Cinderella is... the Male Lead? - Chapter 3
The next morning, despite Susan’s insistence that she stay in bed longer, Rona got up. To avoid the fate of facing a bloody revenge in a year, she needed to act swiftly. Susan shook her head and led Rona somewhere.
Rona wanted to find Cinderella right away, but she followed Susan’s suggestion to have breakfast first. Thinking about the ending with bloody revenge made her anxious to meet Cinderella immediately, but she needed to stay calm and composed.
‘First, let’s fill my stomach. There’s no point in meeting Cinderella without a plan.’
They arrived at the dining room with a long table. As Rona took a seat, Susan spoke.
“Please, have a seat.”
“Sure.”
While Susan briefly disappeared, Rona awkwardly looked around the dining room. With her past life memories dominating her mind, her previous memories were very vague. Fortunately, she had faint memories of her childhood, but recent events in this mansion were as cloudy as a dark sky.
‘I think I used to have meals here with Susan every day. I don’t remember the details, but where’s Cinderella? She didn’t eat with us, did she?’
Since Cinderella was being mistreated, she was probably eating in some hidden corner or skipping meals while doing chores.
As Rona looked around curiously, like a stranger in a foreign place, Susan returned with a trolley. She placed steaming dishes on the table one by one and then sat down across from Rona.
‘Wait, something feels off…’
Rona’s green eyes scanned the food on the table. The hard bread, poorly grilled fish with flaky scales, and half-cooked morning glory stir-fry were clearly visible. For a noble’s meal, it was a pitiful spread. Why is the meal so shabby? Rona momentarily considered asking Susan but decided against it.
‘If I ask something like that, she’ll think I’ve gone mad and send me back to bed. I need to ask naturally without seeming like a patient.’
After quickly thinking it over, Rona chose an appropriate question.
“Susan, is there any other food?”
“Other… food?”
Susan’s expression wasn’t good. She seemed slightly irritated, and at that moment, forgotten memories flooded Rona’s mind.
‘Oh, right. We sent away all the servants to torment Cinderella. That’s it.’
Using the missing count as an excuse, they had scammed Cinderella and sent away the loyal servants who had been suspicious of the sudden arrival of the mother and daughter. If they started to doubt, their scam would be exposed in no time.
Cinderella, raised like a flower in a greenhouse, was easy to deceive. So, to avoid suspicion from the servants and to make Cinderella suffer alone, Susan and Rona had sent them all away. It was a clumsy plan befitting a fairy tale-inspired novel.
Rona closed her eyes in dismay.
‘Is this the downside of a fairy tale rewrite? In fairy tales, Cinderella does all the housework alone. So, in this novel inspired by Cinderella, they sent all the servants away to make the female lead work alone. That’s why the cooking is so poor, without a chef.’
Sure enough, Susan, seemingly furious, clattered her spoon down and scolded Rona.
“Can’t you just eat, Lady Rona? It’s already tough with no servants around. I tried making Cinderella cook, but you saw the mess she made.”
“R-Right. Well, this is edible.”
Since there was no chef, it meant Susan had cooked. Chewing the tough morning glory, Rona awkwardly responded. The mansion’s unkempt state was due to the lack of servants. The mansion was too large for delicate Cinderella to clean alone, hence the disarray.
After breakfast, Susan asked Rona to do the dishes, saying there wasn’t time to look for Cinderella. Given the large mansion and not knowing Cinderella’s exact whereabouts, it made more sense for Rona to do the work herself rather than wasting time looking for Cinderella to do it.
With her experience in living alone in her past life, Rona quickly finished the dishes and wandered around the mansion, looking for Cinderella.
Wandering here and there, she finally found someone with blonde hair cleaning the stairs. Cinderella, with golden curls and blue eyes, was wearing rags. Despite her ragged clothes, her beauty shone brightly, befitting the protagonist.
With her delicate beauty, she looked like an angel from heaven or a fairy. Unconsciously, Rona touched her own cheek.
‘Yes, that face. It’s the one I remember. She’s annoyingly pretty. This face wouldn’t lose anywhere, but for her, it’s unfortunate. I can’t imagine that this pretty girl will one day hold a bloody festival.’
Gulping audibly, Rona walked down the stairs. The sound of her shoes echoed, making Cinderella lift her head. Her blue eyes, as clear as the sky, froze solid when she saw Rona.
