The Villain’s Merit, Chapter 6
2. My Villain(?) Family
When Duke Ivan and I arrived at the Duke’s residence, I saw people lined up in front of the entrance. My jaw dropped when I saw the scenery.
‘Why is there a fountain in front of the entrance? What’s that fancy staircase leading up to the doorway? What kind of house is this big? Is this a house or an art center? I totally won the lottery!’
Will I be living here in the future? My smile kept getting bigger.
But unlike me, who was excited, Ivan’s expression didn’t look good.
He got off the carriage and asked an old gentleman, who seemed to be the butler.
“Where is Catherine?”
“The Madam is resting because she isn’t feeling well, she must have had another headache. The Young Lady is taking care of her.”
Ivan clicked his tongue in disdain.
I understood the situation.
‘The Duchess doesn’t want to see me and she’s using her headache as an excuse.’
In the novel, Duchess Catherine and her daughter, Isabella, objected to Freddia’s adoption.
It was because Isabella wanted to give up her right to be the future Duchess and get married to Herace, causing the cold war between her and Ivan.
But Ivan adopted a girl to become Herace’s partner.
Honestly, I understood why Catherine and Isabella felt like that. They believed that nobles and commoners were two different species and that they, as nobles, were superior. They probably detested Ivan’s decision to bring in an orphan, who was considered to be at the bottom rung of society, into their family.
‘So, they will harass me without the Duke’s knowledge, just like they did in the novel. I have to prepare myself mentally.’
“Follow me. I’ll show you the room you’ll be staying in.”
Ivan beckoned to me.
I thought he would leave me to the butler and take care of his business, so this was unexpected.
I quickly followed him, wanting to take a quick tour of the nice house.
He told me that the third floor is exclusively used by the Duke’s family. The first floor is a communal space, the second floor has guest bedrooms, and the fourth floor is used by employees. The Duke and Duchess’ bedroom was at the end of the hallway, while mine was not far from the stairs.
The Duke turned to the butler, who was following us, and said,
“Show the child her room.”
“Of course.”
Ivan walked towards Catherine’s bedroom after watching me follow the butler into my bedroom.
I waited for the butler to open the door with a pounding heart. How nice it would be to have a room inside this magnificent house.
“This is where the Young Lady will be staying.”
The butler swung the door wide open. The first thing I saw was the sunlight pouring in from the window. I also had a view of the scenery outside. The scenery was⋯⋯.
Drip.
“Oh, my lady.”
I heard the butler, who had a robotic expression, ask with a bewildered voice.
“Why are you crying? Are you okay?”
I suddenly burst into tears.
Haa, just give me a minute, butler. I feel like I’m dreaming right now.
“It’s okay! I’m just, too, wah!”
This bedroom was just so unbelievably gorgeous! I couldn’t finish my words and cried.
I thought a bedroom was just a place to sleep, but what is this cozy and beautiful space?
In my new bedroom that looked to be around 712 sq ft, there was a bed the size of my old 213 sq ft rented room that I used to live in. There was also a table adorned with intricate decorations, two cozy one-person sofas covered in floral patterns, a bay window you can read in while basking in the sunlight, and a large dressing table.
(PR/N: For those who use the metric system, 712 sq ft≈66 sq m)
All these amazing things were enough to make my eyes widen.
As soon as I stepped into the room, my poverty-filled life passed through my mind and disappeared in a flash, and I couldn’t help but cry.
In my previous life, I was able to afford my 213 sq ft room thanks to the cheap rent.
I don’t know if it was because the first floor was a meat restaurant, but my rented room had cockroaches coming up through the water pipes. The ceiling also leaked, causing mold to grow and eventually cover up an entire wall.
There was also a boiler in the room, but I barely used it because the heating cost was double that of other houses. So, I had to live with a cold draft coming in through my 30-year-old rusty sash during the winter.
I had already delayed my monthly rent payments for three months, so I didn’t want to ask the landlord to fix the broken entrance sensor or the hinges of the bathroom door.
Living in a rented room like that for 20 years, I couldn’t even dream of owning a house, because the only way I could afford it was if I lived in rags and only ate air instead of food or water.
‘Goodbye to my difficult life! I want to live in this world forever!’
Even if I die now and be reborn in this world as a worm, I would still be grateful. At least I would be a worm who has experienced a golden spoon life. I would have no regrets being a worm, except that I wouldn’t be able to experience a nice life like this again.
I was still shedding tears when Ivan returned after hearing the butler’s bewildered voice.
I heard a voice that sounded as sweet as honey due to the buff of having a rich adoptive father.
“What’s going on?”
“The lady started to cry⋯⋯. Though I don’t understand why.”
The Duke tilted his head at the butler’s words and asked me,
“What don’t you like?”
“No!”
I vigorously shook my head. It was nothing like that!
“I’m so hawappy. Thawnk yowu so mulch.” (I’m so happy. Thank you so much.)
I sobbed nonstop and talked in a muffled voice.
During that moment, I wandered around touching each ornately crafted piece of furniture, and rubbed my face.
Meanwhile, incoherent words kept coming out of my mouth.
“Heuk-heuk, wow, the bed is very big and pretty, and there’s two wide windows! The door is beautiful too! Heuk, the carpets here are for the rich. This, that, and those too. What is this? Is this a dressing room?”
My words roughly translated to that.
There’s nothing in this room that my tears didn’t touch. I may look weird to the people looking at me, but I was genuinely happy.
It was like buying three lottery tickets for three weeks that cost 1,000 won per ticket, and not checking on them since you weren’t expecting anything, but when you did check, you found out that you won for three consecutive weeks.
What’s the point of explaining this? Never mind, people who haven’t experienced this won’t understand how I feel right now.
(PR/N: she didn’t have to call us poor like that TwT )
So I went around marking my territory with tears of joy and went to my adoptive father to thank him for all of these things.
(Ghost: ‘Marking my territory’ sounds so weird, it cracks me up xD)
I raised my skirt and bent my knees while sobbing and overflowing with emotion.
“Really, really, heuk, kkeup! Thank you, thank you!”
The Duke abruptly covered his face and turned around.
“⋯⋯?”
What? Why are you laughing?
***
This is all mine! The bed! The goods and luxuries! That’s what I told myself as I lay on the bed.
‘I should listen to the Duke while I’m here.’
Thank you for giving me such a luxurious room.
I should also be good to Catherine and Isabella, seeing as they will try to torment me in the future. I was debating on whether I should get close to them or just pretend to be close with them, but I now decided to actually get along with them for the sake of Ivan, who brought me into this luxurious life.
‘Big sister Isabella, no matter how evil you act, I’ll show you the welcoming spirit of Korean service employees.’
I made up my mind.
“Now that I’m going to be eating and living well, I’ll just sleep for a bit and think about the future later.”
When people worry too much, they can’t move forward.
I should focus on adapting to the new environment while enjoying my first taste of a luxurious life.
After gulping down the bowl of rice that the servant brought to the room, I slept under the cloud-like blanket.
“So comfortable.”
When I lived in an orphanage in Korea, I moved from one room to another, depending on the situation. Once I became an adult, I left the orphanage and lived in a terrible environment. But as a result of my hard life, I could sleep in any environment. I don’t ever want to go back to that kind of life!
The next day, my diligent commoner body that was built for labor, woke up as soon as the sun rose.
“My first day as an aristocrat!”
I was filled with excitement and gently washed my face in the bathroom attached to my bedroom. There was still water leftover in the basin that the servants brought yesterday. It was warm when they brought it, but it turned cold throughout the night.
“Oh, that’s cool.”
I was used to washing my face in the morning with cold water. I never turned on the boiler even when it was winter to save money on the gas bill, and so I washed my face with cold water all year round.
“My mind is awake.”
After shaking off my lingering sleepiness by washing my face, I happily put on my clothes by myself.
I wore the outer skirt from yesterday on top of my inner skirt, which I also used for sleepwear, and combed my blonde hair that I still haven’t gotten used to.
“I’m hungry. When will they come to wake me up to eat?”
In normal romance fantasy novels, there are usually scenes like that right after the female protagonist wakes up.
The maid comes to wake the lady up, prepares her for the day, and takes her to the dining room.
I was curious to know if anyone else was awake at this time. I wanted to go out to the hallway and ask someone when breakfast would be served.
However, since it was my first day here, I didn’t want to be rude and decided to wait for the maid to come.
“I have to learn more about my surroundings before making any moves.”
When will the door open?
I dangled my legs off the bed, waiting.
Knock knock~
After a while, there was a sound at the door and I heard someone knock.
The knock sounded like someone accidentally bumped into the door while passing by. It was such a soft knock that I wouldn’t have heard it if I wasn’t paying attention.