The Abandoned Duchess Seems to Want a Peaceful Life - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Past Life and Present Life

The journey from the townhouse in the capital to the Duchy of Oldrand took about two weeks by carriage.

While it would have been faster on horseback, the marriage of high-ranking noble children is no simple matter. With around twenty carriages just for luggage, and over forty including those for security and the accompanying servants, the procession was slow-moving, befitting the status and security measures expected for such an occasion.

As previously mentioned, there was a distance in the relationship between Melfina and her family, but the preparations and dowry provided were appropriate for a daughter of the Marquis of Crawford.

Failing to adhere to these formalities would reflect poorly on the family’s prestige and credibility. A modest display would also be seen as an insult to the receiving ducal family.

While the long hours in the carriage were frankly tiresome, just when relief set in halfway through the journey, the party encountered trouble exposed to a long bout of rain.

In this world, not all roads are well-maintained, especially between territories. Rather than investing in maintaining boundaries with neighboring territories, lords tend to allocate their budgets to the capital where it directly impacts tax revenue.

Long-distance travel by carriage involves careful scheduling, taking into account potential troubles like this, but on the other hand, the schedule for weddings among major nobles must also accommodate the availability of attending nobles and high-ranking clergy, making it inflexible. Thus, Melfina’s large entourage continued to move at a reduced speed.

And as a result of this strain, an accident occurred.

They were caught in a landslide while traveling along a mountainous road.

Luckily, they avoided a direct hit, but the horses pulling the carriage panicked, causing it to overturn. Melfina, who was inside, escaped major injury but hit her head, losing consciousness for a while.

In that moment, memories from her past life flooded back, reminding her that the world she had lived in up to now resembled the game she had played in her previous life.

“This is like Maria of the Kingdom of Hearts!”

Maria of the Kingdom of Hearts was a maiden game set in a court drama, revolving around the saintly figure “Maria” who came from another world. It involved domestic and diplomatic strategies, magical healing, and light mystery elements, with the characters available for conquest changing based on the chosen route.

Scenarios in the game were well-crafted, making even the light mode entertaining enough, but depending on the mode – normal, hard, or higher – the required knowledge varied. On online forums, it was often joked that playing on hard mode would turn you into a trivia king by the time you cleared all routes.

In the game, Melfina von Oldrand played the role of the villainess who obstructed the heroine route of Alexis von Oldrand, one of the few dukes and border counts in the country.

Technically, as a duchess, it would be odd to refer to her as a “daughter,” but even when Maria, the saintly figure, landed in this country two years later, Melfina was still only eighteen, equivalent to a high school student in Japan where she lived in her past life, hence the title “daughter”.

In that route, Melfina lived in the townhouse in the capital, away from the duchy.

In this country – officially known as the Francesca Kingdom (though Kingdom of Hearts was not its formal name) – aside from the royal family, the highest-ranking woman was Melfina. She continued to stay in the capital without returning to her domain, actively participating in the royal family’s gatherings, which led to her being chosen as Maria’s court educator, believed to be sent by the gods.

In the game, Melfina lightly treated Maria, despite her being a commoner by birth, and mocked her inability to do certain things. Once in the route with Alexis, she directed intense jealousy towards Maria, subjecting her, as a saintly figure, to bullying that endangered her life, leading to her downfall when exposed.

After being confronted with divorce by Alexis and abandoning the daughter who harassed the saint, even her family, the Marquis of Crawford, completely disowned her. Following a scene where Maria, who had melted Alexis’s icy heart, consoled her, Melfina was sent to a harsh monastery in a snowstorm-ridden land. This was the only mention of the villainess Melfina’s fate.

Melfina was indeed a spiteful character in the game, but looking at it from her perspective, there are many things she would want to say.

In the game, Melfina was portrayed as a strong-willed, twisted, and indulgent woman, despite being a duchess from a marquis family.

Noble marriages are also contracts between families. Since the church essentially prohibits divorce, technically, if Melfina harassed the saint, her husband Alexis would also be held responsible as her spouse.

Despite such circumstances, Alexis and Maria’s union after divorcing Melfina was considered a white marriage, as the church recognized divorce in such cases.

A white marriage—essentially, in the original game, Alexis and Melfina never consummated their marriage.

The reason behind this was never explicitly stated in the game. It was hinted that Alexis disliked Melfina for being a spiteful and indulgent noblewoman, accepted into a political marriage, but having experienced marriage with Alexis as Melfina, the truth became clearer.

Perhaps Melfina, much like her portrayal in the game, wasn’t inherently harsh or authoritarian towards others.

Despite lacking parental affection and being surrounded by cruel rumors since childhood, Melfina strived harder than anyone else to live up to her status as the daughter of a marquis.

As she remembered herself before her memories resurfaced, even if she resigned herself to her family’s lack of love, she surely married with the hope of finding happiness in her new home.

Alexis callously crushed Melfina’s wish, akin to a prayer.

In the game, Melfina didn’t want love, intended the ducal title for her nephew, and was told to live as she pleased anywhere. Surely, at that moment, her heart was irreparably broken.

Her restraints were loosened, and striving became futile. Living a life of indulgence didn’t fill her heart. Gradually, she resorted to belittling others, feeling empty and questioning why she couldn’t achieve satisfaction through her efforts, until finally, she directed her jealousy towards the heroine, who effortlessly received the love she never had.

And in that jealousy, she met her downfall.

It’s a terrible story, even if it’s someone else’s, but it’s my past and a possible future.

Now that I’ve regained memories from my past life, I don’t need the selfish love of parents who distanced themselves from Melfina for selfish reasons, nor do I need Alexis’s love. If they can act on their own whims, then Melfina should have the right to do the same.

“I was surprised when Cedric was a guard knight, but now that he’s with the Oldrand knights, it means he’ll inherit the earldom before the heroine appears.”

In the game, Cedric was the captain of the royal knights and also the head of the earl’s family. I don’t know why he’s in Oldrand now, but there must be some reason for it.

“For now, I should avoid getting close to the capital for the next two years to avoid becoming the heroine’s educator. Plus, now that I have the position of a lord, and with the famine coming, I can say that the lord’s work is busy, so I won’t be forcibly summoned.”

If Maria enters Alexis’s route, it will likely lead to the divorce scenario. However, since I officially received the position of a lord in the Enkar region through written agreements, there should be no further complications after the divorce.

Returning to my parents’ house would be frowned upon, especially for a noblewoman who failed to produce children in her first marriage. It would be better to be remarried off to a lower noble or a wealthy merchant’s second wife through my parents, or I might end up in a convent, which is a better environment than facing condemnation.

Going to a convent isn’t a bad thing. Living a modest life, making and selling alcohol and sweets if the financial situation allows, or writing books that will be preserved for future generations, are part of the cultural life there.

At the very least, being a nun in a wealthy convent offers a much better lifestyle than being a commoner or a peasant.

… But serving a god in a world like this? Absolutely not.

Now that I’ve regained memories from my past life, I can fully understand how unjust Melfina’s life has been. Even if there were gods, I couldn’t possibly admire or respect their existence.

So what do I do? I have the documents allowing me to do as I please. I won’t silently divorce; I’ll demand plenty of alimony for that. But aside from that, I need a reason not to return to my parents’ house and to acquire a new status.

That means acquiring the rights to the land in the Enkar village area, essentially becoming the lord of a small territory.

In a world with a class system, having a title and wealth means relative security. Regaining memories from my past life has allowed me to objectively assess the life of Melfina von Crawford.

Forget the troublesome parental and marital homes. That’s Melfina’s true sentiment now.

“Just in case my territory is taken away, it might be wise to save up some cash. If I’m divorced, the land and mines from my dowry will likely be confiscated by the marquess’s family in the end. …If worse comes to worst, maybe I could become a baker in the capital and bake white bread. That way, I wouldn’t have trouble making a living.”

But that’s only possible with resources. I need to quickly accumulate assets that I can control, even if everything else is taken away.

Melfina von Crawford’s life has been a series of trials from the beginning.

But the future, I’ll carve out with my own hands.

I’ll never succumb to fate; that’s for sure.