It Was Me, Not You

(Diana’s POV)

“The days are already getting cold, so when are they going to return?”

“Yeah, it’s been quite a while.”

“Wait, isn’t it around ten years?”

“Has it really been ten years?” “After all, it must have been like that since the great princess left when she was a baby.”

“It’s the end of a decade. If you get through this winter, it will be 11 years.”

The maid’s chirping voices could be heard in the laundry room, where the winter wind was bitter.

Until the arrival of a child.

As the child walked to the water’s edge with the laundry, the maids who were knocking on the laundry’s door turned to look at her.

While they were talking, I kept my mouth shut.

“You’ve here, ah, lady.”

The eldest maid got up from her seat, putting her laundry down as if she couldn’t help herself.

Because, as the maid said before, Diana was also the Grand Duke’s daughter.

The maids, who stood up in a row after on their own, glanced at Diana with disbelief.

Diana was heartbroken. Diana, who did not come here willingly.

She didn’t have somebody to wash her clothes for her, so she had to do it herself.

“Keep doing what you do.”

Diana sat a little further away from them on the water’s edge.

Her hands were so cold as she picked up one of her clothes from the laundry and placed it in the water that her entire body trembled for a second.

“Sigh.”

She rapidly dipped her clothing in water, simply removed them, and blew them into her cold hands.

I can’t get used to the cold water that feels like ice in the cold winter wind.

Diana, on the other hand, does not have a maid to replace her since her hands are cold.

And if she wears dirty clothes, they will be angry again.

Diana jumped upon the clothes with a tub twice the size of her hand.

“I am hoping that His Highness will return shortly.” How lonely has this Archduke’s mansion become since he went to war?”

“That’s right, the Grand Princess misses her father as well.”

But what will happen to me if the Grand Duke returns…?

“Oh, Miss.”

I felt a stare on me as I glanced.

Gazes mixed with a little sympathy.

It was a familiar stare that developed as the Princess and Diana as they got older.

If His Highness the Grand Duke returns.

Diana’s biological father, Crowd Terravita, whom she hasn’t seen in ten years, no, she has never seen in her life.

The only younger brother of the Emperor of the Terra Vita Empire, and the strongest swordsman in the empire.

Diana was the illegitimate child of that man.

Her mother was also the maid of the hostess, whom the Archduke loved more than his own life.

Just say this and everyone will know. That Diana is the dark stain of the Archduke.

One night, the perfect prince’s daughter was born by mistake.

The very drunk Duke was believed to have mistaken the maid as his wife and embraced her.

Diana was doomed by a single mistake. From the moment it was made, she was out of luck.

Worse, the moment her mother gave birth to Diana and the moment his wife gave birth to the child was the same.

You can know without stating how much more the Grand Duke would have hated the lady who became her mother as a result of this.

However, the Grand Duchess, the wife of the Grand Duke, did not kill the maid with her husband’s child.

In any case, because she is the Grand Duke’s descendent, she still gave birth to and raises the child in the Grand Duke’s family.

Yes, that would have been fine up to that point.

Diana’s misery may not have ended there, since the Grand Duchess died while giving birth to a child.

The child was unexpectedly saved, but the Grand Duchess died as a result of losing too much blood during the birthing process.

Unable to face the pain of loss, the Archduke left the family without seeing the newborn child and became involved in the war.

When the Grand Duke disappeared, the remaining members of the Grand Duke family focused their sorrow and rage over the death of their master and hostess on Diana and her mother, Leah.

The madam is reported to have died as a result of these two unlucky persons.

Diana’s miserable life began from that point forward.

Before her mother, who gave birth to Diana, could even take care of her, she was kicked out of the chamber, which the Archduke had given her.

To the cold cottage in the woods behind the castle.

Since then, the Grand Duchy has despised and neglected Leah.

Diana was subject to violence and abuse as a result of the following anger.

Not only do hard work, but also starving without given food.

Diana suffered Leah’s torture and lived almost ten years as a result.

She despised Leah for beating her and the Archduke, his biological daughter, for not saving her in this way when she was younger.

She realized she was useless after a year of resentment. Even if she closes and reopens her eyes, the fact that she is an illegitimate child who has been abandoned remains.

So I tried to survive on my own from then on.

To avoid upsetting Leah’s mood, she cleans her up and washes her laundry herself, and she avoids her and secretly eats her food.

That is why her hard work has decreased somewhat these days.

They still don’t offer her good rice, but she now has bread secretly eaten by the chef working in the garden behind the prince’s room or at the maid’s kitchen, so it was worth it.

To stay in this manner until you reach adulthood and then go out on your own. Diana had planned it this way.

No one will catch you if you go out on your own. I think I’d like it.

You must get out of here before the Archduke returns.

As they say, I wonder what would happen if the Archduke returned before I reached the age of majority, but everyone knows the Archduke will not return.

When she hears the maids and servants from time to time, the Archduke walks around the battlefield like a lunatic, looking for a place to die.

He’s like a man who can’t forget his late wife and attempts to follow in her steps.

So, the Grand Duke will not return to the Grand Duke’s residence until he dies, and there will be no situation when the Grand Duke returns, so things will be fine.

The voice that had stopped was heard again the moment she nodded her head in agreement with herself.

“Don’t you want to see the Princess? She’s 10 years old now, and in 5 years she’ll be conscious… He’s been gone for ten years, but he’s not coming back… “

“I see, they say the royal family’s ceremonies are very important, but I hope they will return before the ceremony.”

“They’ll be back by then. You still have five years left in your contract. Don’t be worried.”

“I’d like him to return sooner. When I see the great princess alone, she is heartbroken…”

Diana’s head tilted more at the word “consciousness” than at any other story.

I’d like to be talking about gender recognition because I’ll be an adult in 5 years, but seeing the word royal family made me think of something else.

She looked at the maids for a moment after hearing the first thing she heard.

The maids had lost interest in Diana and were banging on the laundry with her pity on each other.

“The Princess must be sad.”

“Yeah, you’re still a soft-hearted person.”

Diana frowned at the words she heard, wondering what the ‘consciousness’ they were talking about.

The princess has a soft heart.

She still has a blue mark on her cheek from being beaten by her princess. How can a child’s hand still be so hot?

The princess saw Leah’s daughter as the unpleasant child of the Grand Duke, based on her hard touch.

It was clear that she was not like the Grand Duchess, who stated that the princess was gentle. 

“Diana!”

Diana, who was muttering to herself and squeezing out the almost-finished clothes, jumped at the piercing voice.

I hope I heard it wrong.

“Diana!”

But, as if she hadn’t done anything wrong, the voice came closer to the laundry.

The hem of the blue dress flew from a distance. And she knew who the lace-studded blue dress belonged to.

Diana stood from her seat, and Leah got her place in front of her.

“Mom…”

Slap!

The laundry was filled with a sound that was worse than the cold wind.

Leah’s body, which had been hit in the cheek, stumbled suddenly and fell sideways. Her eyes went blank for a brief moment as a result of the force.

She could see the scattered laundry on the dirt floor with her vision.

She should have prepared by strengthening her body. At the very least, she would not have fallen. She hasn’t been beaten in a while, so she’s on high alert.

But why is this woman so angry again?  Before she could even think of what she had done wrong, Leah’s voice rang out loudly.

“Diana, did you take bread from the maid’s kitchen without telling me?”

‘Oh, no.’ ‘How did you find out?’

Her body retreated automatically as she raised her hand again.

But, to survive, she knelt on her dirty floor.

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

I didn’t make such excuses because I was hungry. The more she made excuses, the more Leah bragged about, and the tighter her grip.

She stated, “I’m not a beggar, so tell me why you sneak bread from the maids’ diner! Really, you’re undermining your mother’s reputation like this?”

“Sorry.”

Leah, who was going to swing her hand again, stopped and took a look around. I could see the maids who were still at the laundry, checking on what was going on here.

Leah lowered her hand awkwardly and sighed heavily.

“Get up right now!”

Leah had never hit in a crowded place before.

She lowered her raised hand this time, as though embarrassed about the gaze.

But for a little moment, Leah grabbed her by Diana’s arm. She thought for a minute that her arm would fall off, so she rapidly pushed herself up.

“Follow!”

Diana was dragged ragged by Leah like a dog. She hasn’t gotten this angry in a long time.

In intense fear, she looked around her, but everyone turned away from her.

It was shortly after she had quickly left the laundry room with people.

I didn’t see any workers wandering around the mansion as dinner time came.

“I’m going to fix your habit today.”

Her heart pounded with panic as she bit her lips in response to the sound of Leah’s words.

The entrance to the hut-like annex that wishes I hadn’t arrived at suddenly opened, and I was thrown to the floor.

“Ugh.”

The red sky with the setting sun behind Leah seemed to foresee the horror of what was to come.

“I’m sorry, Mom.”

Still, she clasped her hands together and looked at Leah, but Leah locked the door of her hut with a horrifying expression.

***

Growl, growl.

The quiet hut echoed with a loud snore.

Diana’s stomach clenched as the sound echoed loudly.

‘I’m hungry.’

Diana crouched in the corner close to her old fireplace, looking suspiciously at Leah, who was sleeping on the sofa.

Are you sleeping deeply?

Leah doesn’t wake up well once she’s asleep, but when she was sleeping, she would sometimes wake up quickly at the slightest disturbance.

Growl, growl.

Her snoring echoed loudly in the quiet hut.

And that was resonating hard even in Diana’s stomach.

‘I’m hungry.’

Crouching down in the corner next to her by her old fireplace, Diana looked cautiously at Leah asleep on the sofa.

Is she sleeping deeply?

Leah does not wake up well once she falls asleep, but sometimes when she sleeps in a nap, she wakes up quickly at the slightest noise.

The quiet hut echoed with a loud snore.

Diana’s stomach clenched as the sound echoed loudly.

‘I’m hungry.’

Diana crouched in the corner close to her old fireplace, looking suspiciously at Leah, who was sleeping on the sofa.

Are you sleeping deeply?

Leah doesn’t wake up well once she’s asleep, but when she was sleeping, she would sometimes wake up quickly at the slightest disturbance.

Note: Hi readers! This is being translated by Fiza/Fizii. I, An, do not contribute to this translation at all. Thank you~