Maria Leanora De La Riva aka the gothic lady is her aunt, and Stella Rosario De La Riva aka crystal ball girl is her cousin.
What a fabulous family she has. She thought as she sat silently in her chair, while the two females decided on the specifics of her supposedly 'love story'.
Apparently when her father said he would 'get help', he meant he would grab his two charmingly obnoxious relatives and let them decide what to do with her situation.
Unfortunately the two said women decided she 'needed' a grand love story to explain how she got pregnant. For the rest of the day they remained in the drawing room with her relatives deciding how she met her supposedly 'husband'.
"She could fall and he would have helped her get up." Her Aunt suggested.
"No, no, no, no, no that would have been unbecoming, we could say she prettily' stumbled on him." Her cousin suggested.
It has been hours now, almost nighttime. The twilight rays from the window made her realize just how late this whole ordeal has become. Anna touches her temples, aware of a brewing headache that threatens to get worse as this thing drags on.
"And then?" Her Aunt prompted.
"And then he was captivated, couldn't let go of our dear cousin. But he did not have a choice. After all, he is nothing but a poor commoner." Her cousin animatedly declared, twirling in the room as needed.
"And so what happened?" Her aunt asks again, clearly very invested in her make believe meeting with the father of her child.
"He asked for a dance, but alas'... everyone knows my cousin wanted to marry into gentry and so he was denied."
"Oh how crushing." Sadness was apparent in her aunt's voice.
"And so he kidnapped her!!"
That escalated quickly.
Her cousin continued with her tale. "...he took her to the border, across that barbaric nation where they could get married without obtaining a marriage license."
"Wouldn't that mean, I was abducted and raped?" Anna couldn't help but interrupt.
"But of course not, you weren't raped, you fell in love with him and gave up your heart willingly." Her cousin countered.
Willingly how? As if reading her thoughts her cousin's eyes twinkled.
"It was his ruggedly handsome face, he had a face you like, and you love him at first sight, yes, very much so, but you hesitated because he was not titled, but still loved it when he swept you off your feet in his white horse, oh no, let's make it black, a black horse of a stead and ride over the sunset."
"You know daughter, i have always been fond of wide shoulders, I'd say, we describe him as someone with a sturdy frame too." Her aunt interjected.
"But of course mother, only the best for our dear cousin here." beamed Stella.
Anna gave a sigh, this has gone far too long. Let's get this over with.
"Okay so, what will we say his name is?" She asked.
"Oh we could just pick it out from the obituaries in the newspaper..." Stella said before the two women looked at her father who was holding a copy of it, perusing the contents as if he was carefully deciding his next acquisition."...Have you decided on a name, Uncle?"
"Well I know some of these lads, so we have to be careful to select someone with no background or maybe an orphan that no one knows of, that will make it easier for all of us."
"I am glad you have been a merchant for so long Brother, you probably have some idea of at least which of these men would be of common birth and will fit our needs." Her Aunt praised, causing his father to flush as he tugged on his cravat uncomfortably. It occurred to her that her father is one of those types that do not take compliments well.
"I am merely going through everyone's family name. I have done multiple businesses all across this country and will recognize well off or nobles that have died in that war."
"I will never understand the conflict that we have with the north. I swear all those lives lost in some senseless war, may god rest these poor men's souls." Stella lamented as she did the sign of the cross.
It turns out this place that she got transmigrated to has an ongoing war with the neighboring country. The tension has been growing with it finally breaking into a full ongoing war. It was amazing how they could sit so peacefully in this mansion when just across the border war has been ongoing for the past 3 years.
"De Castro, John. Is that gonna be my niece's husband." Her aunt said softly as she positioned herself at the back of her father's chairs, peering over his shoulder as if trying to make out the writings on the publication.
"It's a name I am not familiar with, I figured we should include it on the list."
Curious, Anna walked towards her father and took a peek at the paper as well. She saw multiple lists of names in the last name's alphabetical order. Several of the names have been circled with her father's quill, no doubt as her potential husband.
"Estevez, Ambrose Martin.. that's an unusual name, why did you not circle this one Uncle?" Stella asked, as she too could not resist checking out the list.
"I know those people, they were landed gentries who still fights with his majesty's knights, they technically do not need to as they are titled gentlemen however the Estevez has been unfailingly loyal to the crown and as such, the family always send one of their sons to the battlefield to defend the border."
"Never heard of them."
"Of course you haven't, they keep to themselves, blindly following the orders of the king despite the fact that the monarchy does not give a damn about that god forsaken land."
Too afraid to ask, Anna kept her mouth shut. This conversation opened up a million questions she wished she could ask, but was afraid she might ask something each citizen should already know and blew her cover. She can't afford to have these people suspicious of her.
"Well it is already late, what say we all have a late meal then I'll be up in the morning, call my contacts and have these names investigated?"
Stella was already yawning as she responded "That sounds like a plan, I'll take my meal in the guestroom."
After the meal, everybody bid her good night. As Anna lay awake in her bedroom, she is plagued by what has happened during the day. In manhwa's she read it never mentioned about the guilt one would feel while taking over someone else's body. It is already close to midnight now, yet sleep eluded her. She lay awake in her bed, staring at the quiet darkness of her room while her mind won't stop replaying the events of the day.
She would toss and turn and a part of her feels so anxious, she can't get past the idea that she is living a lie. Somehow she feels like her cover will get blown anytime, she might be overthinking but she has been asking herself what is she gonna do if this family found out she was an impostor?
I should sleep. I should not be overthinking this. But still she remained awake, this might be her conscience talking for she could not seem to get over it.
Even if she wanted to, her mind was running multiple scenarios on how this could all go awry. For the first time ever, she regretted being reincarnated, she just could not seem to find peace. Maybe it would have been better if she had woken up in her actual bed this morning.
She stops to think about it and realizes, if she had not transmigrated, she would have had no choice but to go to work. Feeling her stomach, she would have never gotten this baby growing inside of her.
Overall, she knew she would choose this life over her original one if she had been given the chance. She steel her resolve and finally was able to fall asleep.
By the afternoon of the next day, Anna found herself sitting in a close carriage across from her aunt and cousin.
"Oh Secillia, we will have a wonderful time. Now that you can finally come out, we need to go shopping." Her cousin was saying, as she adjusted her brimmed hat/crystal ball holder on her head.
"We need some dresses for you, the ones that you have were all ill fitting and needed replacement. And I need a hat, better get them here where the designs are far more modern than the options we have back home." Her Aunt sighs.
"I know mother, I do positively wish we live in the capital instead..." Then the young girl turned to her. ".... I do adore the city, I wish I had the courage like you and ran away and lived here, I mean sure you got pregnant after just 2 months, but it is nothing we cannot fix."
"R-right." Somehow, she knew this cousin of hers meant well, but she wondered if the girl realized everything that is wrong with her sentence, plus hearing her suspicions confirmed that she is indeed a runaway made her more uncomfortable.
Stella seemed to notice, and in a typical close family relationship fashion she grabbed her hands and held it. Looking in her eyes, she started saying. "It's okay cousin Secillia, you don't need to feel ashamed about anything, we will get through this, I have your back just as you had mine since we were kids, you are not gonna go through this alone." Her cousin said sincerely tugging her heartstring along with her sincerity.
She did not get to answer back though, for something caught Stella's attention and her face proceeded to brighten up like that of a child looking at fireworks for the first time.
"Look Secillia, a brawl!!" Stella exclaimed. Hearing her daughter, her aunt quickly scooted over to her seat and looked out the window. Along came her unsurprisingly nosy goat who is of course travelling with them in the carriage.
Soon the carriage came to a stop. The fight clearly caused traffic on the two way street. As the brawl goes on, the mother and daughter duo start to ask each other what is going on, despite the fact that one clearly has just the same amount of information as the other.
When they started hearing shouts, it was clear the fight was going for the worse. Instead of fearing for their lives, the two women proceeded to make bets on who would win.
She however was left out of the view. Despite this, a smile played on her lips as she watched her relatives start cheering for their respective champions, blurting out curses no women in a strictly Victorian society should even be aware of.
She was still enjoying the view, when her aunt looked back at her after noticing she was not at the window with them.
""What are you doing back there? Then she proceeded to grab her hand and pulled her in.
Making sure she has a space with them, Aunt Leonora placed her obnoxiously struggling goat on her back, backpack style. Its paws are now resting on her aunt's crumpled bonnet, as its master's eyes remained glued on the street.
Anna laughed, and she too started watching the fight unfold in front of her. Vaguely aware of being squeezed simultaneously by her cousin, her aunt and the goat, The smile remained plastered in her face.
The carriage window was terribly small for all of them to be looking about, despite this she could not deny that she felt warm knowing her family provided her with this small space, successfully creating a place for her, instead of just leaving her behind.