#2. Getting Ready Is Always the Hard Part! (3)

Since the rail lines connecting the empire’s east and west, and its north and south, had been laid one after another, the enormous iron horses known as trains had begun changing the empire’s transportation system piece by piece.

Now the fragrant fruits of the west could be enjoyed in the capital after just one day’s journey, and another day later, western rice could meet eastern seafood and transform into delicious risotto.

And that wasn’t limited to freight transportation.

Newly introduced passenger trains had become deeply ingrained in the lives of the empire’s people in less than ten years.

Trains were free from the threat of bandits who preyed on travelers.

They were dramatically faster than walking, riding a horse, or taking a carriage—and just as much more comfortable.

Moreover, the long line of passenger cars could carry many people at once, making this new means of transportation accessible not just to nobles but to commoners as well.

Now, for travelers setting out on a long journey, the first priority was no longer finding a horse, a good pair of shoes, or someone to accompany them.

Their first priority was to rush to the station and buy a ticket for a train that would take them to their desired stop.

The power of provincial nobles was sometimes determined not by how many knights they had, but by whether or not there was a train station in their territory.

That was why countless trains came and went all day long from the capital’s Central Station, where all the empire’s rail lines converged.

The two carriages, which had gradually slowed since the plaza with the clock tower, finally came to a stop across the plaza, at the entrance to the capital’s Central Station.

The enormous, splendid carriage bearing House Béarn’s crest was a spectacle all on its own.

And not just one carriage, but two in a row.

Those with nothing to do, simply passing the time in the plaza,

and even people hurrying along on their way paused for a moment at the sight of the splendid carriages, staring at them in a daze.

“I heard the youngest daughter of House Béarn came down with a fever.”

“They say she lost her memory and went completely mad.”

“Oh, how pitiful. The eldest daughter of that family was always a bit of a strange one, too. Tsk, tsk.”

“Bah! What’s so pitiful about that? They’re western traitors, no matter how you look at it. Ahem…. Still, I hear the youngest daughter is pretty, at least. Ahem.”

As they watched the Béarn carriages stopped before them, people traded the latest rumors among themselves.

The words they spoke were as different as their appearances and clothes, but they all had the same subject.

The youngest daughter of House Béarn.

The true young lady of House Béarn.

The western treasure so dearly cherished by the Margrave of Béarn.

They were talking about Eleonore Arraena de Béarn.

The person they were talking about, however, had no interest in how the rumors about her were spreading outside.

To her, the people gazing at her through the carriage window didn’t look as though they pitied her. They looked envious of her, sitting in such a splendid carriage.

Is this that so-called luxury-car exit flex?

No wonder everyone buys imported cars and ends up car-poor.

While Eleonore was lost in her own thoughts, everyone else in the carriage busily prepared to get out.

The kindly-looking coachman climbed down from the driver’s seat and hurriedly flung open the carriage door.

At last, Albris, who happened to be sitting closest to the door because he was a man, jumped out first.

From Eleonore’s perspective, the inside of the carriage had seemed quite spacious.

But judging by the way her bastard of an older brother rolled his stiff-looking shoulders, perhaps it hadn’t been after all.

Albris began to clear away the crowd surrounding them with the knights of House Béarn who had gotten out of the carriage behind them.

Manuela, who had been sitting beside Eleonore, also hopped lightly down from the carriage.

Now it was Eleonore’s turn.

Her heart gave a little flutter.

At the thought of breathing in the capital’s air for herself,

and at the unfamiliar sensation of making a grand exit, Eleonore was so excited that she hurried to get out of the carriage.

“Wait, Eli. Just a moment.”

But her nasty older brother, who had returned to the carriage in the meantime, stopped Eleonore just as she was about to experience that luxury-car exit feeling.

What could it be? Eleonore glanced anxiously out the window.

The knights were sending away the people gathered around the carriage one by one. The crowd around them had already dwindled considerably.

Oh, come on! If I don’t get out soon, there won’t be anyone left to see my grand exit!

“Here, it’s dangerous, so take your brother’s hand and step down carefully.”

Eleonore tilted her head slightly. A footstool that hadn’t been there when Manuela got out had somehow appeared in front of the carriage entrance.

And, just as he had when helping her into the carriage, Albris was holding out a hand to Eleonore with a greasy smile.

Hah, when did he manage to prepare all this?

Still, she felt a little ticklish about taking his hand.

Somewhere along the way, in Seo Juha’s heart, Albris had come to occupy the place of an older brother.

Well, I did take his hand when I got into the carriage, too.

Though she was a little reluctant to take her brother’s hand, Eleonore put up with it and lightly stepped out of the carriage with Albris escorting her.

#.

Her heart was pounding.

The corset-bound swell of her chest felt as though it might burst free.

The countless people passing by.

The deafeningly loud train whistles.

Even the strange, unfamiliar smell wafting from the stall over there.

For nearly two weeks, Eleonore had been living an unintended slow life at a quiet country estate.

As a result, everything on the platform now felt intensely stimulating.

Like the Choco Pie I tried for the first time in the military.

Of course, the feeling was the exact opposite.

But it wasn’t just all the outside stimulation that was making Eleonore anxious.

“Look, that must be our train.”

The frilled parasol, held in her white lace-gloved hand, trembled.

At her brother’s gentle voice as he pointed to the enormous black iron horse, Eleonore could only give a slight nod instead of a proper reply.

And as the train drew closer and closer to the platform, her trembling only grew worse.

Eleonore’s mind was in turmoil.

They might be her parents, but they weren’t Seo Juha’s parents.

They might be Eleonore’s parents, but she didn’t even know what they looked like.

As Seo Juha, who had taken over Eleonore’s body without permission, the turmoil in her heart only grew worse.

In a way, to her parents, Eleonore—or rather, Seo Juha—was like a parasite that had selfishly stolen the body of their beloved daughter.

What if they realize I’m not Eleonore?

They say there’s some kind of bond between parents and children.

Those thoughts she had once repeated to herself alone in the night came back to stir up Eleonore’s mind.

Watching the train slowly come to a stop, all Eleonore could do was let out a quiet sigh.

If they kicked me out of the estate, could I even last a single day in this body?

Then this would turn into one seriously depressing story.

At last, the black iron horse let out a tremendous roar to match its size and stopped on the rails.

Once the train had come to a halt, station attendants in navy uniforms began hurrying about in every direction.

Soon, the train doors opened, and people began to disembark one by one.

On the crowded platform, Albris took Eleonore’s hand as if she were a little child and led her toward the last passenger car.

“The VIP compartment is in the last car!”

Albris shouted over the crowd.

As if to prove that patience was a noble virtue,

the last car’s doors only began to open once the doors of the other cars had opened and Albris and Eleonore had arrived.

The first to step down was a sturdy man with black hair, his black felt hat pulled low over his face.

Then a booming male voice rang through the station.

“Eleonore! Eli, where are you?”

The old gentleman, his hair streaked with gray, turned his head among the crowd as he searched frantically for someone, as if he’d swallowed the train’s whistle.

Thankfully, Eleonore let out a sigh of relief.

Now there was no chance she’d fail to recognize her parents.

“Ele, go on.”

A large hand gently nudged Eleonore’s back.

At the touch, Eleonore glared at Albris with all her might, but as always, he only gazed at her with a greasy smile.

Sigh. Whatever. It’ll work out somehow. It’s his own daughter’s body—surely he wouldn’t kill me!

Eleonore took a deep breath.

Then she coughed softly to clear her throat and walked toward the old gentleman who was calling her name so desperately.

And father and daughter met eyes.

The old gentleman’s expression as he looked at Eleonore was impossible to describe.

“F-Father. It’s me, Eleonore.”

Smiling awkwardly, Eleonore bowed her head slightly.

Then the old gentleman strode toward her, taking steps as bold and loud as his voice had been.

Eleonore squeezed her eyes shut.

Please, Your Lordship, if you’re going to hit me, hit me gently. Just look at the difference in our builds. If you hit me too hard, your daughter might be done for in one blow—

But what greeted her was the warm embrace of a father.

Then, gently—or rather, as if he meant to crush her—the old gentleman hugged Eleonore.

“K-Kh. F-Father… I-I can’t breathe—”

“You old man! You’re going to kill your own daughter! Let Eli go already!”

At that voice of salvation from heaven, Eleonore could finally draw breath again.

I really thought I was going to die. So this is a bear hug….

As Eleonore caught her breath after being released from her father’s embrace, that voice of salvation from earlier reached her ears again.

“Eli, why have you gotten so thin? Hmm? Are you feeling better now? Do you know how worried your father was?”

“M-Mother.”

“Just look at how much weight you’ve lost from your cheeks. Are you eating properly?”

“Yes. I’m eating as much as I can.”

Eleonore glanced up at the noblewoman before her.

So your sky-blue eyes came from your mother, Eleonore.

But the worry in her mother’s gaze stirred up feelings of guilt in Eleonore’s heart.

Unable to bear looking at her face, Eleonore gently turned her head away.

“I heard everything. They say you lost your memory. My dear, you must have had such a hard time.”

A warm fragrance wrapped around Eleonore once more.

Unlike her father’s embrace, which had been warm but also very firm, her mother’s was sweet and soft.

Having become a woman, Eleonore naturally began to want sweet and soft things, just like other girls her age. And so, even now, without realizing it, she clung tightly to her mother’s waist.

“I-I’m sorry. Hic.”

Her lips moved before she knew it.

The voice that came out was damp with tears.

“What do you have to be sorry for?”

“N-No. Hic. I’m sorry.”

She couldn’t tell her the reason.

A person like Seo Juha didn’t have that much courage.

But her mother didn’t press any further than that.

She simply stroked her daughter’s slender back and whispered that everything was all right.

#.

The man with the shabby felt hat pulled low over his face leaned against a pillar on the VIP platform, watching the touching reunion between father and daughter, then mother and daughter.

“So that young lady must be the Margrave’s youngest daughter.”

Just as the rumor that had spread even to the far-flung villages of the north claimed, the youngest daughter of House Béarn—the true young lady of House Béarn—was extraordinarily beautiful.

Beneath her neatly arranged platinum-blonde hair, her face was bright and beautiful, like a flower just beginning to bloom in spring.

The graceful curves of her slender figure gave off the subtle allure of a young woman not yet fully grown, at odds with her youthful face.

No wonder the Margrave and Marchioness had spent the whole trip bragging about her.

The man nodded as he watched Eleonore crying in the arms of the Marchioness of Béarn.

“Your Grace, have you taken an interest in Lady Béarn?”

“Eek! Th-that startled me.”

At the sharp, crisp voice from behind him, the man in the felt hat—the Grand Duke Dmitri—jumped in surprise and turned around.

Behind him, a blonde woman in a neat black uniform was saluting with one hand raised to her brow.

“Daphne, please give me some warning when you move around. This isn’t the north. I nearly hit you, seriously.”

“Your Grace, that’s exactly what I wanted to say! Please give people some warning when you move around! What Grand Duke in the world takes a train all the way to the capital alone, without a word or an escort!”

The blonde woman, Daphne, glared at Dmitri with all her might.

Despite that disrespectful stare, Dmitri sheepishly put a hand to his head and said,

“Ahaha. Daphne, you were my adjutant, so you know I’m not suited to that sort of thing.”

“That’s why I’m telling you to do something about that personality of yours, honestly. Last night, the young lady herself sent a telegram. She said her brother had disappeared again without an escort.”

“Really? Sigh. I’ll get an earful again when I go back. Ah, whatever. Let’s eat first. The train was so bumpy I couldn’t get a single bite down. I’m starving to death.”

Despite holding the title of Grand Duke, the Grand Duke before her was far too unceremonious.

It reminded Daphne of the first time she’d served him in that freezing north, and she let out a deep sigh.