The person who had asked me, if I ever got driven out of that house, to come and find them without fail. Dressed in shabby clothes with their head wrapped tight, I could not help but sense that this person had some connection to me.

A man who might be my father.

Or a man who might know who my parents were.

Even as the marquis’s household drew closer into view, a small opening to breathe had appeared, and so I let myself smile.

I had wanted to enjoy a little peace inside the carriage, but the coachman drove at full speed with some inexplicable urgency. Because of that, I found myself back at the marquis’s household before long.

My mother-in-law, who had changed so drastically in the span of a month that one could almost believe she was a different person, stood waiting for me with a face full of fury.

Even her bearing was menacing.

I pulled the mask of the obedient daughter-in-law back over my face and scrambled out of the carriage.

“Why did you come outside in this cold?”

Like a woman who genuinely worried for her mother-in-law. Like someone who didn’t know what to do with herself in front of her, I even chewed at my lip.

“Did you bring back what I asked for?”

At those words, I covered my mouth with my hand like someone who had committed a grave offense.

“Oh…! About that……”

“…You didn’t bring it back?”

“I don’t know my way around here very well… And the coachman dropped me off somewhere strange, so I got lost and… it got late too.”

“Are you standing before me making excuses right now?”

Dertosse, who had been standing with her, wore an uneasy expression as he watched me closely.

“Evian. What are you saying? You need to do what Mother asks!”

Dertosse, still riding the fence, glanced between us and quickly joined her in pressing me.

I bowed my head low as I looked at them.

“I’m sorry. I wanted to do well too… but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find it… I’m still not used to the imperial language either.”

To devour them, I played the role of Evian who had been devoured by them faithfully. I didn’t forget to look flustered and pick at my nails the way I used to. The change meant to devour them would come after Isen took my hand.

“…You really are something. Not a single thing about you is satisfactory.”

My submissive approach seemed to displease her in itself, and my mother-in-law bit down hard on her lip and shot me a glare. Her hand trembled, as though she wanted to strike me but held back because Dertosse stood nearby, watching.

Just then.

“Evie. Is there anything you actually do right.”

Dertosse, who wouldn’t have gone half as far even if left alone, moved that careless, thoughtless mouth of his.

“What do you mean…”

“There’s not a single thing you do well. How hard can it be to go pick that up.”

Should I just hit him once?

The composure I had managed so well until a moment ago began to slip. Having him out here at least meant my mother-in-law wouldn’t lay a hand on me, but the urge to cut out that tongue of his surged up from somewhere deep inside.

“Dertosse.”

Just shut your mouth.

But the moment I said his name, he spoke even faster, like someone had shoved him from behind.

“Am I wrong? Evie. Where else would you find someone as good to you as Mother, and you can’t even manage one simple task she gave you. It’s not even something difficult.”

“…I see. It wasn’t difficult.”

“Of course not. There’s no way Mother would have asked you to do something difficult! How hard is it to go pick up one piece of jewelry.”

I smiled and nodded.

“I see. Hearing you say it, I suppose you’re right.”

“Exactly. So!”

“Then come with me, Dertosse.”

“Wh… what?”

“Mother, that would be all right, wouldn’t it? It’s not difficult at all. He’ll guide me through it properly since I’m the one who can’t manage.”

An unexpected answer deserves an unexpected response.

“Absolutely not!”

Sure enough, my mother-in-law shouted without a moment’s hesitation. She herself knew better than anyone that what she had asked was something that could not be done.

“Is that not all right, Mother?”

“No, it is not!”

“Why? It’s simply a matter of retrieving the jewelry you asked for, isn’t it?”

“Dertosse is busy, unlike you. Where do you think you’re taking him!”

So that was the excuse she finally landed on.

Mother was a shrewd woman.

Having lost her husband, Marquis Chenples, early on, she had raised two daughters and an heir son on her own. Rose Chenples. That was how she was known to the world.

But the reality was somewhat different. She had left the children in the care of wet nurses and maids while she herself lived a life of indulgence.

Then, as her son grew older, she came to an important realization. That her ability to keep the marquis’s household in her grip in place of her young son would last only until Dertosse formally married and “continued the family line.”

‘From that point on, Rose Chenples began to fixate on her son.’

She told him that women in this world were not to be trusted, that they were cunning and wicked creatures.

And as though to prove it, she raised her two daughters with a vicious hand. As a result, Dertosse developed a sharp and open hostility toward women.

‘And yet he brought home a woman to marry.’

Dertosse was in his late twenties. He was a touch late to marry by noble standards, and the first woman he ever brought home was Evian. Me.

At first, my mother-in-law had made her opposition clear and wanted nothing to do with me, but she eventually fell completely for the claim that I came from a good family and for the sight of me following her son around like a fool. But once she learned that my status itself was a fabrication, she had no reason left to hold back. And so the torment began.

‘All while performing the role of a wise and gentle mother for her son, pretending to be a trustworthy woman unlike all the others.’

Because of that, my mother-in-law was a wise and gentle woman, but only in front of him. Foolish Dertosse believed every bit of it.

“Absolutely not.”

Before she could open her mouth again, I pushed my lips into a slight pout and took Dertosse’s hand firmly.

“I suppose not. But Dertosse, I’m sure you could find it in one try.”

Whether he went, or even my mother-in-law herself went, there was no finding it.

The jeweler my mother-in-law claimed to have entrusted her precious jewelry to had never existed in the first place. In the past, this errand had sent me to the market time and again, only to return empty-handed and take a beating for it.

And on top of that, I had even been told that “a wretch like you must have stolen my precious jewelry.”

Dertosse, who knew none of this, opened his eyes wide.

“Huh? You want me to, to come with you?”

“Yes. You’d find it in one try, wouldn’t you.”

Flustered, his eyes darted about rapidly.

“Enough of this nonsense! What business does a woman have in a man’s affairs!”

“Mother. But if I go alone, I have a feeling I’ll come back empty-handed again. If he came along, surely…”

Just then, Dertosse, who had been at a loss between us, grinned and draped an arm around Mother’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry, Mother. I’ll take her and make sure she learns properly. Evie! I’ll go and teach you right. So you never trouble or upset Mother again!”

“Dert…!”

“Don’t worry, Mother. I’ll make sure to educate this one so she doesn’t give you anything to worry about.”

I held back the laugh trying to escape.

“Haah, Dert. My son. My son is just too kindhearted for his own good. But you know, in this world, you can’t go through life being that kind.”

“It’s not some other matter, it’s my wife’s.”

“Even so. And once you help her once, she’ll certainly call on you for every little thing. So…”

“What can I do? She doesn’t know a thing. So don’t worry and I’ll go with her. Now, Mother, please go inside and rest.”

I gave my mother-in-law a small nudge just as she was about to open her mouth again. Foolish Dertosse had no idea I was the one who nudged her, and thinking she was heading inside on her own, he pressed in close beside her.

“Dert!”

Mother bit down hard on her lip, clearly trying her best not to lose her temper. But Dertosse managed to stuff a million sweet potatoes down both my throat and hers at once.

“I’ll handle all of Evian’s education myself. There’s nothing for you to worry about, Mother.”

“That’s not what I mean, Dertosse.”

“I’ll give her a good scolding.”

What an idiot.

“…Dertosse. Listen to your mother for a moment. Send that girl alone and…”

“Oh, Mother. Are you worried about Evian?”

“What?”

“You think I’d do something to Evian?”

“No. That’s not what I…”

“If that’s not it, then please go inside. There’s nothing to worry about. The air is still cold, Mother.”

Dertosse, gripping her shoulders gently in a show of concern for his mother, kept throwing me a ridiculous wink and jerking his chin at me.

“Dert. I’m worried about you. You know that, don’t you. Your mother’s feelings?”

“Of course I do. So please, go inside.”

“…I’ll have someone else go and fetch the jewelry.”

She finally gave up on the situation only once she reached the door.

That one different thing I had said, “come with me, Dertosse,” had changed what lay ahead for us.

‘So it doesn’t stay completely the same.’

I had worried that no matter what I did, the outcome might already be fixed, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. So I could change this novel that had been so unkind to me however I pleased. A smile spread across my face before I even realized it.

Of all the people to make eye contact with, it had to be my mother-in-law.

“Ha. You, you! Dert! Look at that! She definitely just smiled!”

Sharp as ever, aren’t you?