Reincarnating as My Husband’s Mistress

Marge, a maid and longtime servant of the Count Acacia’s residence, narrowed her eyes as she watched the mansion’s hostess.

Watching Blair, who was reading an issue of the ‘Empire Daily‘ that the butler had hastily rescued.

Exactly. That ‘Empire Daily’.

The newspaper that you had tossed away, mockingly saying that it was full of crap while laughing.

When the Count wasn’t home, you had asked why they still kept leaving them at the front of our house and to just use it as firewood; that newspaper.

‘You’re definitely crazy.’

Walking on both legs with no problem, then suddenly stopping and rejoicing.

Asking for a glass of water and saying ‘thank you’ with thrilled eyes once its handed over.

Besides, normally the Countess Acacia sits in the parlour sipping tea and has sudden mood swings, so since when did she start reading proper newspapers and not gossip…

As expected, when she turned her eyes to the entrance of the drawing room, the other maids all came rushing in and started whispering.

Just the combination of Blair and the newspaper was enough for the maids to start talking.

“Didn’t someone deliver a shopping catalogue?”

“I’m pretty sure there’s a news article of a big fire or a flood somewhere.”

“There could be. If you’re the madam, there’s a chance she’d like that.”

The whispers were barely audible but Marge hastily pursued them.

Whether it was hatred or affection, either way, bad rumours about the hostess of the mansion shouldn’t be spreading anyways.

There was also unexpectedly, another reason for her to be worried again.

Contrary to the fact that she had only been worried about the ‘obviously unlearned’ Countess, she now also worried about Blair, who had been sitting in her room for several days, and suddenly began to ask strange questions.

‘W-What exactly is my name?’

‘Where is Count Acacia?’

‘Are you, are you perhaps my nanny?’

Et cetera, she asked very silly questions such as these.

But it was also asked very cautiously.

It was a good thing that she had asked Marge when she was alone, otherwise, if the young and loose lipped maids had heard her question, the rumour might have already been spread throughout the capital, that the ‘Countess Acacia is crazy’.

“Marge.”

Hence why Marge was now very nervous when she heard the voice that was calling for her.

She made sure that the drawing room’s door was closed properly, then walked over to Blair with her mouth tightly shut.

After reading the Empire Daily, Blair was silent for a while before calling her.

‘What kind of nonsense will she say this time…’

“Am I…am I, the mistress of Novian Trovica?”

“!”

Oh my god, oh my god.

Marge quickly glanced around the empty drawing room before lowering her voice to reply.

“Are you finally going to tell me the truth?”

“…the truth?”

Blair’s beautiful pale green eyes stared at her intently.

Marge nodded and whispered next to her.

“Are you in that sort of relationship with the grand duke or something?”

“…w-why did you think so?”

Blair’s tone of speech, which was usually no different from that of a commoner’s, had somehow changed into an aristocratic one.

Like Count Acacia.

Marge felt a strange sense of dissonance, but was afraid that Blair, who had suddenly become cautious, would keep her mouth shut even tighter.

“I mean, if you weren’t his mistress, there’s no way you would be so interested in the grand duchess’ personal affairs, right?”

“…I did?”

“Of course, and the grand duke would also frequently send over pendants or dresses even…”

“He…he did.”

Blair’s voice drifted off and cooled a notch lower.

Marge pondered for a long time, wondering if she had said something wrong.

In fact, Marge had already long established her theory as a fact.

In the morning, she had even sneakily wanted to see how the grand duke’s mistress would react to the death of the grand duchess and whether she thought it was good or not.

“Even now, you still affectionately call the Grand Duke ‘he’[1]…oh right, madam. Isn’t that right? Would the Grand Duke invite the madam to the funeral and take care of you like this simply because his vassal, your husband was absent?”

Count Acacia was busy with the affairs of the estate, so the most difficult thing for him to do was coming back to the mansion in the captial.

When a vassal was absent, their spouse would then naturally be under the protection of the lord, the Grand Duke.

No wonder he could personally invite that woman to the Grand Duchess’ funeral. However…

“Well, seeing as how the Count turns a blind eye to any outings I go on, it doesn’t seem like you are in a normal relationship either. Now, stop hiding it from me and just tell me the truth.”

After thinking about it for a moment, I sent the shocking reply that I would attend the funeral to the servant.

Grand Duke, you dare?

If the reason Blair can do that isn’t because she’s his mistress, then what the heck is it?

However, as a long time servant that has served in this house, Marge was both uneasy and unfamiliar with the Grand Duke’s character.

Because it was not likely for the Grand Duke to display very much patience toward his mistress.

‘I need to dress her up quickly and get the carriage ready…’

She was suddenly worried about the possibility of getting fired by the Grand Duke!

However, there was no sign of urgency or haste found in Blair, who was the party involved.

“It seems as if you don’t know either.”

‘I mean, this isn’t something that directly involves me anyways, so how is a mere maid like me supposed to know?!’

There is a limit to how much strangeness people are able to find acceptable in a certain situation.

Marge clenched her teeth and gathered her patience, nodding.

“That’s right, no one can tell me the right answer in this mansion. But for now, I have no choice but to accept his invitation and go to the funeral.”

No, so just what kind of relationship do the two of you have?

Furthermore, although the Grand Duke himself had personally contacted her to tell her that the Grand Duchess was dead, you’re giving a vassal’s wife the right to attend her funeral?

All sort of words clambered around through her chest, but Marge held them all back.

Because she had been quiet for the past few days, it was possible that she had forgotten what Blair’s temper was like before.

Before she could throw even a single object, Marge quietly chose to help with her makeup.

Then, she paid close attention to the unfamiliar behaviour of Blair, who was constantly fiddling with her fingers in anxiety and feeling very sluggish.

[ / / / ]

I was comfortable with my maid, Marge, as well as the other maids who all folded themselves in half and bowed 90 degrees.

Even if someone had accidentally made eye contact with me, our eyes would meet and the immediately dart away.

Not only that, but every time I was about to say something, they all had a very tense look on their faces.

‘Blair Acacia was a very scary person.’

And with good reason.

My whole body was full of energy and strength. Even if I ran around and yelled energetically.

It had been a long time since I had worn anything other than slippers, however, when I wore the shoes, my body did not stumble or falter at all.

My hair, which had been falling out, one by one, strand by strand, did not fall out, no matter how many times I combed it.

“It’s all done, my lady.”

A young maid named Yona said with a bright and blushing red face.

I stood in front of the full length mirror, a familiar face, but an unfamiliar body had appeared in its reflection.

It was strange to see such a good looking face with a decent amount of fat on it.

There was never a single cough, nor a single seizure that interrupted me whilst waking up, eating or dressing.

“…I look well.”

“Sorry?”

Thinking those words as a reproach, Yona’s face turned turned deathly pale.

But instead, I just laughed happily.

How much had I prayed and prayed for a body like this?

After alternating between confused and dazed states all morning, I finally accepted that this wasn’t a ‘dream’, no a ‘fantasy’.

All the newspapers had the sad news of Adrienne Trovica’s death on their front cover, a situation which had been the last thing I had I remembered.

Serious seizures due to chronic illness and then finally arriving at a sudden death.

I was confused as to whether my dead soul had entered Blair Acacia’s body or if I was originally Blair Acacia, but had a mental illness.

But no matter what I thought, I was still Adrienne.

I took a step closer to the mirror.

The rosy cheeks were lovely.

There was only one reason why I didn’t go crazy, even after going through such an absurd situation.

It was because this woman’s face looked awfully similar to my original face, it was enough to give me goosebumps.

It was just like the appearance I had always dreamed of. It was as if I was still dreaming.

‘Did God happen to give me another chance?’

I couldn’t erase the feeling, as if I had been reborn, leaving behind my sick and diseased body and gaining an identical, but healthy body.

It was a phenomenon that was unheard of, but I was experiencing it now.

But what if my soul in this body wanted to return to my dead body?

‘No way.’

Rather, it was the very feeling that I wanted to block.

I felt a little sorry for the owner of this body, Blair.

Now I ate alone, walked alone. Every time I did something without any assistance, the feeling of independence I felt was thrilling.

At first, I couldn’t believe that my husband and the owner of this body had a strange relationship.

Novian, who always thinks of and puts his own reputation first, could never have done this. And what was it that about me, who possessed such a weak body, that he loved so much, that despite knowing about my situation, still made me the Grand Duchess? Was it pity?

I laughed out loud when I imagined a man who was too busy to even stop by the capital even once, let alone accompanying his mistress on a leisurely date.

The person I knew would never be a person like that.

What about dating? He was a person who was half crazy about work.

At first, I had heard that during the social gatherings, there were many women who secretly talked about Novian’s attractive and charming mistress.

However, it was a rumour that Novian was unaware of due to how busy he was trying to solve incidents and wandering around under the orders of the Imperial Family, so I had put it to the back of my mind.

[ / / / ]

I got into the carriage with a strange mixture of emotions, I felt both happiness and sadness.

It has been a long time since I had last dressed up and come out of the mansion.

Arriving at the Trovica cemetery, I calmed my pounding heart and got out of the carriage.

The closer I got to the entrance of the cemetery, the more my spine tingled.

The strange excitement did not last very long.

My happy thoughts because of my health was gradually fading away.

As I stepped closer, one step at a time, I finally saw ‘myself’, who was lying down like an undying person in the coffin.

the mistress and the wife