Chapter 76
Veronica was doing fairly well in her own way.
When she had asked for the removal of that collar—she called it that—saying she didn’t want to suffer anymore, the Imperial Crown Prince had made a rather displeased expression, as if he had bitten into something bitter. But in the end, he granted her request. Because she had been genuinely ready to die without hesitation. At least until she married him and bore his child, the one who would be troubled by her death was the Imperial Crown Prince.
Since he was someone who fully understood human frailty, it had taken him some time to truly believe that she was someone capable of actually dying. For a moment, he had genuinely thought she would.
‘Hmm.’
Satisfied with having gained a temporary reprieve, she wiggled her toes.
Today’s bath additive was lavender, known for promoting restful sleep. Before taking a bath with such hot water and using a bath additive, did the original Veronica ever realize how much effort went into preparing it? Probably not.
She was slowly regaining the memories of the body’s original owner. The original Veronica had been an extremely meticulous and obsessive person, so she casually tossed those memories into her subconscious, filtering them as she saw fit.
It would have been possible to use magic to create a bathtub that gushed out hot water. However, magic was only accessible to a limited number of highly skilled individuals, requiring great cost and time. Compared to that, ordering a few servants to heat the water and adjust it to the right temperature was a far cheaper and simpler method.
For that reason, much of the aristocracy’s luxurious lifestyle was still maintained through the efforts and time of many attendants.
Not that it concerned Veronica. She hummed a tune.
‘Being a noble is the best! A revolution won’t happen in my generation, right? No? Well, if it does, that’d be a disaster, so I might as well enjoy it while I can.’
When she felt that enough time had passed, she rose from the bath. With a mere lift of her hand, maids appeared from somewhere and wrapped her body in soft, fluffy towels, thoroughly drying her. Fragrant aromatic oils were gently massaged into her skin.
‘Ah, having oil applied without making my hands greasy is the best. Nobles are the best.’
She yawned lazily and slipped her arms into the silk robe the maids dressed her in.
At a flick of her fingers, one of the maids brought her the book she had been reading before falling asleep the previous night. With a cheerful “Thank you!” she took the book and opened it.
It was a genealogy of noble families—the very book that the original Veronica had memorized completely and had once instructed Roina to do the same.
‘Hmm, the Marquisate of Amasto.’
She ran her fingers smoothly down the page, tapping on the name “Amasto.”
It contained not only family trees but also brief descriptions of each noble house.
“I should have a word with them.”
In the scattered fragments of her memory, Maili was a good person, albeit somewhat careless for a noble. The original Veronica had been deeply jealous of her. After all, Maili had a loving family and abundant resources—things Veronica never had.
But the previous Veronica had been foolish. People like that were precisely the ones she should befriend and use to her advantage. That was what she thought now.
And then—
‘Roina, that was her name.’
The woman who stirred an odd feeling within her. The lady-in-waiting who had risen from slavery.
She wanted to meet her.
If she met Maili, she might find a clue.
Even without any solid basis, Veronica was convinced of this. She knew that sometimes, intuition provided the most certain answers.
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