Anyway, since this is a novel where the protagonist is a max-level lucky female lead with a flower garden for a brain, humans have a strangely kind side, so if I just apologize, they’ll accept it, so I should do it quickly.

Don’t miss the opportunity.

This is generally how an assistant whose life is mortgaged lives.

And another reason Serena’s life goes downhill is that she gets cut off from the ‘Lavernia’ family register.

A year later, when the poisoning incident spreads to the imperial capital, Marquis Lavernia, upon hearing that she tried to kill not only a member of the imperial family but also children, severs ties with Serena.

He even gets permission from the imperial family to erase her name from the family.

Because of this, Serena, left with nowhere to go, suffers all kinds of humiliation even from commoners.

But this won’t happen if she divorces, apologizes, and is forgiven.

The fourth thing to do is to find a reliable proxy to partner with.

Actually, there’s someone I have in mind.

Someone who will lend their business name, collaborate with me to get the business on track, and handle the practical work.

I just need to provide what’s necessary and receive a portion of the money.

This is enough to live on alone.

Since this is the last thing to do, I’ll put it off for now.

‘Still, cleaning up is troublesome, it’s troublesome.’

However, regardless of not wanting to do it, cleaning up is her specialty.

She doesn’t bother to look for reasons.

Because usually, those professors who are obsessed with research only cause problems and don’t clean up after themselves.

There’s no reason.

For a professor to act, ‘It looked interesting’ and ‘It seemed fun’ are enough.

The cleanup is, of course, the slave’s job.

“Duchess.”

Hearing the familiar deep voice, she moved away from the wall she was leaning on.

As she turned her head, there was the head butler, a little older than she remembered and with deeper wrinkles.

“……”

She thought she had lost all sense of emotion after rolling around under Kim Chul-soo and then Lemerun, but it seems not everything had disappeared.

Unexpectedly, she still had a little nostalgia.

Serena was a bit moved by this new fact she realized about herself.

She still had some human-like aspects left in her!

After being reincarnated into this world and realizing she was the villain, Serena tried not to get involved with the main characters as much as possible.

She planned to enter a monastery, be forgotten for a while, and return after the stage of the novel had closed its curtains.

“…Ah, it’s been a while.”

Did she use formal speech or informal speech before? She couldn’t remember.

Now she would use informal speech.

Serena stared at him for a moment, then tilted her head slightly and spoke.

“You’ve aged a bit. Still working?”

The air froze with a crackling sound at Serena’s words.

In fact, Serena…

Just wanted to express something like: You’ve aged a lot since I last saw you! I feel quite strange suddenly realizing the passage of time. But it’s good to see you’re still healthy enough to be active.

However, while rolling under Lemerun, Serena’s words had greatly reduced.

Her already short words under Kim Chul-soo shortened even more under Lemerun.

There was even a time when she didn’t speak for a week and cobwebs formed.

Lemerun was a scholar and was always cooped up in his lab, and except when giving orders, the two didn’t converse, so apart from the social skills needed for flattery and cleanup, her general social skills had long since gone to hell.

Unless it was a time when she clearly recognized the need to gather her social skills to make a good impression on others to get something she wanted, her words usually started and ended in her head.

Lotty’s emotions were clearly visible, so she needed to make a good impression, but the head butler was a professional who didn’t waver emotionally, so Serena didn’t feel the need to impress him.

That’s how the temperature difference in the conversation arose.

Of course, Serena wasn’t particularly aware of this fact.

Because she had no friends to tell her.

She didn’t even have anyone to talk to.

Her only conversation partner was an old man obsessed with research.

She thought she was perfectly normal.

That’s right.

Even under Professor Kim Chul-soo, she had no lingering attachments when she died, except for wanting to live comfortably, and under Lemerun, she had no attachments either.

Because she rarely had to go out, except when she’s being forcibly warped to an empty forest.

“Haha, it’s time for this old man to quit too. Don’t worry, I’ve already found a successor and am training him well. When this lad takes over, I’ll step down.”

“Is that so? I hope that day comes soon.”

It’s better to quit such labor quickly and rest.

Feeling a sense of kinship, Serena thought this and gave her well-wishes.

“……”

However, the problem is that to others, it was interpreted as something like ‘I hope this old man quits soon and disappears from my sight because I can’t stand the sight of him.’

Lotty, who was beside the head butler, also twisted his face, not understanding Serena’s hidden meaning.

The boy wished that Pamel, his mentor and benefactor, would work with him in the mansion for as long as possible.

But what kind of rude words were those to say to someone’s face!

He had to try hard to suppress the boiling anger.

“I heard from Lotty that you’re willing to accept the proposal the master suggested.”

“That’s right.”

“I heard you want to wait in the reception room, is that correct?”

Serena nodded at the polite inquiry.

“The annex is cold and I’m hungry.”

Actually, if it were a forest, there would be no need to act like this.

Because hunting would be enough.

But catching and eating animals on private property would likely cause problems.

In fact, Serena doesn’t really want to stand here and persist either.

Begging when told no is not her way.

But when she looked around the annex before coming out, there was really nothing there.

Even if she wanted to go out and eat something, she had no money, and all that was there was a black rabbit doll on the bed and a notebook.

Actually, she was hungry as soon as she woke up, but she endured for a day while denying reality.

She spent half a day recalling everything that had happened until now.

“Haven’t you eaten?”

“No. If I must return to the annex, it would be nice if you could pack some food for me.”

The head butler, Pamel, was a bit taken aback.

He didn’t expect such words to come from the Duchess’s mouth.

Originally, nobles considered it very shameful to openly express their desires.

That’s why in high society, people speak indirectly and elegantly even when they want to say something, and servants read their masters’ eye signals and move quickly in advance.

The Duchess before him originally wasn’t faithful to her own desires…

…No, that’s not right.

Come to think of it, she was always faithful to her desires.

She would openly say she disliked someone she didn’t like and slap them, and openly say she liked someone she liked and chase after them.

When she was irritated, she would throw things and sometimes even curse in front of the master using words he had never heard before.

I think it’s the first time I’ve heard her say she’s hungry…

‘This is strange, she should’ve had servants.’

Don’t tell me she did something to the servants again?

That’s the most likely answer.

I’ll have to check later.

‘Wait, she asked to pack food?’

Nobles don’t ask for food to be packed. They don’t have such a concept.

They consider eating cold food shameful.

Walking outside while eating or packing leftover food, that is.

The Duchess should also find this shameful…

“Pamel, this is delicious, could you pack some for me?”

…She didn’t find it shameful at all.

The Duchess often made such requests even as a child.

Even in front of her stoic fiancé, she would eat well by herself, praise each dish, and then pack up the ones she found particularly delicious.

The tea time where they sat together without exchanging a single word seemed somewhat bizarre.

I haven’t heard such words recently though.

‘Was the atmosphere like this?’

He made a strange face.

After the accident that day, when scars formed on her body, she always seemed to have a sharp edge, but now…

‘She seems to be in a good mood.’

Pamel, recalling a faint memory from the past, thought.

There were occasionally days like this.

Days that passed peacefully. Though very rarely.

“Never mind if it’s not possible.”

Serena said, starting to get annoyed.

Her strength and weakness is that she flares up quickly and dies down just as quickly.

When she’s fired up, no one can beat her, but that enthusiasm doesn’t last long.

She’s realistic and quick to compromise.

While Pamel was momentarily lost in the past, she thought it would be better for preserving energy to lie down in the annex rather than standing here losing strength.

“Duchess, I’ll guide you to the reception room. The master said he wouldn’t restrict your access if you keep your promise.”

“Alright.”

She slightly opened her eyes at Pamel’s permission.

‘I thought I’d be kicked out for sure.’

Serena, afraid he might take back his words, quickly nodded with an expressionless face and followed behind Pamel.

She stepped into a place she missed after a long time.

‘Oh, that decoration is still here. Must be expensive?’

That was Serena’s only impression of the ducal mansion she was entering after 10 years.