First method. Don’t be a stepmother (2)

Amanda was born the daughter of Viscount Ventta, a vassal of Count Petrika. She had three older brothers, and Amanda the youngest and famous daughter, was quite loved by them and her mother. The Viscount made enough living to fit Amanda in a pretty dress every year and hire a maid to follow her and do chores and errands, but her childhood friend was the only daughter of Count Petrika. It was perhaps bad luck in her life.

Merilyn, who had fine blonde hair and sprout-like eyes that glowed in the spring sun, was also a Countess, so everyone spared no affection in front of her. And there were many people in the world who could not stand flattery, who could not elevate others without undermining someone. They praised Merilyn by undermining Amanda, who was right next to her.

Merilyn had fair and shiny blonde hair compared to her common, dull brown hair. Green eyes like buds, not brute-looking yellow eyes. From appearance characteristics to gestures, refinement, and walking, they analyzed on a molecular basis to lower Amanda and raise Merilyn. Merilyn, with a soft heart, felt sorry for Amanda but couldn’t say anything to them because she couldn’t say something harsh. Instead, she would smile puzzled and give Amanda a ribbon, necklace, dress, etc., which she loved, as a gift when they left. It was also turned into a story about good and generous Merilyn and Amanda, who didn’t know her place and took gifts.

In any case, Amanda had been compared to Merilyn since childhood, concealing a twisted sense of inferiority towards her, and since Merilyn became the Duchess, Amanda had been delaying her marriage, seeking a husband to become a lady of high status, if not a Duchess. Amanda was also the beloved youngest daughter of the Viscount Ventta and his wife who were perplexed by their daughter’s vanity, but didn’t force her into the marriage, and two years later, Amanda replaced Merilyn as Duchess.

Amanda, who felt inferior to Merilyn, let alone their friendship, secretly tormented her young son and began to treat Carlos openly when she realized that the Duke was not even interested in his only son. And she also tried to kill Carlos after giving birth to her son, but eventually drove the child out of the castle.

Amanda’s misdeeds came to an end when Carlos, an adult, took control of the Duke’s forces and returned to the castle with a Dragon as his lover, accusing her of being a wicked woman who disturbed the North with tyranny. Amanda kills herself on condition that she drinks poison instead of saving her son.

Oh, that’s my destiny.

Amanda’s life in the novel was a monotonous, obvious, vicious stepmother’s life that ended as I walked down a relatively short corridor toward Count Petrika and my father, the Viscount of Ventta. The maid opened the door, and in the warm-smoked drawing room, two gentlemen were waiting for me with very tired faces.

“Oh, Amanda. It’s been a while.”

“Long time no see, Count. Have you been well?”

“I am. Well, I guess that’s my grandson.”

The Count of Petrika, who I haven’t seen in a long time, looked very old and tired, but his face shone at the baby in my arms and at me. Unlike the gleaming Count’s eyes, my father frowned and looked displeased.

“Where is the nanny that you keep holding the Young Master?”

My father was displeased that his daughter was holding the baby for long, not even his own. At the words, the Count raised his arm, saying he would hold his grandson, and the baby went to his grandfather beautifully without crying. After I had removed the child from my arms, I felt a throbbing pain in my shoulders.

It’s not normal to hold a kid.

Born as a lady of the aristocracy, the heaviest thing I’ve ever held was the needle used for handicraft. My father was slightly lowering his head in case he dared to show a displeased expression in front of the Count, his lord. I couldn’t even show that my arms and shoulders hurt because it was obvious that he would be upset if I was sick. In the book, Viscount Ventta opposed Amanda becoming the Duchess. He did not want his daughter to be a wife of a man who was unwelcoming to women and was too high up in stature, or be a second wife, to live a life of caring for another person’s child, not her own.

However, since Amanda wanted to be the Duchess and his lord, Count Petrika, wanted Amanda as the Duchess, Viscount Ventta was forced to allow the marriage. The Duke, who could not leave the position of the mistress of the Duke’s Castle empty, also allowed her who was only a wife in name. In the midst of everyone working together for their own interests, Amanda becomes the Duchess… A very vicious Duchess.

But it was Amanda. The character of the book I read in my previous life.

I didn’t know until now that I was reborn as Amanda, the character of the book. And although I didn’t mean to, I could be proud that I’ve lived completely differently from Amanda  so far.

“Oh, how cute. It looks like he has Merilyn’s eyes. What about these tiny lips?”

“Looks like Merilyn’s rose-like lips.”

The Count’s eyes were wet with emotion at the sight of the child. The Count smiled at me, but my father pulled my hand slightly with dark eyes. It was a gesture that I shouldn’t step forward.

Unlike Amanda, I was a big fan of Merilyn. The child’s pretty blond hair, green eyes, and a soft heart also liked Merilyn to the point where I sometimes got hurt by the pretty child, but she remained with me. No matter how old I was, it was more fun to play with girls my age than to help my mother with her work. Above all, I was always more mentally mature than Merilyn, so she followed me like a sister, and I liked taking care of her as if she was my pretty little doll-like sister.