How could anyone want to be a partner with this narcissistic egomaniac? Regardless of what kind of partner he meant, she had no desire whatsoever to get involved with the Duke.

The Duke chattered on excitedly, oblivious to Carinne’s feelings.

“In many ways, the princess is qualified enough.”

“….”

“Qualified to be my political partner. Of course, other kinds of partners are fine as well.”

The idea of becoming his political partner was laughable, but what did he mean by ‘other kinds of partners’?

‘…Did I hear that right?’

Maybe there was something wrong with her ears. However, judging from the sound of the knights’ footsteps in the distance, her hearing seemed to be working fine.

‘What did I do wrong?’

Carinne was overcome with self-loathing.

What had she done to give the Duke any hope? The first thing she did after possessing the body was to take back her confession to him. Ever since then, she had been consistently showing him that she wasn’t interested. She had never been kind to him, and she rarely spoke to him unless absolutely necessary.

‘I did my best, didn’t I?’

To be honest, it was unfair. What more could she have done?

She thought she was different from the female leads of other romance fantasy novels. She was determined not to follow the cliché plotline where the female lead said, ‘I shouldn’t get involved with that man!’ and then proceeded to do exactly that, falling in love with him and acting surprised when he suddenly made a move on her.

But….

‘I admit it. I guess I was doing it without realizing.’

She should have kept her distance from the Duke. She shouldn’t have made the bet with the Duke to help Iris. That was when the tragedy began.

Thinking back on the keyword obsessive man in the novel and considering the Duke’s persistent nature, there was a good chance that he would become a real nuisance in the future. However, there was still an opportunity, as he hadn’t completely transformed into an obsessive stalker yet.

He hadn’t said, “Be my partner,” but rather, “Won’t you be my partner?” That meant she had a choice. Perhaps if she talked to him nicely now, he would understand.

“Excuse me. I think you’re seriously mistaken.”

Carinne straightened her back and stretched her neck to meet the Duke’s red eyes. His blood-red pupils seemed relaxed. While he was always unpleasant to look at, he seemed especially unpleasant today.

Was it just her imagination?

“First of all, I’m not interested in politics. As I said before, today was an exceptional case. Secondly, I’m not interested in you either. I think I mentioned that last time.”

“Yes. You said you didn’t feel the same way but doesn’t that mean your feelings could change in the future?”

He replied indifferently.

“If that’s the case, then your feelings could change again at any time.”

‘It wasn’t me who confessed to you, it was the original Carinne!’

Swallowing back the retort that rose to her throat, Carinne snapped back.

“No, they won’t. I guarantee it.”

“Then, why did you come to my mansion the day before you took back your confession?”

What a sharp kid. She hadn’t expected him to ask that. Carinne hesitated for a moment before answering.

“I didn’t come to see you.”

For the first time, a small crack appeared in the confident, blood-red eyes.

“That’s… Anyway, I can’t really talk about it here, but I definitely didn’t come to see you.”

She could have told him honestly that she had gone to see Archen. However, she didn’t want the Duke to find out that she was in love with Archen since he considered her a friend.

She didn’t know when the Duke, who was always following Archen around, might let it slip to him. She had worked so hard to become friends with Archen, and if he found out that she liked him, the wall she had built up so carefully might come crashing down.

Thus, Carinne made up her mind to keep her feelings tightly hidden.

“So, forget about the partner thing. My heart will remain unchanged, now and forever. Well, I shall take my leave.”

Those were her last words.

She didn’t give the Duke time to respond and ran down the stairs. It was the perfect ending. He should get the message now. Fortunately, the Duke wasn’t the kind of man who would chase after Carinne.

Carinne pressed her throbbing temples as she was lost in thought.

The Duke was interested in her?

In the novel, he hated, no, loathed Carinne. For him to show affection toward her meant that other parts of the original story were also significantly distorted… except for one thing. Iris was Duke Lucas’s enthusiast in both the original story and now.

‘What if they don’t end up together because of me?’

Her mind went blank as if the lights had gone out. If the two, who were destined to be together, didn’t end up together, not only would a happy couple be lost, but if Iris found out that Duke Lucas liked someone else and that someone else was her…

Considering Iris’ innocent personality, she would definitely be devastated.

‘I have to keep this a secret for now.’

She also had to make a great effort to change Duke Lucas’ mind. It was ridiculous to lose a friend over a man, especially because of him.

After organizing her thoughts, Carinne safely left the palace and got into the carriage. As she leaned against the backrest, her tension eased, and her eyes slowly closed.

Carinne, who had returned to the mansion with a sigh of relief, realized that today was not an ordinary day when she saw the knights and maids filling the reception room, as well as the mustache guy with a grim face.

* * *

‘This d*mn place is never quiet for a single moment!’

The mustache guy started nagging at Carinne as soon as he saw her.

“You’re here! This witch!”

This man was talking nonsense again. Carinne listened to the mustache guy’s words with one ear and let them out the other. She could see Martha and the knights on one side of the reception room.

Marta would explain the situation to her.

“What’s going on here?”

“We received a report that you’re a suspected witch. We need to follow certain procedures to decide whether to detain you or not, and we’re waiting for those procedures to begin.”

Even though she explained calmly, there was no subject in the sentence.

“Who’s accused of being a witch?”

Marta looked down at her without saying anything as her eyes seemed to be asking why she was asking when she knew. Carinne remembered the mustache guy calling her a witch. It wasn’t nonsense.

‘Where did another saint statue disappear?’

As far as she knew, there was no saint statue in the Second Duchy. She hadn’t done anything that could be misunderstood as witchcraft, and most of the witches were frozen to death.

“Why am I a witch?”

“Then, tell me the name of Duchess Tricia!”

The mustache guy suddenly interrupted, and Carinne was speechless. The name of the mother of the evil supporting character who appeared briefly in the early half of the story was not mentioned at all, and even if it were, she wouldn’t remember it.

How did the leads of romance fantasy novels get out of this situation?

As she recalled, after the possession, the memories of the body’s owner would naturally come to mind, which was the recent trend.

‘As soon as she realized she had possessed OO, OO’s memories flooded in like a tidal wave. Or she would dream of OO’s memories, or the memories of the body’s owner would come to mind as time passed.’

However, unfortunately, she was far from being a trendsetter.

Carinne had to rely solely on the memories of the original story she had read before the possession. In this case, there was only one way if she was questioned about her memories. It was a bit old-fashioned, though it could gain sympathy and provide a plausible explanation for her memory loss…

“Oh, you’re trying to act hesitant. Are you going to lie and say you have amnesia?”

Yes, that was right. Amnesia.

‘F*ck…’

“A witch who was executed a hundred years ago said the same thing!”

Did they? Did he have to say that here and now?

A person like him was of no help to anyone. Carinne had to hold herself back from approaching the man with the mustache and slapping him across the face.

“I’m just flustered. Give me a moment, and I’ll remember.”

In the end, she gave a half-hearted answer that she reeked of lies.

“Then, what was the tea that Duchess Tricia loved to drink? Or what gift did Duke Tricia give you for your coming-of-age ceremony?”

Carinne racked her brain at the man with the mustache’s questions, but she couldn’t come up with any answers.

“That’s…”

Everyone in the mansion was watching her. At this rate, she would definitely be branded as a witch.

“It’s not like that! I may be an unfilial daughter, but I’m not a witch! How can you judge me based on a few things?”

Just because she didn’t know her mother’s name or the tea she drank, she was being called a witch. If that were the case, every unfilial daughter in the world would be a witch.

She was about to blurt out her thoughts when the man with the mustache pointed to one side of the room.

“A few things, you say. There are more than one or two witnesses. The evidence that you’re not the princess is overflowing!”

What evidence? And who were these witnesses?

Carinne followed the man with the mustache’s finger and… her breath caught in her throat. On one side of the room, the mansion’s maids were gathered together. The maids were glancing at her and whispering among themselves.

‘Am I being betrayed by the maids?’

She immediately recalled what had happened that morning. Was that why they had flinched when they saw her?

Because they thought she was a witch…?

As she stood there frozen in disbelief, the man with the mustache motioned for one of the maids to come forward and speak.

It was the maid who sometimes brought Carinne her tea.

“It was a few months ago. You asked me to bring you some tea, and I asked you if the tea that Madam Ruby often drank would be okay. However, you asked me who Madam Ruby was.”

At the maid’s words, she vaguely remembered something. It was true that she had asked that question. The maid seemed flustered by her question. She had evaded her question about who Madam Ruby was, but she must have thought that Carinne was…

“It’s clear that a witch has taken over the Young Lady’s body. She doesn’t even know what kind of tea the Duchess enjoyed.”

Madam Ruby was Duchess Tricia’s name? Then, why had she called her Madam Ruby instead of milady or duchess?

Before Carinne could resolve her doubts, another maid stepped forward. It was the maid who usually ran Carinne’s errands.

“A few days ago, you told me to throw away the ivory comb. So, I asked you if it was okay since it had special meaning, but you said it was fine… but you were so happy when you received the ivory comb as a gift for your coming-of-age ceremony.”

Carinne remembered that clearly. She had been organizing things to throw away because her vanity was overflowing. There were more than five combs that looked similar, so she had told the maid to throw them away.

But of all the combs, she had to choose that one.

“Your personality has changed too. You used to get angry a lot, but you haven’t gotten angry even once lately. You must be trying to win people over so they won’t find out you’re a witch.”

Wait, wasn’t it a good thing that she didn’t get angry? The maid had completely missed the point.

“Your walk is different.”

“The food you like has changed.”

“Even the tone of your voice is strange.”

The other maids chimed in as well. As the number of witnesses increased, the scale of their testimonies also grew.

“The other night, she was up late, muttering things to herself that I couldn’t understand. She must have been cursing someone. In fact, my friend’s younger brother got sick the next day.”

“Wherever that woman goes, the grass withers, and the food spoils.”

“I even saw her eat a whole dead rat.”

‘When did I do that…?!’

Carinne usually fell asleep as soon as it got dark. The claims that grass withered and food spoiled wherever she went were ridiculous, and the last one was just plain absurd. She had never even seen a rat, let alone eaten a dead one.

She was speechless at how ridiculous it all was.

Then, she noticed a maid standing in the middle of the group of maids, arms crossed and a leisurely smile on her face.

It was the maid who had come to replace Marie.

She had a bad feeling about her, and Carinne had decided not to say anything to her because she figured that was just her personality. She was staring intently at something, so Carinne followed her gaze and saw that the maid was exchanging glances with the man with the mustache.

—