So I Was the Persecuted Grand Duchess Destined to Die? Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Inside a cargo wagon, wooden crates and piles of straw scattered around me.

I woke briefly, rubbed my eyes hard, then flopped back down onto the straw.

Was the sun setting?
Or were we heading somewhere colder?

…Or both?

As the chill slowly crept in, I wrapped my arms around myself without thinking.
Silver hair slipped loose, brushing against my skin.

Absent-mindedly twirling the soft strands between my fingers, I recalled the moment earlier when I’d changed out of the wedding dress before boarding the wagon.

I’d nearly had a heart attack when I saw myself in the mirror.

Silvery-white hair flowing past my shoulders, all the way down my back.

And more striking than anything else—

those vivid red eyes.

I looked like a white rabbit stranded in the middle of a snowy field.

In the mirror, a thin, youthful girl—too frail to be called an adult—stared back at me, eyes wide with disbelief.

“Oh my god… this is me?”

Heh.

So the day finally came when I got to say a line like that.

Once I accepted that I’d possessed someone else’s body, adapting wasn’t as difficult as I’d expected.

What was difficult was figuring out how to treat people below me in status.

They say you can only be good at what you’ve experienced yourself.

In my previous life, I’d been a grad student—
ahem, an assistant—who bowed daily to her advisor.

So when the maid awkwardly explained that I’d have to ride in the cargo wagon, I couldn’t bring myself to scold her.

Not that I wanted to.
And not that there was any reason to.

“For Your Grace to ride with the servants’ carriage—”
“It would be uncomfortable, wouldn’t it? I’m fine riding in the cargo wagon.”

To the maids, the Grand Duchess was basically the highest-ranking boss imaginable.

Who would want to spend hours crammed into a carriage with a noble they’d just met?

I didn’t want that either. It would’ve been awkward and exhausting for everyone involved.

And more than anything—

“You can speak casually to me, Betty.
Mm… anyway, I’m exhausted. I don’t care anymore. I just want to lie down.
Look, there’s plenty of straw over there. It looks soft, doesn’t it?”

I desperately wanted to stretch out without worrying about anyone else’s opinion.

…And that was how I ended up riding in the cargo wagon.

I fell asleep almost instantly.

So… we hadn’t arrived at the Grand Ducal estate yet?

The surroundings were completely silent.
Only the steady rattle of wheels against the road broke the stillness.

Amid that white noise, my thoughts slowly drifted backward.

Wait—hold on.

“What happened to me in my original world?”

How did I only think of that now?

The moment the question surfaced, the last memory from my old life—the one I’d rather forget—came flooding back, sharp and vivid.

It felt like yesterday.

If this world was real, then my original life had been nothing short of a nightmare.

“……”

The doctoral dissertation I’d thought would finally end my suffering had been canceled.

The reason was absurd.

My advisor had been arrested for embezzlement.

Was there anyone unluckier than me—
a grad student whose graduation was postponed because of that?

“So yesterday, I definitely…”

Right.

Yesterday, after what felt like ages, I’d gone back to my tiny studio apartment.

Half-joked—half-serious—that I might as well die.

Drank alone. No one is there to stop me.

Then passed out in my five-pyeong studio, which had turned into a landfill after months of living at the lab.

And after that…?

The last thing I remembered was freezing—shivering uncontrollably just before losing consciousness.

I’d been so busy for months that I hadn’t even noticed the seasons changing.

And sure, it had been a long time since I’d been home, but still—

“…Did I die?”

No way.

Did I seriously freeze to death after getting drunk—

in twenty-first-century Seoul?

“Your Grace.”

“—Ah!”

“Eek!”

Lost in thought, I startled at the sudden voice and spun around without thinking.

The tarp covering the cargo wagon had been lifted. Standing there was a maid who looked just as startled as I felt.

Right. Her name was Betty.

With her chubby cheeks and soft features, the name suited her perfectly. Regaining her composure, she cleared her throat.

“…Ahem. Your Grace, we’ve arrived at the Grand Ducal estate.”

She stepped aside and gestured for me to come down.

Beyond her rose the massive silhouette of the Grand Ducal castle, looming in the darkness—imposing enough to make me pause.

As I climbed down from the wagon, servants emerging from the castle began unloading the cargo.

“I’ll escort you to your residence,” Betty said, hurrying ahead.

Instead of heading toward the castle’s grand, ornate gates, she veered off onto a narrow forest path running alongside it.

Had it snowed recently?

Snow lay piled along the trail, crunching softly beneath our feet. The surface was pristine—untouched, as though no one had passed through in quite some time.

Fresh snow.

Leaving the first footprints behind was oddly satisfying.

I followed Betty with a quiet smile, enjoying the moment—

until a sharp gust of icy wind sliced across my cheeks, freezing it in place.

I pulled the shawl tighter around my shoulders, but it did little to block the cold.

“You should dress in something more appropriate for your place, don’t you think?”

Before I’d boarded the cargo wagon, the Marchioness Blanche had taken me aside under the pretense of helping me change.

She’d confiscated everything—the wedding dress, the shoes, even the jewelry—neatly packing it all into her own bag.

All she’d left me with was an old dress and a worn wool shawl, pilled and thin.

At the time, I hadn’t even known where the Grand Ducal estate was, so I hadn’t thought much of it.

“Achoo!”

It was freezing.

Honestly, wasn’t it a bit much to send someone out into this kind of cold with nothing but a flimsy shawl?

She must’ve known we were heading somewhere cold.

Still, being separated from parents who hated me the moment I transmigrated?

Total win.

In most novels, the family was the greatest source of suffering. Compared to that, I’d gotten off easy.

It was practically a free pass—no strings attached.

“At your feet—there may be loose branches. Please be careful.”

Betty’s tone was blunt, but there was a quiet kindness beneath it.

The narrow path was peaceful, untouched, and naturally beautiful.

What was there to complain about?

After a few minutes of walking—

“This is where you’ll be staying from now on, Your Grace.”

At the end of the trail stood a small log cabin.

Rustic and cozy, it sat quietly beneath the pale glow of moonlight.

Jackpot.

Did I really transmigrate and immediately start my countryside life?

A long-cherished dream—born from years trapped in a lab, pounding away at a keyboard—had come true.

It looked like something straight out of a fairy tale… or an indie film.

I barely restrained the urge to jump around and turned to Betty instead.

But for some reason, she looked troubled.

“We did a basic cleaning, but this annex has been empty for a long time…
It may be lacking for someone of Your Grace’s former standing as a marquess’s daughter—”

“What do you mean? It’s adorable.”

“…Pardon?”

“There’s a bed, right?”

“Yes… the most basic furnishings are present, but—”

“Perfect.”

I’d been born a small-time civilian.

The kind of person who found joy in simple things.

Honestly, I was more than satisfied.

When I smiled brightly at both Betty and the cabin, her expression turned strange—as if she couldn’t tell whether I was serious or mocking her.

Hey. I’m not that twisted.

I was just reaching for the door when—

“Betty! Betty! That young lady arrived!
She came in an outrageously fancy carriage and just passed through the main gates—everyone’s saying—!”

“Dora, shh!”

Another voice rang out behind us.

I turned to see a second maid, about the same age as Betty. She froze when she noticed me and immediately bowed deeply.

“Ah! Y-Your Grace—! I-I’m so sorry!”

“That ‘young lady’…?”

Were they talking about me?

When I asked, confused, the maid’s face flushed red—then went pale.

Betty stepped forward at once.

Her expression was tense, but her voice steady.

“That’s nothing Your Grace needs to concern yourself with.”

“That young lady isn’t me, right?”

“Of course not! Absolutely not!”

Betty’s eyes widened as she hurriedly protested her innocence.

Mm.
Got it. Okay!

I nodded decisively and finished opening the door.

Besides, according to the other maid, that “young lady” had arrived in an outrageously luxurious carriage—which clearly meant it wasn’t me.

Still… would another noble lady really come all the way out here?
It wasn’t like there was a banquet or anything.

The thought crossed my mind only briefly before I dismissed it.

Whatever. Not my problem. I just want to lie down.

Sure, I’d spent the entire journey sprawled on straw, but that didn’t even compare to a proper bed.

I was just about to head inside, admiring the cozy little cabin—

“……”

—when I noticed the two maids were still standing in the courtyard, frozen stiff, their expressions blank.

Unable to hide my confusion, I asked,

“Don’t you have somewhere urgent to be? You should go.”

“Y-Your Grace… are you angry with us…?”

“What? Why would I be?”

They’d been saying strange things all along.

And honestly, while we were talking, I’d been sneaking glances into the cabin—

there was already a fire lit in the fireplace, logs crackling softly.

I wanted nothing more than to step into that warm, picture-perfect peace.

But…

Hmm. Maybe I should reassure these frightened lambs first.

To them, I was probably the highest-ranking person they’d ever had to speak to.

No wonder they flinched at everything I said.

Which was completely unnecessary.

I put on what I hoped was the gentlest, least-threatening smile I could manage and spoke again.

“I’m not angry. You just looked like you had something important to do, so I thought you should go.
And please—pass along my regards to the young lady you mentioned earlier.”

For some reason—

their faces went even paler.