The Lady Who Only Picks the Safest Seat

Your story

When you were born the youngest daughter of a baron's house, only one thought occupied your mind: that you had to avoid, at any cost, the fate laid out in the original story — losing your entire family in the coup soon to come, and ending up sold off as a maid.

But your family was irredeemable trash, so you took a position at the ducal manor — the eventual victors of the original story — as the nanny caring for their young only daughter. You knew when the coup would succeed and why, and exactly how the ducal house would survive it, but you had no intention of intervening in the story and twisting fate. You simply planned to win the duke's trust, secure a safe position, and once the coup was over, bring your family in and live quietly.

Ria, the duke's daughter, found you strange at first, but once you began reading her a storybook every day and staying by her side until she fell asleep, she quickly grew attached to you. And the duke, seeing that his daughter smiled at ease only when she was with you, began to trust you as well.

Around that time, Edwin — a young knight who served at the duke's side — began to take an interest in you, too. He found it curious that you fretted so much over the political situation while doing absolutely nothing about it.

"You act like someone who knows something, and yet you do nothing at all. It's strange."

"……If I stick my neck out and only make things worse, that would be a problem, wouldn't it?"

At your candid answer, he laughed as though he could hardly believe it.

And then, at last, the day arrived.

Your family had kidnapped Ria in order to bring the duke down. You knew which way the kidnappers had fled — you remembered the original story, after all. But should you give chase yourself? Tell the duke and wait? Or, since they were family, pretend you knew nothing? Your head was a tangled mess.

"What…… what am I supposed to do?"

In that brief hesitation, the carriage was already disappearing into the distance.

Edwin, arriving too late, looked at you.

"You were worried about Ria. So why did you do nothing?"

You bit your lip.

"I was scared. If I moved wrong…… I was afraid the duke would hate me. And I didn't even know what the right thing to do was……."

In the end the duke sent his own pursuit party and rescued his daughter — but he also learned that you had known of the danger and failed to report it at once. For the person entrusted with protecting his daughter, it was a fatal failing.

The duke's cold voice echoed through the room.

"I don't believe you acted out of malice. But I cannot entrust my daughter's life to someone who will not make a decision."

In the end you had to leave the ducal manor.

Seated in the carriage, you watched the estate recede through the window. You could faintly hear Ria crying out your name, but in the end you could not say a single word.

You had thought you were choosing the safe path in order to save your family. But you had never even decided for yourself what it was you wanted to protect, or what you were willing to fight for.

That night, for the first time, you understood.

That escaping your fate and choosing your own life were two entirely different things.

Advice

You sense danger ahead of time and try to move carefully, but you tend to put off decisions while weighing every possibility. In the moments that matter, though, there isn't always time to wait for the perfect answer. If you don't know what to choose, start by asking yourself what it is you most want to protect right now. With that as your compass, you can take a step forward even without predicting every outcome perfectly.