It was my mother, her eyebrows raised all the way to the heavens.
“Hey! The sun’s already high in the sky and you’re still buried under the blankets? Get up already!”
Her booming shout echoed through the room.
“I swear, this child…”
Grumbling, Mom marched toward me as if she were about to snatch away the blanket at any moment.
Normally, we would have fought over the blanket for quite a while.
But today was different.
I threw my arms around my mother with all my strength.
“Moooom…”
The mother who had been about to unleash another roar froze in surprise.
“H-Hey, what’s gotten into you this early in the morning? Did you have a bad dream or something?”
Making a tearful face, I simply nodded.
In the original story, Milena eventually paid for her sins.
Cecilia, who had been cast out of the ducal household, fought her way back into high society through blood, sweat, and tears.
And from that point on, Milena’s life became a living hell.
She was publicly humiliated in aristocratic society, and every attempt she made to torment Cecilia only ended with Cecilia striking back harder.
Caught in Cecilia’s meticulous revenge, Milena slowly spiraled into ruin.
And to think that was supposed to be my future… dear god.
But there was something else bothering me too.
‘In the original story… my mother was never mentioned even once.’
Though she looked blunt and rough on the outside, my mother was actually an incredibly warm person.
She once told me she had lost her husband long ago.
Consumed by despair, she climbed a mountain one day… and there she found a crying little child.
She gave that child the name “Milena,” and that was how we became family.
‘Just how did the Milena from the original story end up leaving Mom behind?’
The novel never mentioned it, so there was no way for me to know.
Still, one thing was certain.
‘I can’t even imagine living without my mom.’
With my face buried deep in her embrace, I mumbled quietly.
“Say… hypothetically… what if I turned out to be the daughter of some incredibly powerful family?”
“Then of course you’d have to go back to them.”
Her answer came without even a second of hesitation.
Startled, I slowly lifted my head.
“…Mom?”
“You’re my daughter, but you’re far too pretty and talented to waste away in a tiny village like this.”
Mom cupped my cheeks and flashed a grin.
“But if you do return to some rich noble family, don’t you dare forget all the hardship your mother went through raising you. You’d better squeeze a huge childcare payment out of them.”
“Mom!”
When I whined in protest, she burst out laughing.
“Enough nonsense and get up already. You’ve only just started working at the baron’s estate. You can’t be late already.”
At that moment, all color drained from my face.
“…Mom, what time is it right now?”
“It’s the exact time my dear daughter should already be sprinting out the door.”
I-I’m doomed!
Past lives or not, I was still just another resident of this world.
Which meant I had to earn money to survive.
And so, in the present—
while diligently sweeping the floors at Baron Trancier’s estate where I worked, I sank deep into thought.
‘In the original story, Milena personally went to the ducal house, didn’t she?’
Which meant—
as long as I never took the initiative to contact the House of Lucerte, everything should remain peaceful.
‘Right. Forget the original story altogether.’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine being happy without my mother.
Sure, I was human. The wealth and prestige of a ducal family were tempting.
But not enough to trade away the happiness I had with Mom now.
Of course, just because the original story never mentioned her didn’t necessarily mean anything bad had happened to her.
Maybe she had been perfectly fine all along.
But still—
‘How could I gamble with my mother’s life?’
If I greedily returned to claim the position of duchess’s daughter, who knew what kind of butterfly effect it might cause?
And if something happened to Mom because of it…
‘Absolutely not.’
My mother, whose words were rough but whose eyes were always full of affection when she looked at me.
The mother who could tell exactly how I felt just by glancing at my expression.
The mother who always picked out the tastiest pieces of food and slipped them onto my plate whenever we ate together.
I could never be happy without her.
And there was something else I realized after living as her adopted daughter.
‘No matter how I think about it, I just can’t bring myself to like that ducal family. They treated Cecilia horribly!’
When I read the original story, I had felt so sorry for Cecilia.
Everyone around her abused her under the excuse of “Milena.”
“Can’t you even endure that much? If you were the true young lady of this house, you would’ve smiled through pain like that without batting an eye.”
They forced her to practice dancing all day in high heels until her heels bled.
Starving her, depriving her of sleep—those things happened constantly.
Ah, and why didn’t the family stop the abuse?
‘Because they didn’t know!’
And I hated the way the ducal family treated Cecilia.
What, just because she was adopted, she should’ve been grateful simply for being fed and housed?
I might be Mom’s adopted daughter too, but we were a real family that genuinely loved one another.
But whenever I looked at the Lucerte family…
I was reminded of all the people who used to point fingers at Mom and me, saying, “At the end of the day, you’re not a real family!”
‘It makes me sick.’
What’s more, they had treated Cecilia so coldly, yet the moment Milena appeared, they treasured her like a precious jewel.
‘Honestly, I can kind of understand why Cecilia completely lost it whenever she saw Milena.’
Of course, later on the ducal family did eventually realize the abuse Cecilia had suffered and regretted it bitterly…
But still—
‘Why would I go back to that house only to earn Cecilia’s hatred?’
Naturally, I did feel terrible knowing Cecilia would continue to suffer emotionally.
But my mother mattered far more to me.
I wanted to protect the life I had now.
I had absolutely no interest in getting lumped together with that family and ending up in a ruinous ending.
‘Yeah. I’m not going back.’
But that very afternoon—
I paid dearly for underestimating the original story’s power to force events back onto track.
“H-Head maid… what did you just say…?”
I looked up at the head maid stiffly.
Pushing up the glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, she declared in a stern voice:
“The distinguished guests visiting today are the Lucerte ducal family. Therefore, everyone is to mind their conduct carefully.”
At that moment—
the events of the past week flashed through my mind like a panorama.
The Trancier barony, famous for its high-quality hot springs.
And the head maid, who had worked us to the bone while scrubbing every inch of the estate spotless.
“Clean thoroughly. If I find even a speck of dust, you’ll regret it.”
She had even kept the visitors’ identities strictly secret.
I had wondered just what kind of nobles could warrant this much fuss…
‘Why! Why did it have to be the House of Lucerte of all people?!’
But before I even had the chance to hide, they arrived.
“Head maid, the ducal family has arrived.”
“Understood.”
The head maid nodded and exited the room.
I hurried to the window and leaned far outside.
In the distance, an extravagant carriage slowly rolled to a stop.
The moment I saw the massive golden hawk emblem engraved on the carriage—
my eyes shook violently.
‘The House of… Lucerte.’
And then the carriage door opened.