Hopefully, at Your Mercy - Chapter 4

Chapter 3.1

Rose Roche.

Delinda Schultz’s personal maid.

The second daughter of Baron Roche.

With her flaming red hair and slightly upturned, plump lips, Rose had an incredibly sensual appearance.

‘At least her looks are impressive.’

Delinda sized her up, objectively judging her appearance.

Though Rose was Delinda’s maid, she was also a noble. It was customary for the maidservants of a ducal house to be chosen from the families of their vassals.

After assessing the situation, Delinda plopped down on the sofa. While Rose’s attitude irritated her, it wasn’t worth making a scene over.

Delinda knew when to hold back and when to speak up.

Rose moved behind Delinda and began removing her hair ornaments.

As Delinda stared at her unfamiliar reflection in the mirror, she tried to ground herself in reality.

‘Right, this is another world.’

The irrational situation might have confused her, but she was doing her best to take it all in stride. After all, she’d been through something like this before.

This was her second possession.

And she was trapped inside the same novel.

‘My job now is to adapt and survive in this world. So, what should I do next?’

The duke was on the verge of being conned.

If he fell for the scam involving the rights of the Spirit Stone Mine or whateverthehellitwas in a few days, they would surely head for ruin.

The first thing she needed to do was figure out what “spirit stones” were.

“Rose, what’s a spirit stone?”

“Is that a serious question?”

“Yes, that’s why I’m asking. Or do you not realize that I’m asking because I simply do not know?”

“Pardon?”

Rose looked perplexed, clearly confused by Delinda’s line of questioning.

“What exactly is a spirit stone? It burned my hand earlier, and I didn’t like it. Why would Father invest in something like that? He should just buy pretty, beautiful things instead.”

Deliberately choosing words that made her sound like a fool, Delinda noticed Rose’s expression finally relaxed, as if this behavior was more in line with what she expected from her.

“Spirit stones first appeared five years ago. They say it happened due to a crack in some boundary somewhere… but I don’t know the details. Anyway, that’s when they came into existence.”

Five years ago… right when I disappeared. No wonder I don’t know about them.

But the timing must be a coincidence, right?

“Are they expensive?”

“Yes, very expensive.”

“Not just anyone can get their hands on them, right?”

“Yes. Unless you have some spiritual or magical powers, you can’t handle them properly, which is why accessories made for spirit stones are also sold at high prices. Like the sand that can extinguish spirit stone flames or the special bottles used to hold spirit water.”

Delinda’s expression turned strange as she listened. I literally grabbed the spirit stone’s flame and threw it at the sofa.

“But I touched it. I threw the flame, didn’t I?”

“It must have been a spirit stone of lower-quality. Or maybe it was defective.”

“I see.”

Nodding, Delinda waited for Rose to provide more information.

But Rose just stared at her, as if this was all the explanation she was going to give. It seemed like she thought this level of detail was sufficient for a fool.

“And? Anything else?”

Delinda needed to know more.

Like, just in case—though it was highly unlikely—the con-artist wasn’t actually a con-artist.

For example, what if he genuinely admired the Schultz family…?

And through investing in the Spirit Stone Mine, the Schultz family miraculously recovered its fortunes…?

“What else do you want to know? I don’t have any more information. Spirit stones are very rare and expensive, and since I’m always by your side, my lady, I don’t get to see such precious things.”

Delinda couldn’t help but chuckle at Rose’s sharp response.

The words Rose is saying now seem to imply something else.

What she really meant was, in a crumbling ducal household like this, they couldn’t afford such “expensive” and “precious” spirit stones, and because Rose was stuck here as a maid, she didn’t have the chance to see them either.

It was infuriating, but it was the truth.

“Right, if only you had been born a lady like me, Rose, you wouldn’t be stuck here as my maid in this mansion.”

“What?”

“You should have been born the duke’s daughter.”

Delinda replied with a bright, innocent smile, like the fool she was supposed to be, and Rose’s neck flushed red.

Anyway, it seemed there was nothing she could learn from Rose. Delinda flopped down on the sofa in an unladylike manner.

“Alright. You can go now, Rose.”

Rose frowned, clearly displeased by the undignified posture of the noble young lady, but that was as far as she showed her feelings.

Soon enough, she relaxed her expression, bowed, and turned to leave.

* * *

Once the surroundings had quieted down, Delinda changed her clothes. She put on an old dress she had found in an empty maid’s room during her solo exploration of the mansion after Rose left.

After carefully buttoning up the dress, she also took a ring from the vanity drawer for some quick cash to use in the back alleys.

She figured she might as well do something rather than waste time sitting idly in her room.

‘Since this is the capital, there should be a tavern in the plaza’s back alley where merchants gather. I’ll go there and see what I can find out about spirit stones.’

Although she couldn’t remember much from her first possession, she did recall this. The laughing and chatting people at the tavern. The delicious fruit candies sold next to the small pub.

“Why do I remember these things when I can’t recall anything else? That’s funny. Wait a sec. There’s so many jewels here. Holy…”

Even in decline, a ducal family was still a ducal family.

If she gathered just the scraps of jewels from the mansion and ran away, she could live a life of luxury until she returned to the real world.

The tempting thought crossed her mind, but Delinda shook her head.

“I’ll save that option as a last resort.”

She still had a conscience.

She thought of the duke’s warm expression and the way he held her hand tightly, and she couldn’t bring herself to run away.

She already felt guilty for taking over his daughter’s body. She couldn’t make him lose his daughter for real.