
vs.
An initially aloof and arrogant, later morbid, obsessed male lead
_____
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BWAHAHAHAH if only we all had a buff in life 🫡🫡it should be tha easy 😩