“What, what kind of crazy thing is that? Do you think you can do anything after being favored by the crown prince? In the first place, you are sitting next to him because of me!”
“…Prince?”
Iona muttered blankly as she loosened her grip on Hayden.
It was after Richard ascended the throne that Count Modrov died.
'If it is the underworld, why did he bring the emperor's name?'
Iona suddenly thought that and looked at Hayden's face which strangely looked younger.
Since he was a devilish person, she passed it off, thinking that he must have been living in hell quite well, but when she checked again, it seemed that he had rejuvenated for almost ten years.
Iona tilted her head and looked up at the ceiling.
The chandelier, which had been replaced with a trendy design last spring, was nowhere to be found. Instead, the chandelier that Count Modrov had been using since he was still alive was in place.
Iona asked in a surprised voice.“How old am I now?”
In the meantime, Hayden, who raised his head, shouted to Iona, staggering.
"You-you… …Have you really gone crazy? Or do you think you've made a great career out of talking about marrying the duke? It looks like you've lost your mind due to bad luck!”
'I'm going to be a duchess.'
The period during which Iona was the prospective duchess was very short. The duke had decided to marry her after meeting her only a few times.
Then, when she put all of this information together, only one conclusion came to her mind... That she was back in the time when she was neither the head of the Modrov house nor the duchess, that was, when she was still a 20-year-old girl.
“…Nonsense! This can't be true?”
Iona reflexively denied it.
She stood up, ignoring Hayden's loud babbling.
She could feel Hayden flinch at her movement, but she didn't care.
Iona walked towards the wall and stood in front of a large decorative mirror.
What she saw in the mirror was her youthful face.
Iona slowly raised her hand and touched her cheek. All the wounds she sustained in her last battle were gone.
No, let alone this, she couldn't see even the slightest scar on her temple which she got a few years back.
Her blistered lips shone brightly like a red flower, and the bridge of her nose, which was broken, also stretched out smoothly.
Most of all, she looked young. Just like Count Modrov, who was holding his breath beside her, looked ten years younger than his actual age.
'How did this happen?'
It was not a problem that could be explained logically.
In this unreal situation, if one thing was certain, it was the fact that she had come to the past, not the afterlife.
'But, how? How did this happen?'
While Iona was trying to figure out the situation, the sound of footsteps from afar quickly approached.
Heyden would always keep his servants away from him when he was alone with Iona, so the person who was coming was probably not a servant.
The only ones who could be on the same floor at this time were those who didn't need to ask the Count's permission for maneuvering.
Soon the door to the study opened and a man and a woman with familiar faces rushed in. And their identity was as expected.
"Father! What fuss is this?”
“What happened? why are you on the floor...”
With bewildered expressions, they looked around the room in confusion.
They saw the sight of the collapsed father and the cheeky illegitimate child standing next to him.
Yvonne Modrov and Nils Modrov; half-sister and half-brother of Iona.
For a while, they glared at Iona fiercely, and then the two soon turned their eyes to check Hayden's well-being.
Hayden struggled to get up with their help. Even as his children poured out their worries, he continued to remain silent.
When Hayden's mouth hardly opened, Nils finally showed a frustrated look.
“What the hell are you doing? Was there a raid here?"
It never occurred to Nils that his father had been intimidated by an insignificant illegitimate child.
Thanks to this, Iona forgot the confusing situation of returning to the past for a while and laughed out loud.
Hayden glanced at Iona with anxious eyes. In response, Nils looked back at her Iona as if he had noticed something in her.
Nils asked in a hushing voice.
“Iona, did you make father like this?”
“If you know I made him like this, then what are you asking?”
"What?"
“Are you asking how father became such a worm? Or about why he fell in such a funny way?”
Nils couldn't hide his embarrassment at Iona's sarcasm.
In the past, by this time, Iona was still immature, and compared to the position she had, she didn't know much about the world. Her family had no interest in educating her other than raising Iona to be a useful swordswoman.
They wished that Iona would continue to remain like that. Only then could Iona continue to be exploited in the name of her family.
So, for Iona, 20 years old was just the days when she treated those bugs as human beings without knowing what she could or should do.
“Iona Modrov! Your words and actions are reckless!”
Nils couldn't hold back his anger at the rebellion of his half-sister, who had been obedient all along.
Even Yvonne, Nils 'real' younger sister, flinched in surprise at the response.
Iona, who became the object of Nils's anger, resolutely met his gaze and said.
“Nils Modrov, the reckless one is you and your father who do not properly treat the imperial knights.”
At that moment, Nils' expression when he was dealing with Iona, who was not at all frightened, looked bewildered.
Iona calmly continued.
“Did you ask why your father was lying so ugly? He tripped on his feet and fell. When he tried to stab his daughter, he was stopped by her and fell down. It was all because of the father who taught her wrongly, or the daughter who grew up under him.”
Finally, a vein popped on Nils' forehead.
Leaving Hayden with Yvonne, he slowly got up. His throat was trembling with anger.
“A lowly girl, just skilled with a sword. We accepted her as a member of the family despite her lack of morals. And this is what we get in return."
He strode in front of Iona and raised his arm.
The moment he waved his hand, Iona finished her brief thought. Then, his thick hand slapped Iona's cheek fiercely.
It was a foretold attack, so she did not fall and endured it, but her ears were deaf.
She stuck out her tongue and licked her bottom lip, feeling the taste of iron. Iona said, glaring at Nils with cold eyes.
“Father and son do the same thing.”
The reason Iona didn't feel intimidated by the duke's people after her marriage was simple; Her family treated her more humiliatingly and degrading than they did.
It was easier to deal with others who consistently ignored her than bloodlines that were prone to verbal abuse and violence.
“It seems that we have been very kind to you all this time, judging by the fearless attitude you show to us. Let me personally guide you to your real position. You really need discipline.”
“Yeah, that girl seems to be getting more and more cocky these days. The other day, when I asked for the prince's schedule, she even ignored me!”
When her brother came out strong, Yvonne also regained her momentum and complained.
Nils, who soothed his younger sister with a friendly attitude, said he understands, and his murderous eyes flashed at Iona.
“Don't worry, Yvonne. I'll thoroughly educate her so that she won't be so arrogantly rebellious again. If we break her leg like last time, she won’t be able to hold her head up like this.”
'Come to think of it, about a year ago, my leg was broken by a hunting rifle wielded by Nils.'
Iona thought deeply as she rubbed her tongue on the inside of her sore cheek.
'It's just that I got hit.'
“Nils Modrov.”
“Don’t call me by my name, you lowly… …!”
“Bite something tight.”
"What?"
Iona slapped him on the chin before he even had time to react.
-Smack!!
"What the hack..."
Yvonne's screams echoed high in the room.
Niels, who fell like a piece of paper at the same time, rolled on the floor.
A grunting moan flowed from him as if he hadn't fainted yet; because she controlled her power.
His face was red with a mixture of pain, embarrassment, and humiliation.
Nils cursed at Iona with a leaky accent even as he fumbled his tingly chin.
“You, is this girl… …Go, how can a lowly thing like you hi-hit me?”
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