10

Grand Duke Friedrich swept her cheek with the back of his hand, dismissing that Elena must have been surprised with the sudden contact.

"I missed your warmth, so I couldn't stand it."

"..."

"Thank you, for letting me think I've met my dead daughter again."

She wanted to applaud the abominable performance of Grand Duke Friedrich. How could he be so brazen about the living Veronica?

"I didn't really take care of her because I only cared about the outside. I lost my wife and daughter. After I lost my precious people, I had no power or wealth."

Elena stood silently listening to his confession, which was not even a grain of truth.

"My dear."

At a low call, Elena lifted her head.

"Will you be my daughter?"

Grand Duke Friedrich spoke kindly to Elena, who's eyes were shaking.

"Live on behalf of Veronica. If I could watch the child's unfinished life through you, I would have no regrets. Can you do that?"

"O-of course! As long as you don't mind!"

Elena blatantly coveted the seat of the princess.

'I have to look like a woman blinded by success. That way, you'll underestimate me.'

There was inexplicable contempt in the eyes of Grand Duke Friedrich. It would be disgusting to him, who values the nobility of his birth, that an insignificant girl was excited to pretend to be a noble princess of the great house.

"Actually, I haven't felt like a stranger since I first saw you. I'll be a daughter without shame. Father."

When Elena added the word "father" with her strength, Grand Duke Friedrich's face was distorted for a short time. Grand Duke Friedrich was a man who was filled with aristocratic pride, and authority of the nobility. He was insulted and humiliated just by bringing in a vulgar woman who openly coveted his daughter's vacancy in a noble family...

"It's late. You must have had a hard time coming so go up and rest."

When Elena bowed, Leabrick chinned down to follow her. When Jane opened a door in the far corner of the second floor, there was a bedroom decorated with high-end wooden furniture.

"Get some rest. Order for her if you need anything."

"Yes, good night, Liv."

When Leabrick disappeared from the room around the corner of the hall, Elena waved her hand and told Jane to leave. She didn't have anything to do, so she wanted to be alone now.

Thump.

Elena, who was left alone in the room after the door closed, burst into a suppressed laugh. When she remembered the distorted face of Grand Duke Friedrich, she felt that her old body aches had gone down.

In her last life, Elena was impatient to see Grand Duke Friedrich's glance. When she looked at Elena, who was inadequate because she had not received proper education, he could not make eye contact and bowed his head as if she was a sinner.

Oh, why did she do that? If she thought about it, the thing that was held in Elena's hand was as good as theirs. She was just stupid and couldn't handle it properly.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how you hold your breath with the name and status you gave me."

***

Despite the fact that Princess Veronica's reputation was stuck in the mud, education was the reason why Elena was brought to the safe house instead of going straight to the Grand Duke's residence. To build up the basic skills to pretend to be Princess Veronica.

In the morning, she learned mainly about the manners of the aristocrats, table manners, speech, walking, and greeting.

The afternoon focused on understanding and learning the national identity of the empire, starting with the imperial language, history, literature, and culture. The formal classes ended before dinner.

"Don't try to rest. Review and familiarize yourself with what you have learned today. Is it too much? Then go and learn, even if it means less sleep."

Elena was forced to stay in her study until late at night. No, it would be right to say that she was embedded in the study of her own will.

"I say I know the future, but right now I don't have the ability or knowledge to take advantage of it."

Elena used this time to fill up her lack of knowledge.

<The History of Famous Paintings>

<The Arts and Philosophy>

<The Merchant-Dominated Continent>

<The Value of Moving Money>

<The Alchemy of Makeup>

...

Elena's selected books were mainly focused on the arts and commerce.

"There will be a change in the art world of the Empire soon."

Elena paid attention to the Renaissance that would blow across the empire. The Renaissance was a time of cultural innovation in thought, literature, art, architecture, natural science, and music, which could be used to accumulate great wealth.

"The new era is an opportunity for me."

Changes in the times are bound to be accompanied by such labor pains. Elena wanted to be the leader of that era. She could see what it had to do with revenge, but the Grand Duke's family was not a single family that could easily fall apart. If it did, it wouldn't have been the best family in the Empire for hundreds of years.

"I have to use the trend of the times to shake the Great Duke inside and outside."

First, she intended to act like Princess Veronica and divide the Grand Duchy. She would cut off funding sources and find embarrassments that could be made public. At the same time, she planned to apply pressure on the outside. She planned to lead the era as a woman with a third name, "L," and become a person respected by the intellectuals and nobility of the empire.

Based on public respect, reputation and justification, she would reveal the evil deeds committed by the Grand Duke so far and isolate him with criticism and pressure. It was only Elena who could act like Princess Veronica and intervene deeply in the work of the Grand Duchy.

Of course, it's not as easy as it sounds. But Elena was confident. The plan was completed after hundreds of verifications, and the detailed platform was already filled in Elena's head. She was already looking forward to it.

The time to stay in the safe house was only three weeks at the very least, and she was excited to move to the Grand Duke's residence as soon as possible and complete the blueprint for her revenge. And three weeks passed like a lie.

***

The restaurant with the high ceiling and the table stood outstanding. Sitting at the end of a long table, Leabrick and Elena cut the steak with elegant hand movements and put it in their mouths. There was no sound of chewing, and the jaw did not widen beyond a certain interval. Each used four forks alternately to eat the dish. It was impeccably perfect table manners.

"Now you look quite aristocratic."

Leabrick commented on Elena's table manners, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"It's all thanks to Liv's sincere teaching."

"You're also good at speaking in terms of praise and affirmation to other people's praise."

At first, Leabrick's criticism continued, but Elena looked so aristocratic that she could no longer find any flaws that did not force her to find anything annoying.

"Really? I'm glad Liv told me so."

Leabrick stared at Elena as she gracefully took a sip of her wine. The true value of etiquette comes when it is learned so naturally that one is not even aware of it. This is why the daughters of aristocratic families are groomed from an early age, and why they have endless teachers to remind them about etiquette.

'In less than three weeks...She's not here to entertain. She made it on her own. It's like a lie.'

Although she was originally an aristocrat, she was a fallen aristocrat who lived just like ordinary people. Considering that she was not even good at basic etiquette, Elena was now a completely different person.

She was not simply good at etiquette, but used it to make her physical lines stand out. It was not too much, but natural. That kind of elegance could not be found even in social circles. She must have been well versed in the etiquette of the Empire.

'It's a flaw that she's not very smart with her manners.'

Unfortunately Elena wasn't brilliant. She was only to meet the passing line of Leabrick's required learning level.

'Well, it's more than I expected.'

It's only a month. It's not enough time to transform Elena, who has lived as a commoner as a depraved, downcast, into a real aristocrat. Considering that, it was safe to say that Elena had become quite aristocratic.

"If you're done eating, let's go up."

She followed Leabrick, passed the central hall, and went up to the second floor. They walked straight along the high-quality carpet to reach the library, but for some reason they just walked past it.

"We passed the study?"

"We're going to the drawing room today."

Elena, walking behind, guessed the meaning of her words without difficulty.

'Oh, today was the day to memorize portraits and personal details of the nobility.'

Seeing portraits of influential aristocrats in social and imperial politics, remembering their faces, and understanding what happened to them meant that there were not many days left to face them.

As far as she could remember, she went to the Grand Duke's residence after memorizing the personal information for two days.

Arriving at the drawing room and sitting on the sofa, Leabrick had no hands on the piled-up portraits and personal details. The thickness was more than a snake.

"It's a list of Imperial and Capital nobles who are active in the Imperial social world."

"T-there's this much?"

"Some are skipped and the list is filtered."

What Leabrick said was true. The number of nobles officially conferred by the imperial family accounted for nearly half of the entire population of the entire Duchy.

"Remember everything. From the names and faces written here to the family background, family relationships, and itinerary, write it all down. Because any time you meet them, they will feel like friends and family you spent a long time apart from. You can do it, can't you?"

"Yes, I'll try."

Leabrick brought a portrait of a middle-aged man with a mustache on top of a pile of papers and an explanation of his personal details.

"This man is Duke Whit. He is the head of the House of the Duke of Buckingham, one of the four great families of the Empire. He is also a very close friend of His Excellency the Grand Duke, and has cared for Princess Veronica since she was a child, as if she were his own daughter. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes, I'm putting him in my head."

"No, you don't understand at all."

Leabrick's eyes grew sharp.

"Listen. The closer they are to Princess Veronica, the more you must be alert. If you run into this person, he'll find out that Miss Elena is a substitute."

"Oh, I see what you mean. I'll be careful."

Leabrick did not repeat the same thing anymore, as if she liked Elena's alertness very much.