I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 36

“You must be crazy.”

“Ha……”

“You betray the family that fed you, clothed you, and raised you? Do you think my family would let a traitor live?”

I hastily wiped my tears and looked at Shane.

“You’ve fed me, clothed me, and raised me…… yes, if you call that a favor, then my letter to you was a way of repaying that favor, and you’d better not ignore my warning.”

Despite my heartfelt advice, Shane smirked at me, then spoke in a low voice, “Spanking is medicine[1] for a dog that doesn’t recognize its master. Just because you’re in the Ludwig family doesn’t mean I can’t tighten your leash.”

[1] It is a Korean idiom. It means that spanking is the most effective for a disobedient child.

Then he walked away.

It wasn’t until he was gone that my heart began to beat frightfully, for a very old memory of Edith came to me belatedly.

“I’m sorry, Father! I’m sorry!”

“You stupid bitch, I’ve taught you so many times and you can’t do it!”

“Ahh! I’m wrong, I’m wrong!”

I remembered Count Riegelhoff slapping me on the cheeks and head and back and forearms…… no, anywhere his hands and feet could reach.

I don’t know why he did that to his own daughter.

But young Edith didn’t dare to rebel, didn’t dare to run away.

With no one to help her, she could only move as her father’s puppet.

‘Edith must have been desperate…… for Killian to marry her.’

That’s why she wanted Killian so badly, even though she couldn’t resist Riegelhoffs’ orders to get information about the Ludwig family.

My eyes grew hot.

Despite our differences, I could understand Edith’s feelings.

Is that why I possessed her and not someone else?

As much as I want to save my own life, I don’t want to let Edith die a miserable death.

I took a deep breath and pulled myself together.

‘Ha, I’m so late. I’ll be suspected if I’m late.’

I hurriedly took a handkerchief out of my bag and wiped my tears.

In the mirror, I could see that my cheek was red from Shane’s slap, but I thought I could pass it off as just a little sunburn.

I practiced smiling a few times, as the corners of my mouth kept dropping, and then I turned to the corner of the building.

It was then that I made eye contact with Killian.

“I’ve been looking for you for a while. Where have you been?”

“Oh…… the mansion is beautiful, so I thought I’d see what it’s like over here……”

“You have a lot of curiosity.”

Bowing my head and covering the cheek Shane slapped me on with my hair, I asked in a deliberately cheerful voice, “Did you come looking for me on purpose?”

“Of course not, I just came out to wash my hands and found you.”

“Alas, I see. I almost got excited.”

“Excited about something like that?”

Yes, a lot.

“It’s exciting to know that someone cares where you’ve gone, isn’t it?”

I mean it.

And that’s bittersweet.

Did anyone care about Choi Soo-na after her death?

If I die as Edith Ludwig, will anyone care?

As I followed the now-silent Killian back to the tent, I felt a little weak, thinking about Shane’s threats and my lack of hope.

But it wasn’t all bad things.

“This year’s bazaar sold out of all the donated items at a high price, thank you! We will make sure that your warm hearts are delivered to each orphanage.”

Countess Ermenia, the organizer of the bazaar, announced the end of the bazaar with the news that all the items had been sold.

‘Huh? That means someone bought my handkerchiefs too! Oh, thank goodness!’

Even though I was told that the bazaar was supposed to ensure that no donated items were left unsold, I decided to take the organizer’s word for it that ‘all’ the items sold for a ‘high’ price.

If it wasn’t for meeting Shane, this would have been a really good day……

***

Returning from the bazaar, Count Riegelhoff hysterically removed his cravat and flopped down on the couch. He turned to Shane, who followed him into the study, his eyes shining sharply.

“Tell me more about what you said earlier at the bazaar.”

Shane took a seat across from the Count, and a moment later the maid Sophia entered with tea for the two of them.

Once the teacups were filled, Shane took a sip before speaking.

“Edith has certainly changed.”

Shane frowned, remembering the Edith he’d met at the bazaar. “Instead of being polite to me, her brother, she’s gotten very impudent.”

“How do you mean she became impudent?”

“I’d understand if she’d gotten a hard knock on the head at the Ludwig mansion, for she held her head high and was so insolent to me that I doubt if she was Edith.”

Count Riegelhoff’s eyes narrowed at that.

Edith, who had been beaten and taught to obey her family from a young age, dared not make eye contact with Shane unless in the presence of others.

He couldn’t believe that Edith raised her head and speak up.

But Shane gritted his teeth to hide his true frustration.

“I was nice at first, asking if she was being watched by the Ludwigs and what exactly happened.”

“And then?”

“She asked me when and from whom I got the fake weapons-related document, and then she said she didn’t know because she was in a precarious position in the Ludwig family.”

Behind him, Sophia, the maid, sucked in a breath in disbelief.

“I was taken aback when she told me that the letter she wrote to you was sincere and that we shouldn’t even think about fighting the Ludwigs, then I slapped her, telling her how dare she betray the family that fed her.”

“You mean she couldn’t come to her senses even after you slapped her?”

“On the contrary, she became more and more insolent. What? She told me that the letter was her way of repaying the family’s favor and that I shouldn’t ignore her warning. Ha!”

At that, Count Riegelhoff gave a ridiculous snort of laughter. “Either Edith is truly out of her mind, or Duke Ludwig has a stronger leash on her than we do.”

“Or maybe she thought she was free now that she was out of this house.”

Now Count Riegelhoff gritted his teeth, wondering if this was how it felt to be bitten by a dog he raised.

“I should have had her die following her mother in the first place; I shouldn’t have raised such a mongrel, whose sire I don’t even know!”

Edith is not Count Riegelhoff’s biological daughter, but his younger sister’s daughter, and he doesn’t even know who her father is.

“Brother, please help me! Please!”

His normally well-behaved sister knelt in front of him, begging and sobbing while pregnant.

How shocked he was when she said she didn’t know when she got pregnant or whose child it was……

But he couldn’t bring himself to kill her for having a child, so he sent her to the manor under the pretext of recuperation, and when the child was born, he added the child to his family register.

It was only possible because his wife had also gone down to the manor for recuperation, and he was forced to do it for the sake of family honor, but he didn’t like it from the beginning.

‘That old woman died as soon as she gave birth. Tsk.’

His sister, who begged for her life, gave birth to a child and bled nonstop, eventually dying shortly afterward.

‘I should have thrown Edith away when the fortune teller said it was bad luck to be related to a child who killed her mother.’

If only Anais had been healthy……!

His wife, Anais Riegelhoff, was a beautiful woman, but she was weak and unable to bear children after giving birth to Shane.

It was a relief to see an heir in her, but it was a bit unsettling to have only one son in a noble family.

So he kept Edith as the family dog, hoping she would be useful one day.

“I gave you what you didn’t deserve, raised you as the Count’s daughter, and then you betrayed your family ungratefully?” Count Riegelhoff clenched his fists and trembled.

Just then, Sophia, the maid who had been silent, spoke up, “My lord. I’ll go and crack down on Miss Edith.”

Count Riegelhoff and Shane’s gazes turned to her.

It was a matter she had already discussed with Shane, so she had no qualms about it.

“I’m sure the young lady doesn’t know about her position yet, but I’ll make it clear to her that she can’t leave the Riegelhoffs, even if she’s in Ludwig.”

“The Ludwigs might do you harm, but are you sure you don’t mind?”

Count Riegelhoff asked a question he had never asked Edith.

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you and Shane.”

Sophia smiled, and Count Riegelhoff nodded.

“You are much better than Edith, then go and bring her to her senses and spy on the Ludwigs.”

Shane asked, “What if Sophia’s ‘discipline’ doesn’t bring her to her senses, and she snitches on the Ludwigs?”

But Count Riegelhoff had a different idea. “If she was blabbing about her situation, rumors would have already spread in the social world. She’s a stupid bitch, but she knows her situation. Do you think the Ludwigs would keep her if they knew she was abandoned by her family?”

“Well, I suppose they wouldn’t.”

“But you should always have a backup plan.”

The Count smirked and turned to Sophia. “Sophia, if all else fails, I suggest that Edith be mysteriously assassinated, preferably by Killian Ludwig.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Sophia showed off a bright smile, one she had never shown in front of Edith.