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Chapter 7
“Did the medicine not work?”
Odette regained consciousness at the touch of Caeser’s thick hand pressing against her forehead. But she couldn’t open her eyes. Just hearing his voice made her feel as if Mary’s dying screams—pierced by a sword—were echoing inside her ears.
“Ugh… I’m scared.”
Even if this was a world inside a novel, it was still a reality where people actually died. She didn’t have the confidence to live the original heroine’s life in her place. Above all, she couldn’t bear the fact that none of this had anything to do with her own will.
“Should I have the physician brew another antidote?”
She heard Aden, Caeser’s subordinate, speak.
“It’s useless. We already used the Life Elixir we got from Viscount Philip, and it had no effect.”
“The—Life Elixir? That sacred medicine said to revive the dying? You used that on… that fake? The precious medicine Viscount Philip went all the way east to obtain for you….”
Aden’s voice rose in agitation, then he sharply inhaled as if Caeser had glared at him.
“You call her ‘that girl’? Are you calling my wife a fake?”
“B-but…”
“B-but what?”
At Caeser’s chilling pressure, Aden stammered.
“D-do you truly intend to take that person as your wife?”
“Take her? We’ve already slept together. How do I abandon a woman who’s already mine? I could kill her, but that’s another matter.”
“…Then I will address her as the lady of the house from now on.”
“Go back to Viscount Philip. Tell him that even after I broke the Life Elixir in her mouth and fed it to her, my wife is still sick. And if he handed me counterfeit medicine while pretending otherwise, he’d better prepare himself to die.”
Even while speaking such terrifying words, Caeser gently brushed Odette’s hair aside.
Each touch made her flinch. She shouldn’t react like this, but her body responded on its own in fear.
“Understood. I’ll return immediately.”
Aden quickly left the room.
Caeser bent down and whispered into her ear.
“I know you’re awake.”
Odette’s heart nearly stopped—but she kept her eyes shut.
She desperately prayed he would leave the room.
“From now on, don’t trust or rely on anyone unnecessarily. Understand? Trust only me.”
“….”
“If you betray me, you’ll die far more painfully than that maid.”
It seemed Caeser had brought her to the underground prison as an example—to show her what happened to those who followed Count Anderson’s orders.
“And if you contact that bastard from the viscount’s house separately, I’ll kill him too.”
“…!”
“Even the youngest boy you took care of from that house. All of them. Understand?”
After delivering the chilling threat, Caeser softly kissed her forehead.
“Sleep well, my lovely Odette.”
“I have to run away.”
Odette recalled her wise mother.
Her mother had been extremely intelligent. Whenever hunters occasionally came to their mountain hut causing trouble or instilling fear, she always handled them skillfully.
“Odette, if you meet a beast in the mountains, throw it food and slowly step back. Humans are the same. Don’t confront those who rush at you to bite—you must give them something they desire, then leave and plan again.”
Her mother had once prepared meals for those hunters. While they ate, she told them to ring a bell if they ever needed help during winter storms or injuries from hunting. She would come help.
After that, the hunters never caused trouble again.
She gave them a reason to spare her.
‘I think I need to throw something to Caeser too.’
If she wanted to escape while he let his guard down, she needed something he desired.
What did Caeser, who had money and an army, want most?
Then suddenly, she remembered Count Anderson’s words from her dream.
“The Myce estate siphoned off quite a lot of jewels and money from the mines while he was away at war. If Myce checks the ledgers, it’ll be exposed immediately.”
In the original story too, Count Anderson had described how Caeser’s steward had embezzled his wealth.
If she could find proof of that…
Wouldn’t Caeser immediately march against Count Anderson?
While Caeser and Anderson fought, she could escape.
‘I can find evidence with my ability!’
While trapped in Amelia’s room, she had experimented to understand how to obtain information through dreams.
She discovered that if she fell asleep holding something with a person’s name written on it—or something they always carried—she could dream.
And it wasn’t just a dream. It felt like peering into someone’s subconscious.
When she slept holding Amelia’s old hair tie, she met Amelia in the Kingdom of Dekan in a dream.
When she held Derek’s handkerchief, she overheard Count Anderson and Jobern talking on a terrace.
“Where did Count Anderson give me something…?”
Odette rummaged through her bag and clothes.
Something fell out.
A wooden whistle.
It was the whistle Count Anderson had given her before leaving the estate—used to call a messenger bird. It still had his touch on it.
And it was engraved with his full name: “Owen Anderson.”
Perfect.
Odette clutched it tightly and waited to fall asleep.
“Please… please appear in my dream, you vile man!”
“You’re Odette, aren’t you? Your mother must have been a greedy woman. To give a lowly girl such a grand name… Did she want to use your pretty face to seduce some foolish noble and change her fate? Heh heh.”
Count Anderson sneered, insulting her dead mother.
“So it really works.”
Odette felt dazed at how easily she had entered Anderson’s subconscious through her dream attempt.
“Perhaps your mother’s wish came true. Even if Caeser Myce is a monster, he’s still a noble. Dying and having your wish fulfilled… how filial of you, Odette? Hahaha!”
“Shut your mouth. It reeks.”
Odette glared at him.
Since this was a dream, she didn’t need to be afraid.
“You insolent brat!”
Anderson jumped up and approached her as if to grab her hair and slam her down.
Odette stepped back and shouted,
“It locked!”
The moment she said it, the door clicked shut from the inside.
“W-what… magic?”
Anderson struggled to open the locked door, glaring at her.
“Maybe. I don’t know if this counts as magic.”
Odette looked at the portraits on the wall.
“Ancestors! Come out here! Your descendant is terribly rude, so please teach him a lesson!”
The surface of the paintings rippled.
The figures stepped out of the frames.
“W-what is this?! Grandfather! Father! I was doing everything for the family—Aaaagh!”
The ancestors began beating Count Anderson with swords and staffs.
He’s going to have the worst nightmare of his life.
But if he woke up too soon, it would ruin everything.
She rushed to his desk.
“Has that woman gone insane?! What is she doing?!”
The wall began to crack.
Anderson was waking up.
“I found it.”
Odette quickly spread out mining documents and maps, scanning every line.
