.jpg)
It was because her family wasn't by her side.
"They were always with me whenever I was sick."
Ayla had to accept her suddenly changed situation.
That Rosia was now the real daughter of Duke Blanche, and she was not.
But now that she remembered the contents of the novel, she knew all the truth.
'Rosia is a fake. She's a Mage sent by the mastermind in this novel to manipulate the Blanche Noble house.'
She was a fraud.
And one with such outstanding Magic skills that she could manipulate the Paternity test magic tool.
Ayla reached the end of the story and recalled what Rosia had said to her.
"Actually, you are the real daughter of this Noble house. I've been acting all this time to steal your place."
"What?"
"To only realize it now, you must be quite the fool."
It was a truly cliché, melodramatic story.
But the current Ayla was both Ayla and a 29-year-old Korean who had devoured every regret-filled novel.
The current her could easily prevent the situation from unfolding as Rosia intended.
'To do that, I must never act like in the original story.'
In the original story, she reacted sharply to Rosia, who was always pretending to be kind while shedding tears.
So her relationship with her family became irreparably damaged.
'But it was all Rosia's scheme.'
She was very skilled at acting kind and gaining people's favor.
The more she fell for Rosia's tricks and got angry, the more her reputation suffered.
'What's worse is that Rosia's Emotion Manipulation Magic becomes more solidified as she gains people's hearts.'
Her Magic was very subtle yet powerful.
At first, it only made Rosia seem a little more pitiful, but as time passed and bonds were formed, she could almost control others as she pleased.
Therefore, Ayla decided to be more cunning in this life.
If the other party acted pitiful, she would act even more pitiful.
If the other party unfairly cornered her, she would pretend to be innocent and turn the tables on them.
'That kind of thing... I'm completely confident in.'
Hiding her true emotions and acting as someone else who wasn't her.
It was something she was very familiar with.
'I used to work as a reenactment actress.'
In her previous life, she had appeared in various roles in one-act plays and reenactment programs.
Although they were only minor roles without much importance, she was quite confident in immersing herself and expressing emotions in a short moment.
If she could steal the attention that Rosia would receive, she could reveal her true nature earlier.
Ayla smiled coldly as she thought of Rosia.
'I'll show you how to play the tragic heroine properly.'
Fortunately, Ayla had not yet been kicked out of the mansion.
She even received a message that she was welcome to come to breakfast as usual.
When she called a maid to bring her washing water as usual, the maid frowned.
"Miss Ayla... no, here it is."
Ayla frowned at the maid's cold attitude towards her.
'Come to think of it...'
Lira was Ayla's personal maid, and she was a very annoying character in the novel.
'She secretly gloated when Ayla's situation was reversed.'
Perhaps because of that, she was also the person whose attitude changed most drastically after Ayla was falsely accused of being a fake.
Although it hadn't been long since Ayla was revealed to be a fake, so she wasn't sure how to treat her yet...
In the original story, as the story progressed, the servants, including Lira, would increasingly ignore Ayla.
Just like now.
As Ayla left the room with Lara after getting ready, many people's gazes were fixed on her.
The servants were looking at Ayla with incredulous faces.
The Princess Consort who was loved in the Duke's Noble house had suddenly become someone of similar status to them.
Ayla could hear the servants' conversation.
"I wonder what they're thinking. To call her to the first meal with the new Miss."
"The Duchess must have felt sorry for her."
"Still, they must have some affection after raising her."
"Then how should we treat her now?"
"Is it right to call her 'her'? Anyway, she's become similar to us in status."
In the original story, Ayla gets very angry as soon as she hears the maids' conversation.
"What did you say just now? How dare you, a maid, speak so carelessly..."
In fact, it was very natural for Ayla to react that way.
It was quite presumptuous for an employee to comment when the head of the family had not yet fully decided on her disposition.
But she was met with contemptuous gazes from her brothers for causing a commotion over something trivial.
'That incident further worsened my reputation.'
So she decided not to react.
She knew very well how to act more wisely now.
"She doesn't even change her expression even though she can hear everything."
"How can she be so cruel?"
"Shh, let's stop now."
Ayla calmly ignored their words and diligently walked to the dining room.
As soon as she appeared in the room, she felt piercing gazes.
They were Ayla's two brothers.
They looked at Ayla with a different gaze than usual.
It was as if they were looking at something unfamiliar, not their sister.
Seeing that, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
'Being deceived without knowing anything. You foolish brothers.'
But unlike her inner thoughts, Ayla lowered her head as pitifully as possible.
As if she was deeply disheartened by the shocking and unbelievable reality.
Calios, who was sitting at the head of the table, said to Ayla in a cold voice.
"Sit."
At those words, Ayla carefully sat in her seat.
It was to the left of Calios, the head of the family.
Calios cherished Ayla especially more than his sons.
This was because the daughters of the Blanche Noble house were traditionally born with the qualities of a great Mage.
Therefore, the meaning of her, the Noble house's precious daughter, could be seen as extraordinary.
'But at some point, he gave up on his expectations.'
Ayla had terribly no talent for Magic.
Upon learning that fact, Calios lost interest in Ayla.
He didn't mistreat or ignore her, but he didn't try to give her love either.
Ayla raised her head.
She could feel Rosia's gaze staring at her since earlier.
Ayla knew what kind of trick she would play soon.
As expected, Rosia tilted her head and asked a question.
"Um... did I make a mistake, perhaps?"
Everyone's attention was focused on her innocent voice.
She could feel the atmosphere changing around her in an instant.
The Duke looked at Rosia with a puzzled face.
"A mistake?"
"Ah, since I don't know the etiquette, I don't know where the Young Lady of a Noble house should sit."
Rosia blushed faintly.
"My brothers told me to sit in the middle, so I sat here, but if daughters are supposed to sit across from each other..."
At those words, the family's gazes all turned to Ayla's seat.
She was sitting right to the left of the Duke.
The Duchess Irene and her sons sat to the right of the Duke.
This was a seat arrangement that had been possible because Ayla had been the only daughter of the Blanche Noble house.
Realizing that fact, Calios said to Ayla in a firm voice.
"Move, Ayla."
It was Irene who was flustered by Calios's words.
"Y-you can't do that, dear. That seat has been Ayla's for years, after all. To suddenly tell her to move..."
"But Rosia's words make sense. The seat to the left of the head of the family, that's the seat that the eldest daughter of the Blanche Noble house has traditionally sat in."
.jpg)