The life of a wealthy unemployed person was beyond imagination.
No one nagged me to wake up early even if I slept in, I didn't have to dress myself, and I never even washed myself with my own hands.
And that wasn't all.
Meals appeared before me like clockwork, along with occasional elaborate snacks.
The maids instinctively brought whatever I needed before I even asked.
If this wasn't paradise, what was?
"Everything's great. Really great, but…."
However, there was one thing that even she, who rarely nitpicked, couldn't overlook.
And that was.
"Ugh."
She wasn't able to have a proper meal.
As soon as she put food in her mouth, nausea surged, and Dalia covered her mouth.
Only after spitting the food into a napkin did she finally feel a bit better.
"How many times has this happened?"
Dalia set down her fork with a toss, frowning. The beautifully made omelet was now a mess.
Dalia gulped down water to wash away the unpleasant taste lingering in her mouth.
Since being reincarnated here, she had never had a satisfying meal.
The meals brought by the maids only looked fine but tasted utterly disgusting.
She glared at the omelet that only looked appetizing.
"It's almost impressive how they managed to make an omelet this bad…."
She couldn't understand why an omelet, which only needed eggs and salt, tasted like canned mackerel.
It wasn't just the omelet.
Even the mushroom soup on the trolley had a strong fishy taste.
"What on earth is the problem?"
At first, she thought it was just a mistake by the cook. After all, anyone could make a mistake once.
So Dalia asked the maid to bring new food, saying the seasoning seemed off, but the result didn't change.
"Every new dish they bring consistently tastes like rotten fish."
And now it had been four days of this.
Only today did Dalia realize something strange, and her expression turned serious.
"Could it be…."
The Seier Duchy was a family with power rivaling that of the Empire's Emperor.
In such a noble family, and in the food meant for the Duchess no less, to have such a horrible taste?
There could only be one reason for this.
Perhaps it was…
"Pregnancy?"
Ah. Why hadn't she thought of that?
Just a few days ago, she had been sulking over the confirmation of her pregnancy!
With a short sigh, Dalia slapped her forehead and slumped.
Most likely, the food didn't taste right because of morning sickness.
"I really ended up pregnant…."
She had been clinging to a faint hope, but unfortunately, after that night, she had truly ended up pregnant.
Waking up one day to find herself pregnant in this absurd reality, she sulked for a while before shaking her head in resignation.
Since she had reincarnated as a heroine who runs away after getting pregnant, the pregnancy was inevitable. Feeling down about it wouldn't change anything.
Instead, there was something else she needed to focus on immediately.
Dalia looked at the food spread out on the table.
"How can food, the most important of the essentials, be in this state?"
It was absolutely dreadful.
Dalia sighed once again, looking genuinely distressed.
At this rate, it felt like she might starve to death before giving birth.
Unable to touch the food laid out before her, Dalia finally stood up.
"If it's come to this, there's no other choice."
I'll have to find food I can eat myself.
With that decision, Dalia quickly left her room.
* * *
"Where is the kitchen, anyway?"
Dalia, wandering around the mansion, looked around to find her way.
On the first day of her reincarnation, she had toured the mansion under the guise of familiarizing herself with her new home, but she hadn't left her room since.
As a result, it was inevitable that Dalia, who didn't know where the kitchen was, would get lost in the mansion.
If only there were someone passing by.
Somehow, there wasn't a single person around.
Just as she was starting to regret coming out.
She heard chatter coming from not far around the corner.
People!
Just as she thought she might finally find the kitchen and started to turn the corner.
"She didn't ask to change the food today?"
She froze at the sound of the continuing conversation.
"Right? She just seems to eat it now."
Are they talking about me?
Well, I guess I was being a bit of a nuisance. Just yesterday, I kept asking them to bring food until it tasted right.
From the maids' perspective, they probably thought I was being fussy.
Well, that's fair.
If it were the original heroine, her timid nature would've made her think the maids disliked her just from hearing this.
But you have to listen to people until the end. Surely, what comes next will be concern about my health because I keep leaving food untouched…
"Isn't the madam seriously annoying?"
…Guess not.
"Exactly! So annoying. She used to just eat whatever we gave her, and now she's suddenly so picky?"
"I know, right? I thought she knew we've been messing with her food, but it seems like she doesn't."
Dalia's eyes widened as she listened to the maids' conversation.
Messing with the food?
Oh my god.
It was then that she silently sighed, as if realizing something important.
So the reason the food tasted strange was because of the maids' pranks? Does that mean the nausea wasn't morning sickness?
Realizing that the issue wasn't morning sickness but an actual problem with the food, a bit of color returned to Dalia's face.
At that moment, a small spark of hope flared within her—maybe she wasn't pregnant after all.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind, and she quickly raised her head.
No, more importantly.
Have I been hated by the maids?
She was briefly shocked by the realization that she had been bullied without even noticing it.
The continuing conversation only drove home the fact that the maids were disregarding the Duchess.
"No one even wants to talk to the Duchess; that's why no one speaks to her."
Honestly, I loved that no one talked to me.
"She can't even wear her corset properly because we won't help her put it on."
Not wearing a corset? Honestly, that's been so comfortable.
Of all the things the maids did to make her life harder, the only thing that bothered her was the food.
In many ways, it was shocking.
But the shock quickly faded.
But really, who in the world lives without being talked about?
Besides, in an employer-employee relationship, it's normal for workers to dislike their boss.
If they keep messing with my food, I'll just keep asking for replacements until they're too exhausted to keep it up.
Thinking that way made her feel better.
Unlike other reincarnation romance novels, dealing a sharp comeback to the servants who disregarded the heroine felt too troublesome.
Besides.
"And at that last party, she just stayed quiet even when insulted by the other nobles. It's so humiliating. The Seier Duchy isn't a family that should be treated like that!"
The more she listened, the more Dalia found herself agreeing with the maid's words and had nothing to retort.
But a tea party….
The maid's words reminded her of the tea party episode that appeared early in the book.
It was the episode where the Marchioness of Borsen insulted the heroine, who came from a declining barony.
But the heroine hadn't been able to counter the words of the lower-ranked Marchioness and had simply endured it, hadn't she?
Later, when the male lead found out, he destroyed the Borsen family's business in revenge, but that was far in the future.
Honestly, even I was frustrated back then. If it were me, I would've grabbed her by the hair….
"Ugh! If it were me, I'd have grabbed that woman by the hair!"
Hearing the maid voice her exact thoughts, Dalia nodded in agreement.
But was it because she was so engrossed in their conversation? Dalia didn't notice someone approaching from behind her.
"Madam? What are you doing here? Do you need something?"
The chatter stopped abruptly when a servant spotted Dalia and called out to her.
"M-Madam…! Since when…!"
It was only then that the maids realized Dalia had been standing behind the wall, and their faces turned pale.
The two maids looked uneasy, not knowing how much of their conversation Dalia had overheard.
"Since the part where you said I'm annoying?"
"Eek!"
At those words, the two maids quickly bowed their heads in front of Dalia.
"W-We're sorry, Madam! We were just…."
Although they had been looking down on the Duchess, they had never outright mocked her like this, so they were clearly afraid of the consequences.
Ah, they're worried I'll punish them for their gossip.
I'm really okay with it.
In fact, it was actually pretty amusing.
To ease their tension, Dalia smiled brightly and responded.
"No, your story was entertaining! Go on."
But for some reason, the maids' faces grew even paler, turning almost blue.
It seemed they had misunderstood her intentions.