The employees didn"t know what to do with a child who had just been born.
Merrill was pregnant when they were looking for a nanny. She was on long maternity leave.
But when Merrill returned from her vacation, her master, Rachel, died and the newborn baby, who knew nothing, was crying and had no room to breathe.
Merrill was angered when she saw everyone laying their hands on the newborn and held the crying little baby in her arms. Thus, Meryl became Audrey"s nanny.
The death of Rachel, the ray of suns.h.i.+ne in the house, caused the Duke to shut himself in his room for more than a year and grieve.
Meanwhile, Audrey, who was forgotten by everyone, grew up under Merrill"s care.
Since Rachel"s death, the Duke had become so affected that he wasn"t the same anymore.
Even after the freezing winter, when the flowers bloomed and the animals in hibernation stretched out, he was still stoic.
Perhaps it was only natural that Audrey grew up timid and unpopular.
The inside of the mansion was so well built that even a child could not be seen eavesdropping. The moment Audrey learned that her mother died giving birth to her, she blamed everything on herself.
Maybe she thought that her birth was a mistake or that she should have died.
As things progressed, Audrey"s condition continued to decline and she was not able to come out of her room.
Although she was too young to make her societal debut, the n.o.bles who believed in making connections at an early age, sent their children to different families so that they could mingle with other children the same age as them. But Audrey had no such friends.
This was how she had heard about the Archduke"s youngest daughter, Audrey Trudy.
I don"t know why I was put into her body.
However, according to Merrill and Yella, Audrey did not come out of bed as usual. Merrill and Yella considered this as insignificant because there were many days like this.
At the start of the evening, Merrill approached Audrey in bed, to eat.
And then, Merrill sensed a strange aura. The atmosphere was off. Merrill lifted the futon, knowing it was rude. There were two pillows in place of Audrey, which should not have been the case.
She scrambled to find Audrey and found her moments later.
Since then, Audrey was feverish and did not wake up… Until now.
‘Audrey Trudy is dead." This thought pa.s.sed by me at one point.
It was possible that Audrey"s soul had been taken away when she was. .h.i.t by the high fever. And around the same time, she had died and had entered her body.
‘Then I…? What happened to my body?"
Was it floating around somewhere in the ocean off the edge of the cliff, caught in rocks and branches, turning into food for the beasts, or was it discovered by someone?
Neither could be confirmed right away. If she suddenly woke up from a high fever and somehow knew about a merchant who she had no relation to at all, except the fact that their names were the same… Anyone would find it strange.
First, she needed to adapt to this body. To become Audrey Trudy she had to act like she was ten-years-old, timid, introverted, the abandoned daughter of the Duke"s, and that she believed that she was the cause of all her family"s misery.
“Wow.”
It was not what Audrey wanted.
It would be better if she was poor.
A life with a loving and warm family was what she wanted.
Although the world gave her the opportunity to live again, it didn"t give her the opportunity to live happily ever after.
She had to live as an abandoned child. That was actually a bit lonely.
Audrey Trudy"s situation was not very good. She only had the Trudy family"s bloodline running through her veins, as a perk.
She was born a Duke but was hated and decided to stop caring at all in the end. She had isolated herself in her room.
Audrey had to adapt to her body under such bad conditions. She had no choice but to gather information as she encountered people. She pondered about what she could do in this body.
She had been shutting herself in her room thus far and barely spoke to anyone, so she did not have to filter herself, so what could Audrey Trudy do?
‘Think about it…… It was strange when I didn"t have a voice."
She had not spoken for a long time before she was sick. Audrey Trudy, who had shut her mouth completely, spent the day thinking.
The more she thought about her, the more she began to see.
Could she do it well?
‘Let"s do it. I"m going to do it somehow."
Audrey was someone who raised her siblings and succeeded in launching her own business from nothing. She could not accept the current situation easily.
Audrey decided to find a way to uncover the situation. To do this, the first thing she had to do was to examine the atmosphere surrounding the Archduke.
The good news, though, is that Merrill and Yella were favored by Audrey.
Even the Duke"s love matters were often ignored by the maids.
If the maids were there, Audrey would have had a hard time adjusting.
At the very least, it was the only light compared to the many adverse conditions in the Duke"s house that she had.
“I"m glad you"re okay now.”
Merrill smiled in relief as she looked at Audrey"s complexion. In the last few days, Merrill and Yella were concerned about the speed of Audrey"s recovery. Since it had come to this, the loads on their bodies were lightened.
"Yeah… It"s a great place to be in."
“Yes,” she said.
As soon as Audrey spoke to the two, they listened attentively.
“I… I"d like to do some walking…”
It was the most innocent way to survey the inside of the mansion.
She tried to make it sound natural. Like she was going for a light stroll to digest her meal… But Merrill and Yella looked surprised.
They looked at each other and exchanged glances as if they could not believe what they had just heard.
“Really… Are you going to take a stroll?”
Yella seemed unconvinced, her voice went up and her eyes widened.
“Yes, I"d like to… Can I not?”
Audrey, who was not yet familiar with the atmosphere of the Duke"s house, carefully asked.
“You can! It"s good to go on a stroll! It"s good for your digestive system! It"s good for your health! It"s all good!”
Yella nodded excessively.
The fact that Audrey, who was always in her room, had volunteered to leave, shocked both Merrill and Yella. It seemed to be immensely touching.
They welcomed Audrey"s idea with open arms and immediately made preparations.
“Where would you like to go?”
“Well, I just want to support you.”
Audrey had never seen the inside of the mansion. She didn"t know where everything was.
“Where do you want to go?” But Yella asked her so she could only choose to go to the garden.
What sections were there?
The residence was large. But she had only seen it from afar, so she didn"t know where everything was.
From here on out, she had to speak vaguely.
“It might take a while so I think it would be good if we stayed close to you,” Merrill spoke affectionately.
Even though they were just going outside the room, Merrill and Yella combed Audrey"s hair neatly as if they were going to an event, and put her in a formal dress along with a pair of shoes that were comfortable to walk in.
A cold breeze blew as she left the room. When Audrey took a small step, Merrill opened her mouth to speak,
“If you have a hard time walking, you can always speak up.”
“I"ll help you.”
Yella spoke confidently.
Yes, it"s no big deal, look. We are almost there.
Audrey laughed, saying, ‘Thank you," even though she thought that they were worrying too much.
She had worked in business so she had traveled to aristocratic mansions before. The Trudy dukedom was the place that she had just caught a glimpse of before, but never visited.
However, the interior of the mansion, which was rumored to be as large and beautiful as the imperial palace, only gave you the impression of how hard the Duke worked.
She started to get curious about what the imperial palace looked like as well.
As soon as she walked through the long corridor and exited the main building, she saw how big the mansion was.
Merrill had to scramble around again as Audrey quickly headed towards the garden.
She took one look and realized why the Trudy household was famous for its garden. Apparently, Rachel was said to have paid the most attention to the garden.
The rumors were true. The mansion was truly enchanting. It was even grander than the rumors had said. The large varieties of flowers on display were enchanting—almost like she had entered a fairytale.
As soon as she beheld the scene before her, she was captivated by its majesty.
It seemed to be otherworldly–like a dream, not reality. Beautiful. That thought dominated all of her senses.
Audrey walked slowly paced around the garden. Endless flowers.
The garden was so wide that it didn"t take long for her to realize why Merrill and Yella were so worried.
She didn"t walk much, but her legs had started to give up. Her breathing was unstable and she was dripping in cold sweat.
Audrey Trudy"s body was that of a ten-year-old child"s. The young child was weaker than Audrey had thought. Plus, she had only stayed inside until now. She lacked the stamina of an average child. She was too exhausted so she had to cut her sight-seeing short.
She now felt that in her past life, it was worth it walking all day long. Not only did she look like the average child, but she also had the physical strength of one.
Audrey realized. Even if she walked for a bit, her feet became as heavy as stones.
Merrill and Yella, who were standing behind her, looked anxiously at her as she paused; thinking that she could not walk anymore,
“Where are you uncomfortable?”
“Are your legs sore?” Asked Yella, examining her leg that was covered by the dress.
Audrey"s crying face indicated her answer. Her legs were so sore that she couldn"t walk anymore.
Without hesitation, Yella turned her back so that it faced Audrey and lifted Audrey"s legs from off the floor. She s.h.i.+fted her arms behind her back to signal to Audrey and spoke to her,
“Get up.”
But Audrey was not able to keep up. Yella then turned her head around and smiled at Audrey.
She said,
“I promised. I said that I would help you if you got sick.”
t/n: i need to learn new vocabulary and phrasing lma—NOT FUNNY. I"M SERIOUS ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH