‘This isn’t simply a matter of me misunderstanding or not!’

I thought I just had to laze around until the original female lead ran away, then clear up the misunderstanding with the male lead and have a child.

Suddenly, it felt like the game difficulty had changed from lowest to highest.

For now, not having a child would be the best option, but there was a chance I might already be pregnant.

So, I had no choice but to think about improving my relationship with the male lead.

‘Even if I’m pregnant now, I can’t get rid of the child.’

Having already seen the adorable children of the protagonists in the original story, how could I kill them? That was absolutely out of the question.

Therefore, the best she could do was to seduce Clayton.

‘In the original story, why did the male lead fall in love with the female lead again?’

Dalia rolled her eyes as she dug up the contents of the old original story.

However, she couldn’t recall a proper reason why the male lead fell in love with the female lead.

‘It seems like he just naturally fell for the female lead while getting used to her body….’

In the original story, after the contract marriage, Clayton gradually started to care about Dalia as they went through various big and small incidents.

Especially on the day he saw the female lead crying secretly, he couldn’t do anything else and thought about Dalia all day long.

‘Then, it’s tears after all.’

Come to think of it, all the series of events seemed to be related to the original female lead’s weak and fragile appearance.

The male lead, who was bothered by the sight of the crying female lead, began to want to see her smiling rather than crying, and started to trample on the things that made Dalia cry.

At the time, he didn’t realize that his actions stemmed from love, only realizing it was love after the female lead ran away…..

It was a cliché of clichés.

‘So from now on, I should act like a fragile, hurt woman like the original female lead, but the problem is…..’

It was when Dalia was lost in thought, forgetting that she was at the dining table with the male lead.

A low voice was heard from across her.

“How much do you know?”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m wondering if you already know about the mastermind behind the poisonous herb incident.”

Yes, the problem was that it seemed she had already ruined her fragile image.

‘Right now, this man thinks I deliberately fed the chef poison.’

Due to my thoughtless actions, the novel’s female lead suddenly changed from a hurt woman to a badass woman.

Dalia awkwardly smiled at the man who exuded an inexplicable pressure even when drinking water.

‘What I need right now is not a badass who overcomes adversity without the male lead’s help, but a fragility that breaks hearts just by looking at it!’

Unlike her peaceful expression, she was confused.

How could she change from a self-reliant woman who overcame crisis on her own to a fragile woman who needed protection?

After pondering for a while, Dalia clenched her fist as if she had made a decision.

‘Ah, whatever. Let’s just squeeze out some tears.’

And Dalia, who immediately put it into action, suddenly lowered her eyes and started acting as if she was shocked.

“I don’t understand what you’ve been saying… Besides, poisonous herbs? Are you saying someone deliberately tried to feed me that?”

Imagining when her favorite celebrity announced retirement in the past, tears quickly welled up in her eyes.

“What, what did I do wrong to deserve such a terrible thing… sob.”

She even made her hand tremble as she wiped away her tears on purpose, thinking this would be enough to fool the male lead…

“Quite a convincing act.”

…but no, he wasn’t fooled at all.

Clayton rather raised the corners of his mouth, seemingly amused by Dalia’s sudden change in behavior.

“But since my only wife doesn’t want her secret to be revealed, as a husband, I have no choice but to let it slide.”

A hint of enjoyment was evident in his voice.

He wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up.

“I enjoyed today’s meal. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.”

Then, as if his business was done, he walked straight to the door. But.

“Ah, and.”

Clayton, who was lowering the doorknob, looked back at Dalia once more.

“Next time, before you step in to resolve things yourself, let me handle it. That way, you won’t cry like this.”

With a tone that seemed to be teasing her,

“It was quite amusing that you fed the food to the chef. Thanks to that, I don’t have to punish the chef separately. Well then-”

And with a somewhat sly smile.

With that, he finished what he had to say and went outside.

With a thud, as the door closed, Dalia, left alone, spat out a curse.

“No, I didn’t do it on purpose, I’m telling you!”

But there was no one to hear her true feelings.

“What? The Duchess wants to see me?”

It was the third day of staying in the room without clearing up the misunderstanding.

A maid came to Dalia, who was lying absent-mindedly on the bed.

“Yes. She said she would like to have tea with you now, if you have time.”

“…”

‘Why is the Duchess calling for me? This wasn’t in the original story…’

After failing to poison the female lead, the Duchess went to a villa in the southern region, using deteriorating health as an excuse.

It was said to be for recuperation, but it was essentially being driven out of the estate.

‘Come to think of it, there’s no news of the Duchess going down to the estate…’

While Clayton being quiet was one thing, what was the Duchess thinking? To want to meet the victim she tried to poison.

Although it was unsettling to meet the Duchess who had tried to harm her, there was no good reason to refuse a tea time proposed by her mother-in-law.

“…Alright, I understand.”

Dalia nodded with a sour expression and got up.

‘Now that I’m directly possessing the body, I understand. Why the possessed female protagonists kept talking about the original story.’

It’s a bit unsettling when something different from the original story pops up.

When unpredictable situations occur, it feels like the possession buff is disappearing.

Following the maid like that, before she knew it, the Duchess was in front of her eyes.

She was a woman who didn’t match the title of Duchess. She was probably in her mid-forties at most.

Her golden hair and leaf-green eyes combined to give off an elegant atmosphere.

“I heard you already knew. That’s why you made Max eat it, right?”

The Duchess, who calmly spoke of her own wrongdoing, was surprisingly composed.

‘No, but the Duchess is also misunderstanding that I did it on purpose?’

Dalia, who no longer wanted her image to remain as a self-reliant and strong woman, spoke up to explain.

“No, I didn’t know. Everything that happened that day was a coincidence.”

“To lie even in front of me now. You’re more brazen than I thought.”

But in contrast to Dalia’s honest confession, the Duchess also didn’t believe her words.

“I thought you were just a weak child who couldn’t even take care of your own bowl… I’ve misjudged you.”

At this point, it seems like not listening to others is a specialty of the Sayer family.

“But you know what? Dalia.”

The Duchess’s gentle voice was affectionate enough to make one mistakenly think she had goodwill towards Dalia.

“I did it for your sake.”

“Ah, yes… Pardon?”

What is she talking about now?

“I was just trying to make it more certain that you were infertile, child.”

The Duchess, who had somehow approached close by, cupped Dalia’s cheek with one hand and continued speaking.

“If you were to have Clayton’s child, you…”

But she trailed off as if imagining something terrible.

However, Dalia already knew what the Duchess was going to say.

“I would die?”

“!”

And the Duchess’s eyes widened in surprise at my answer.

“You, could it be… Do you know? The secret of the Sayer family?”

“That mothers who give birth to children with Sayer family blood die?”

The secret of the Sayer ducal family.

And the full story behind the male lead’s conversation that made the female lead run away after getting pregnant.

‘If the madam is pregnant, what would you do?’

‘It wouldn’t be my child.’

‘Then the child and the madam…’

‘We’ll have to kill them.’

That statement was half right and half wrong.

The words the original female lead didn’t hear were…

‘I’ll kill the child. Before Dalia gives birth.’

It meant killing the child, not the female lead.

Of course, even if she had heard the following words, the original female lead would have run away.

“Knowing that, you…!”

“If that’s the case, I’m fine with it.”

Because the original female lead was fine even after giving birth to the child.

Isn’t that what the original female lead’s buff is all about?

More importantly.

‘Did she really do that because she was afraid I might die giving birth?’

Dalia carefully examined the Duchess. She didn’t seem like the person who had ordered her to be poisoned just yesterday.

No, rather, she looked like the only person in this mansion who was worried about Dalia.

‘Although her method was a bit wrong, she doesn’t seem like a bad person.’

So she wanted to reassure the Duchess.

That what she’s worried about won’t happen.

But she couldn’t say ‘I won’t die because I’m the female lead~’. While she was pondering how to convey her message, that’s when it happened.

“Could it be that you…”

The Duchess asked as if she had realized something tremendous.

“You truly love Clayton. So much that you don’t mind dying while giving birth to his child.”

Huh?