"Is something wrong, Mother? Is the food ready?" Lucia asked in confusion, since she had only just left her room not long ago and doubted the food could already be finished.
"Daughter, I didn't want to bother you earlier, but we need to talk. The day you fell ill, two boys came looking for you and…" Vanessa hesitated, and then Lucia interrupted her.
"What were they looking for me for?" Lucia asked, perplexed, since that detail hadn't been mentioned in the novel.
"They're looking for you because they want you to answer for what you did," Vanessa replied, blushing. Despite being a woman in a world ruled by women, she was still a very shy person.
Lucia's mother was an honest and simple woman. Even though she was the Duchess of the Scarlet Kingdom, she had only married two men whom she loved deeply and had never taken concubines. Besides her two husbands and her children, no one else had ever entered her heart.
Vanessa had nine sons and one daughter. Lucia was the only girl among her siblings and the future heir of the Evans Duchy. However, the relationship between Lucia and her brothers had never been good, since they despised her for her promiscuous behavior and lack of dedication to her studies and other important matters of the duchy.
"What I did?" Lucia asked in confusion. What had she done that she didn't know about?
She searched through the memories of the body's original owner, looking at everything that had been done recently. She realized that aside from eating and sleeping, there wasn't much. Of course, that was without counting the many times the original had gone to brothels for fun.
She recalled that the original had seduced two noble boys who were brothers, taking them to an inn to spend the night. Indescribable things had happened.
For the original owner, it had all just been a game, and she hadn't even thought much about them afterward. But obviously, the boys wouldn't give up so easily after losing their purity and chastity.
Suddenly, it was as if a bolt of lightning had struck her. She immediately understood—they wanted marriage because of what had happened that night. She smiled ironically and told her mother with the calmest face she could manage:
"Mom, I… I'll marry them," she said with a smile, though inside she had already resigned herself. The two boys were sons of one of the most important families in the Scarlet Kingdom—the sons of Duchess White of the most powerful duchy in the realm. Their family was even more influential than her own, and she didn't want to cause trouble for her mother.
"Are you sure? We can ignore them and send them away right now," Vanessa answered with a determined look.
Lucia was surprised to hear her mother say that. They were in her house right at that moment! She immediately tensed and grew nervous. Even though she had just said she would marry them, she wasn't mentally prepared to face something she hadn't even done herself.
"Where are they now?" Lucia asked nervously.
"In the sitting room next to the dining hall," her mother replied with a smile. "But daughter, you're far too young to marry. You'll only be turning sixteen soon—it's not an age for a young woman to wed,"—she added with concern.
"It doesn't matter, Mother. It's not like I'll marry tomorrow—it will be in some time," Lucia answered with a forced smile.
Lucia felt powerless before the situation unfolding before her. She had to admit that she did, in fact, want to have a harem. But she didn't want to be forced into it. She supposed it was a matter of pride, but she had no choice. According to this world's rules—where a man could only belong to one woman—if she rejected becoming the wife of the White brothers, they would have to live in disgrace, all because of what the original owner had done.
She sighed and cracked her knuckles, something she always did whenever she was stressed.
—"Let's go, Mother,"—Lucia asked.
The two of them walked to the sitting room, where two incredibly handsome boys awaited them, with an enchanting, indescribable beauty.
The first, Lucas White, was a young man with scarlet-red hair and blood-red eyes. His features were delicate, his gaze sly like a fox's. He looked fragile, ethereal, and elegant.
The second, Sebastian White, was a young man with snow-white hair and light gray eyes. Like his brother, he was beautiful, with delicate features. His deep, majestic eyes made him look ethereal and extraordinary.
End of Chapter 3.