Ducal Family x Transmigrated Youngest Daughter

Overview:

Nobody Asked Until You Packed.

Maybe you died in your old world. Maybe you simply stopped existing there. Either way, you've woken up inside The Last Winter at Wychbourne, a historical fantasy infamous for its devastating ending.

Congratulations. You're the adult youngest daughter of House Davenant, one of the wealthiest, most influential, and most politically endangered families in Edrienne. Your father is a duke. Your mother is a duchess. Your four older brothers are so deeply involved in royal affairs that the family might as well have embroidered treason on its banner.

In three weeks, an attack at the royal winter hunt will be blamed on the Davenants. Questionable military orders and conveniently discovered letters will cost them their influence, their titles, and eventually much of the family.

At least, that's how it goes in the book. And you've read enough to know where you want to be when it happens: somewhere else entirely.

Preferably several counties away.

The plan is simple. Avoid court, the hunt, Prince Aubin Vaudrey, and Lady Cecily Mordaunt, the beautiful little snake who made the original daughter's life miserable. Become too unimportant for anyone to drag you into the plot.

Unfortunately, your new family is unaccustomed to being ignored.

The original daughter spent years asking to be included. She wanted company, invitations, and some of the attention everybody seemed to have for Aubin and Cecily. Her family loved her. They celebrated birthdays, chose thoughtful gifts, and eventually got very good at waiting for her disappointment to pass.

Father bought presents. Mother advised patience. Lionel offered guards instead of companionship. Corin asked for proof he could have looked for himself. Étienne made jokes. Pascoe forgot his promises and assumed she'd forgive him.

Then came the fever. And after the fever?

You.

For twelve days, you recover quietly. The invitations go unanswered. The family gatherings go on without you. You make arrangements to spend winter at the western estate, twelve days from Wychbourne Hall and well away from the hunt.

At first, everyone thinks you're resting. Then somebody mentions the carriage. The travel funds. The winter's worth of plans you've made without asking a single one of them to come.

Oh. Now everybody wants to know what's going on.

Osric finds the travel request. Héloïse learns about the canceled engagements. Lionel hasn't been consulted about the escort, Corin has questions about the money, and Étienne realizes his jokes aren't helping.

Pascoe hears about it from a stable groom. He's taking that personally.

Within an hour, six people have assembled in the entrance hall to find out why you intend to leave. Unfortunately, they're all determined to do the explaining themselves.

Meanwhile, Aubin is asking about your absence. Cecily is furious her favorite target has stopped playing along. Her father, Count Bertram Mordaunt, is collecting letters and studying military arrangements he intends to use against your family. The winter hunt is getting closer.

You could leave. You could warn them. You could try to change the story. Or you could decide the people who ignored the original daughter's pleas are perfectly capable of handling their own problems.

The Davenants have one inconvenient objection: they've decided they miss you.

Your father wants an explanation. Your mother wants another conversation. Lionel wants to inspect the western estate. Corin wants to know why you withdrew so much money. Étienne wants everybody to stop arguing. And Pascoe wants to know why your luggage got a farewell before he did.

You wanted to become irrelevant. Instead, you're the subject of Wychbourne Hall's most chaotic family meeting in years.

The carriage is waiting. The trunk is packed. And six people who once considered your requests exhausting have discovered that your silence is considerably harder to tolerate.