Unfortunately, I was just the opposite.

‘I wish Johan hadn’t come in!’

How nervous I was because Johan came in only in his robe. And how uncomfortable I was when I woke up in the morning.

I grabbed Betty’s two hands and smiled brightly.

“Don’t worry. Even if something like that happened, I would have been okay.”

“… Madam. You really are…”

Tears welled up in Betty’s eyes. She seemed to want to say something, but she clenched her lips shut and gave a sorrowful smile.

“But I’m relieved. It seems the relationship between the two of you is not bad.”

What is she thinking?

‘If I had to guess… Is she worried about something that happened in the original work?’

In the original, I welcomed Johan in my bedroom. But there was no wedding night between us, and Johan didn’t even sleep next to me.

Feeling ignored by my husband and unloved by my family, I clung onto my love for Johan.

Just as Johan had planned.

‘Of course, there’s a slight difference.’

In the original work, I had never used the marital bedroom.

The marital bedroom in the main building was too precious to Johan. It’s a building that was completely burnt down and barely reconstructed. Even if almost no trace of the family was left, the place was stubbornly restored to its former state.

He wouldn’t want to let a daughter of the Libertan into such a place.

‘Did I end up here because I suddenly collapsed?’

It could have been a bit difficult to take me back to the annex because of the Anton incident. Betty confirmed with an excited voice as she looked at me.

“So Madam, is it true that the master went to bed with you and left?”

“…I can’t say if he left and came back.”

I think a meticulous person like a villain could do it.

Then Betty shook her head violently.

“No. He wouldn’t do that. There’s no doubt that the master felt something for you, Madam.”

No matter how much I think about it, Betty seems too positive about the world. I’m quite a positive person, but Betty outdid me.

But I decided not to break Betty’s happy imagination.

‘She looks so happy.’

I ate the breakfast that Betty prepared and decided to take a tour of the mansion before I started my duties as a lady of the house. Betty gave me a detailed guide about the building of the main house and brought a letter from a nearby office.

“Here’s an invitation to the royal masquerade, sent to the Duchy of Blanchett. It came in your name, Madam.”

“In my name?”

It was a real surprise to have an invitation in my name, not in the name of the Duchy of Blanchett.

‘No, I must be quite famous now.’

The adopted daughter of Libertan, who was twice divorced, got married to the Duke of Blanchett. To be exact, I moved into the Duchy of Blanchett in exchange for paying off the debt of the Libertan family.

In the meantime, the Duke of Libertan was arrested for treason, and no one knew what happened to the adopted daughter.

‘I would have been curious, too.’

What an unbelievable situation this is. Some nobles were definitely betting on whether I was dead or alive.

I put the invitation back in the envelope and returned it to Betty.

“Put this invitation in my room.”

“Yes. Do you want to explore more of the main house, Madam?”

Unlike the annex, the main house seemed too vast to tour in a single day. I shook my head in reply.

“I am going to the garden now.”

“Oh, the garden of the main house is really beautiful. Shall I guide you?”

“No. That’s okay. I want to stroll around the garden alone.”

I followed the vague directions and headed towards the mansion’s garden. Typically, gardens are greenhouses with blooming flowers, like what I saw at Libertan.

But the villain’s garden was a lushly planted forest, perhaps due to the maze garden.

‘I think I kept hearing a sound around here.’

As I expected, as I got closer to the forest, the voices became clearer.

This time, I felt strange dark magic in the mansion…

I suspect something big will happen again soon.

That child is coming into the forest again. But where is he?

It was the thick male voice that warned me before Anton came, the one who spoke to me in the library.

Now, I wonder if you can hear our words.

It seemed like she could hear our voices when she was sick last time…

It seemed to come from that tree. I cautiously put my hand on the tree and wondered.

‘What should I say?’

At that moment, a faint light circled around the tree I had touched, and the voices became louder.

Can you hear our voices?

I nodded and asked the tree.

“Yes. But, are you… really trees, the ones talking to me now?”

Oh. Wow. I thought he was invisible, and now we can finally communicate.

When he was around, we were too scared to talk!

In context, they seemed to be talking about Johan.

The trees grumbled among themselves, getting angry. Then a few trees brought attention.

Everyone, calm down. What’s the matter with you all, acting like this when we’re old enough?

That’s right. Aren’t you ashamed in front of a child? What a waste of the nutrients we took in through our roots.