The Reserved Daughter Of a Duke And The Cold-Headed Emperor

When she passed the age of one, Eleonora figured out how to talk. In the wake of choosing what to state depending on the recollections of her past life, the outcome was.

“Pie.”

When the quiet child, slightly creepy like a doll, smiled and spoke, the nannies’ faces were dyed with discomfort. She could laugh adorably with her terrifyingly well-featured face.

One nanny couldn’t endure it any longer and hugged Eleonora, rubbing her cheeks.

(I wanna quickly eat pie-pe!)

“Pie, pie!”

Eleonora tried to appeal to the nannies to get her pie.

“Eleonora-sama, there’s no more milk. We can eat just a little bit. Let’s eat a yummy milk-bread.”

(No! I’m not talkin’ about milk!)

“Pie! Pie!”

“There’s no more milk[TN1] .”

(Damn it, they don’t understand… If I really think about it, there’s no way a baby would know what pie is. I’m so dumb-pe!)

Eleonora deeply reflected on her thoughtless actions that stemmed from her gluttony.

Then, when she was able to walk by herself, she began forming slightly longer sentences.

“I hun-gy.” (I’m hungry)

The nanny who couldn’t understand this line smiled to herself thinking Eleonora still couldn’t speak that well yet.

“Wow, Eleonora-sama. You’re so good at speaking!”

“Nn!”

The nanny never thought she would be speaking with an accent and simply adored her as a lovely genius. She was strangely obedient and never selfish. Some thought this was weird but since she was easy to take care of no one reported any of this to the steward or head female attendant.

Her parents, who she sometimes met, also didn’t find anything strange.

(Mom and Dad are really aristocrats-dabe. I shouldn’t dirty their clothes.)

Eleonora kept a certain distance from her parents, even in close contact. She also never ran up to them.

Then, in the early autumn, after she became two, her mother Emilia collapsed from sickness. The female attendants took her to her mother’s bedroom and despite being overwhelmed by the size of her mother’s canopy bed, which was the biggest she had ever set her eyes on, she called out to her mother.

“Mom, you okay-dabe?”

Emilia looked at her daughter with suspicion in her eyes. Eleonora didn’t look like either of her parents, instead, she closely resembled her paternal grandmother. As though she remembered something, she looked at Eleonora with a scornful gaze.

“I never wanted this marriage. I never wanted any children with that man. Your face looks just like that annoying mother-in-law. I don’t want to see this face, get her out of here!”

Eleonora sympathized with her hysteric mother from the bottom of her heart.

(So I resemble your mother-in-law. How pitiful Mom-dabe. You’ve really been bullied-pe. There was also a mean old lady in the village I was born in-be.)

“I’ll go back now. Rest well, Mom.”

After relaying her message, Eleonora left with the female attendant.

This would be her final farewell to her mother.

Emilia passed away in late autumn.

At the funeral, she saw her father who she hadn’t seen in a long time. He didn’t look particularly saddened by Emilia’s death. Eleonora knew that neither of them lived a happy lifestyle with each other.

(Mom was still so young. How sad. I hope she’ll be happy in her next life-pe.)

She offered her mom’s favorite rose to the casket and shed a single tear.

(Mom. Mom. My mom. Mom, I’m sorry I looked like your mother-in-law. Mom, live happily in heaven okay?)

Not even a month after the funeral, her new stepmother and sister arrived.

(Dad, isn’t this a bit too fast?)

“Eleonora, this is your new mom, Anna, and your new sister, Sofia.”

After quietly listening to their story, the child who her stepmother brought turned out to be her father’s child. Though the two ignored her presence, she was unexpectedly able to figure out the relation from listening to their conversation.

Apparently, her stepmother and father used to be lovers but had to tearfully separate since their family statuses weren’t suitable.

(Nah, they totally didn’t separate-pe. I have a sister that’s not even half a year apart from me in age.)

“It’s painful for me to see Eleonora who has the same hair color as that woman.”

The woman she was referring to was the deceased Emilia.

“Don’t worry. From now on, you are my only wife. I will move her to one of the annexes.”

Like this, before anyone knew what really happened, Eleonora, who was supposed to be moved to an annex, ended up living in a small detached building.

Furthermore, as part of their harassment they sent an extremely strict tutor, but, with great motivation to learn, Eleonora was extremely grateful.

(I wanna be as clever as Ham-chan. I’m gonna study hard!)

However, they couldn’t correct her speech no matter how hard they tried. After giving up trying to correct her speech, the tutor eventually forbade her from speaking freely.