IBFLS 01

Chapter – 01.

It was a grand party worthy of the ducal family’s reputation.

For this party, the duke had indulged in an extraordinary amount of extravagance for the first time in his life.

Back when he roamed the battlefields, he had been known as the “Butcher of Karzen,” a man whose passage left piles of corpses in his wake.

There was only one reason such a man had decorated the gardens of his ducal residence so magnificently.

“My eternal treasure, happy birthday.”

It was all for his only daughter, Bianca Barddensia.

The garden, steeped in a long history, had been transformed into something straight out of a fairy tale.

Exotic flowers bloomed abundantly along the carpeted path leading into the garden, while silk ornaments tied to the tips of ancient tree branches fluttered in the breeze.

“What’s the name of that flower?”

“I don’t know either.”

“What? Don’t tell me you don’t know the name of the flower next to it, either!”

The young duke, who had been welcoming an old friend, shrugged his shoulders.

“I had them brought in without much thought. Our Bibi simply loves flowers so much.”

“You really do dote on your younger sister an awful lot.”

At those words, the young duke laughed and led his friend farther into the garden.

“She’s my one and only little sister. What can I do?”

At the center of the garden, which resembled an enormous flower field, stood a magnificent fountain.

Its shape was an ordinary circle, but adorned with jewels and gold, it hardly looked like a mere fountain.

The young noble ladies gathered in front of it were busy huddling together and whispering.

“So, this fountain was a gift from His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince to the young duchess?”

One young lady replied dreamily as she gazed at the vine-shaped ornaments crafted from gold.

“I heard they’ve remained close even after their engagement was called off.”

“Could that rumor actually be true?”

“What rumor?”

“The rumor about His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince and the young duchess!”

At those words, the young ladies’ gazes turned toward the same person.

The object of their five pairs of sparkling eyes was none other than the Crown Prince of the Empire, Baron Karzen.

His jet-black hair, the symbol of the imperial family, was swept back neatly as always. Beneath his exposed forehead, his strong, sharply defined features were so striking that even the word perfect seemed insufficient to describe him.

His sturdy body, honed through swordsmanship, made even the simple act of picking up a champagne glass look elegant.

But that wasn’t what captivated the young ladies’ attention.

It was the unexpected playfulness lingering in his usually calm red eyes.

“Gasp!”

The young ladies drew in their breath as they took in the corners of his lips, which had curled upward.

“I never knew His Highness could smile like that…”

“I’m telling you, he always makes that expression when he’s with the young duchess!”

Their gazes naturally shifted to the young duchess standing beside the Crown Prince.

“How can she have everything?”

Her long, dark wine-red hair fell all the way to her waist. Her slightly upturned, catlike eyes made the amber irises beneath her long eyelashes stand out even more.

She possessed a beauty that could overwhelm anyone at first glance.

Because of that, the young duchess often seemed like someone beyond the reach of jealousy or envy.

“And to think she has such a kind heart, too! The world really is unfair.”

“That must be why she took in that pathetic young lady.”

At the sudden interruption from Maria Solenit, the other young ladies’ faces turned pale.

“You know, that filthy-looking young lady from the Baron Mush family. Roselina Mush!”

“M-Miss Solenit!”

“No money, no reputation. Perhaps because she grew up without parents, she doesn’t even know the basics of proper manners.”

It was true that the Baron Mush family was insignificant. They were hardly worth acknowledging as fellow nobles.

The only thing Roselina had going for her was her naturally beautiful appearance, and the young ladies who knew nothing about the ways of the world had long since turned badmouthing her into a kind of sport within high society.

“Miss Solenit, even so, you shouldn’t say things like that…”

Maria hadn’t anticipated this kind of reaction.

She had secretly been waiting for the other young ladies to agree with her, and their response made her face twist in displeasure.

“What’s wrong with all of you? Did I say anything that wasn’t true?!”

But just then—

“I doubt even someone who swallowed a steam locomotive could be this loud.”

A warm, gentle voice, like a spring breeze, came from behind her.

It was none other than Roselina Mush herself.

The young ladies, all except Maria, who had frozen in place, smiled awkwardly and approached Roselina.

“Y-Your dress is absolutely beautiful!”

“Did you have it made at Miss Mary’s dress shop?”

“Someone gave it to me, so I’m not really sure.”

Before long, the young ladies had surrounded Roselina as though protecting her, and they left the area together.

Left alone, Maria ground her teeth.

‘Those wretches…! Weren’t they the ones who used to say that her only redeeming feature was her pretty face and that they wanted to stomp it into the ground?!’

She had to admit one thing.

Roselina Mush was quite a beauty, though her charm was entirely different from the young duchess’s.

Her wavy, pale pink hair gave her an adorable air even when she simply let it hang loose. Her delicate features and emerald-green eyes, which sparkled as though someone had scattered emerald dust across them, made every part of her seem lovable.

The problem was that her words and actions were completely at odds with her appearance.

‘She used to be so quiet that I thought she couldn’t speak.’

Come to think of it, her appearance back then had been so shabby that Maria had nearly mistaken her for a slave who had been sold off.

‘These days, she acts all high and mighty, as though she’s somebody important!’

Roselina usually expressed herself with a nod or a shake of her head whenever possible, but whenever she did happen to open her mouth, she showed off her distinctive, brazen way of speaking.

Maria despised the vulgarity in Roselina’s manner of speech, especially the way she carelessly slurred the ends of her words. It wasn’t as though she were a toddler who had only just learned to talk.

Turning her head as though she weren’t paying attention, Maria saw the young duchess greeting Roselina with unmistakable delight.

As expected, Roselina merely gave her usual listless nod.

‘So arrogant! She only learned how to behave like a proper person thanks to the young duchess!’

As Maria glared at Roselina, a question surfaced in her mind.

Why does the young duchess go out of her way to protect that insolent girl?

“…None of us could have imagined that she would leave our side so suddenly and so pointlessly. But today, let us all join together in offering her a beautiful tribute.”

Rain was falling steadily, making the weather gloomy and dreary.

Standing there without an umbrella, completely soaked from head to toe, I felt a chill creeping through my body.

But I wasn’t the only one without an umbrella, so there was no way to escape the rain.

“Now, please come forward and pay your respects.”

After standing in a straight line for what felt like an eternity, it was finally my turn.

I lowered my head slightly.

The unfamiliar hand holding a single chrysanthemum trembled uncontrollably.

“My lady?”

At the priest’s call, I raised my head and looked at the body lying inside the coffin.

The deep, dark reddish hair, rich as well-aged wine, and the long eyelashes were exactly the same. The only differences were her bloodless, discolored lips and her deathly pale skin.

She looked no different from the person I had seen in the mirror before going to sleep last night.

“Please hurry.”

The woman adorned with an icy, cold beauty was the destined villainess of this world.

“My lady, please pay your respects to Lady Bianca Barddensia and pray that her journey onward may be peaceful.”

Bianca Barddensia.

That was the name of the woman lying inside the coffin.

As I looked down at her corpse, my hands began to tremble again.

In the end, the single chrysanthemum slipped from my frail hand, which was shaking violently.

And my heart sank with a heavy thud, falling even deeper than the muddy ground where the flower had landed.

‘That’s me.’

That was right.

The young duchess lying inside the coffin…

was me.

It was the face I had seen in the mirror every day since arriving in this world.

The body I had lived in for the past five years.

‘Are you telling me that I’m dead right now?’

I began looking around frantically, my unfocused eyes darting from one person to another.

Some people frowned as they looked at me. Others turned away as though they had witnessed something they shouldn’t have seen. Still others buried their faces in their hands and wept.

‘No. This can’t be happening.’

Just then, my gaze caught on a broken mirror carelessly propped against a pillar behind the priest.

The mirror was cracked in several places and broken into pieces, as though it had already been discarded as useless.

Rain poured down over it, but it was still good enough to serve its purpose.

My trembling gaze fixed on it.

I came face-to-face with the reflection it showed me.

“Are you all right, Lady Mush?”

Both the broken mirror and my completely drenched self looked like a mess, but at that moment, it was enough.

I could recognize the face.

The bright, pale pink curls. The large, round eyes and jade-green irises. Even the slightly parted, plump red lips.

No matter how much I looked like a drenched rat, I could still recognize myself.

“Roselina Mush…?”

I had become Roselina Mush.