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Chapter 150: The Duchess of Vérité.
“Phew, phew... Finally…”
Reaching the familiar avenue leading to the ducal residence, Ortansia caught her breath.
After that, she'd emerged onto the main street and immediately recognised the direction of the royal palace.
However, it seemed she'd collapsed far from the noble street where the ducal residence stood, and reaching here had consumed more time and energy than she'd anticipated.
Even so, reaching this familiar place brought relief, and at the same time, she noticed something.
‘Ah, that statue...!’
The bronze statue standing in the street hadn't been there when Ortansia was a child.
She was certain she'd heard it had been erected just before she'd returned to the domain.
Which meant she wasn't in the past she had gone to with 《Time interference》, but had properly returned to the present.
Overjoyed, she forgot her tired legs and broke into a run.
Soon, the imposing figure of the Duke's mansion came into view.
Two gatekeepers stood before the main gate, preventing outsiders from entering.
She remembered how they always greeted her with a smile and a ‘Have a safe journey’ whenever she left by carriage.
Ortansia ran up to them and called out.
“Excuse me, might I be allowed inside?”
It would be difficult to explain why Ortansia was alone outside the duke's residence, but these were the usual gatekeepers.
Ortansia had no doubt she would be let in.
But the response she received was not one of affirmation—
“...Who are you? State your name first.”
“Eh...?”
Stared at as if she were a suspicious person, Ortansia became flustered.
‘Wh-what is this...? Could it be that because I'm wearing different clothes than usual, he hasn't recognised me?’
“O-Ortansia!”
“Ortansia…?”
As she hurriedly declared her name, the two exchanged glances.
“Ortansia… Have you heard of her?”
“No, I have received no word of a visitor by that name.”
‘Could it be… they don’t recognise me as the Duke’s daughter, Ortansia!?’
Compared to her father and brother, she was certainly aware that she lacked that certain... “noble aura”.
Usually, her attire concealed it, but she was originally a tavern girl from the lower town.
Once she shed the beautiful dress, it was perhaps inevitable she didn't look like a “duchess's daughter”.
“Er, well... I'm Ortansia, daughter of Duke Vérité.”
Ortansia steeled herself and asserted her claim.
But the response she received was…
“...What utter nonsense are you spouting? The duke's daughter is not called that.”
“Eh...?”
What on earth was he talking about?
Ortansia was dumbfounded by the unexpected words.
‘What does he mean, “Ortansia” isn't the name of the Duke's daughter...?’
No matter what, it was inconceivable that someone serving the Duke of Vérité household wouldn't know the name Ortansia.
As Ortansia stood confused and speechless, the two gatekeepers exchanged glances.
“What shall we do?”
‘It's rather amateurish for an impostor pretending to be the Duchess's daughter... but perhaps we should hand her over to the constabulary, just in case.”
“W-wait! It's not that!!”
The words coming from the gatekeepers' mouths made Ortansia panic.
The two men before her were treating her entirely as a suspect.
‘How did this happen? What on earth is going on...?’
Just then, a voice she recognized reached the panicking Ortansia.
“What are you doing?”
The moment she heard that voice, Ortansia snapped her head up.
After all, there was no mistaking that voice.
Where her gaze fell... stood the very person she had imagined.
‘Brother...!’
Her beloved adoptive brother, Gérard was slowly approaching her.
Seeing him, Ortansia felt an immediate wave of relief wash over her.
Gérard would surely let her inside straight away.
But just as she was about to call out to him as usual,
“Bro…”
“Now then, Brother, what on earth is the matter?”
Ortansia's voice was drowned out by another.
In disbelief, Ortensia turned her gaze towards the source of the voice.
With a little hop, like a small animal, a girl who had been hiding behind Gérard emerged.
A beautiful girl with silver hair like Gérard's and jewel-like sapphire eyes.
She appeared to be about the same age as Ortansia.
She wore an elegant dress, the sort Ortansia herself would typically wear.
... Ortansia had absolutely no recollection of this person.
‘Who... ? And just now, “Brother”?...’
Ignoring Ortansia, who stood dumbfounded by the incomprehensible situation, the girl steadily approached them.
“Now then, what's happened? Who might this be?”
At the girl's address, the two gatekeepers instantly straightened their backs.
Then, in a manner utterly different from their attitude towards Ortensia, they spoke with polite deference.
“Our apologies, Miss Marguerite.”
“This individual attempted to force entry into the ducal residence. When questioned, she uttered incomprehensible nonsense about being “the Duke's daughter, Ortansia”...”
“Hmm, how peculiar. I am the only daughter of the Duke in this mansion.”
At the girl's words, Ortansia felt despair wash over her like the ground crumbling beneath her feet.
She cast her last hopeful glance towards Gérard... but he wasn't looking at Ortansia.
His gaze was fixed on the girl who had said, “I am the only Duke of Verite daughter here.”
Just as Gérard had always looked at Ortansia.
‘Could it be...?’
Even Ortansia could not help but gradually grasp the truth.
The ‘Duchess of Vérité’ here and now was not Ortansia. It was the girl before her, the one being called ‘Mademoiselle Marguerite’.
Why had things become so utterly incomprehensible...?
Fortune or misfortune, Ortansia had a vague idea.
...”Ortansia. Unlike other blessings, 《Time interference》 is an exceedingly dangerous power. Careless interference could destabilise the fate of people and worlds, even existence itself. Naturally, the burden upon you is immense.”
…”I trust you would not misuse it… but please be cautious. Destiny is such that a single altered event can cause vast shifts.”
The goddess's warning flashed through her mind.
Ortensia had used Time Interference to alter the fate of her parents' meeting.
It had been to protect her father from Ducasse's grasp, but in the end... perhaps fate had changed far more profoundly.
‘Because I used 《Time interference》, the original world has changed drastically...?’
Struck to the core by the sight of the girl who was now the Duke's daughter and the figure of Gérard gazing at her, Ortansia could only come to this realization.
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We fixed the next and preview buttons above the table of contents
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