Chapter 3

"Nice to meet you, Miss Ortencia. I will be in charge of your education. My name is Annabelle."

"......Nice to meet you."

......For now, everything is proceeding just as it did in my first life.

As soon as I stepped into the duke's mansion, I was introduced to Annabelle, the woman who would be my governess.

(Actually, it's not really "nice to meet you"......)

In fact, in my first life (if you can call it that), Annabelle was also Ortencia's governess. She is looking at me with a disdainful gaze from behind her gleaming glasses. She is a distinguished lady under the Verite Duke's household and absolutely detests daughters born out of wedlock, like Ortencia, who lack proper upbringing.

(In my first life, she drilled me so harshly that I cried countless times......)

As Annabelle lectures me tediously about the rules of the house and the duties of a duke's daughter, I can't help but sigh.

"Well, well, Annabelle. Ortencia must be tired. Let's have dinner first, shall we?"

Thanks to my father's intervention, I am freed from Annabelle's lecture and led to the dining room.

(Sigh......Still, it feels so nostalgic.)

To be honest, I don't have many good memories of this mansion. However, after being chosen as a candidate for the queen and moving to the palace, Ortencia inexplicably wanted to return to this mansion.

(I never thought I would come back after dying once......)

"Miss Ortencia, please come this way."

I am shown to my seat, and the meal is quickly served. After reciting a prayer, I start eating without much thought, when I notice my father looking at me in surprise. Not only him, but......

(What, everyone is looking at me......Why!?)

Upon closer inspection, not only my father, but Annabelle and the other servants are staring at me with wide eyes.

(...Oh no, did I do something wrong!!?)

As I panic internally, my father, with wide eyes, asks me.

"I'm surprised... Ortencia, your table manners are perfect. Where did you learn them?"

......That's right!

At this point in my first life—right after being taken in by the duke's family—Ortencia, of course, didn't know the table manners of the nobility. At this first meal in the duke's mansion, I made a ridiculous mistake and was harshly criticized by Annabelle and the other servants, who said, "You look like an uncultured mountain monkey." I struggled and suffered greatly under Annabelle's ridicule to finally master the manners.

(Wh-what should I do to cover it up!!?)

I can't possibly tell them the truth, "I was killed in the future and came back to the past."

"U-um......"

As I wander with my gaze, I accidentally make eye contact with my step-brother, Gérard, who is sitting at a distant table. Instantly, I am exposed to his icy stare, and I feel a chill to my core.

(Ah, scary! I-I have to come up with an excuse......! Help me, Mother!)

The moment I pray to my mother in heaven, a sudden idea hits me. Maybe this will work. Trying to avoid Gérard's gaze, I lift my head, take a deep breath, and boldly lie.

"Actually...... Mother taught me."

(Okay, this isn't......strange, right!)

Ortencia's mother was a woman of many loves and was apparently on good terms with several noble men besides the Verite Duke. Therefore, it wouldn't be strange if she had taught me the manners of dining with the nobility.

(...Probably)

As I wait nervously for a response, my father smiles gently.

"......I see, Bernadette...... Perhaps she foresaw this day."

Saying this, my father falls into a sentimental mood. Seeing this, Ortencia lets out a sigh of relief in her heart. I thought about checking on Gérard, but I was too scared to look his way.

(......Okay! It seems I managed to get through it!!)

After that, I was asked a few more questions, but I managed to respond, albeit clumsily. Unlike in my first life, I wasn't scolded for any mistakes, and Ortencia successfully finished her first meal at the duke's mansion.