She's Not Our Daughter! Ch 24

Cassius' Comfort Doll

Ezel furrowed his brow and stared at the softly smiling Princess again.

[Iliena] "Come in, Marchioness."

A woman caught their gaze. Andante, the Marchioness of Mails. She hesitated and stepped inside.

Aside from Ezel, she was the only one who had encountered Sierra. Furthermore, Sierra humiliated her in high society, guaranteeing a burning desire for revenge.

She belonged to the same family as the Grand Madam, who cherished Sierra, and possessed an excellent weakness that made her an easily manipulated pawn.

Considering Andante a highly useful card in various ways, the Princess straightened her back.

[Ezel] "You are quite wicked, Your Highness."

[Iliena] "Let us just say I use any means necessary to get what I want."

He shrugged. He also belonged to the type who used any means necessary to secure his desires. That explained why he stood by the Princess' side at this very moment.

[Ezel] "So, what exactly do you wish to gain through the noble Marchioness Andante?"

The Princess smirked and tapped the table. A small invitation embroidered with a crimson rose lay there.

[Iliena] "Marchioness, you wish to take revenge on 'that' commoner, don't you?"

'That' commoner undoubtedly referred to Sierra.

Meeting the Princess' piercing gaze, Andante bit her lip. In truth, she lacked a desperate desire for revenge. She simply answered the Princess' summons.

[Andante] "I never specifically desired revenge, Your Highness."

The Princess dismissed her words as an utter lie. She furrowed her brow and continued.

[Iliena] "Are you lying to me?"

[Andante] "....…"

[Iliena] "Host a beautiful ball under the guise of a masquerade, Marchioness."

[Andante] "Your Highness, I…."

[Iliena] "Marchioness, you will help me, won't you? I wish to meet her, but I can't invite a commoner to an Imperial ball. It degrades my status."

The Princess lifted her fan, pressed it against the Marchioness' chin, and smiled elegantly.

[Iliena] "Therefore, I want you—someone with a connection to her but seemingly distant from me—to host a ball and invite her."

Inviting a lowly commoner to a ball or salon degraded one's status. Thus, asking Adante, who was known as an aristocratic confidant, to host a ball and invite Sierra remained an impossible task.

She refused to degrade her own loyal nobles. Recognizing this fact, Andante trembled with humiliation and spoke.

[Andante] "I intend to refuse that order, Your Highness."

However, the Princess chuckled leisurely. Anxiety instantly cracked Andante's expression.

[Iliena] "I hear you are terminally ill."

Andante tensed her hands, resting on her lap, and gripped her dress.

[Andante] "You are mistaken, Your Highness."

Ezel, the one who provided the Princess with this information, watched them leisurely and crossed his arms. His languid face betrayed no change in expression.

[Iliena] "Impossible. Then, shall I discuss your illness with high society?"

Wearing a soft expression, the Princess struck at Andante's fatal weakness.

Their heir remained frail, and the Marquess stayed far away, unable to manage the estate. Under these circumstances, revealing the terminally ill status of the Marchioness managing the household would inflict disastrous consequences on the Marquess' family.

No, the situation proved utterly dire.

Due to the rumors of a feud with the Ideos Ducal family circulating in high society, investors in their merchant guild actively plotted to withdraw their funds......!

Andante bit her lip tightly and glared at the Princess.

[Andante] "If I follow your orders....... and host the masquerade, will my family remain unharmed?"

[Iliena] "Oh my, of course. You will face zero problems, Marchioness."

The Princess planned to ruin Sierra, the wicked commoner woman, trying to steal her position.

She held absolute certainty that Andante, sitting right before her, would construct the perfect stage for it.

---

Spending her boring days in the ducal mansion, Sierra investigated Cassius through every possible avenue. She needed to know exactly what kind of life he had lived.

When Sierra asked about Cassius, the maids jumped with joy.

They are so happy about this, it worries me....... I simply plan to find Cassius a friend and leave.

The paternity test required one to three months.

During that time, she would find a good friend for the clearly affection-starved Cassius. Then, she would prove Hanael was not his child, say a cool goodbye, and leave this mansion.

Securing a fat envelope of cash along the way would be excellent. It stood as a perfect plan crafted by Sierra herself.

Wearing a happy smile, Sierra tuned out the maids' chattering. She placed all the gossip magazines and records the maids handed her on the desk.

—Duke of Ideos, Absent Again Today?

—High Society's Most Veiled Figure: Duke Cassius Ideos

—His First Love? A Matter of Scars or Aftereffects?

She scanned the records and gossip magazines thoroughly and reached a perfect conclusion. Just like during his academy days, Cassius still proved to be quite.......

[Sierra] "A total recluse......."

A nearby maid carefully interrupted and spoke.

[Maid] "N-No!"

Surprised someone caught her muttering, Sierra quickly corrected herself.

[Sierra] "A slip of the tongue. By the way, does His Grace have any close friends?"

[Maid] "Well......."

She perked up and stared at the maid.

The maid hesitated, torn between whether to speak about her master or not. Normally, discussing the master demanded absolute silence, but the person asking was Sierra—a woman showered with love by both the Grand Madam and the Duke.

Therefore, the maid carefully beat around the bush and spoke.

[Maid] "Lord Cassius fought in many wars during that time, you see."

In short, it meant he had zero friends.

Sierra nodded.

Now that she had checked the records, the time had arrived to extract information about Cassius from the maids' mouths.

[Sierra] "I see....... Then what kind of person was he?"

Everyone told her to speak casually, but her long life as a commoner constantly pushed polite speech out of her mouth. Fortunately, the maids focused on the underlying message rather than Sierra's tone.

The moment she asked about Cassius, the maids eagerly launched into a chattering frenzy.

[Maid] "His Grace locked himself inside the mansion, desperately missing you and the young miss, Lady Sierra."

[Maid] "Furthermore, he even built a small room for the young miss."

[Maid] "He planned this room out a long time ago."

Sierra tilted her head.

No way.

The maids' words carried clear exaggeration. Perhaps Cassius' standing in the rain recently triggered this. Fear of a gloomy atmosphere returning to the ducal family painted their faces.

Is it true?

Sierra vigorously shook her head internally.

Stick to the facts. Just the facts.

The undeniable fact remained that Cassius only fought in wars, completely losing the opportunity to show his face in high society.

Due to his childhood affection deficit, he lacked genuine friends even at the academy. Furthermore, never appearing in high society permanently isolated him from the public.

[Sierra] "To think he only fought lonely wars all this time, it breaks my heart......."

Just as she suspected, Cassius lacked social skills. A brilliant resolution sparked in her mind.

My mind is made up. If I help him form healthy attachments, we can part ways coolly without any issues when I leave, right?

She definitely needed to schedule a meeting with Cassius.

---

One minute after conveying her desire to meet Cassius to the maids.

He arrived this fast?

Sierra stared at him in disbelief. He stared back at her with an incredibly gentle expression, one no one would ever associate with a war hero.

[Cassius] "I heard you called for me."

[Sierra] "Uh....... Um......."

She lacked the temper to spit on a smiling face. Looking at him smiling so happily.......

I thought it would take at least an hour!

Forget a five-minute standby; is this a one-minute standby?

She possessed absolutely zero confidence to say those words out loud. Therefore, instead of organizing her scattered thoughts, she decided to blurt out the main point.

[Sierra] "Listen, you should go out and socialize, too."

Planning to match Cassius with someone else, she instantly thought of high society's social clubs. Although a commoner, she gained knowledge of aristocratic society through various romance novels and gossip magazines.

All sorts of beautiful parties she had heard about popped into her mind.

Right, exactly. The world offered masquerades, equestrian clubs, and countless other parties where people could mingle!

[Sierra] "Doesn't it sound incredibly fun? Social parties, and things like that."

[Cassius] "Social parties?"

[Sierra] "Yeah! You can go and tell me all about-"

[Cassius] "I refuse to go without you."

He harbored immense stubbornness.

Am I basically his comfort doll right now.......

Sierra grew deeply confused about his exact feelings toward her. A fleeting suspicion crossed her mind, but she dismissed the possibility of it being love entirely.

Why would a guy like him settle for her?

[Sierra] "Well, okay."

Regardless, introducing him to socializing and showing him the wider world would change him.

Since he didn't lack manners, he would express gratitude to Sierra, the comfort doll-like existence who showed him a beautiful world.

Once he makes friends or finds a lover, he will thank me, right? And then he will let me go.

It stood as a spectacularly happy ending.

Sierra looked at Cassius and smiled brightly. He carefully reached out to stroke her face before dropping his hand. He maintained a rigid attitude, as if he absolutely must not touch her.

He spoke carefully.

[Cassius] "You wanted to visit a social club, Sierra."

He clearly misunderstood the situation in a bizarre direction, but.......

[Sierra] "Ah...... I was curious about social clubs. They are incredibly famous."

Well, it sounded fun. Trick-or-treat parties, tea parties, masquerades, and more......!

When else would she ever step foot into aristocratic high society? Furthermore, Sierra possessed an incredibly powerful backer right now.

If they ignored her for being a commoner, Cassius would step in and help from her side, right?

Besides, the perfect timing to reveal her skills to the world had arrived.

Harboring a wicked scheme, her eyes gleamed calculatingly. Cassius stared at her with a heavy expression and whispered earnestly.

[Cassius] "I am sorry, Sierra."

[Sierra] ".......?"

Giggling internally like a villain at the thought of making a name for herself in high society, handing out her medicine to the sick, and raking in cash, she froze.

[Sierra] "For what?"

[Cassius] "For not knowing you liked things like social clubs."

Isn't he way too kind and innocent?

His attitude completely contradicted the terrifying entity described in the articles she just read.

While Sierra stood utterly bewildered, Cassius spoke to her in a neat, gentlemanly manner.

[Cassius] "Then I will prepare immediately."

Seeing his strong motivation made her happy as well.

[Cassius] "Since various social clubs exist, I will prepare brochures, too."

[Sierra] "Take your time. We have plenty of time anyway."

She smiled in satisfaction, and her words brought back his spring-breeze-like smile.

They crunched on the rose cookies lined up on the table, sipped their black tea, and enjoyed a peaceful tea time.

Cassius believed he had returned straight to their academy days in this moment. And Sierra rejoiced, convinced everything would soon fall perfectly into place.

---

Meanwhile, Andante fainted inside her mansion while preparing masquerade invitations for Sierra and the other guests.

Stress caused it.

Although residing in the ducal mansion, the Grand Madam kept a sharp eye on the inner workings of the Marquess of Mails' estate. She received a report about her daughter-in-law, Andante, who was in frail condition.

She remained unaware of the terminal diagnosis, but she recognized symptoms like heart palpitations and freezing extremities.

Of course, the Grand Madam remained as abrasive as ever. However, she made a cold, rational judgment: the family couldn't function without her daughter-in-law.

Therefore, the Grand Madam chose to summon the twin doctors of the Hippo Kingdom.

[G. Madam] "Well, I want you to brew some medicine for my daughter-in-law."

The twin doctors shouted in unison.

[Doctors] "Ah, yes. Grand Madam! Where is the patient?"

[Doctors] "What are the symptoms?"

At the twin doctors' words, the maid serving Andante stepped forward and spoke carefully.

---

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