Episode 2
“Tie, what brings you all the way over here?”
The marquis asked in a voice completely different from the one he’d used with me.
Clatie walked into the hall, put both hands on her waist, and frowned.
“Dad, you shouldn’t be stepping on a little kid like that.”
The Marquis took his foot off my shoulder and laughed loudly.
“Our Tie is such a kind girl. You’re even worried about someone like this.”
“Hmph.”
Clatie puffed out her lips.
A shy blush spread across her cheeks.
“My birthday is coming up soon.”
“That’s right. That’s why I’m making her clean the hall.”
“We don’t have to throw the party in such a huge hall.”
Even as she said that, her eyes sparkled like stars, clearly excited about her grand birthday party.
“It’s my precious daughter’s birthday. How could I possibly do it halfway?”
“Daaad.”
A pair of light pink shoes stopped right in front of me.
“Are you okay?”
Her gentle voice floated down to me like flower petals.
I pushed myself up and nodded.
“Then do your best.”
Clatie smiled sweetly and wrapped herself around the Marquis’s arm.
The Marquis gently stroked her hair with a loving smile.
The warm father and daughter walked toward the door together.
“Eek, Daddy! My shoes got wet from the dirty soapy water.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll buy you a new pair.”
“Yay! You’re the best, Daddy!”
I was left standing there alone, quietly watching them.
Meanwhile, the soapy water continued soaking my entire body.
Thud.
The door closed.
I stared at the tightly shut door for a long time before lowering my head.
“…I’d better finish cleaning.”
If I didn’t…
Who knew what kind of punishment I’d get next?
Grrrrr…
My stomach growled loudly.
I curled up as tightly as I could.
It didn’t help.
My stomach kept screaming for food.
Because I hadn’t finished cleaning the hall…
The marquis punished me.
He hit my calves thirty times with a thin switch that was almost like a whip.
As I groaned, barely able to stand from the pain, he said,
“Starting today, no dinner for a week.”
That meant…
I’d have to survive on one meal a day.
Normally, I only get two meals anyway—breakfast and dinner.
And they weren’t even proper meals.
Just hard bread and watery soup without a single piece of meat or vegetables.
After the marquis left, Clatie came into the room.
“Oh, dear. How pitiful.”
She clicked her tongue sympathetically when she saw the bruises covering my calves.
“Don’t be too upset.”
“Dad is a fair person, that’s all.”
“If he gave you food for free just because you’re my cousin, wouldn’t that be unfair to everyone else?”
Even though we’re cousins…
You and I are different.
That’s what her eyes were saying.
“Try harder next time.”
“You have to finish your work.”
“Dad always says that those who don’t work shouldn’t eat.”
Seemingly proud of herself for encouraging me, Clatie smiled brightly before leaving the room.
Remembering that made anger rise inside me.
“It’s just food…!”
Grrrrr…
I wanted to say I didn’t need food anyway…
But I was so, so hungry.
“It hurts.”
My empty stomach hurt because I hadn’t eaten.
My calves burned from the beating.
My breathing became ragged.
Every breath I let out felt hot.
My head felt fuzzy.
“It hurts so much.”
I’d stayed in my cold, wet clothes until they dried.
Now I feel like I am coming down with a cold.
I buried myself under my old, worn blanket.
But the freezing winter night still seeped into my body.
As I drifted in and out of consciousness from the fever and cold…
The marquis’s voice echoed inside my head.
“You should be grateful to me.”
“Your irresponsible father dumped you here without paying a single coin for your upbringing.”
“So you should at least earn your meals.”
“Do you know how much you eat?”
“Do you know how much money it costs to raise you?”
“And in the end, you couldn’t even earn your food!”
“You’re so lazy!”
“You should be grateful for my generosity in giving someone as useless as you food and a place to sleep.”
I covered my ears.
But his voice wouldn’t stop.
Eventually…
I couldn’t even feel my hunger anymore.
Or the pain in my legs.
I clutched my chest tightly and gasped.
“It hurts so much…”
It felt like my heart was being ripped apart.
I didn’t want to think this way.
But my heart kept breaking.
Whenever I stood in front of the marquis…
My whole body trembled.
I couldn’t even speak properly.
To a little child like me…
He was simply too overwhelming.
“Don’t forget.”
“Even though your own father abandoned you, I’m the one raising you.”
“Well… assuming he’s really your father.”
“You can’t even use demonic power, can you?”
I grabbed the blanket tightly.
“Was I really abandoned?”
At first…
I’d thought there was no way.
Even if it was a demon…
A contract was still a contract.
But this…
This was the result.
“I’m the idiot for believing a demon’s contract.”
How many times have I been disappointed already?
I didn’t even expect promises to be kept anymore.
So…
I shouldn’t even be disappointed anymore.
Sniff…
My nose stung.
Tears rolled down my cheeks.
“It’s not even that big of a deal…”
“So why am I crying?”
“It must be because I’m still a kid.”
“Hmph…”
Sniff… sniff…
“That stupid demon…”
He said I’d be rich.
He said he’d give me a special ability.
He said I’d have a dad and brothers.
“…I really thought…”
“…I was finally going to have a family.”
“Ah-choo!”
My whole body shook with the sneeze.
I sniffled and pulled the blanket tighter around myself.
It wasn’t warm at all.
Still…
It was better than nothing.
“There isn’t even any cold medicine in this world…”
“And this little body is so weak.”
There had already been countless times I’d nearly died.
Today was one of them.
…Maybe dying would be easier.
“No!”
“I can’t think like that!”
Even out of pure spite…
I refuse to die like this.
I was going to survive this zero-star world no matter what.
“Tie, happy birthday!”
“My goodness, you’re still so young, yet already so beautiful.”
“When you grow up, every man in the Empire will fall head over heels for our Tie.”
Surrounded by her family, Clatie smiled brightly.
Even I had to admit…
She looked as cute and lovely as an angel.
Today she was wearing a pale pink dress.
It was so luxurious that it hardly looked like something a child would wear.
The fluffy skirt reached her ankles and was decorated with layer upon layer of lace.
Tiny diamonds had been embroidered into every piece of lace.
No matter how rich someone was…
Normal people wouldn’t spend this much money on clothes a child would outgrow within a year.
But every year around Clatie’s birthday…
An incredibly expensive dress like this always arrived at the mansion.
That’s how much the marquis adored her.
The dresses were so much more beautiful than the clothes she usually wore that Clatie always looked forward to seeing them.
“…Though the marquis never told her what they looked like beforehand.”
No matter how much she begged…
Or asked for even a tiny hint…
He never gave in.
He probably wanted the surprise to make her even happier.
“She really is loved…”
I looked away toward the beautifully decorated party hall.
Of course…
The hall had been perfectly cleaned and decorated until it sparkled.
The marquis had never expected me to clean the whole thing by myself.
“He just wanted an excuse to torment me.”
I quietly stood against a corner wall, staring at my feet.
The shabby shoes on my tiny feet didn’t belong in a place like this.
Even the servants serving food were wearing better clothes and shoes than I was.
“I’m so pathetic.”
Even though I stood silently in the corner like I didn’t exist…
I could still feel mocking glances directed at me.
This was a warm family birthday party.
But I wasn’t part of it.
Then again…
Who would ever believe someone looking like me was part of the marquis’s family?
In reality…
I hadn’t attended the birthday party as Lady Paeraton or as Clatie’s cousin.
“Ah!”
Clatie suddenly cried out.
While cutting the cake, some whipped cream had fallen onto her shoes.
Afraid her brand-new shoes had been ruined, her lovely face in distress.
“What are you standing there staring for?!”
The marquis’s furious shout lashed across my back.
“Hurry up and clean it!”
Right.
I didn’t come here as her cousin.
“I’d come as Clatie’s servant.”
If I hesitated…
The marquis would punish me again.
I hurried over to Clatie and spoke to one of the maids nearby.
“Um… could I borrow something to wipe—”
Before I could finish speaking…
She awkwardly looked away.
I already knew why.
“The marquis must have ordered it.”
Without asking again…
I knelt in front of Clatie.
I pulled up my short, worn-out sleeve and used it to wipe the cream away.
The greasy frosting smeared unpleasantly against the fabric.
But something else felt even worse.
The countless eyes of the marquis’s family stared down at my bowed back.
When I looked up…
My eyes met the marquis’s.
His eyes were filled with contempt…
Pleasure…
And satisfaction.
“Is that the best you can do?”
“Polish it until it shines!”
The marquis barked.
My tiny hand clenched tightly around my sleeve.
“So you’re disobeying me again!”
“Was starving for a week not enough?”
“Or should I have beaten you more?!”
I bit my lip hard.
I wanted to jump up and scream at that abusive man.
But this tiny body only trembled helplessly.
I was scared.
Terrified.
My body moved against my will.
I bent even lower.
My lips came dangerously close to Clatie’s shoes.
Clatie impatiently swung one foot.
My lips almost touched the shoe.
“It’s okay.”
“This isn’t a big deal.”
“I’m… someone precious.”
“Really?”
A doubtful voice echoed from deep inside my heart.
Ignoring it, I took a breath, about to blow warm air onto the shoe.
Then—
“I wonder if my memory is failing me.”
A low, clear voice cut through the banquet hall.
“I don’t remember my daughter having blonde hair.”
I looked up.
A tall man stood there with a cloak fastened over one shoulder.
He was frowning as he stared at Clatie.
More specifically…
In the pale pink dress she was wearing.
“D-Duke Paeraton?!”
The marquis cried out in shock.
My heart jumped violently.
Then sank.
Duke Paeraton?
That man?
My eyes shook as I stared at him.
Duke Paeraton.
He…
It was my father.
Even just standing there casually…
His presence was overwhelming.
Broad shoulders.
Long arms and legs.
A narrow, well-built waist.
A cold face that looked as though you couldn’t draw even a single drop of blood from it.
An incredible aura radiated from his entire body.
And yet…
None of that could hide how unbelievably handsome he was.
“Wow…”
“He really looks like the male lead from a romance fantasy novel…”
Hair darker than the deepest abyss.
Eyes redder than the blood of a pure white dove.
If he were being described in a novel…
Those exact words would probably be used.
He looked more like a main character than any romance fantasy hero I’d ever imagined.
“W-Weren’t you on the Western Front?”
At the marquis’s words, I frowned.
“Does that mean the duke was away fighting in a war?”
I hadn’t known that.
“It’s over.”
“…Pardon?”
“The war.”
“It’s over.”
The marquis shook his head in disbelief.
“It’s over? But I heard there were still—”
“Do I look so idle that I’d personally waste time cleaning up every last weakling?”
The duke’s eyes sharpened like freshly honed blades.
He still stood there lazily with a crooked posture.
But somehow…
The atmosphere completely changed.
Clatie and the marchioness both froze as they struggled to breathe.
“H-Haha…”
“Of course not.”
The marquis forced an awkward smile onto his pale face and hurried toward the duke.
“Still… why have you come here without sending any notice?”
“Isn’t it obvious why I came?”
Ignoring the marquis completely…
The duke walked forward.
His legs were so long that even his relaxed pace carried him to Clatie in only a few steps.
His crimson eyes slowly swept over her.
Unable to endure his cold, piercing gaze…
Clatie lowered her head.
Her whole body trembled.
Her face had turned deathly pale.
She looked like she might faint at any moment.
The duke narrowed his eyes.
His blood-red gaze slowly shifted.
“Ah…”
Our eyes met.
Something flickered across the duke’s expression.
“What is this skinny little rat?”
“W-Well, she’s a servant in our household—”
“Don’t tell me…”
“…that this miserable-looking child is supposed to be the Lady of House Paeraton.”
The duke’s voice dropped to a dangerously low tone.
The marquis froze mid-explanation.
He couldn’t say another word.
Not only the marquis’s family…
Even the servants nearby barely dared to breathe.
The silence was suffocating.
So thick…
It felt like not even a needle could pierce through it.
I lowered my head.
A skinny little rat.
Well…
He wasn’t wrong.
Even I thought I looked pitiful.
“Of course, he wouldn’t want someone like me to be his daughter.”
“He’d want to deny it.”
But…
“S-Still…”
“…Could you please take me with you?”
Gathering every bit of courage I had…
I looked up at the duke.
I couldn’t keep living here.
At this rate…
I would definitely die.
His crimson eyes twitched slightly.
“What?”
“I-It’s only because…”
“…I haven’t been able to wash.”
I tried my best to look neat as I moistened my dry mouth.
“I won’t be any trouble.”
“I can wash myself.”
My heart pounded so loudly it echoed in my ears.
“I can cook and clean too!”
“I can earn my meals!”
“I don’t even eat much, so…”
The duke said nothing.
“I’ll polish your shoes every single day!”
“I can make them shine!”
Little by little…
My courage began disappearing.
I didn’t want to…
But my head slowly lowered until I could only see his jaw instead of his eyes.
“And… and…”
His jaw was set hard.
My gaze finally dropped all the way to the floor.
I saw Clatie’s shoes.
They still had traces of cream on them.
“I don’t want to stay here.”
I wanted somewhere warm.
Somewhere cozy.
Somewhere I could finally rest.
In this life…
In my previous life…
Always.
“…I want to go home.”
