Fortune-Telling Lady

Chapter 3

A full day passed. Then two days, then three, and before Camilla knew it, a full week had gone by. With each passing day, Camilla’s attitude worsened.

“Why? Why?!”

Why wasn’t she back in her body? Frustrated, Camilla scrubbed her face with a dry towel, trying to wake herself up. Nothing like this had ever happened before. She had never stayed in this world for so long. Camilla started to feel more and more anxious.

Could this mean… It couldn’t, right?

If I’m really stuck here, then… Camilla shook her head quickly. Just the thought was horrible. Because she knew all too well what a horrible end Camilla would come to in this world.

She kept nervously touching her neck, which was still intact. For now. There was a knock at her door, and her personal maid Donna entered the room.

“Lady Camilla?” Donna flinched at the scene she found in Camilla’s room—her mistress was lying face down on the bed, her limbs and head drooping listlessly.

“What is it?” Camilla asked.

When Camilla lifted her head to speak, Donna let out a silent sigh of relief.

“The head chef has personally prepared you some snacks.”

“Snacks?”

“You haven’t been eating much during mealtimes lately, miss.”

Many of the kitchen maids had been recently replaced. When their actions had been exposed to the duke, all of the guilty maids were fired on the spot without a cent of severance pay. The duke had also given orders to pay special care and attention to what Camilla ate moving forward.

“I’m not interested,” Camilla responded.

With no sign of being able to return to Lee Sia’s body any time soon, she had lost her appetite. She had hardly eaten anything recently. No matter how delicious the food was, she could not eat more than a few bites. Now, even the head chef himself was making her snacks.

“Please take just one bite, miss, even if it’s only to show your appreciation to Chef Gelad.” Concern filled Donna’s voice.

Camilla looked at her maid for a moment before dropping her head back onto the bed. If there was one person in the mansion who truly cared about Camilla, it had to be Donna. Even when Camilla had been arrested for attempted murder, Donna was the only one who’d taken her side until the very end. She was also the only person who’d shed tears over Camilla’s death.

Donna was always so angry with the other maids… Whenever Camilla was mistreated, Donna would follow her around, insisting that she tell the duke at once. In the end, Donna kept quiet on Camilla’s orders, despite how upset it made her. Once, she even got in a fight with the other maids, pulling their hair and yelling about clearing her mistress’s name. Donna returned with a black eye and a smile, proud to say she got one extra hit in on the other maid. Knowing what kind of person Donna was, it was difficult for Camilla to ignore her.

“All right.” She sat up straight, unable to refuse in the end.

Donna’s expression brightened at the sight. She hurried out of the room and returned with the man who had been waiting outside.

“Pardon me, miss,” he said. He was a thin man in his forties. He bowed his head slightly toward Camilla, and set her food down on the table. “It’s apple pie.”

The pie was topped with thinly sliced apples and a healthy dose of caramelized sugar.

“Please give it a try,” the head chef said. His voice was full of pride. Or rather, arrogance.

Although he spoke politely, the head chef looked at Camilla with an unpleasant fierceness. It was plain on his face that he was only treating Camilla well because of the duke’s orders. She raised her eyebrows.

You really want me to try this?

Donna fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable with the tense atmosphere. Chef Gelad, on the other hand, held his ground. In fact, he even seemed to be holding back a snarl. He truly hated her. It disgusted him to think that such a beautiful culinary work of art would be wasted on this woman. It was pointless for him to serve someone with such bad taste.

You should be happy to eat whatever I make for you, he thought bitterly. Gelad felt disgusted when he saw the food he had made for Camilla come back to the kitchen, completely untouched.

How dare she leave food behind? he thought. That was not Gelad’s last gripe with her, however. Many of the kitchen maids were recently kicked out of the mansion for tampering with Camilla Sorphel’s food. Although he was furious with the staff for ruining his food, he could understand their feelings, at least somewhat. After all, this girl couldn’t really be considered a lady, could she?

She was from an unremarkable area in a remote province. Gelad found it ridiculous that she pretended to know anything about food. If it wasn’t for the duke’s orders, Gelad wouldn’t have cared if Camilla starved.

“I put my heart and soul into this dish,” he told her.

Camilla stared wordlessly at the head chef. She groaned internally. Camilla sighed lightly as she looked into Gelad’s eyes. His annoyance was obvious. It didn’t bother Camilla that he no longer seemed to even try masking his contempt.

I’m used to it. As someone who had been in the spotlight since she was young, she had gotten used to ignoring people with less than favorable opinions of her. That was not what was bothering her.

God, shut up. Camilla felt like her head was going to explode.

«This idiot! I’ve told you over and over again! Food is only worth anything when people enjoy it!»

What was that loudmouth old man yelling about now?

«No matter how good the food is, if no one eats it, it’s no better than trash!»

Camilla sighed and turned to look at the ghostly spirit of an old man standing next to Gelad. He had been blabbering ever since he and the chef had entered the room.

These aren’t even my old eyes. So why can I still see ghosts in this body? Since entering this body, Camilla suddenly began to see spirits that she’d never before been able to. This was just another reason for Camilla to be upset.

I guess I’m really here for good… Oh, for goodness’ sake. She bit back a curse. She wanted to find whoever had stuck her in this woman’s body so she could give them a piece of her mind.

Now what am I supposed to do?

«And this pie! Your cinnamon measurement was off by a gram! It may only be one gram, but one gram makes a huge difference in taste! And this girl Camilla doesn’t even like apples. I keep telling you to consider the tastes of the person you’re cooking for!» the old ghost continued yelling.

Oh god, I’m losing my mind. Camilla frowned slightly and took a bite of the pie, hoping to get this over with quickly. Then she threw the fork down on her plate.

“Why did you do that, miss?” asked Gelad.

“Take it away.”

“Is something not to your liking?” He had expected Camilla to be amazed when she tasted his pie. He frowned at her unexpected reaction.

“I don’t like it.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said I don’t like it.”

“Wh-what are you—!” Gelad’s features twisted with rage. How dare someone without any taste insult his food? How dare she not like it?! “That’s impossible! This pie is—”

“It’s missing a little bit of cinnamon, don’t you think? About one gram’s worth. You’re serving food when you don’t even have the basics of baking down. Now take this away.”

“What?” Gelad asked.

Cinnamon?

“And I don’t like apples,” Camilla continued.

“Well, that’s…”

“Shouldn’t you first consider the tastes of the person you’re serving? What good is food if you’re the only one who’s satisfied with it? If no one eats it, it’s no better than trash.”

Gelad was taken aback. Those words… Wasn’t that something his late mentor used to say?

Camilla glared back at Gelad’s confused expression. “Are you leaving or not?”

Only then did Gelad come to his senses. His face turned red. The head chef quickly grabbed the apple pie and left the room.

Now you leave, too.

The old ghost stared at Camilla in shock. She had just said everything he wanted to tell Gelad. She waved her hand as if to dismiss him. The moment that his gaze met Camilla’s, the old ghost’s eyes widened.

Oh? What? Never met a human who can see ghosts before?

He seemed completely stunned.

Ugh, whatever. Camilla flopped back down onto her bed.

* * *

«What’s wrong, Ferrol?»

Another ghost approached the old man as he left Camilla’s room. He seemed to be a similar age, and was dressed neatly in a suit.

«She looked at me,» said Ferrol.

«Someone looked at you?»

«She looked at me! I swear, we made eye contact!»

«Slow down, Ferrol. Explain to me exactly what happened. What do you mean she looked at you?»

«The child in that room! I’m telling you, she looked right at me.»

«Who? Lady Camilla did?»

Ferrol scoffed. «Why do you bother calling her ‘Lady Camilla?’ Do you think you’re still a butler here?»

«We mustn’t forget ourselves just because we’re dead, Ferrol.» Derrin, the butler ghost, smiled pleasantly. «Since the duke has accepted her as his daughter, we must also pay her our respect. But, did she really see you?»

«That’s what I’ve been telling you.»

«Hmm.»

The two old ghosts turned and looked at the door to Camilla’s room. They had both observed the young woman for a long time but had never thought that she might be able to see them.

«Are you sure she was looking at you, specifically?» Derrin asked.

«She looked right into my eyes. And she waved her hand at me.»

«She waved?» Derrin pensively put a hand to his chin. «We should keep an eye on her. Since we’re the only ghosts left here, this will be up to us.»

Ferrol, the old ghost of the former head chef, nodded.

In agreement, the two ghosts disappeared.

* * *

All right. I need to make it out of this alive. Three more days had passed since Camilla turned down the apple pie. In that time, she’d had no choice but to make a decision.

If this is how it’s going to be, then it’s up to me. Returning to the real world seemed out of the question. Maybe someday she would have an opportunity, but for now, going back to her old life seemed impossible. She decided it was no longer doing her any good to waste time like this.

Before I can worry about that, I need to survive. Camilla was done with lying in her bed all day long. She leapt to her feet. She wasn’t going to accept her execution lying down.

“First, I need to fix my reputation around here.”

In some versions of Camilla’s life, she was not involved in Ravi’s plan to assassinate Ludville. But even in those timelines, her fate had always been the same. People in the mansion hated Camilla so much that as soon as Ravi’s plot was discovered, she was always captured as well. They conspired to turn her into a criminal alongside her brother and framed her with false testimonies. No one believed she was innocent, no matter how hard she begged and screamed. Everyone trusted the lying staff more than they trusted Camilla.