A few days later, Mike and Luwes said they had found the person Regina was looking for. They also brought the man to a secluded place in the forest. For Regina wanted to interrogate the man herself. "Who are you?" asked Regina looking at the man who looked shabby, the man's face was full of bluish bruises. "I'm nobody, just an ordinary beggar," the man murmured quietly. "Do not lie! If you were just a beggar, why did you run away when you saw us?" Mike kicked the man hard in the leg. The man winced in pain, shaking and about to cry. "Calm down, Mike. Let me take care of this guy, you just stay and watch." Regina pushed Mike away, and the bodyguard obeyed. "I'm innocent, Miss. Please let me go!" The man bowed with tears in his eyes. Regina smiled faintly as she approached the man who was at her feet. "I'll let you go if you tell me who told you to disguise yourself as my coachman and hide the doctor." "I know nothing!" The man's head shook quickly. "Um, really?" Regina grippe
A few days later, after the incident had made Regina even more depressed, she did not know what to do. Her feelings were not okay after learning the truth about Jake, who had no evidence to back up his words. "I'm going to tell Dad everything!" Regina shouted excitedly. But just as she reached the door, Elizabeth blocked her way out. "Where are you going?" she asked sarcastically. Her stepmother clutched her chest and stared at her intently, leaving Regina astonished. "What's wrong?" Regina asked back. "Come inside with me." Elisabet pulled Regina into the room, then shut the door tightly to keep anyone from entering. "What are you going to do?" Regina pushed Elisabet's hand away roughly. "Why do you seem to hate me so much when I've been so kind to you, always thinking of you as my own biological daughter, just like Selina!" she muttered under her breath. Where does she get off thinking of me as her biological daughter when she knowingly replaced me! Regina cursed inwardly.
Merry went to Cellin, to the pavilion next to the main house, where it was usually used for parties or as a place for relatives to stay. "Butler, Miss wants to rest for a while. So I hope you can fill in during Miss' absence!" Merry said, her breath catching as she felt tired from running. Cellin was silent, the woman didn't even move an inch. "Hey, I'm talking to you." Merry held Cellin's shoulders, then made the woman face her. Cellin's face was pale, she still looked down and said nothing. "What's wrong with you?" asked Merry in a high tone. "I didn't do it!" Cellin stammered. "Tell me clearly, what did you do?" shouted Merry. "When I wanted to decorate the vase in the corner with flowers, I went to the storeroom where the flowers were. It turned out that the flowers were damaged," Cellin explained, shaking. "Oh dear! How could this happen? Miss had ordered the flowers in advance because it was the debut season. There must be a lot of people ordering flowers to decorate th
"Don't take everything! You can only take a little, just to beautify the hall, so it's not too barren!" Regina ordered with a sigh. Of course, Regina had no intention of making the garden barren, especially since it was the first place the guests would pass through. She could be offended because only the party room was beautiful, but the garden was barren, with no flowers at all. "You pick the less visible parts of the garden so it's not too obvious that we picked them. Do it quickly, because we have to arrange the flowers beautifully," Regina said loudly. All the servants nodded their heads and smiled with satisfaction at her instructions and immediately followed her orders. Regina continued to stare at the hairpin she had found earlier. "Later, when I'm done with all this, you'll pay for what you've done." Regina grinned at the corner of the room and decided to sit in the chair Merry had brought her. "Sorry, miss. We didn't know what else to do, so we had to disturb the lady w
Regina had almost forgotten about her half-sister, she began to approach Selina with a flat face. She also squeezed her sister's shoulders. "No problem, little sister. I just hope you won't do anything so childish." Regina squeezed Selina's shoulders. "It hurts," Selina moaned softly. "It's okay, just feel the pain," Regina whispered into Selina's ear. Regina decided to leave her stepsister to meet the guests. In fact, the manners of this place required the host to greet every important guest who came. "She's very different from her sister, but she's from the lower class, or rather, the commoners!" The insults of one of the invited guests rang in Regina and Selina's ears, but Regina only smiled a little in response. Normally, she would defend any insults people threw at her family, but she was very lazy at the moment. As for Selina, she silently looked down with a shaking body. She felt very humiliated by what that person had said. "I'm sure he did it on purpose. It's just tha
"Sorry?" Regina asked, not hearing the words of the stranger. "My name is Hertia Mertian," he replied. "Hertia Mertian? Oh my, I apologize for not recognizing you, Grand Duke! But since we're dancing, I couldn't greet you properly," Regina said, feeling guilty. Regina regretted not recognizing the Grand Duke who was at the party now. Indeed, the man standing in front of her, Regina had never seen in her first life. She had only seen him in the newspapers, and even then, the portrait of the Grand Duke was very unclear. So, she only knew his name, never having seen him in person. Even during her time with Merry, she only caught a brief glimpse of him. "I forgive you, because you were the one who was once betrothed to me!" Hertia’s words made Regina shocked. She had never heard of this before. Neither in her past life nor in her current one. But why was the Grand Duke saying that they had once been betrothed? "I've never heard of that, so maybe you're mistaking me for someone els
Hertia chuckled softly upon hearing what Regina said, a faint smile forming on his lips, which made Regina furrow her brows. "Why are you laughing like that? Was something I said funny?" Regina tilted her head to the left. "Because you rejected me earlier, I feel no need to accept your offer. Besides, there's no benefit in marrying you!" Hertia whispered into Regina's ear. Regina fell silent, agreeing with what Hertia had said. Seeing this, Hertia decided to stand up and walk away, leaving Regina alone. "Wait!" Regina called out, stopping the tall, handsome man in his tracks. Hertia turned and looked at her closely. "What is it?" Regina twisted the edge of her dress, then looked up at Hertia with a serious expression. "I need to tell you something important. I’m going to tell you about the future!" Regina said loudly. Hertia's expression turned serious as he approached Regina. "Are you a witch?" Regina shook her head. If she had nodded, Hertia would have asked her to prove he
Selina widened her eyes in surprise at Deptian's punishment. "Count, you know that Selina is still a child. This punishment is too much-" Elisabet's words were cut off. "That's why she's always throwing tantrums! I hope you're not questioning the punishment I gave Selina, your daughter!" Deptian snapped in annoyance. Deptian shooed the two women out of his office as the man sighed heavily. Regina smiled triumphantly; she felt so happy. "I hope you don't dwell on things like this for too long," Regina wished to her father. "How can you not think about it? Because at first I thought your relationship was very good, so I didn't worry too much about you. But it turns out I was judging the wrong person," Deptian said, rubbing his face roughly. "It doesn't matter, Father. Humans are not perfect creatures, so it's only natural to make mistakes. You don't have to be discouraged," Regina said, trying to encourage her father. Even though those words meant more to Regina, she had made ma
Elisabet looked very scary to Selina as she threw everything in her room while screaming hysterically.Selina cried out in fear. She didn't dare to move, just cowering in the corner of the room, hoping not to be hit by her mother's thrown objects."Kyaa!" cried Selina as one of the objects hit her.Selina cried as red liquid flowed from her head."Selina," shouted Elisabet, who came to her senses after hearing her daughter's cries.She went over, but Selina buried her face in her knees as her body shook."Child, don't be afraid of me. I'm not going to hurt you, so just calm down," Elisabet said softly as she stroked Selina's head.Selina raised her head and looked up at her mother with tear-filled eyes. "Are you going to kill me?"With shaking hands, Elisabet wiped away the rest of Selina's tears. "No, why would I kill you? You are my dearest child."Elisabet hugged Selina tightly, occasionally wiping away the tears that continued to stream down her face."I'm sorry," she said softly.
Regina hit her face with the pillow hard, startling Merry, who was still in the room."Miss, you'll get hurt!" Merry scolded with a panicked expression."Haha... Merry, you're so funny, saying I'll get hurt from this soft pillow." Regina staggered as her head felt too dizzy."I already told you, Miss," Merry said, quickly helping her back to bed.Regina couldn't argue with what Merry said. In fact, as far as she remembered, she had only hit the pillow lightly."Are you feeling better, Miss? If so, we should change into something more comfortable first," Merry suggested.Regina nodded and followed Merry's suggestion. After all, there was no way she was going to wear this heavy dress to bed. It was uncomfortable, distracting, and would make her too hot all night.Painstakingly, Merry helped Regina change into her nightwear. All this time, Merry had been trying her best to serve her mistress. She often sought guidance from Cellin, the butler, to improve her skills."Grand Duke, why are y
"If the Countess has agreed, it means that the Count has agreed with me. As I said, I will take care of everything. Of course, I will do it with as much fanfare as possible," Hertia said, looking happy to hear the Countess' answer.Deptian could say nothing more. He could only sigh at his wife's actions. Had he known, he would have locked Elisabet in her room on the pretext that she was ill.But it was too late, so Deptian just accepted it. After Hertia left, he planned to scold Elisabet for interrupting him while he was talking.All talks went well, and Hertia decided to look around the Count's residence, as she wanted to talk to Regina alone."Very well. If the Grand Duke would like to look around with Regina," Deptian said, giving permission.Regina nodded and approached her future fiancé. They went out together."Are you satisfied?" Deptian said curtly and left Elisabet alone.Deptian was reluctant to scold Elisabet because Hertia was still in her residence."I didn't expect you t
The very different-looking servant left immediately, hurrying to the room where Elisabet was."Madam, may I come in?" She knocked softly on the door, afraid that someone might see her.The door opened, revealing Elisabet with a disheveled appearance and puffy eyes. The madam looked at the servant with a blank expression."Why are you here, Pio?" Elisabet asked, closing the door to her room before allowing Pio to enter."I have something important to tell you," Pio whispered softly as she glanced around, worried that someone might be watching."What?!" Elisabet asked sarcastically. She didn’t like anyone seeing her in her current state."Let me in first, Madam," Pio pleaded with a desperate expression.Reluctantly, Elisabet let Pio in, even though she truly didn’t want anyone in her room except her son.Elisabet walked in first while Pio closed the door behind her."Tell me quickly!" Elisabet demanded, glaring at Pio. She was impatient to hear what the servant had to say."I heard that
"Because you ordered this servant. You will still be punished, I will take away your power right now, no monthly budget for three months and after that all budgets are restricted!" Deptian pointed at Elisabet face, she still looked very angry."What?" Elisabet did not look unhappy."Why, you don't accept the decision I made?" snapped Deptian in a high tone."No, I'm just ...." Elisabet did not continue her sentence, she looked away."Good. You must realize that the position of a hostess in a noble family is not to be taken lightly! So I'll leave this task to Regina, after all she has to learn to take care of everything when she becomes a countess!" Deptian quickly left Regina's room.Paying no attention to his wife, who was still sitting on the cold floor, Deptian continued to walk quickly.Regina chuckled, but Elisabet did not hear it because she was lost in thought.'It may not be what I want, but the important thing is that she can't do anything for these three months!' Regina said
"Worried? Can you clearly explain what that means? Where did the word worry come from when you put antidepressants in my food without my knowledge!" Regina shouted, her voice shaking.Regina clenched her fists under the covers, wanting to curse Elisabet. But she realized that her father would not like her being rude to her stepmother."I told you I was worried about you, Regina. So don't misunderstand me about the medicine," Elisabet said, wiping away the tears that had fallen from the corners of her eyes.Regina chuckled in annoyance. There was always an excuse coming out of her stepmother's mouth."Then why are you worried about me?" Regina looked at Elisabeth sarcastically, as if she wanted to swallow the woman alive."I have a feeling you are having a hard time thinking about the intruder. Since you hate me, I dare not even approach you."Elisabet paused her words, busy wiping away the tears that seemed to be forced out."Because I was thinking of you, who must be having a hard ti
Regina slowly unfolded the crumpled paper and read the contents. It was true that Elisabet had bought a lot of medicine. This made her even more certain that Elisabet was really doing this.'No wonder I feel different these days,' she muttered to herself.Regina stared at the paper that was the receipt for the medicine from the drugstore in the capital. Who else but Nin would have given her mother the prescription."But we still need more evidence, because she'll definitely be evasive if it's just this note." Regina squeezed the note."How about we take some of the food, miss?" asked Merry as she looked at the food scattered on the floor."Take the food and put it in a small plastic bag. Then you can walk out quietly and give it to the doctor in the capital!" Regina ordered Merry.Teri looked down, she didn't think so. Instead, she dropped all the food on the floor, leaving it scattered all over the place, not even thinking about taking it to a doctor to corroborate her evidence."Ye
Regina felt bad for Teri, but she couldn't forget what the woman had done. Even if Teri had been set up, Regina still thought the waitress was guilty."I hope nobody got hurt! But if any part hurts, you can come to Nin for treatment." Regina walked away, leaving Teri alone.Regina walked down the corridor, daydreaming all the way, thinking that she left this residence when she married Grand Duke Hestian Mertia. Her name would also change to Regina Mertia, no longer Regina Grana.'Is he really going to divorce me when it's all over?' she muttered to herself.Regina's heart hesitated, but she had no choice. Especially now that her life was in danger. So there was no way she could back out, but she was worried about her father, who was living with a bad person. No matter how her father behaved, she was still her only family and also the biological father who had raised her to be as big as she was now."Ugh, my head hurts again!" Regina groaned softly.Regina held on to the wall because h
Regina didn't show a surprised look or anything, she just had a flat expression as she listened to her father's answer. Since she had heard from Sio first, Regina asked that because she wanted to hear it straight from the Deptian's mouth."But don't worry, I'll catch him no matter what. I'm sure that even if he's very good at disappearing, he'll still be found!" Deptian reassured Regina, as he was afraid she would get upset."Yes, Father! I believe in you, you'll find this person sooner or later. But as I said before, please investigate the insiders first, for fear that it might not be someone from afar who is treacherous".Regina decided to leave without saying goodbye, leaving Deptian who had been silent.'I hope Father will expose Elisabet as soon as possible. Then I will bring more evidence!' Regina hoped in her heart.Even though the only evidence Regina had was Jake's confession, if there was strong evidence from her father that Elisabet wanted to kill her. Then it would incrimi