I Refuse To Be A Character In A Novel - Chapter 11

I quickly fixed my expression to correct Mielle’s assumption. 

Even though we usually hung out in the same group of friends, Alexie was not the kind of person I enjoyed being around.

She would often hint at how arrogant I was acting when I didn’t participate in their meaningless gossip, or refused a dance.

Why should I have to dance with a boy I didn’t like or gossip about that one girl’s shabby dress?

‘Do you think you’re better than us? You’re forgetting your place just because your mother is now married to the marquis.’

To the 15 year old Erna, those words were the same as saying that she and her mother were leeching off the marquis.

‘Is that so? I’m glad Lady Weiten is always here to remind me of my place as she seems to have nothing better to do’

Erna knew well that unshakable aloofness could be more infuriating than arguing back, so she always feigned a nonchalant air, but she couldn’t help but feel frustrated inwardly.

More than herself, it was her mother that she felt frustrated to hear rumors about.

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Liebert county’s young lady, the rose of Rasmodia, diamond lady,…

All were titles that referred to the same person.

Dina Liebert.

Count Liebert, Erna’s grandfather, was one of the richest men in Rasmodia, and his daughter, Dina, lived a lavish life. 

Eventually, she fell in love and decided to marry Robert Tersia, a knight of the royal order.

Her father opposed it at first, but eventually gave in to his only daughter who was selfish enough to marry a man whose status didn’t live up to her own, rather than have a suitable marriage that could strengthen the family’s position.

But Dina was happy.

She lived in luxury, married the man she loved and had a child with him.

However, her happiness didn’t last long.

Dina had to go back to her parent’s house along with her 3 year old child, after her husband died in the line of duty.

She couldn’t bear to manage the land amidst her grief, nor was she confident in winning against her father in law in court.

The shameless man who didn’t even attend his son’s funeral only came after hearing news that the king had bestowed a piece of fertile land to Robert shortly before his death.

It was a token of appreciation for his great contributions in the war, but the land was officially registered in the Tersia name which gave his father the rights over it.

Whether the king didn’t know the baron would abandon his son’s family or simply didn’t care was unknown.

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Nonetheless, Dina was not allowed to grieve for long as Count Liebert urged his daughter to entrust the child to a nanny and return to  the social circle to find a suitable husband.

It was no bother for them to spend for one more person with their vast wealth, but it was a pity to see his beautiful daughter widowed at such a young age.

Platinum blonde hair that danced along her movements and clear blue eyes that captivated anyone who was caught within them.

A delicate frame and a charming personality.

The faint sound of her laughter resonated louder than the music in countless men’s ears in the ballroom.

Even after she had a daughter of her own, Dina Liebert was still one of the most sought after ladies in the kingdom.

‘You don’t have to waste your youth just because of the child’

But Dina didn’t give in to her father’s urging or people’s gossip…

She shut her ears to the whispers around her and the ladies who pitied her.

Too much pity only highlighted her misfortune.

Dina knew how much those ladies rejoiced at her misfortune behind her back, the flower of the capital had an early ‘fall’.

She raised her daughter all by herself and taught her to keep her head held high in all situations. 

She’d often tell her about her father, how great of a man he was and how much he loved his daughter.

Eventually her parents grew attached to the child who kept growing before their eyes day by day and treasured her more and more.They even asked Dina to leave Erna with them when she got married to the Marquis.

It was rather lonely for the old couple to part ways with the both of them, but Dina refused to leave her 8 years old daughter behind and only accepted the Marquis’ proposal after she had seen how willing he was to welcome her daughter as his own.

Having grown up in a sheltered aristocratic environment under her grandparents’ strict teaching and her parents’ affection, Erna knew that arrogance was not a trait to boast of. But in her eventful world existed people who always tried to look down on her, and wished to tarnish her mother’s honor.

Holding her nose high was Erna’s way of  preventing such people from attempting to even slip a thinly veiled insult at her or her mother.

Now recalling her younger self, she thought she might have been a bit childish but she didn’t regret it.