ICHV 2

Chapter 2

“No, I’m not going! I already lowered my hand! Why would I willingly walk straight into my own death?!”

“No! I’m not going!”

Sella hurriedly denied it.

However, the moment she finished speaking, the director and the butler from the Count Seidan household glared at her. Sella realized that, in her panic and agitation, she had openly offended both of them.

If she got on the director’s bad side, the consequences would be no joke!

But even so, there was no way she could let this happen…

“I-I’ll go!”

Oh, my goodness! Unnie!

Before she knew it, her older sister had raised her hand high.

“Sella is giving up the position for me. Actually, I’ve wanted to work as a maid for a while now. That’s why she did that!”

Betty bowed repeatedly as she tried to explain away Sella’s behavior.

Apparently, she had decided that there was nothing to gain from angering either the ill-tempered director or a butler from a noble household.

“Unnie! No! Put your hand—”

Sella tried to stop Betty, but before she knew it, Betty had clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Shh! Be quiet! I think Sella might be a little sick today.”

Betty scolded Sella as she looked at her, then hurriedly made excuses to the director and the butler as well.

“That household is absolutely off-limits—Mmph!”

Desperate, Sella tried to shout again, but Betty covered her mouth once more, reducing her words to muffled noises.

The butler looked at Sella as though she were pathetic, while the director glared at her with eyes as sharp as daggers.

“She’s just softhearted… I think she’s acting this way because she doesn’t want to be separated from me. I’ll apply for the position!”

Betty, her face bright red, even bowed her head as she made excuses. Only then did the two finally nod, albeit reluctantly, as though they were willing to let the matter pass.

“Unnie!”

“Sella, that’s enough!”

Sella pulled Betty’s hand away from her mouth and tried once more to stop her older sister, but Betty’s sharp rebuke forced her to shut up in the end.

In the end, Betty left for the Count Seidan household that very day, and Sella could only stamp her feet in frustration as she watched her sister go.

At the same time, however, she tried to calm herself by thinking that she could visit Betty as early as the next day, persuade her to leave, and bring her back from that household.

Of course, they didn’t have much time.

She had heard that Kesselaya was about to make her debut in society, and according to the original story, she would happen to encounter the hidden-villain male lead because of the dress she wore to her debutante ball.

That meant that if Sella didn’t hurry, the original story might begin before she could rescue her sister. The hidden villain would fall in love with the heroine, the heroine would fall in love with the Crown Prince, and the hidden villain would slaughter everyone around the heroine.

Therefore, before any of that happened, Sella had to get Betty out of Kesselaya’s household as soon as possible—even if it meant doing so just one day earlier.

Two days after Betty left, Sella had taken over every single task her sister used to handle. Even while working, she kept looking for an opportunity to visit the Count’s household and see her sister.

“Patrick. Starting today, you’ll be handling the firewood orders Betty used to take care of.”

While Sella was cleaning the director’s office, lost in thought, the director called over Patrick, an orphanage employee who was the same age as Sella, and gave him his instructions.

Since the firewood was used throughout the entire orphanage, they needed much larger quantities than an ordinary household. That was why, instead of ordering wood from a woodcutter who sold it at the market, they usually visited the woodcutter directly to arrange a deal.

In fact, they could simply have agreed on a fixed period and ordered a certain quantity to be delivered regularly. But the director took the weather into account and changed the amount ordered every week.

She was determined to save every last coin.

“Yes. Just tell me where the woodcutter’s cabin is, and I’ll go there right away.”

Patrick answered cheerfully.

“Near the entrance to Mount Tolto… To be precise, I don’t know exactly where it is myself. Go ask Betty. She’ll tell you.”

Betty?

Sella abruptly straightened up in the middle of mopping the floor.

My chance to see Unnie has finally arrived!

“I’ll go to the woodcutter myself!”

Of course, the firewood order was nothing more than an excuse to see her sister. It might make her a little busier, but visiting a woodcutter couldn’t possibly be that difficult.

“You?”

At Sella’s words, the director raised one eyebrow.

“Yes! I’ve already taken over almost all of Unnie Betty’s duties, haven’t I? So I should take care of this one, too!”

“You’ll have to go all the way to Mount Tolto to place the order yourself. Don’t even think about bringing it up if you’re going to neglect your other duties under the pretext of ordering firewood.”

With her usual workload added to Betty’s responsibilities, Sella was certainly busy.

“No! I can really go and come back quickly. I’ll finish all my other work properly after I return!”

“Then meet Betty briefly without causing any trouble for the Count’s household. Order the same amount of wood as last week—fifty bundles. Oh! It’s fifty gallons, but just in case, pretend you don’t know anything and ask whether it’s forty gallons first.”

The director had no shame whatsoever.

She had always ordered fifty gallons, yet now she was telling Sella to try bargaining for ten gallons less simply because a different person would be placing the order.

“Yes!”

Well, asking the question itself wasn’t particularly difficult. And this was her chance to see her sister, so she had no time to argue with the director.

Patrick, who was standing nearby, expressed concern for her, mentioning rumors that bears had recently been spotted on Mount Tolto.

But Sella was too excited at the thought of seeing her sister to pay attention to him. The director, who had undoubtedly already decided she could simply assign Patrick another task, ignored his warning as well.

In fact, Sella hurried straight to the Count’s household without even looking back, afraid that the director might change her mind.

Last time, there had been too many people around for her to persuade her sister properly. This time, she had to bring Betty back, even if she had to beg on her knees.

When Sella arrived at the Count’s household, Betty happened to be coming outside.

“My lady, my younger sister has come to see me. Would it be all right if I spoke with her for just a moment?”

When Sella waved at her, Betty cautiously asked the woman standing in front of her.

So that woman is Kesselaya, the heroine of the original story.

Looking at Kesselaya, Sella couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.

Soon, she would fall into the hands of the hidden-villain male lead, be imprisoned, and suffer all sorts of terrible things.

And she’s so beautiful, too…

However, this was hardly the time for Sella to worry about the original story’s heroine. She wasn’t even mentioned in a single line of the original novel, so it wasn’t as though she could influence the main characters in any meaningful way.

I’ve got enough problems of my own. I should focus on saving my sister.

“…Can’t you see I’m busy? Hurry up and finish your conversation.”

The heroine glanced at Sella and frowned as she spoke.

Sella was a little surprised. The heroine of the original story seemed unexpectedly prickly.

But thinking about it again, perhaps it was understandable. A maid who had only recently been hired had a family member show up unexpectedly, forcing her employer to wait before going out. Anyone might be annoyed in that situation.

“Unnie, can’t you find another job? I don’t think this household is safe. You should go work at the butcher shop like we originally planned, and I’ll take the next opportunity that comes along…”

In her desperation, Sella got straight to the point. Of course, she spoke so quietly that the heroine wouldn’t be able to hear her.

“Sella, why do you keep acting like this? You haven’t fallen sick again, have you?”

Three years earlier, on the day Sera possessed Sella’s body, the original Sella had developed such a high fever that anyone who approached her could feel the heat radiating from her.

Betty had stayed up nursing her younger sister until dawn. She had later told Sella that she had cried, terrified that her sister might die, before briefly dozing off from exhaustion.

When she woke up, Sella’s fever had completely disappeared, and her body had returned to normal. Yet the girl looking down at her could no longer remember anything.

Perhaps the original Sella had died that day, and Sera, who had been living in Korea, had entered her body.

When Betty saw that her younger sister didn’t even know who she was anymore, she had still cried for a long time, saying, Thank you, Sella, simply because her sister was alive and hadn’t died.

After that, Sella’s memories and emotions had gradually been absorbed and integrated into Sera’s own. Little by little, Sera had become Sella.

Even after her sister had settled down and returned to normal, however, Betty had always worried about Sella’s health.

Just as she was doing now.

She was looking at her younger sister with concern, as though she pitied her for behaving so inexplicably.

“I’m not sick. I just want you to come back. Please, Unnie. Come back.”

Knowing how worried Betty was about her, Sella could hardly tell her about being possessed or having entered a novel.

All she could do was say this.

“Why do you keep acting like this? We agreed that we would work hard from now on, didn’t we?”

Betty glanced at the heroine and scolded Sella in a stern voice.

After all, Betty had been both an older sister and a mother to Sella.

“Betty, are you going to take much longer? It’s almost time for our appointment at Bliss to try on dresses.”

Kesselaya urged her impatiently.

“Yes, my lady! I’m coming! Sella, I have to go now.”

Betty answered Kesselaya loudly before turning back to Sella.

“Unnie, please! Please come back to the orphanage with me, all right? We can find another job. This household really isn’t safe. Please!”

“Sella, you’re not a child anymore. Don’t you think the director has been lenient with us all this time? If we stay there any longer, we might end up with truly terrible job offers! We need to start earning money as soon as possible…”

“Unnie, I know you won’t believe me, but you could die—!”

With her sister being so firm, Sella became so desperate that she nearly blurted out the events of the original story.

“Betty!”

Once again, the heroine’s sharp call cut her off.

“Sella, why are you acting like a little child again? Do you think I’m happy about being separated from you? You’re twenty now, too. You need to get a grip on yourself! Haaah… You really aren’t sick again, are you?”

Her older sister had been angrily scolding her with a flushed face, but suddenly, her expression changed to one of concern.

Apparently, Betty had remembered how Sella had been immediately after the possession three years ago.

“…No, I’m not. Then… um, where is the woodcutter’s cabin that supplies firewood to the orphanage? I’m going to take over the orders from you starting now.”

With no other choice, Sella forced down her impatience and brought up her other purpose for coming.

After all, she still had to buy the firewood.

It seemed she would have to look for another opportunity to persuade her sister. With her employer urging her to hurry, there was little chance Betty would listen to anything Sella said right now.

Besides, Sella didn’t want to add to her sister’s struggles as she adjusted to her new job by making her worry that her younger sister might be sick again.

“Oh, honestly! Why did you end up having to take over that job, too? Anyway, when you reach the entrance to Mount Tolto, you’ll come to a fork in the road. Turn right. Then turn right again, and at the next fork, go left. After that, turn right once more, and then take another right at the last fork. There’s a cabin where the woodcutter lives. If you place an order with him, he’ll deliver it the morning after tomorrow.”

Betty’s explanation grew faster and faster as she kept glancing at Kesselaya.

By now, Kesselaya had folded her arms and tilted her head sharply to one side, making it abundantly clear through her entire posture just how displeased she was.

“Right, right…”

“Give Rody my regards.”

As Sella repeated the directions to herself, trying to memorize the complicated route, her older sister suddenly spoke with a slightly brighter expression.

“Rody?”

“Yes, that’s the woodcutter’s name. You’ll recognize him as soon as you see him. He’s incredibly handsome, and he has a very well-built body, too.”

And she thinks that’s a useful description?

After adding this completely subjective information, Betty quickly disappeared with Kesselaya.

“Rody…”

Watching her sister’s retreating figure in a daze, Sella murmured the woodcutter’s name to herself before finally setting off toward Mount Tolto.

“Right, right… Ah!”

At the third fork in the road, Sella came to an abrupt halt.

Until then, every fork she had encountered had split into only two paths. This one, however, branched off in three different directions.

I think she said left… But did she mean the far-left path or the middle one? Should I try the far-left path first and come back if it’s wrong?

Just as she stood there, hesitating between the middle and left paths, someone appeared on the middle path.

A man who seemed exceptionally tall was walking toward her, gradually drawing closer…

“Excuse me… Um…”

The moment Sella saw the man’s face, the words died in her throat.