Episode 3
A weak, trembling voice slipped out of my mouth.
I felt miserable.
Lonely.
Sad.
Like I was the only person left in the whole world.
The duke’s cold voice came from above me.
“Unbelievable.”
My emotions suddenly burst.
“Dad!”
I shouted at the top of my lungs as I looked up at him.
Honestly, just because the duke had appeared didn’t mean I’d instantly think of him as my father.
But…
“Hic…”
Maybe it was because this body belonged to a child…
It really hurt, as if my real father had abandoned me.
I’d been trying not to cry, but before I knew it, my eyes had filled with tears.
The duke’s face became blurry.
Strangely…
That gave me courage.
Because I couldn’t see the cold expression on his face anymore.
“You’re my dad!”
Just like Clatie had the marquis…
I had you.
“I want to go home!”
Big tears rolled endlessly down my cheeks.
My nose stung.
I clenched my tiny fists tightly and wrapped both arms around the duke’s leg.
As if I would never let go.
“Dad, take me home!”
It was unbelievably quiet.
I thought I heard someone nearby swallow nervously.
Slowly, I opened my eyes.
Plop.
A tear fell from my face.
At the same moment, I saw Duke Paeraton’s face.
He looked terrifying.
It wasn’t because he looked angry.
Or because he was glaring.
If anything…
His face was almost completely expressionless.
And somehow…
That made him even scarier.
“Hic.”
A hiccup escaped me without me realizing it.
The duke reached out toward me.
“No!”
“I’m not letting go!”
I desperately clung to his leg.
I held on with every bit of strength I had.
But Duke Paeraton simply grabbed me with one hand and effortlessly lifted me into the air.
Unlike what I’d expected…
He didn’t throw me away.
He didn’t shake me off.
Instead…
He lifted me to eye level and stared at me.
Our eyes met from only a foot away.
It was obvious.
He didn’t like what he saw.
Hmph.
It’s not like I like you either!
I’m only doing this because I’ll definitely die if I stay here!
“Hic.”
Even though I shouted confidently in my head…
Another hiccup came out instead.
The duke raised an eyebrow.
Then he started walking.
While still carrying me.
“Your Grace.”
The aide who had been silently following behind him called out, almost as if trying to stop him.
“We’re leaving.”
That was all the duke said.
Then he kept walking.
As he strode forward, I dangled from his arm with every step.
“If he’s leaving like this…”
“Does that mean he’s taking me with him?”
My heart pounded.
Finally.
Finally!
I was escaping this horrible place!
I stared at the door, getting closer and closer without even blinking.
Then.
“Ah.”
The duke suddenly stopped.
“Why?”
I glanced up at him.
But his emotionless face gave nothing away.
An uneasy feeling slowly crawled over me.
With the exit only a few steps away…
He turned around.
Still hanging from his side, I had no choice but to turn with him.
“D-Don’t tell me…”
My heart sank.
I grabbed onto the duke like he was my lifeline.
“Please don’t leave me behind!”
Then.
“AAAAAH!!”
A piercing scream echoed through the hall.
“What…?”
Still clinging to the duke’s chest, I looked toward where the scream had come from.
“T-Tie!”
“Miss!”
“W-What happened?!”
Through the panicking crowd…
I saw Clatie.
Her dress, which was probably worth millions just from the diamonds sewn into it…
Had been completely shredded.
“M-My dress!”
“My dress…!”
Clatie collapsed onto the floor and frantically touched the torn fabric.
“Duke Paeraton!”
The marquis wrapped an arm around Clatie’s shoulders as he shouted, his face completely pale.
“Don’t tell me…”
“Did the duke do that?”
He hadn’t even drawn his sword.
He hadn’t been anywhere near Clatie.
But judging from the timing and the marquis’s reaction…
It seemed like he was responsible.
“Have you completely lost your judgment?”
“If you’re going to be greedy, at least know what you’re allowed to covet.”
The marquis flinched at the duke’s icy words.
What surprised me wasn’t just that he didn’t argue back.
He looked away instead.
The marquis, who had always seemed so huge that I couldn’t even dream of resisting him…
Was backing down this easily.
But more than that…
“He looks like someone with a guilty conscience.”
That was what shocked me the most.
“D-Dad!”
Clatie called out tearfully.
But the marquis only comforted her.
He didn’t argue with the duke anymore.
As if there was nothing more to see…
The duke turned around.
Still clinging to his chest, I let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness.”
“He’s not leaving me behind.”
Still…
What exactly had made the marquis react like that?
Leaving that question behind…
I finally escaped that living hell of the Marquis’s estate.
And headed for Duke Paeraton’s mansion.
“Why is the ceiling over my bed so fancy?”
I’d been living at Duke Paeraton’s mansion for about ten days now.
I see it every morning.
Yet I still wasn’t used to it.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I stared at it in amazement again.
“Yaaawn…”
I’d slept so much…
Yet I was still sleepy.
“What time is it?”
No matter how late I slept…
Nobody here ever woke me up.
Because of that, I could sleep as much as I wanted.
And somehow…
The moment I woke up…
They always knew.
“Did you wake up, Young Miss?”
Like this.
“Good morning.”
The maid gave a polite bow.
As I washed my face, I secretly glanced at the maids standing around the room like decorations.
“They’re expressionless today, too.”
I’ve been here for quite a while now.
But I’d never once seen any of them smile.
Not even a little.
They only spoke when necessary.
“It doesn’t seem like they hate me…”
“Or look down on me…”
After washing up, I struggled to climb down from the bed.
The beds here were much taller than the ones I’d seen in my previous life.
With this tiny body, climbing on and off was difficult.
Then again…
I’d heard expensive beds were usually taller.
Not that I’d ever owned one.
Once both feet landed on the rug…
I bounced in place a few times.
“Good.”
“My legs don’t hurt anymore.”
Whenever I used the muscles in my calves before, the injuries would ache.
Now…
I didn’t feel any pain at all.
My cold had disappeared a long time ago, too.
Ever since arriving at the duke’s mansion…
My health recovered incredibly quickly.
After scrubbing away all the dirt and sleeping under warm blankets every night…
I felt healthier than before I got sick.
“The duke hasn’t come to see me even once.”
More than ten days had already passed.
Yet I hadn’t even caught a glimpse of a single strand of his hair.
“Not that I was expecting him to visit…”
Judging from how he’d acted when we first met…
He didn’t seem to think of me as his daughter.
Unlike me…
Who had desperately clung to him, calling him “Dad.”
Thinking back on it…
It made me feel a little embarrassed.
I’d been an orphan in my previous life, too.
I’d never thrown a tantrum or begged anyone before.
Ugh…
So embarrassing.
“No…”
“I’m only able to think that because I’m full and sleeping in a warm bed now.”
Feeling embarrassed…
Feeling ashamed…
Those were luxuries when you were starving, hurting, and suffering.
“I want to stay here forever.”
The thought swelled inside my chest like a balloon.
No one has told me I am allowed to stay here permanently yet.
“Hmm…”
“First, I need to figure out what kind of person the duke is.”
Just by looking at him…
He didn’t exactly seem like someone who matched words like justice, protection, or peace.
“He looks more like a villain.”
Based on my years of reading romance fantasy novels…
Villains usually fall into one of two categories.
1. Villains who deserve to get beaten up, like Marquis Tarenka.
2. Villains, tyrants, or mastermind characters who secretly turn out to be good people… at least toward the heroine.
If he was Number Two…
That was my favorite kind of character.
Based on how the story was going…
The duke had to be Number Two!
I’ve invested in the right stock this time!
Finally…
My life is about to turn around.
…Or at least, I’d like to say that.
But ever since I reincarnated…
That stupid demon had tricked me over and over again.
The last time I’d thought my life was finally improving…
I signed the reincarnation contract.
And ended up somewhere even worse than before.
“Not a single thing that demon said turned out to be true.”
“I can’t let my guard down.”
So…
How do I figure this out?
“First…”
“I need to earn my keep.”
I’d told the duke…
That I could earn my meals if he took me with him.
As long as he didn’t make me do something impossible from the start, as the marquis had…
I was confident I could handle almost anything.
I’d been working ever since I was a little kid in my previous life.
I’ll work hard.
Watch how the duke reacts.
If he’s Number One…
I’ll quietly prepare to run away.
If he’s Number Two…
Then my life is basically set!
“Alright!”
“Time to work!”
I clenched my tiny fist with determination.
“Y-Young Miss…”
“We can do this…”
The servants at Duke Paeraton’s mansion were always stiff and serious.
Their movements were so precise and quiet that if I didn’t look directly at them…
I wouldn’t even know they were there.
But right now…
Even these expressionless people looked flustered.
“Please… at least give us what you’re holding.”
“I have to do it.”
I answered simply and continued happily wiping the window.
Scrub, scrub.
“But…”
“I came here because I agreed to work.”
“…Pardon?”
The maids looked even more shocked than before.
They exchanged glances with one another.
Then one of them finally spoke.
“I believe you’ve misunderstood something.”
“You are the youngest daughter of House Paeraton.”
“What do you mean you came here to work?”
“If I really could live here just because I was the youngest daughter of House Paeraton…”
“I would’ve been living here from the beginning.”
“Instead of at Marquis Tarenka’s mansion.”
“You bastard child abandoned by your own father!”
The marquis’s words still stabbed painfully at my heart.
I’d denied them over and over.
But deep down…
I already knew.
I’d been abandoned.
“I’ll come back to get you after ten nights.”
Parents who say things like that…
Never came back.
Not even once.
And Duke Paeraton…
Hadn’t even made me a promise.
“An abandoned child can never become someone’s child again.”
The cold iron gate that had closed in front of me in my previous life…
Reflected faintly in the window.
“Young Miss, that’s…”
One maid started to speak.
Another gently stopped her.
As if trying to wipe away the illusion reflected in the glass…
I scrubbed the window even harder.
“What are you doing here?”
A cold voice came from behind me.
I stopped cleaning the window and turned around.
Standing beneath the afternoon sunlight…
Was a breathtakingly handsome man who looked like he’d stepped out of a painting.
According to the official documents…
He was my father.
Duke Paeraton.
“Looks like he came home unusually early today.”
I’d asked several times where he was.
Every time…
The answer had been that he was away.
“I’m really good at cleaning.”
The window had already been clean before.
Now it was so spotless it looked like the glass wasn’t even there.
I was pretty proud of it.
But the duke’s eyes sharpened.
“Who told you to waste your time doing something so pointless?”
Pointless.
“I said I’d earn my”
“Eek!”
Before I could finish…
The duke suddenly picked me up with one hand.
He looked at me like I was something troublesome.
Then started walking away while carrying me.
I panicked immediately.
“Don’t tell me…”
“He’s throwing me out because I’m useless?!”
But instead…
He carried me to the dining room.
“Eat.”
His tone practically sounded like—
“If you don’t eat, I’ll kill you.”
My courage instantly shrank to the size of a bean.
I hurriedly reached toward the food.
The duke stared at me the entire time I was eating—
Or maybe “desperately trying to survive” was a better description.
His gaze was so sharp that I honestly thought,
“If I don’t eat…”
“He won’t throw me out…”
“He’ll kill me!”
I stuffed bread into my mouth without even knowing what I was eating.
But eventually…
I reached my limit.
“That’s all you can eat?”
The moment my hand stopped moving…
The duke asked.
His voice was so cold it chilled me to the bone.
I reached toward the plate again.
But I couldn’t bring myself to take another bite.
I wasn’t lying.
I honestly felt like my stomach was about to burst.
“You can eat more than that.”
Is that a threat?
“Is he trying to make my stomach explode and kill me?!”
“Y-You food-abusing maniac…!”
