6 - Another Grueling Day for the Aristocratic Kindergarten Teacher
Time passed quickly. Having entered this novel in early spring, I was now approaching autumn, so I had been here for quite a while.
During that time, Ephna's situation hadn't changed. No, to be precise, it had gotten even worse.
"Ah, my nose hurts."
Sewage continued to leak from the room, filling the air with a fishy smell. That odor soon permeated Ephna's body, causing the servants to hold their noses whenever they saw her.
It was only natural that her body became increasingly emaciated due to the increasingly meager meals.
She could only breathe freely when taking bridal lessons at the mansion of her fiancé, Marquess Hardness Vilchen.
That day too, she was examining documents at the marquess's residence until late at night.
"It's already this late."
Her thin arms stretched upwards as she yawned. Ephna, who had been carefully checking the first half-year budget, stepped out of the room. She couldn't bear her hunger any longer.
Through the cool late autumn breeze, a sweet laughter could be heard from somewhere.
"What's that sound?"
She moved towards it as if entranced. It felt strange, like she shouldn't go but couldn't stop herself.
The sound was coming from inside Hardness's slightly open room.
"Oh my, Hardness. Stop it. My lips will wear out."
"I'm sorry, Lilien. You're just so pretty, I can't help myself."
It was a classic and cheesy line. The problem was that familiar names were heard in it.
Ephna held her breath and peered through the crack in the door. In the blurry view, she could see two people kissing deeply.
It was Lilien and Hardness.
"...!"
Ephna unknowingly covered her mouth with both hands. Her skinny hands trembled slightly.
'Why on earth are Lilien and Hardness...'
Unaware that the door was cracked open, they pressed their skin together. Lilien's pink hair fell softly onto Hardness's shoulders.
"Am I pretty? Really?"
"Of course. Where in the world is there someone prettier than you?"
"More than Sister Ephna?"
"How could someone like Ephna compare to you?"
Who knew Hardness could smile so slyly?
He kissed Lilien's lips while badmouthing Ephna more naturally than anyone.
"I told you. My engagement to Ephna is just a means to marry you."
"Yes. I know. Because of my background, we can't get engaged now... But it's still hard to bear. I'm jealous."
"Don't worry. The count said he'll soon make you his wife's child, Lilien. When that time comes, I'll immediately break off the engagement with Ephna and we'll have our wedding."
Her mind, which had been temporarily frozen from excessive work, slowly began to turn. Ephna understood the situation precisely.
Hardness's kind demeanor had all been a lie.
Her shawl fluttered stiffly in the cold wind drifting through the hallway.
In contrast, how warm must the room be? They shamelessly removed their indoor clothes made of expensive fabric one layer at a time.
Lilien smiled happily with her vibrant pink eyes.
"I want it to be the biggest and grandest. Our wedding."
"Of course. I'm postponing the marriage with Ephna as much as possible. It's annoying, but not entirely useless. She does work quite well."
"Sister has no talent. That's why Father always said she has to work so hard. It's pitiful. Even though she's the daughter of the legal wife, she has no talent."
A sense of superiority subtly felt in Lilien's words. At the same time, an inferiority complex about her background seeped out.
Lilien was boosting her self-esteem by tearing down Ephna.
Lilien never had deep sisterly affection. She didn't love Hardness either.
However, Ephna had respected them and trusted them to some extent. Not knowing she would be betrayed like this.
"Ugh..."
She felt nauseous.
The urge to vomit rose. Bile rose from within. She grabbed her slipping shawl and fled the place.
'What on earth have I been enduring for? Even withstanding all those beatings...'
Her feet stumbled as she ran out of the mansion. Her rough breathing rose to the tip of her chin, and her heart pounded as if it would burst.
"Haa, haa...!"
The arm that had been beaten by her father a few days ago ached coldly.
Her rather confident self when first possessing this world.
The beatings and indifference that continued for months.
The secluded room full of bars.
The marquess family's bridal lessons that came like rough waves.
Lost freedom...
For a moment, her head spun. It was due to chronic anemia from not eating well.
Someone shouted urgently at her as she collapsed.
"Miss! Hey! Get out of the way!"
Woong woong. The sound echoed. Ephna slowly raised her head. The first thing she saw was a horse raising its front legs.
Thud!
The horse's hooves trampled her indiscriminately.
Ephna Windister. That's how she died, hit by a carriage.
"Huk...!"
"Oh my! If you woke up, you should say so. You startled me!"
"..."
"Why aren't you talking? Anyway, since you're up, I'll go. Stop collapsing so much, miss. That's inconsiderate too."
The maid who had been complaining with an unpleasant face left the room.
In her place, only a bowl of soup with wilted broccoli was left.
Ephna, who got up while exhaling rough breaths, muttered in a dazed voice.
"What is this...? Am I dreaming?"
Her dry, sunken green eyes slowly surveyed the surroundings.
A small spider crawling on the ceiling, water pooled on the floor from the leaking ceiling. It was undoubtedly her room in the count's mansion.
'Why am I here...'
She recalled her last memory, bit by bit.
A white flash before her eyes and her body trampled by the horse's hooves. Yes, she had certainly died like that.
It was frustrating to have died so pathetically twice, but she had died nonetheless. Right after witnessing her sister and fiancé's affair.
Her hand gripping the blanket trembled in confusion. At the end of her anxious gaze, she saw an old calendar.
"The 4th day of the Imperial calendar..."
Ephna's brow furrowed. The day she died was the 29th. But the calendar said the 4th?
Before she could properly grasp the situation, the door opened. The person who entered was Hardness with a worried face.
"Ephna, are you okay? I was worried when you suddenly collapsed."
"Hardness, why are you here..."
"What are you saying? We ate together today. Don't you remember?"
A slight annoyance she hadn't noticed before. Ephna discovered it in Hardness's tone as he pretended to be kind.
'Why the hell is this bastard here?'
Wait, come to think of it, if it's the 4th day of the Imperial calendar...
'It does match the time when Hardness came to the count's mansion.'
Then does that mean it's really the 4th now? Did she return to before she died?
She carefully retraced the situation. Beside her, Hardness kept rambling on. Ephna irritably pulled back the blanket.
"Hardness. I have a headache, so could you please leave? I'm asking you."
"Huh, what?"
"I said leave. I feel like I'm getting stupid just from hearing your voice."
Hardness's face, insulted, quickly turned red.
The man she had thought was quite gentlemanly was actually just a fool who didn't even know shame.
"Close the door on your way out."
"Hey, Ephna. Hey!"
She sent Hardness out. Thump thump. Her heart was racing.
"That's right, if I could possess a body, why not go back in time..."
After all, wasn't she experienced? Experienced in possession and regression.
'I can't waste time when I don't know when I'll die again.'
Dying twice changed her mindset. She had to leave this wretched mansion and live doing what she wanted.
She took the documents she had hidden deep in the drawer and walked to the reception room. The maids' whispers followed.
"Hey, did you see? Ephna's expression just now."
"Yeah. I saw it. It's like..."
They trailed off as if it was uncomfortable to even say. The hand holding the broom trembled as if facing an ingrained fear.
The employees who had been thoroughly disrespecting their young mistress gathered in small groups again.
Drip, drip. A maid cleaning the window wrung out her rag with a stiff face.
"It's similar to a few months ago. When rumors spread that she had gone crazy or become a different person."
"Eek! Hey, don't say that! You're giving me goosebumps!"
"I thought she had just gone crazy for a moment since she was quiet after that, but why is she like this again!"
The young lady they served had gone mad again. What kind of calamity was this?
Whether she knew or not about the pale-faced maids, Ephna just looked through the documents and opened the reception room door.
"You were here, Father. Hardness too."
"Ephna. Who said you could come here?"
"Well. No one particularly said I could."
"What?"
Count Windister's brow furrowed frighteningly.
However, Ephna simply sat down naturally in the seat of honor, ignoring the piercing gaze.
She crossed her bony legs. The servants who had been eagerly watching the gossip of the master family gasped.
'Miss Ephna has truly gone mad!'
Soon, a soft voice flowed from her lips.
"I'll cut to the chase. Please remove me from the family registry, Dad."
