T K H C

🍁 Chapter 2

“Carol’s father is the one who will take care of me…”

In the novel, Sharon was taken in by Duke Gratoni, her maternal uncle, after the deaths of her parents.

“What am I to do? How do I keep myself alive? It might be faster for me to just die right now.” It was just talk though. I knew that I shouldn’t. I had told myself that I would not be so low-spirited any further.

I looked at the mirror again. “At least I’m pretty. Almost too much so.” I touched my reflection, and saw Carol’s face in my mind.

Thinking about it, that gloomy girl grew up to be so crooked because of her environment. Her parents, the Duke and Duchess Gratoni, each had their own lover. They neglected their only daughter, and they only took in Sharon because of what society may say about them if they had not. Furthermore, even Carol’s fiance, the prince, would cheat on her, casting her aside for someone else.

But right now, Carol was only eight. The last one hadn’t happened yet.

“Alright!” I’d raise Carol to be a proper and kind young lady.

Sharon of the novel had died because of Carol. Naively, she gave her wholehearted trust to her best friend, and the evil Carol abused Sharon’s trust. Carol would give Sharon a teacup to give to the heroine, but the gift was secretly laced with poison. In the end, Sharon was sent to the guillotine alongside Carol for being part of the plot, as the prince was not a fool.

I could prevent all of this by raising Carol up properly. Then, even if the prince falls in love with someone else, I wouldn’t die. And there would be other benefits, too. For example, Carol may not end up falling in love with the prince in the first place. Or, the prince may decide to return Carol’s love—

Huh. That’s actually a good plan. Carol can grow up to be the sort of woman that the prince can fall in love with. She wouldn’t harm anybody, then, and I wouldn’t be mixed up in all that mess. We would all be alive.

Suddenly, I felt confident. I spent ten years teaching the most fearsome beings in the universe, that being middle and high school students. With my skill, teaching one little girl can barely be called work.

“Hahahahaha…” Since I’ve taken over this life, I may as well live well!

Though… Where did the real Sharon go? Would she hate the direction I’m leading her life?

No. I’m making sure that she’ll live past twenty. The real Sharon should be grateful, I rationalized. First, I just had to live.

Chapter 1. Consideration of the main characters

“So, you are Sharon,” said Duke Gratoni, my maternal uncle. He looked me over and then turned away.

Honestly, what a dreary person.

“And did you say you are Madame DeJoue?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Take good care of this child. I will be her guardian in name until the child comes of age. Should you need an attorney, you can use my personal attorney or acquire one yourself.”

“Sir? Do you mean that I should handle Lady Sharon’s affairs myself?”

At Madame DeJoue’s words, Duke Gratoni’s eyes coldly scanned over me. “My obligation to my younger sister ends with me being her child’s guardian,” he said.

I couldn’t believe my—Sharon’s—mother had a family like this. It seemed that the only person I could trust was myself.

With that, the Duke left. Madame DeJoue saw him off to his carriage. I was still speechless.