Celebrity Lady

Chapter 12

The Descarde Empire under the protection of spirits. There are two branches of the chosen bloodline in this country.

One is the imperial Descarde family. The other is my family, House Diollus.

The spirits are produced only from these two families chosen by the spirits. The proof is the golden eyes.

Naturally, the bloodlines of the imperial family and Diollus were born with golden eyes, and the owners of these golden eyes were able to make a contract with the spirits on their 15th birthday. Without exception, everyone.

‘It’s an incredible power. It’s a symbol of absolute power.’

Spirit contractors have ruled as powerful rulers for a long time in history, wielding various types of absolute power, which people often knew as “superpowers”.

Thus, the Descarde imperial family considered it a virtue to produce the maximum number of imperial family members, or spirits. That way, they can consolidate their imperial power.

In other words.

‘Raise as many kids as possible!’

What does this mean?

‘It means that the imperial family is unprecedented of a family whose members clash a lot.’

[T/N: The literal word is 콩가루 집안, which can be translated into ”all members of the family are in a terrible relationship/they clash a lot”]

The current emperor, Descarde XI, had seven wives in total.

The surprising fact is that compared to the previous emperors, Descarde XI, who had only seven wives, was on the modest side.

‘It is said that Descarde V had 32 wives…’

Amazing, really.

Anyway, the reason this is a problem is that there is only one throne, but there are dozens of children of the emperor who are eligible to ascend to that throne.

Without my older brother… Without my big brother… Without my older sister… Without my big sister… In the long history, there have always been seedlings who want to cut off the siblings they shared blood with, and the current second prince of the Empire, Nathan van Rashmach Descarde, was one of those.

‘Let’s see, the Crown Prince died around the time of Robette’s sixteenth birthday…’

Less than a year left.

“Time is pretty tight.”

As I looked at Wishit’s desirable face, I pulled myself together with some hesitation.

He was too handsome to pretend that I didn’t know that it was someone else’s business.

“My lady, the tailor is here.”

“Oh, come on in.”

Just then, I heard Rebecca’s, who brought the tailor, voice. I happily got up from my seat.

The door opened and entering was a girl who looked a little silly.

Her name is Becky.

“You’re here?”

“Yes, my lady. Have you been doing okay?”

“Yes, thanks to you.”

Wearing her thick glasses and old clothes, she was an unknown tailor who made new clothes almost every day thanks to Rubette’s bubbly body around this time when she was growing up.

She’s nice and loyal. Her design sense is a bit lacking, but her sewing skills are amazing. Thus is Becky.

“But what did you call me for? It hasn’t been long since I made your new dress…”

“Ah, I didn’t call you today for a dress. Please be seated.”

When I offered her a seat and sat down face to face, Becky tilted her head like she was puzzled at the unexpected call.

“We have a lot to talk about today.”

I smiled at the lucky tailor who would soon become famous.

***

One day, two days, three days, four days.

Time flew by quickly and I’ve perfectly adapted to living as Rubette.

In fact, there was no such thing as adaptation. Since I absorbed her memories and emotions of the 45 years of her life, it would not be wrong to say that I was already Rubette herself.

There was, however, a distinct difference from the previous Rubette.

“You did a great job today, my lady. Was the morning air nice?”

“Yes, Rebecca. It felt good to run.”

The fact that I have been maintaining an exercise schedule, which I couldn’t finish even for a single day in the past because of weak will, for four days already.

“She stayed in her room all the time, so what kind of wind was blown?”

[T/N: When someone does something that they normally wouldn’t have done, the people around them will usually say, “What kind of wind was blown (at the person)?” I know there are some other versions of this saying too. What I said above is how it is where I come from.]

“Didn’t you hear the news? They said she changed a little after she fell into the pond four days ago and almost died. Prince Ricky was also slapped by her on the cheek.”

The person who was used to staying in the room 24 hours a day and eating snacks gloomily had changed 180 degrees.

And…

“By the way, was she always that close to the Duke? There are also rumors that the butler was fired because the Princess told the Duke…”

“There’s no way…”

“Regardless of rumors or not, there will be an uproar when the eldest madam returns. Would she have imagined that the two have been eating together every day?”

“Shh, shh. Let’s keep our mouths shut.”

I’m eating with my dad every day.

“…”

“…”

In my dad’s room, which is a little more lively than when we first met.

I felt his gaze, and when I looked up, my dad was staring at me.

“What’s wrong?”

While I was sketching the dress during the meal, I asked as I ate a spoonful of oatmeal with my other hand.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m drawing.”

“What kind of picture?”

“Why are you curious about that? You don’t have to pay attention to me.”

“…”

When I snapped back, Dad’s mouth closed in dissatisfaction.

Two meals a day. It’s already been four days since we had breakfast and lunch together.

It was my emergency measure to get my dad’s crazy lifestyle back and monitor him for alcohol and cigarettes.

Dad crossed his arms and asked sarcastically.

“Then why do you keep coming to eat with me after telling me not to be interested?”

“Mm, I don’t need your attention, but I didn’t say I wasn’t interested in you. Hurry up and finish your meal.”

After answering roughly, I diligently moved my right hand to concentrate on the sketch.

I could feel my dad, who was looking at me a little more, eating again with a dull face.

“…?”

Mm? I paused when I was drawing the dress ribbon and suddenly looked up.

Dad’s hand was slowly heading towards a wine glass filled with white wine.

“Ttok!”

“…”

The startled dad stiffened.

As soon as I knocked on the table, the kitchen maid who was waiting next to me hurriedly approached me.

“Yes, my lady.”

“What’s that? It wasn’t there until yesterday lunch. Didn’t I tell you not to bring alcohol?”

“Ah, it must have been a mistake in the kitchen. I will get it off immediately.”

After four days of meddling in this and that, the heavily disciplined kitchen maid hurriedly removed the wine glass without my dad’s permission.

With a few days of experience, she seemed to have realized that the words of the Princess, not the Duke, were the law at the dining table.

Dad’s lips twisted dissatisfiedly as the maid with left the room with the wine glass.

“The doctor said there was nothing wrong, so how long should I stop drinking? Can’t I have a sip of wine, if not a strong drink?”

“I know. I thought there should be something abnormal, but I also wonder.”

I was worried that the family doctor might also have been bribed by Molga, so I deliberately called another doctor from a commercial clinic in the city to diagnose him twice more, but I was only told that he was excessively healthy.

‘He had a bad life, drinking and smoking for over 10 years, and originally, he would die 3 years later. If it’s a 3-year time limit, I’m sure there’s something wrong with him by now…’

I had him stop drinking and smoking for only four days, and seeing his complexion becoming more like a normal person, even I, who is not a doctor, was able to to guess my dad’s condition.

Now Dad is in really good health.

‘Did he suddenly get sick within 3 years from now? Or maybe alcohol and cigarettes weren’t the problem? But from what I remember, Dad died of alochol-related injuries…’

As I was thinking, Dad snapped his finger to get my attention.

“A glass of wine…”

“No, you can’t. You can’t even drink it secretly. Can I trust your conscience?”

“…”

Dad, who looked at me with dissatisfied eyes, gave up and picked up the tableware again.

After I emptied the oatmeal all the way down, I put the spoon down, waited for my dad to finish eating, and this time I opened up a copy of the magazine I had brought and read it.

“…Can you just eat that?”

My dad talked to me again after finishing his meal.

When our eyes met, Dad shoved a plate of juicy, marinated meat toward me.

“Eat more. Even mice eat more than that.”

“I’m full. Why are you doing this again? You know that I only eat oatmeal every morning.”

“How can you survive eating like that…”

It was then.

A maiden’s voice came through the door with a crackling, small knock.

“Duke, the Eldest Madam has just returned home.”

…!

You’re here, Molga Diollus.

The return of the devil, who I had been desperately waiting for.

I have already run the simulation dozens of times in my head to figure out how to treat her when I first meet her.

I was confident that I would never be easily beaten, but…

“Ugh.”

To my dismay, I was confronted with an unexpected problem.

Surprisingly, the trauma engraved on this body was not something that could be easily shaken off.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The moment I heard that Molga had returned, my heart raced uncontrollably.

“Haa, this is frustrating.”

“Why are you so undignified and vulgar?”

“You are a child who does not fit to be a Diollus.”

“Your father and your brothers are all ashamed of you.”

“Do you know? Everyone hates you.”

I didn’t know that the aftermath of the trauma could be so terrifying, so I couldn’t help but panic.

“Your mother is as good as being killed by you, so how could your father love you?”

“That’s what your father said. You shouldn’t have been born.”

“Child, please don’t damage our family and live like a mouse for the rest of your life.”

“Thank Lillia, for making the family shine on your behalf.”

As the memories of Molga’s verbal abuse and abuse flooded in, my body reacted first.

“Huh, huh…”

I could barely see my hands, pale and beginning to tremble, in my vision.

‘This is crazy. Was it this bad?’

A feeling of shortness of breath.

Panting and puffing, I could barely breathe, but in an instant, a big shadow fell in front of me.

‘…Dad?’

I didn’t have the strength to raise my head, but it didn’t matter because my dad, who immediately bent his knees to meet my eye level, held my shoulder.

“What’s wrong with you?”