I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 33

“What are you going to do, Edith?”

I looked up, startled by the Duchess’ voice, and all eyes were on me.

“Oh, I- I’m going to embroider a handkerchief.”

The plain handkerchief I held up felt too small.

Again, scornful stares were directed at me.

“I was thinking of making a few to sell……”

I timidly assured them I’d make several, but it made no difference.

Only the Duchess responded kindly, saying, “It must be beautiful.”

‘Is this not going to sell any?’

I had hoped that the Duchess would secretly buy one, for the sake of the family’s honor, but if that didn’t work, I’d have to get Anna to do it.

I stayed out of the other ladies’ conversations and flipped through the embroidery design book.

‘Hmm? This would be pretty.’

I spotted a new design tucked away amongst all the colorful designs.

It didn’t look difficult, and it didn’t look too childish.

I decided to embroider a little bird with a single laurel leaf in its beak, and carefully traced the design on my handkerchief.

It was a little embarrassing to embroider just that one, so I added a laurel wreath around the handkerchief.

While I was working hard on the design, the lady who had been giving me the cold shoulder earlier sneaked up on me.

She said, “Oh, that design is similar to the one my daughter did last year. It’s very pretty when you finish it.”

“Isn’t it? I think this design is cute too……”

“I remember the handkerchief Miss Larissa made two years ago, but how old is Miss Larissa this year?” asked the lady sitting next to her, pretending to know nothing.

“She’s seventeen already.”

“So she was fifteen when she made that handkerchief? She was just a little girl, and now she’s all grown up, time flies.”

“It does, hohoho!”

They laughed happily and moved on to other topics of conversation, but I understood very well what they wanted to say.

‘They’re saying that my skills are at the level of a fifteen-year-old.’

Again, they took advantage of a moment when the Duchess was busy looking at other people’s work.

‘Isn’t that lady secretly friendly with the Countess of Sinclair, too? Why is she criticizing me and not Lizé?’

Right, she would get into trouble if she criticized Lizé whom the Duchess loved like a daughter of her own.

‘This is going to be an eventful day.’

I was a little annoyed, but I didn’t need the attention of people who didn’t matter anyway.

I braced myself and focused my attention on my embroidery.

But despite the Duchess’ consideration, I became increasingly isolated at each embroidery gathering.

One lady in particular, who was close to the Countess of Sinclair, led the bullying, secretly comparing me to Lizé.

‘No wonder Edith is so jealous of Lizé in the original story.’

It’s only because I know the original story that I can take such provocations in stride, otherwise I’d probably hate Lizé too.

Today, Lizé is still working on her shawl, embroidering all kinds of flowers and grasses, receiving the admiration of the other noble ladies.

The shawl will probably end up in Cliff’s hands after a fierce fight between the male lead and the second male lead.

‘By all means.’

I looked down at my handkerchief, which only had a laurel wreath embroidered around it, and wondered what color to fill the bird’s body with.

I had originally thought of yellow, but I thought it would look too much like a chick.

I decided on a light gray color for the body and silver and black for the wings.

Suddenly, a delicate hand appeared in front of me.

“How about doing it in this color?” asked Lizé as she handed me a spool of pink thread.

Maybe she was sad to see me being bullied.

“I think it would look really cute with this chartreuse color for the leaf on the beak.”

Of course it would.

The combination of pink and chartreuse almost never fails.

I appreciated her thoughtfulness, but unfortunately, I hadn’t intended to make it so girlish.

But I had to play nice here, because if I turned down Lizé’s suggestion, I’d be labeled as arrogant and incapable of taking advice.

“Thanks for the advice, Lizé. But I’m making this…… with Killian in mind.”

“Yes? Killian……?”

I just happened to think of the gray-eyed Killian, but it didn’t seem like a bad excuse.

“Uh, yeah. Killian’s eyes are this color……”

“Oh, you are right.”

“Just don’t tell him because it’s embarrassing, okay?” I said, smiling like a shy new bride.

Even the ladies who tried to blame me for turning down Lizé’s suggestion couldn’t fault my excuse.

What could they say when a new bride has her heart set on the groom, the second son of the Duke of Ludwig?

“How lovely, Edith! Killian’s eyes are such a pretty color,” said the Duchess, delighted.

“You don’t think they are because they resemble the Duke’s eyes, do you?”

“Oh, he has them too!”

As I joked with the Duchess, the ladies next to me chimed in, laughing heartily.

“Newlyweds are good, how sweet……”

“I know! By the way, is Sir Killian doing well?”

Lizé tried to answer their question, but I quickly interrupted her.

“Of course, he’s down with the Duke right now to see the estate he is to receive, but I’ll tell him you said hello when he gets back.”

Only after I replied did Lizé shut up and smile.

To be honest, it’s moments like this that make me understand the original Edith more deeply.

I know Lizé has no ill will towards me, but she is seriously lacking in perspective.

‘It’s a question for me, it’s a question about my husband, why are you trying to answer it?’

Of course, the author of this world would write something like, “Lizé tried to answer, but Edith interrupted her with a fierce look. She replied that Killian was doing well, but in truth, Lizé knew that Killian had looked distressed lately.”

It’s a shitty world that’s only told from the female lead’s point of view.

***

“What do you think, Killian?”

The Duke of Ludwig asked Killian as they stood in the cool breeze.

They were standing on the side of Mount Philiac, which overlooked Ryzen, the estate Killian would receive with the title of count.

“It’s…… pretty nice.”

Killian tried to sound nonchalant, but the Duke of Ludwig noticed that his son was quite pleased.

He would have felt a little bad if he didn’t.

Ryzen was the estate he had chosen for Killian with great care.

“It’s a bit far from the capital, but few estates have as much potential for development as this one, and it’s really not that far, ten days by carriage.”

“Sure. It’s less than a week on horseback, so it’s not too far, though some places take a month.”

Killian was quite satisfied with Ryzen.

In fact, he was a little worried about which estate his father and brother were going to give him.

He used to think it didn’t matter, but if he was going to bring the snooty Edith to live with him, he wasn’t going to be able to get her to see things his way.

‘But with an estate like this, she won’t say anything, and my father must be considering it for giving me such a good estate.’

Killian, who had no intention of continuing his marriage with Edith for a long time, was now thinking of taking her to his estate.

Edith was more tolerable than he had expected, and he knew that Lizé’s heart had already left him.

Once I made up my mind, I felt better.

‘Okay, this is it.’

The early summer breeze on the mountainside was refreshing, blowing away any last shreds of regret.

Being in the north, Ryzen is cooler than the capital all year round, which is pleasant compared to the capital, which is getting hotter by the day.

“How cold does it get in winter?”

“A little colder than the capital. Snow is more of a problem than temperature, because snow clouds can’t get over Mount Philiac, so Ryzen gets a lot of snow. But there has never been an avalanche or isolated incident.”

“I see.”

Except for the winter snow, the estate is good.

‘As long as Edith doesn’t complain about the cold, that is.’

And if she does complain, I can give her a fur coat. I’d be foolish to refuse this estate just because it’s a bit cold.

Ryzen doesn’t have a very large area, but its agricultural production is very high in relation to its area.

The land is fertile and the rainfall is moderate.

And with no big cities around to absorb young people, the labor force is quite large.

“With so many young people, it would be good to develop industries other than agriculture. If we can establish a road across the Mountain Philiac, we could become a halfway point for traders traveling throughout the empire.”

“That’s a good idea, but we’d better make sure the estate is well policed. An influx of outsiders is bound to increase crime.”

Killian nodded with excitement.

The sight of his own estate in front of him made him impatient to try this, to try that.