Chapter 7

The moment the doors opened, an enormous cloud of dust and a musty smell rushed out and engulfed us.

“Cough! Cough! What on earth…”

I had thought I had developed quite a tolerance for dirty environments after sweeping and cleaning the cabin.

But this body really was incredibly weak!

After waiting for the dust to settle somewhat, I carefully stepped into the library one foot at a time.

Swish!

Betty, who moved faster than I did, reached the window on the opposite side and immediately drew back the thick curtains covering the largest window in the center.

The largest central window was made of beautiful stained glass.

Dust particles scattered through the multicolored light, illuminating the inside of the library.

“Wow.”

Swish! Swish! Swish!

After opening all the curtains, a completely different scene unfolded before us.

“I knew it would be big, but it’s even larger than I expected! It puts most temple libraries to shame.”

Betty, who had somehow already come to stand beside me, exclaimed in genuine admiration.

I enthusiastically agreed and nodded.

The inside of the library was roughly the size of a decent-sized school playground by the standards of my previous life.

Arched ceilings stretched beautifully between the ornate pillars.

In the center of the hall, rows upon rows of bookshelves stood in formation. There had to be well over a hundred of them.

“This place is…”

In a word, it was a gold mine for a book addict!

My heart fluttered with excitement, and I broke into a huge grin. Betty followed suit and smiled along with me.

“You really like it that much?”

“Yes! With this many books, I could survive in the cabin for ten years.”

“…That’s not necessarily a good thing.”

“Why? It’s great!”

Hahaha! Ten years, twenty years—it didn’t matter.

It wasn’t as though I was running out of time anyway!

I was going to read every single book in here!

So excited that I couldn’t help bouncing on my toes, I was practically dancing in place.

Then Betty poured cold water over my enthusiasm.

“First of all… we have to clean it, don’t we?”

“…You’re right.”

“Come on, let’s do our best! Then we might be able to finish before spring.”

“That’s way too far away!”

But what else could I do?

I let out a deep sigh before steeling myself once more.

Everything is difficult at the beginning.

Let’s just get started.

Then future me would take care of the rest!

“Ugh…”

Unfortunately, even future me couldn’t handle it.

How many hours had passed?

When we’d left the cabin, the sun had been shining brightly, but now it was gradually sinking into dusk.

Even with the help of the experienced maid Betty, all we’d managed to accomplish was cleaning the windows and clearing out a couple of bookshelves.

“Ugh, my back.”

“Your Highness, are you all right?”

“Yeah. Honestly, even if the two of us cleaned this every day, I don’t think we’d finish before spring.”

“…That’s true. Actually, saying we’d finish by spring is already being very optimistic. Please rest for a while. I’ll do it.”

Betty’s eyes seemed strangely moist as she said that.

Worried that Betty might misunderstand me again, I quickly responded.

“What are you talking about, Betty? This was something I said I’d do, so I should take responsibility and see it through to the end. You rest for a while, too. I’ll go look through the bookshelves we’ve cleaned.”

“Your Highness… Yes. Be careful, though! We don’t know what might be lying on the floor.”

I figured I would at least pick out a book to take with me from the shelves we’d managed to clean.

I’m so tired that I might collapse the moment I get back today… But whatever. I can read it later whenever I get bored.

Still, there was a huge psychological difference between having books and having nothing to read.

For a modern person who had lived in the twenty-first century, where content was overflowing everywhere, I desperately needed my dopamine fix.

“Let’s see.”

I’d noticed it while cleaning, too, but the bookshelves were generally quite tall.

Or was it just that I was short?

Fortunately, there was even a conveniently placed step stool here.

It was made of wood and looked a little worn and unstable, but it wasn’t bad as a temporary solution.

I slowly began examining the books on the upper shelves.

Strangely enough, the language here appeared to me as Korean, so reading it felt completely natural.

I guess these aren’t translated books. They’re probably novels originally written here?

Even better. A K-romance-fantasy patch!

I still had no idea what exactly this world was, but there was no need to become impatient.

If I stayed here long enough, I’d naturally find out someday.

Was that too complacent of a thought?

Still!

“Woohoo.”

With no immediate danger in front of me, both my body and mind were bound to relax.

With books I liked right in front of me, I even found myself humming happily.

I began looking through the titles of the books lined up on the shelves.

“Looks like this section is mostly history books.”

The History of the Rembrandt Empire

The Brilliant Life of Albert Rembrandt, the First Emperor

Rembrandt and the Dragon’s Covenant

Apparently, the name of this empire was Rembrandt.

And judging from the mentions of dragons and covenants…

Is this a world with dragons?

But I had never even been able to memorize the ridiculously long names of characters in foreign novels, much less put in the effort to do so.

There was no way I could identify what novel this was based solely on the clue Rembrandt Empire.

Still, just in case, I should read some history books.

I had just pulled out The History of the Rembrandt Empire and was about to leave when—

“Huh?”

My casually wandering gaze suddenly stopped.

There it was.

The Empire’s Strongest, Most Powerful, Super-Awesome Invisible Dragon Roared

What the heck was that?

“That’s quite the clickbait title…”

An invisible dragon?

There was no way I could resist that.

The title alone smelled like a fun read.

Hehe. Two books.

I pulled out The Empire’s Strongest, Most Powerful, Super-Awesome Invisible Dragon~ as well and hugged both books to my chest.

A history book for studying, and a book presumed to be a novel for entertainment…

Not a bad combination.

Perfect for reading in parallel.

Somehow, I feel emotionally richer already…

When I came back around the bookshelf, I saw Betty still passed out.

Judging by how she was nodding off, even someone with Betty’s solid muscles must have found today’s schedule exhausting.

I felt a little sorry.

She needed to get a proper night’s sleep.

“Betty, let’s call it a day and go back.”

“Ah! Yes…”

Apparently embarrassed that she’d dozed off, Betty rubbed around her mouth.

Perhaps because we’d spent so much time buried in a pit of dust, the more she wiped, the dirtier the area around her mouth became.

I wiped the soot from Betty’s cheek and said,

“Looks like I’ll have to wash you today.”

“What?! That’s ridiculous! How could you possibly wash me with those tiny hands? Besides, you worked so hard today, so I was just about to give you a full-course massage.”

It was just a—

A joke.

But she reacted so dramatically that I missed my chance to say anything.

After gathering the wooden bucket and rags we’d used earlier, Betty headed toward the door, chattering away.

“The bathroom in the cabin is far too cold. As it happens, there’s also a guest bathroom nearby. If you’re okay with it, why don’t you use that one today?”

“Is that really okay?”

Come to think of it, the cabin was great in many ways, but the only heating it had was the fireplace.

Even the water had to be boiled over the fireplace and then mixed with cold water until it reached the right temperature.

Every time I washed myself, I found myself longing for Korea’s heating systems.

Even in a tiny studio apartment, the bathroom floor had underfloor heating, so it was always warm.

So, honestly…

The thought of having a proper bathroom was incredibly tempting!

Seeing the panic in my eyes, Betty suddenly snickered and whispered in the manner of a sycophant.

“My Lady, you are the Grand Duchess, after all. Would it really be a problem for the Grand Duchess to use the Grand Duke’s Castle’s bathroom?”

…Why did she suddenly start talking like that?

But instead of arguing, I tilted my head and pretended to think deeply.

“Hmm… He told me not to attract attention.”

“You mean His Grace the Grand Duke? His Grace is away at the moment, so I don’t think he’ll be coming back today.”

“Really?”

And, secretly, I was quite pleased with Betty’s sycophantic way of speaking.

She’s saying exactly what I want to hear. Approved!

Until now, I’d rather clumsily done whatever that man told me to do.

But come to think of it, wasn’t I being unusually well-behaved for a romance-fantasy character who had just transmigrated into another world?

The Grand Duke was honestly ridiculous, too.

Who does he think he is, telling me whether I can attract attention or not? I don’t want to get involved with him either!

I was beginning to think I’d been far too proper until now.

To be even more honest, at that moment, all I desperately wanted was to soak my tired body in a nice, hot bath!

When my hesitation dragged on, Betty abandoned her sycophant mode and delivered the final blow.

“If you’re still worried about it… how about we sneak in and use it? It’s tucked away in a corner, so hardly anyone goes in and out of there.”

“What?”

Was she seriously suggesting that we steal a bath?

“Okay!”

I absolutely loved that idea!

“Haha!”

“Hehe!”

Just as Betty and I were giggling over our perfect plan and threw open the library doors—

“Hm?”

An unexpected group of people appeared in front of us, completely blocking our path.