Chapter 2.2

“Uh, yes?”

“More! Say more, keep talking!”

The noblewoman waved the fan in her hand in frantic circles, urging her on. Prompted by her insistence, Cynthia quickly opened her mouth.

“Um… I-I just wanted to ask about the carriage accident…”

“Oh my goodness!”

“I can’t believe it!”

As soon as Cynthia began speaking, gasps and cries of astonishment rang out from all directions.

‘…What’s so surprising about what I just said?’

She stopped again, visibly confused. This time, a nobleman across the street with a perfectly styled mustache called out loudly.

“Don’t stop! Keep going!”

“Ah! R-Right, so… the person who collapsed here…”

“This is incredible!”

Completely thrown off by their reaction, Cynthia closed her mouth without thinking. The noblewoman with the fan looked around at the others on the street and called out, her voice filled with excitement.

“What do you think?”

“It’s incredible. Seriously…”

“It’s almost eerily identical!”

“It really is…!”

Identical? Identical to what…?

Cynthia openly scowled. She couldn’t understand the Bailey family members. Even with someone standing right in front of them asking a question, they just kept talking among themselves.

“…Then perhaps—”

“Yes, at least for now…”

Soon enough, the Bailey family members began sneaking subtle glances at each other. The same people who had been complaining and grumbling moments ago were now wearing suspicious little smiles.

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“You expect me to believe that?”

“Yes. It is exactly as you heard.”

Cynthia stared at the man in front of her, completely stunned.

He wore fine clothing, expensive-looking glasses, and had neatly styled blond hair. The well-groomed man had introduced himself as Dale, the Bailey family’s butler.

“T-That’s ridiculous…”

“This is the Bailey estate, after all. If there’s anywhere something that absurd could happen, it’s here.”

Dale said it with complete seriousness and sincerity. Cynthia stared at him as if he were some kind of creature from another world, then shot up from her seat.

“I’ve heard enough. I’m leaving.”

“Five million mint.”

“…Excuse me?”

But the second she heard that outrageous number, Cynthia froze in her tracks. She couldn’t believe that jaw-dropping sum had actually come out of his mouth. It felt like a slap to the face.

“Just three months.”

“….”

“If you agree to play the role of the late Lady Elizabeth for just three months, you’ll receive 500,000 mint upfront. Once the entire act wraps up smoothly, we’ll pay you the remaining 4.5 million mint.”

‘W-What? Half a million upfront and five million total…?’

In the Dirotein Empire, the average monthly living expenses for a family of four commoners were 20,000 mint. And now she was being told that if she just pretended for a few months, she could walk away with five million mint?

Cynthia’s hands curled into tight fists.

In her mind, she pictured that rundown shack barely standing.

Whoever the Cynthia of this world had been, she hadn’t saved a single coin and was drowning in mysterious debt. She recalled the violent debt collectors who showed up practically every day. It had become so exhausting to keep paying off that debt that she started wishing the novel would end quickly…

Five million mint…

It was, without a doubt, a very tempting offer, but what they were proposing was completely absurd.

She spun on her heel and snapped at Dale.

“How can you even suggest something so absurd as impersonating the late Lady Elizabeth?!”

“As I mentioned earlier, absurdities are rather common here.”

“Impersonating a noble? I’m a commoner! That’s a major crime under Dirotein law! If I get caught, I’ll be thrown straight into prison!”

“If that happens, we’ll handle it through the proper channels.”

“Haaah…”

Cynthia stood there, mouth agape.

The Bailey family members from earlier and the man standing right in front of her—they were all clearly out of their minds.

“Fine. But even if I agree, just look at me. There’s nothing about me that resembles Lady Elizabeth. Not my face, not my height, not my hair color, not even the way I move. How exactly am I supposed to pull off pretending to be her?”

“Your voice.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your voice is almost eerily identical to hers.”

Dale replied without hesitation.

‘The voice again…!’

Cynthia was getting sick of hearing about it. So, all those strange and bizarre reactions from earlier were just because her voice supposedly sounded exactly like Elizabeth’s?

‘Seriously, don’t all young women kind of sound the same…!’

“Lady Elizabeth’s voice had a distinct resonance to it. And you, Miss Cynthia, have that same resonance.”