If they were trying to piss me off, they sure succeeded.

And the fact that those ugly guys were laughing at me made me feel even worse.

Outraged, I retorted.

“Luca’s sick, so I’m heading to the apothecary.”

“Oh, since when? I thought you didn’t care about Luca? You said that getting sick is part of growing up.”

“I’m not in the mood to joke around.”

I wanted to ditch them all, but Thomas didn’t care and stayed right next to me.

He glanced towards me and wanted to gauge my reaction.

“Hey, by the way, a fine gentleman came by today. It looks like he’s an aristocrat so Lea already set her eyes on him.”

Emden village isn’t that big of a place, everyone was in the know with everything.

If any stranger were to come to the village, that gossip traveled quickly.

That’s how it was around here.

I could only guess who came to the village.

It must be the owner of the carriage that ruined my clothes, that aristocrat.

“Ah, I think I know who it is.”

“You met him? You saw him?“

“No, I couldn’t. That carriage almost hit me and I fell down.”

“So is that why you look so messed up?”

There was some sense of contentment in his voice.

He seemed happy that I didn’t get involved with that aristocrat.

I didn’t even try to show any interest in what he was saying; his words went through one ear and out the other.

I reiterated again and again that Luca was ill, but he kept rambling on with his pointless small talk.

Whether I met the aristocrat or not, it didn’t matter to me.

I ignored him and only continued to go my own way.

Thomas, who was still standing next to me, cleared his throat.

“Um, hey. So, do you have a partner today?”

I should’ve known that as soon as I entered the village, he would swarm around me like a mosquito.

My eyebrows deeply furrowed.

He didn’t even listen to what I said all this time?

“I told you, Luca’s sick. What about a partner? Stop pestering me. Go find someone else to bother.”

“Come on, don’t use Luca as an excuse. And since when did you care about Luca that much?”

Thomas repeated those same words over and over again.

He must’ve really thought that I was lying.

Boy, was I pissed off.

I had no motive to let others know of my true intentions.

To change the villagers’ long-standing perception of Judith Maybaum would take too much time, especially since I entered this body only recently.

27 years and 1 month.

This body’s karma needed to run its course.

But every time I spoke, everyone always assumed that I was lying, so there was no other option but to feel bad.

‘At least she wasn’t that infamous nor a notorious villain, so I need to be thankful for that.

And if I were to head to another village, maybe I won’t receive this kind of treatment.’

After I send Luca to the Winterwald residence, maybe it’ll be better off for me to move to another village.

In any case, I still needed to avoid his distant relatives…

They tried to find every possible angle to strike down Luca from.

Even if Judith didn’t try to coax more money from Winterwald, as she did in the original story, it was only a matter of time when they would find her, as she was the only living relative from his mother’s side during Luca’s childhood.

Since Winterwald is up north, that’s a no go.

The west is dangerous for strangers, so that’s also not good.

And since Emden is down south, nope…

Heading east or towards the capital was promising.

For a young single woman without a place to call home, settling down in a rural village didn’t seem to be a good idea though, so heading to the capital seemed to be the best option.

‘If you want to hide a tree, go to a forest to hide it.’

Thomas was clinging onto me so much that I became even more desperate to move away.

Like a parrot, I kept on trying to say things to brush off Thomas.

But even that had limits.

I couldn’t handle it any longer and rage erupted from my eyes.

“Since when did I give Luca as an excuse? If I hated something, I would tell you that I did. Don’t you know that?”

“I-I know.“

“Do I have to spell out every damn letter in order for you to understand?”

My eyebrows furiously furrowed as I shouted.

Soon after Thomas stopped talking, his shoulders slouched.

Whether he didn’t want to give up or justify his position, he started mumbling to himself.

“But… stop playing so hard to get. You know, that’s why you still aren’t married and have to take care of your nephew instead. No one’s going to take you if you don’t lower your expectations.”

He snapped at me as if he rehearsed this line perfectly.

Blood vessels on my forehead burst out in anger.

Although there are countless differences between Judith and me, some similarities do exist, I suppose.

One similarity was that we wouldn’t want to lower our expectations just to get married.

Judith’s first term for marriage: wealth!

As much as she has an inferiority complex about her appearances, she enjoyed prettying up herself.