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chapter 14
“Irene?”
I snapped back to my senses at the sound of someone calling me and was just about to take another step.
‘His eyes… turned red.’
A primal fear rooted me to the spot.
All I could see were faint, blurry shadows of wings—but I could feel something terrible was happening.
“Irene, you shouldn’t… be here… Cielina is… in danger…”
Even Erhi’s condition was deteriorating.
‘W-What do I do…?’
My vision whitened in helpless panic when suddenly the commotion outside grew louder.
“Housekeeper, His Grace the Duke has arrived.”
Killian had come.
And at that moment—
Cielina! Cielina!
A voice calling me rang sharply in my ears.
‘This voice… I’ve heard it before…’
I looked around, searching for the source.
Then a sharp, commanding voice echoed from the empty air, urging me on:
What are you doing! Go calm the children!
I didn’t even have the leisure to question whether I had gone insane.
‘What am I supposed to do?’
As soon as the thought appeared, a response came.
You already know! Go and hug the children!
Hug them…?
I forced my stiff neck to turn despite my tension.
“Ugh….”
“Mmm….”
The two children were clinging to each other, twisting on the floor in agony, their movements unfolding as though in slow motion.
You won’t get hurt. Go!
Suddenly, multiple footsteps rushed away, and I faintly heard Remfrey’s voice.
‘Killian?’
A group of footsteps approached rapidly.
Then the voice pierced into me, sharper and more urgent than ever:
Are you going to let Killian kill the children!?
My frozen legs moved as if the words themselves pushed them.
“Erhi! Irene!”
I ran forward and practically threw myself over the children, wrapping them in my arms.
A pure white flash exploded outward like a crashing wave.
The world went quiet—only a flat, monotone ringing filled my ears as if I had been dropped in the center of an explosion.
When the light faded, I carefully lifted myself up and turned around.
Killian stood there.
He looked as if he might burst into tears as he said something, but I couldn’t hear a word.
The rampage stopped with the light.
The exhausted children fell asleep in my arms as if they had fainted.
I must have sat there like a ghost, holding them blankly for a long time.
It wasn’t until someone helped me carry the children to my bedroom that my senses slowly returned.
‘Who helped me again…?’
I pulled a chair to the bedside and sat down.
‘They’re such angelic children.’
A late, crushing guilt weighed on my chest.
When their eyes turned blood-red, fear seized me, and I couldn’t bring myself to reach out.
If that unknown presence hadn’t pushed me, I would have stayed frozen.
‘And yet I had the nerve to despise the duchy’s people… when I would’ve acted the same way.’
I bowed my head and buried my face in the blanket.
After guilt came a wave of unbearable shame.
I had used the children’s dependence to prop up my own self-esteem, enjoyed the praise of the knight commander as if it made me superior…
I had treated the children’s suffering like a novel to be observed.
In the end, all I had given them was cheap pity.
‘Is it fortunate I realized so soon…?’
As I tucked the blanket around the children, Anna whispered from outside the door.
“My lady, are you awake?”
“Come in.”
She entered and closed the door but hesitated, unable to approach. I understood perfectly.
‘She’s brave, coming into a room with two sleeping “monsters.”’
Instead of calling her closer, I pretended not to notice and spoke casually.
“What did you tell the attendants who were there?”
She froze briefly but quickly understood I was trying to help her.
“We told them a stranger broke in, took hostages, and fled.”
“And they believed such a flimsy excuse? No one even saw the intruder.”
“His Grace handled it personally. No one would dare question it.”
I asked the more important question.
“Then… the fact that the children are alive… we can’t hide it anymore, can we?”
Anna let out a small sigh.
“We told everyone to keep quiet, but it’s only a matter of time before it leaks.”
I sighed too.
‘It’s too much to console myself just because the curse stayed hidden…’
If only Killian were their father, the situation wouldn’t become so complicated.
The problem was that the children outranked Killian in the succession line.
‘Rumors that Killian imprisoned them out of greed for the title wouldn’t even be surprising.’
And without a doubt, there would soon be those who tried to use this chaos to shake the duchy.
At least in every book I’d ever read, that’s exactly how nobles behaved.
“My lady.”
Anna watched my troubled face for a moment, then spoke.
“Perhaps you should visit His Grace.”
“Killian?”
Only then did I suddenly realize.
“I completely forgot. I didn’t even thank him properly.”
An affectionate smile spread across Anna’s face.
“His Grace is in his bedroom now.”
My room was on the west side. Killian’s was on the far east.
“That is the room.”
Anna naturally turned away when we arrived.
“A-Anna?”
I grabbed her arm in a panic.
“You’re not telling me to go in alone, are you?”
My inner thoughts slipped out in shock.
“It is His Grace’s bedroom, my lady.”
She smiled brightly and gently removed my hand.
“If your room is empty in the morning, I’ll come fetch you from here.”
Her smooth, natural assumption left me speechless.
In this household, Killian and I were married—nothing she said was strange.
‘If anything’s strange, it’s that I’m not the real Cielina.’
An incompatible foreign being in this world.
And I was the only one who knew it.
“Have a peaceful night, my lady.”
With her business finished, she hurried down the stairs.
“Haa…”
After she left, I lingered in front of the door for a long while.
But what good would worrying about such fundamental things do now?
I had awakened in Cielina’s body. All I could do was struggle to survive.
“Killian.”
I gathered my courage and knocked.
“It’s me, Cielina.”
No response from inside.
‘Is he asleep?’
I considered returning to my room, but after lingering here so long, it felt wasteful to leave.
I reached for the door to knock again.
Creak—
The latch hadn’t been fully set, so the door opened with barely a touch.
“Killian…?”
I carefully peeked into the dark room.
That was when—
“Hh….”
A faint, trembling sound came from within.
‘Killian?’
Curiosity won out. I stepped inside.
The door shut behind me, making the hairs on my neck stand upright.
I was sneaking into Killian’s bedroom like a thief.
Even I couldn’t believe what I was doing.
‘Just check that he’s sleeping and leave.’
I tiptoed toward the bed and pulled back the curtain.
Well… he was definitely not sleeping peacefully.
“Brother…”
I stared blankly at Killian.
He kept murmuring something under his breath, tossing and turning.
“Bro… ther…”
A tear slipped from his tightly drawn eyes.
‘This is… Killian?’
Seeing him so vulnerable stunned me.
What kind of nightmare was he having?
….
Peering down at him, I suddenly felt someone—or something—behind me.
As if someone would speak to me at any moment.
‘Um… is it you? The one from earlier?’
….
Of course, no answer came.
Heat flooded my face in embarrassment.
It was ridiculous, but… a part of me felt the owner of that voice could pull Killian out of his nightmare.
‘I’m losing my mind…’
Mortified, I hurried out of the room.
….
The next morning.
The children woke in an unfamiliar room, eyes darting anxiously.
“Did you sleep well?”
I flung open the curtains like Lily always did. Bright sunlight streamed in.
“This is my room. No one can enter without my permission, so don’t worry.”
Erhi and Irene turned to look at each other simultaneously.
“…”
“…”
They still didn’t seem to know how to process the situation.
Maybe they didn’t remember much of what happened.
If so, there was no need to bring it up.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
At my casual question, the children glanced downward.
Guuuurrrgle—
Their stomachs betrayed them loudly.
I couldn’t help but laugh and tugged the bell string.
“I’m hungry too. Let’s eat breakfast together and then go back to the annex. How about it?”
Erhi spoke hesitantly.
“What’s… an annex?”
Well, how would children who’ve never gone outside know that?
“The house where you and Irene live is called the annex. This is the main building.”
They both looked confused.
