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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Duke's Adopted Daughter
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"I'm finished, Young Master."

The boy glanced around the storeroom she had so sloppily cleaned and smiled in satisfaction.

"You know how scary Mrs. Jasper is, don't you? If you don't want to copy etiquette books again, you'd better clean this properly, Lesia Elpinade. Shouldn't you at least prove you're worthy of being an Elpinade that way?"

Lesia Elpinade.

The moment I heard that name, my muddled thoughts cleared instantly, and the jumbled memories sharpened.

It was 'my' name.

'Huh...'

To think my name is Lesia Elpinade.

There was a very big problem with that.

'If it's Elpinade...'

Isn't that the family of the white mage I was always at odds with?

I've been reincarnated as a child in the family of that insufferable, noble-born pretty boy?

A 'ding!' went off in my head.

* * *

The Ducal House of Elpinade.

A prestigious house among the prestigious, its name recorded right after the imperial family's at the dawn of the empire.

It was also the family that housed the book of prophecies, said to have been bestowed by the god who aided in the empire's founding, and had produced countless scholars.

What you might call a family that had it all: tradition, power, and prestige.

My former party member, that white mage bastard, was the second son of this great ducal house.

Naturally, he was incredibly arrogant.

He was thoroughly displeased that I, a black mage from the slums, was included in the party.

White mages and black mages are natural enemies.

White mages practice to gather mana within their bodies to cast spells, while black mages manipulate the mana that drifts in nature.

Even though they were both mages, the process by which they used their power was completely different.

White mages pointed their fingers at black mages, calling them heretics for using the mana of nature without any effort.

Black mages scorned white mages as fools for bothering to accumulate mana in their bodies when it was abundant everywhere.

'So we fought like cats and dogs at first.'

It wasn't just our views on magic; our values were also polar opposites due to the difference in our backgrounds—him, a typical noble, and me, a commoner who'd scraped by in the slums.

But I guess there's some truth to the idea that fighting can bring people closer. By the end, we were close enough to call each other friends, more or less.

'D-Don't tell me he's my father.'

A horrifying thought crossed my mind for a moment, but after searching through this body's memories, I was relieved to find that wasn't the case.

My father was Duke Elpinade.

I wasn't his biological daughter but had been adopted due to various complicated circumstances.

'So that makes me...'

Legally, I was that insufferable, aristocratic brat's... much younger...

'Y... younger sister?'

Ugh.

It wasn't the absolute worst, but it was horrifying enough.

As I trembled at the ridiculousness of it all, the spiteful boy grinned, probably thinking I was shaking because of his threats.

"Hmph. To think I have to treat some stray mutt like an aunt. A saintess? What a joke. She's just a stupid little girl."

The boy scoffed and leisurely left the storeroom with his servant.

The door slammed shut with a loud bang, and I carefully mulled over what the boy had said.

Saintess.

'A black mage who only believed in what she could control is now a saintess.'

But that was the truth of it.

On the day 'Lesia' was born, a quack priest named Bael received a prophecy from the gods.

I don't know the exact details, but it seems that because of it, I, a commoner, was officially recognized as a saintess.

It was said to be the first time in history a newborn had been recognized as a saintess, putting the central church in an awkward position.

The church's temples were places for priests to conduct their holy training, not environments suitable for caring for a newborn baby.

But they couldn't very well send a saintess to a church-run orphanage.

After much deliberation, the central church began searching for a noble family to act as foster parents and raise the child until she was old enough to enter the temple.

'They must have specifically sought out a noble family to give the commoner-born saintess a respectable status.'

And they probably figured it would be even better if they could also form a connection with a powerful family and secure donations for the church in the process.

And so, the church's request, with its obvious ulterior motives, was directed to none other than the Ducal House of Elpinade.

The family members were not exactly welcoming of this stone that had suddenly rolled into their ducal house, backed by the central church's prophecy.

'Of course they wouldn't be.'

A commoner girl, now a daughter of the duke, without a single drop of Elpinade blood.

On top of that, in the years since her official recognition by the church, 'Lesia' had failed to display a single ounce of saintly power.

Thanks to that, talk was apparently starting to spread, questioning, 'Is she really a saintess?'

'And despite being a saintess, her usual conduct is apparently not well-regarded either...'

The reason I was now holding a rag and cleaning a storeroom was because I had repeatedly skipped my etiquette lessons.

But that was actually the fault of the boy who had just caused a scene.

'He told me the lessons were canceled. That Mrs. Jasper couldn't teach for a while because of a major family emergency.'

I'd been completely fooled and had skipped my etiquette lessons for a week straight.

Mrs. Jasper, having been stood up for a week without any explanation, was furious.

She had even ordered me, 'Learn the proper attitude toward your teacher and your lessons by cleaning the storeroom!'

I was the duke's daughter in name only, a nobody foisted upon them by the central church, so there was no one to stop it, crying, 'How can you make the young lady clean!'

Even the central church that had recognized me as a saintess had basically just dumped me at the ducal house and paid me no mind, which meant I had no allies.

*Sniffle, sniffle.*

*Sniffle, sniffle.*

Recalling the situation, which would have been quite sorrowful for a child, tears began to well up.

Of course, I wasn't crying because I wanted to.

I may have regained the memories of my past life, but this body was still ruled by 'Lesia's' instincts.

Perhaps because 'Lesia' had a stronger hold over the body, it wouldn't keep up with my racing thoughts.

'What a pain.'

Lesia had always been a very timid child, the type to shrink back at the slightest raised voice.

On top of that, having to walk on eggshells in the cold ducal household had magnified her innate timidity tenfold.

She was so timid that even when her so-called nephew tricked her into getting punished, she couldn't even make an excuse, resorting to sniffling and cleaning the storeroom.

The thought that my body might continue to disobey my mind was bleak.

'Anyway...'

I glanced around the messy storeroom and came to a conclusion.

'This is no time to be cleaning this place.'

I might not have truly killed the Mad Dragon.

So I have to tell my former party members about the strange power I discovered at the end.

If I'm right, the Mad Dragon is just pretending to be dead, hiding its body while amassing a dangerous power.

Several years had already been wasted, so time was of the essence.

'In my current situation, the ones who are easiest to approach would be...'

Without a moment's hesitation, two faces came to mind.

The church's quack priest who recognized Lesia as a saintess.

And the noble-born pretty boy who was legally Lesia's older brother (...).

'Hmm.'

I really don't like either option.

'This must be what it feels like to have to choose between dog crap and cow dung...'

A sigh escaped me.

But what was even more sigh-worthy was my current state.

Lesia's timid body resisted, thinking, 'I-I have to clean! Or I'll get scolded again! I don't want to copy etiquette books!', and stealthily picked up the rag.

And I couldn't resist.

Damn it.

'This isn't the time for this!'

I kept sniffling as I threw the rag back on the floor.

I could feel Lesia's instincts recoil in horror, but I nonchalantly wiped away my tears.