CH 6

Roselia Fellua. The female lead of this novel.

The person who runs away before the Grand Duke’s wedding ceremony.

According to the contents of the original novel, Roselia comes to Rainbow Falls for the last time before entering the Grand Duchess and contemplates whether to ‘run away or join the Grand Duchess.’

She came here because she wanted to organize her thoughts, but she lost her ring here. 

The problem is, this ring isn’t just a ring. 

The gold ring he gave while imitating the mountain spirit was a keepsake left by Grand Duke Epher’s mother, the former Empress when she passed away. 

He gave that precious thing as an engagement ring, but she lost it.

At the beginning of the novel, Roselia is a person with a lot of anxiety and is very timid. To put it bluntly, it would be more accurate to say that she looks silly. 

She made a big mistake. She can clearly expect her future life as the Grand Duchess, she wants to see the people she loves, and she doesn’t want to live a suffocating life. 

When she eventually lost the ring, she became determined to run away.

So I took a step ahead of her and gave the ring back.

“I will be Roselia Fellua in your place.” 

As Imoogi did for many of my men, I seduced her with sweet words.

Roselia’s eyes, which were trembling with fear, began to look comfortable little by little.

“Can… I?” 

A fox like me, how clever am I? 

This is what a blessing in disguise is.

To be honest, there was no guarantee that I would be able to seduce the Grand Duke again next time. Like last time, someone else might get in the way. Since the Grand Duke’s magical power seems to be quite outstanding, it might not be able to work next time. 

But what if, through this opportunity, I became the companion of Grand Duke Epher in place of Roselia? 

Anyway, the beads will be in the body of the Grand Duke, and I can easily become a human since I will have a hundred years of life and receive the human spirit. 

Roselia runs away just like described in the book, but there is no breathtaking pursuit of the Grand Duke, so she will have a happy ending early. 

It’s good that the Grand Duke doesn’t go up and down in the embarrassing position of ‘a prince with a fiancé who ran away before marriage’.

Wouldn’t it be three birds with one stone? 

Besides, if it’s a Grand Duke, he’s rich, so he doesn’t have to worry about making a living for the time being. How nice it is to be treated like a very good country!

And that’s not all.

If I become a human soon after entering the novel. 

Heavenly God will think, ‘Korean society is really extreme,’ and pay attention on the world a little more.

‘I am the savior of mankind and a great hero.’ 

It was a time when I was trying to get the corners of my lips to go up with joy just by imagining them.

“…How do you know me?” 

Roselia’s eyes, where fear had disappeared, were rather full of doubt.

I knew this would happen, so I dressed up as a living spirit. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.

“I am a Mountain God who lives on this mountain and observes the world.” 

“….?” 

“Well, it’s like the goddess you pray for.”

I, who had been floating in the sky, lightly came down in front of Roselia. 

“I know you very well. Well, it’s boring, except for age. You’ve been lost in the mountains when you were young, haven’t you?” 

“…Yes.” 

“At that time, you were following the fireflies and was finally rescued by people.”  

Roselia’s eyes grew wider and wider.

“How can you….”

This was a story that only Roselia knew. —Of course, other readers, including me, would know.—

It wasn’t an episode of great significance.

It was just an episode made to make Lucas, the male protagonist, look like a firefly that lights up the dark for Roselia. 

“By any chance… Did you… do it?”

Oh, uhm. I don’t like lying, so I just shrugged my shoulders and moved on to another story.

With stories that only Roselia still knows.

If she didn’t believe me, I was going to say something that would be embarrassing, saying, ‘You even imagined kissing Lucas from time to time.’

“T, thank you. You’ve been watching over me all this time….” 

Fortunately, Roselia looked at me with wonder. I wondered if she had opened her heart now, but Roselia asked me as we saw in her novels.

“But people like me… Why are you helping me?”

In the beginning, many readers dropped out because of her indecisive and low self-esteem. Of course, it gets harder and harder toward the story’s second half, but I didn’t like Roselia’s personality either.

But what I liked about it was.

“You look similar to me.”

It was purely for this reason. Even if it wasn’t this novel, if there was a description of appearance similar to mine, strangely, I kept reading it. 

“But we don’t look…similar?” 

“It’s similar. Silver hair and red eyes.”

“Oh… Aren’t there a lot of people like that?”

“It’s my first time seeing it. So let’s put aside the ‘why’ question.” 

I tapped Roselia’s forehead with my finger and said, 

“It’s time to ask the question ‘how,’ right?”

“Ah…” 

Anyway, I really don’t like that foolish personality.

“You run away like this. If you marry into the Grand Duke, the future is fixed. You’ll be dead in a couple of years.”

As I talked about dying, Roselia’s face turned to contemplation again. 

Well, that’s not very wrong, is it?

In any case, the Grand Duke is preparing for treason, and it will be difficult for this timid Roselia to persuade the Grand Duke not to commit treason. The couple will go to the guillotine together when he gets caught.

Roselia swallowed her saliva and held her hands together.

She was a child who didn’t know about treason but knew about the notoriety of the Grand Duke.

“I need to get something from the Grand Duke.”

“Is it like revenge…?”

“That’s none of your business.”

I closed my eyes and used another initiative.

To change into the same appearance as another person. It took a lot more power than just turning into a human. However, since I always lived with someone else’s face, it was not difficult to change into something like Roselia.

“Okay. I can change just like you. No one will know you’re running away if I go into the Grand Duke of Elysia like this.” 

Roselia’s pupils widened, and the same appearance reflected in her eyes like a mirror.

“I… I don’t want to.” 

“What?” 

Roselia bit her lip, avoiding her eyes as if she didn’t want to see me.

“Why? If I stand in for you, you can run away comfortably.”

“….” 

“Are you afraid that I will damage your family? I already know even your little past.”

I imitated her, holding her hands together like Roselia.

“I, I don’t want to. Look, it’s not that hard to imitate you.” 

“W, when did I do that?”

Roselia blushed and looked away.

“Don’t you want to run away? You must have been contemplating whether or not to run away just a little while ago.” 

“That’s… that’s true but…” 

Phew, it’s frustrating.

I said bluntly, getting out the same look as Roselia.

“Well, if you don’t like it, don’t do it.” 

“….” 

“If you refuse to help me even though I can help you, what am I going to do?”

“….” 

“I didn’t expect to be sure that I would be able to live well even after entering the Grand Duke’s family. Yeah. Live well.”

As I turned back as if I had no regrets, Roselia caught me urgently.

“I, it’s not like that.”

Yeah. That’s right because it should be you, not me, who should hang on here. 

“It’s just… It’s kind of uncomfortable that someone who looks the same as me and acts the same….” 

“Because it’s a substitute, I have to do it. Is there anything you can do about it?” 

“Becoming the same even in appearance is like taking away the person I am, not substitute….” 

As if I had been hit by what she said, I was stunned, too.

To live by stealing someone’s identity and face for a thousand years. Because I wasn’t too happy about it either.

“What are you going to do? Even if it’s uncomfortable, you have to endure it. Or just go into the Grand Duke and live a good life. Well, it won’t last long.” 

“N, no. I, it’s not like that… No one would know me anyway, so there was no need to imitate me.” 

Roselia blushed and lowered her head shyly.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t understand that feeling. The substitute takes over the person’s role, not the person herself.

“No one will recognize me anyway….” 

Ah. I gradually remembered the contents of the novel.

Silver hair and red eyes were not unusual here. The reason Roselia was able to roam the streets and get away with her wanted list was because few people knew her. 

“I’ve never been in the social world.”

Indeed, Fellua was a family on the brink of collapse.

Roselia’s line in the novel suddenly came to mind. She smiled dejectedly and said, “That’s funny. It was sad at the time, but I thought it would benefit me instead.”

“Even the Grand Duke doesn’t know my face….” 

In the episode where she ran into the Grand Duke Epher, Epher didn’t recognize Roselia either. 

“Besides Lucas, no one has ever seen my face since I’ve come this far.” 

Yeah. So, when she ran away for the first time, she put on a wig so no one would recognize her. 

“Then what about your father? At least someone who knows you might come to the grand duchy.”

“I will tell my father.”

“….” 

“Anyway, my family is powerless, so they won’t be able to say that I’m actually the daughter. Rather, they will try to hide it.” 

I guess so. Even if the exchange was known, the offense of insulting the imperial family would already be established. There is no need for a family that has already gone bankrupt due to a lack of money to be dishonored.

Roselia trembled at the sound of her voice and closed her eyes tightly.

“I’ve never heard of magic that allows you to change into someone else’s form.”

“….” 

“Even if we get caught, I… Uhm.. they can assume that I hired you.” 

“….” 

“But if you look the same as me, there’s no magic like that, so it could be a bigger problem for you….” 

“Never mind. I understand.”

Well, there was no reason to be like Roselia.

It would be better to stay that way for the sake of one thing, but it’s not that I don’t know how she feels, so I have no choice but to give in. 

I’ll try not to get caught, but even if I do, I don’t want to do any harm to myself.

Even if I pretend not to, I’m the one who loses if Roselia says no here.

‘Anyway, I thought she was a fool, but seeing that she knew how to protect herself. She looks like a heroine in a novel.’ 

I smiled and grabbed Roselia’s chin, and lifted her up.

“My dear. Please remember. I am the one who saved you.”

So now I’m His Excellency’s Madam, no, I’m the Grand Duke’s Madam. (t/n: I’m not really sure here, but she uses the term in the Joseon dynasty(I think) for the ‘His Excellency’s Madam’, but I don’t really know how to put it, so I hope you understand;;)