So... A week has passed since then. Ardeat has been quite helpful since she arrived, she never questions anything I do and has been even helping me to find out more information about this world and I was honestly impressed at how much she knew about this world. Even if she was born in this world, to begin with, the amount of information she knew about it was at the level of royalty.

'Ah... Could it be...?' I glanced over at Ardeat who was currently cleaning my room devotedly.

'She seems to be pretty focused on that...' I let out a little snicker seeing just how much effort she put into dusting a tiny vase.

'I don't regret bringing her over to my side in the slightest.' I turned back to the files she brought me after personally writing them herself to make it easier for me to take in the information about this world and decided that I could always ask her my question next time.

So apparently. This was a world where everyone was born with mana aka magic, however, everyone had different levels of mana and not everyone had the opportunity to learn how to properly use their magic or different magic spells and circles.

Those with higher levels of mana worked in the Magic Tower which was the building in the empire with the most influence.

The name of the master of this magic tower who was also the one who originally locked Sovine up in eternal darkness and suffering after she tried to kill the duke's real daughter with black magic being blinded by jealousy which was a crime that led to an immediate execution and was also Sovine's older brother's, Avis's bff who also hated Sovine as equally as Avis did. Was Anartis Romanus.

Known for his title, skill, looks, talent, the list goes on. He was also known for being very... Violent to say the least.

It's said that whenever the crown prince who like all the other insanely handsome crown princes was a tyrant had an individual who was awfully reluctant to speak in an interrogation he would send that individual to the master of the magic tower to interrogate by force if needed and would always get the information back, but no body.

So basically. I had to stay away from this dude at all costs. Well, that's not something I could exactly do since Anartis was literally besties with Avis but I could still waste my time trying to since I'm convinced that that guy would probably find some other way to torment me instead of killing me even if I asked him to.

'I guess I'll just go to Fillius when that man comes over. Maybe he'll even be able to annoy Fillius enough beforehand to kill me.' I continued reading over the files.

'But... There is still a chance that I'll be able to die after the protagonist arrives... If that's the case, then I need to build up my influence in this estate beforehand. I've already got one very helpful ally who I'm sure will stay loyal.' I glanced over to Ardeat.

'I'm sure she'll be more than enough help for now. So, let's focus on gaining another powerful noble lady in this Tea party being held in a week's time.' I picked up the tea party invitation on the table next to the other papers.

'Though I doubt it'll be anything but pleasant...' I sighed already feeling exhausted just thinking about it.

My body already moved with Elegance and instinctively always used the proper manners of nobles in daily activities since Sovine had already learned all this before her body instinctively did as she had learned so re-learning the noble's way if life wasn't going to be a problem...

The problem was going to be the other noble ladies. Recently, Sovine's memories have been slowly but surely coming back to me while I'm sleeping at night. In the game, I knew that Sovine was never someone with much of a reputation for herself and was disliked by many even outside of the Grandduke's estate... But her memories have shown me the severity those words held that I hadn't realized before...

I expected it to be something like talking bad about her behind her, spreading rumors, or at most insulting her right in front of her face. But these ladies... They were actually trying to harm her in any way they could.

Poisoning her cup, her refreshments, her tea, framing her for stealing their things, accusing her of physically attacking them, seducing their partners, anything to either damage her reputation or kill her. And no matter Sovine to the Duke and or any of the brothers, she didn't do it.

They never listened.

Sure, they would pay the other family to make up for it in either money or something else. But never once, would they try to prove her innocence. And it's not that any of the other ladies at the tea party would try to help her either so she would just continue to silently take all of this or resort to physical violence, "Just like the villain she is".

Sovine never really tried to handle these situations calmly under the delusion that her family really did love her deep inside since they always paid to get her out of trouble, but she herself knew all too well, that they were only paying to keep their honorable reputation intact but never once accepted it.

So she continued to act rashly until she finally decided to accept the truth, and jumped off that balcony to end her life. All Sovine ever wanted was love, but for a villainess, that was something impossible for her to obtain, and she realized that. So she saw no point in living any longer.

She never even tried to tell the Duke about how the other ladies tried to poison her constantly since she knew they wouldn't believe her. Though it's not like I plan on telling them anything about either since they're bitches.

'All that information was really a lot to take in at first...' I sighed and leaned back in my chair resting my left hand on my forehead and shut my eyes for a moment.

'But I already know...' I opened my eyes again gazing up at the ceiling.

'This isn't even one-third of Sovine's life that was never mentioned in the game.' I sighed once more as I sat upright once again and I picked the tea party invitation up and examined it deep in thought.

Sovine might've let herself be misunderstood and framed. But there's no way in hell I'm going to let that happen to me.

"Ardeat." I stood up from my seat.

"Yes, my lady?" Ardeat immediately gave me her complete attention already ready to serve me in any way she could.

"How much would these beads and Jems be able to earn me?" I opened a drawer filled to the brim with the finest fabric, shiniest jewels, biggest pearls, etc. Which I had previously removed from all of my dresses.

"My lady! Just one-third of this could earn you around two million eight hundred ninety-eight thousand gold coins!" Ardeat exclaimed staring at the Jewels, beads, layers, laces, etc. In awe.

(2898 million gold coins = 8694 million dollars.)

"I see- Say what now?" I snapped my head towards Ardeat in disbelief that these things could cost so much.

I mean, sure. They were all of really high quality I had a whole drawer of them but two million eight hundred ninety-eight thousand gold coins still felt like it was too much.

"I know! It's amazing!" Ardeat chirped, she seemed happier about this than I was.

"Well, it is amazing but which jeweler store would recommend me to sell them at?" I asked Ardeat since she was basically a walking encyclopedia in this world.

"Hm... Luvixe Boutique would be a good place to sell these since. The honor of that store is a fair and honest man and would surely give you a fair price for all of these." Ardeat recommended and then continued lusting the reasons why we should go to Luvixe Boutique.

"Then I'll trust your judgment and go to this boutique today." I cut her off on her fifty-seventh reason.

"Go get changed." I instructed and she immediately obeyed.

"Yes, my lady!" She exclaimed as she left the room while I opened the door to my wardrobe and searched for the simplest dress I could find in there.

-----

The simplest dress I could find in my wardrobe was an pastel yellow contrast lace ruched and elegant long-sleeve maxi dress. It wasn't really some commoner type of clothing from the material it was from but I currently did not give a damn since I just saw Avis outside the window with the old, ugly, squeaky rat-like voiced marquis who Sovine was engaged to. So all I want to do right now is get the hell out of this estate. And it's not anyone would be looking at the material of a dress, right?

'Ah... Do I have to tell anyone before leaving?' I wondered to myself when someone suddenly knocked on my door.

"My lady. I've informed the butler of our departure." A voice belonging to Ardeat informed from out the door.

"Thank you, Ardeat. Do you know if we by any chance have any spare cloaks lying around the estate?" I asked as Ardeat entered the room.

"We have some in the servant's quarters." Ardeat responded and then immediately left the room before I could say anything in response and soon returned with two cloaks in hand.

"Ah..." Ardeat suddenly remembered that I was Sovine Divinus, a duke's daughter.

There's no way I would ask her to bring me the spare capes of servants. What was she thinking? She clenched her eyes shut while expecting the worst. However, she was bewildered to see that I only took one of the capes and draped it over myself before pulling the hood above my head instead of lashing out at her as she had heard about from the other maid's past experiences.

"Thank you, Ardeat." I said while I pulled the hood of the cape over my head as Ardeat continued gaping at me in disbelief.

"Now let's hurry and get the hell out of this shitty estate before some bastard decides to get in our way." I strode past her to the door as she finally snapped out of her trance and followed after me while quickly putting her cape on as well.

As I finally passed through the estate's gates safely without drawing much attention my eyes immediately fell on a carriage waiting outside the estate. Assuming it was our carriage we both got inside as the coachman guided to horse to start moving.

It didn't take me long to discover that, I did not like carriages. The rough and bumpy road made my organs jump with my body every time and goddamn, I was currently more dizzy than when Egestas thought that it was okay to use magic to drag and teleport me around the whole mansion without any warnings beforehand just to find Avis.

And it was slower than the teleportation magic circle as well! Ardeat didn't seem to be doing much better either though she tried to hide it with a smile. This didn't make much sense to me either since in Ardeat's information files she clearly stated that higher-status nobles in this world usually used teleportation gems and circles to teleport away to wherever they needed to.

AND I WAS THE GRAND DUKE'S STEPDAUGHTER! THE HELL?! COULD THEY BE ANY MORE OBVIOUS ABOUT HOW THEY DIDN'T ACCEPT ME AS THEIR FAMILY THAN THIS?!

Well, whatever. At least it helped me blend in with the commoners slightly more now. But that didn't make this any less annoying.

-----

After what felt like ten painful hours but was probably closer to twenty minutes. We finally arrived at the capital. Usually, I would have taken a minute or two to take in the beauty of the capital.

Except, I hated crowded places. And right now I don't think I can take in anything at all from how dizzy I feel. Thankfully, neither of us threw up. I have no idea how.

"Okay..." My stomach finally calmed down a bit.

"You okay Ardeat?" I turned to Ardeat who was sitting on a bench and looked half-dead.

"Of course, My lady-" "Nope. You are not okay." I cut Ardeat off as she attempted to dismiss her half-dead appearance with a smile and an obvious lie.

"Stay here. I'll get you some water." I immediately left before Ardeat could say anything else but then suddenly remembered that I had no money on me.

I was already quite far away from Ardeat so I couldn't go back now and ask about where that boutique she told me about was but I at least already had the pouch of all the items I was planning on selling on me so all I had to do now was find someone to ask for directions.

"Excuse me, sir?" I called out to an old man selling apples.

"Yes? How can I help you?" The man turned around to face me.

"Do you by any chance know where I could find the... Luvixe Boutique?" I pulled out a piece of paper that had "Luvixe Boutique written on it which I had prepared beforehand since I knew I would probably forget the name of the boutique sooner or later.

"Ah, just take a left there and walk straight and you should see it soon after that." The man pointed me in the right direction and I thanked him before walking away in the direction he pointed me to.

'I don't think he's lying... So it should probably be somewhere around here.' My eyes suddenly fell on a boutique with the exact same name.

I immediately entered the store and it was pretty empty. It didn't take me long to find the manager and it took me even less time to sell the 25% of the gems, laces, beads, etc. I brought it with me. He basically just shoved a pouch of all his gold coins into my hands once he saw the quality of the items I brought with me to sell to him.

'Turns out those disgustingly extravagant dresses of yours did come in handy for once Sovine.' I thought to myself as I walked out of the store satisfied with the results.

The next thing I did was obviously get Ardeat some water first and then tell her to rest again as I asked some other lady for directions to the most popular bank in the capital. And since the banking system here wasn't much different than the ones in modern times and also thanks to Ardeat's detailed guides on information on this world she made sure to include every little detail I didn't have much trouble creating a fake account under an alias.

And since this was also a bank that commoners usually used who had little to no information on the aristocratic lives or even who they were or how they looked, no one noticed me.

Now that I had my own money to live off of and didn't have to depend on the Divinus estate's earnings my mind felt more at ease knowing that even in the future if I somehow happened to find out that even if the female lead or the other male interests did kill me then I would still be sent back in time to before they killed me and would have to wait until the day I would eventually be forced to face the fate that the original Sovine had to which was being locked away into eternal pain and darkness by Anartis I at least had something I could use to run away and survive in some place far away as a commoner.

"Ardeat, which store in the capital sells the best magic stones or gems of several abilities?" I turned back to Ardeat who seemed to be feeling better now.

"That one." She pointed to the store right we had just passed by.

"Oh. Well then let's get going!" I turned back around with a smile and entered the store.

To be continued...

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