The truth was, Celia had been seething for a while now. Because good things about Viola kept reaching her ears, no matter where she turned.
A commoner, of all things, who talked back to her every single time, while playing sweet with everyone else.
Everyone had clearly been fooled by that fake mask of hers.
To think even sharp-eyed Conrad had gone and defended that woman.
But Celia’s rage this time wasn’t simply from her own ill will toward her.
There was a much clearer reason behind it.
Ever since Conrad’s sharp warning to behave herself, Celia had been living quietly, in her own way.
But in the middle of that, she happened to overhear a conversation between maids and learned something shocking.
“You know that Miss Squirrel… apparently she might actually be some princess?”
“Really? You mean Miss Viola? Oh, but honestly, I did kind of think so. There’s something about her that feels untouchably dignified.”
Miss Squirrel?
At first she hadn’t understood, not recognizing the nickname, but once she heard the name that followed, she knew exactly who they were talking about.
Celia snorted. What? Some princess?
Not only was the woman putting on a mask of kindness, apparently she was even impersonating royalty. No wonder people had been treating her so well.
Now that everything finally made sense, it was such a relief.
Ridiculous. As if some lowly commoner unwed mother could be a princess.
Celia suddenly pictured Viola.
Her spine held perfectly straight. Skin smooth without a single blemish. And the way she spoke clearly, without averting her eyes from whoever she was talking to.
For a mere commoner… no, she hated to admit it, but it was true that she carried herself with more noble grace than most noble young ladies did.
Her every movement was without excess, natural, as if she’d learned the etiquette of nobility down to her bones.
Celia flinched, growing tense.
Don’t tell me she really is…? Some royal family’s or great noble house’s hidden child?
But she soon shook her head vigorously.
The foolish maids might be taken in by appearances alone, but a real, true noble young lady like herself couldn’t be fooled.
She’s bold enough to even pass herself off as royalty. She wouldn’t have started something like this without a plan.
She must have picked something up from somewhere, watching over someone’s shoulder. Faking her status to win people’s favor, and in the end, to seize the position of Duchess.
A truly cunning scheme. But however hard a lowborn woman struggled and schemed, she was no match for herself, a young lady of the noble Dorn countship, noble to the bone.
Stupid maids. Their lowly origins showed, falling so easily for hollow words.
Wait. In that moment, a shocking possibility flashed through her mind. Don’t tell her…
Isn’t the whole pharmacist thing a fraud too?
A woman bold enough to impersonate royalty was more than capable of that.
Goodness. Now it felt like everything made sense.
She’d heard once that becoming a proper physician was as hard as plucking a star from the sky.
Since it required vast knowledge and expensive tuition, medicine and pharmacy were practically the exclusive domain of nobles with money and power.
But then… where would a poor commoner, a woman abandoned by her own husband no less, have gotten the money to study something like that?
It doesn’t make sense.
At the shocking truth she’d finally grasped, Celia trembled pitifully.
A sense of mission burned inside her.
I have to expose her. I have to tear off that hateful mask from that woman everyone’s been fooled by.
If she managed that… perhaps this time, His Grace the Duke would finally look at her.
Because she’d have caught a legendary fraud who’d tried to deceive the ducal house itself!
That’s right. Now is exactly my chance.
Until recently, Cain had barely been in the residence at all because of the repeated monster waves.
So she too had had no chance to seduce him and had simply wasted her time…
But unlike that bleak past, he was staying at the residence these days.
This time, she had to make her mark and impress herself upon him.
But how do I find proof?
She had to give up on asking around inside the residence. Ever since that warning the other day, she could feel the steward Conrad keeping an eye on her.
Celia wasn’t careless enough to act openly under that kind of watch.
A young lady of a high noble house naturally knew how to see the bigger picture, unlike commoners.
Then a good idea came to her.
Father!
Unlike Viola, abandoned even by her husband, Celia had a reliable father who would pluck a star from the night sky for her if she only asked.
Celia sent a letter to her father at once. Her father, a count of renowned standing, would surely be able to find something out.
Thankfully, Viola had one clear distinguishing feature.
Her uncommon pink hair.
She discreetly asked her father to look into whether there was any royal family in a foreign land with pink hair.
Having traveled abroad now and then as part of diplomatic delegations, her father was more reliable than anyone for this.
Commoners have never once been abroad, so they’d probably believe a lie about some distant foreign princess.
But she, a true noblewoman, couldn’t be fooled that easily.
Before long, Celia received a reply from her father.
[To think there is a lowly commoner who has upset our beloved daughter.
Don’t worry, my jewel.
This father of yours investigated thoroughly, and aside from the late Imperial Princess, may she rest in peace, there is no pink-haired royalty to be found even after scouring every distant foreign land.
Commoners are like vermin who lie as easily as they breathe, and I am so proud of our Celia for seeing through it.]
Ha! Just as she’d thought. Celia cheered inwardly. The lies were falling apart one by one.
The pharmacist thing must be a bald-faced lie too, then.
But unfortunately, according to her father’s continued investigation, it was true that she held a physician’s certification.
That can’t be.
Celia frowned. There was no way a commoner with no proper education could pass an exam that even nobles failed one after another.
Don’t tell me she bribed the examiner?
Having dismissed her as a poor, penniless commoner not so long ago, Celia now began spinning wild theories to suit herself, without a shred of proof.
Unfortunately, there was no one left to stop Celia, already lost in her own logic. Even her own father was taking his daughter’s side and going along with her.
Even after that, she didn’t stop investigating.
And then, today of all days, she finally landed on a decisive clue.
She’d found out that the gamjong herb Viola had recently brought into the residence wasn’t a medicinal herb at all, but a deadly poisonous plant!
She really was a fraud after all!
Her father said it was an enormously toxic poison with no possible antidote. A dangerous herb that could kill instantly if eaten.
The moment she learned that, Celia marched straight to Viola’s dispensary.
“Excuse me, what brings you here…?”
Sweeping right past Viola, who came over to greet her, Celia headed straight for the workbench.
Sure enough, on the table lay that ominous poisonous herb she’d only heard about.
Snatch.
Something that should never be touched with bare hands—Celia, drunk on her sense of victory, foolishly grabbed it up at once.
“Ha, I knew it!”
To think she was openly handling a poisonous herb, right here in this residence! Whose life was she after with it!
Startled by her sudden move, Viola hurried to stop her.
“Wait, Lady Celia! You mustn’t touch that! It’s a dangerous poison—”
Does she think a scare tactic like that will fool me? Celia only gripped the poisonous herb tighter on purpose.
She wasn’t about to hand over decisive evidence so meekly.
“Playing the good girl, are you! And a fraud on top of it!”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve heard everything. This is an extremely dangerous poisonous herb, isn’t it? And you’re going to make medicine with something like this? Ha. What would have become of everyone if it weren’t for me? All fooled by a fraud like you!”
