BDPVF 4

Chapter 4

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Somehow, I was still alive in the duke’s mansion, and honestly, life here was much better than I had expected.

For some reason, the evil duke barely showed himself, and everyone else treated me extremely kindly.

Suspiciously kindly.

Amidst all those suspiciously warm interactions, I steadily refined my plan.

Escape funds.

Since I’d ended up in a rich household anyway, my idea was to pocket whatever valuables I could.

Thinking about stealing pricked my conscience a little, but reminding myself that the target was a villain made me feel better.

After three days of hard work, my escape fund amounted to a grand total of three jewels.

At the moment, they were safely hidden beneath my bed.

“Bag. Fish. Bridge.”

“Well done. Pick one.”

The man smiling warmly at me held out a pouch.

‘Candy…!’

I called that pouch the Pouch of Paradise.

That place alone was heaven itself.

“Thank you.”

Eric Lamela.

The tutor assigned to me.

I bowed politely toward him.

In response, his already gentle green eyes curved even more warmly.

“I don’t hold back rewards for clever children. Especially in your case, my lady. Even though you started later than others your age, you’re catching up very quickly.”

Lamela’s soft voice echoed pleasantly in my ears.

“Of course.”

Because I’m an adult inside.

Right now, my face probably looked like that of a child overflowing with confidence.

After all, in my previous life I had mastered both Korean and English perfectly, so these worm-like letters were easy.

Even the grammar looked similar to English.

“Haha… is that so? Then perhaps I should give you a little more homework today.”

“Hmm…?”

Lightning practically struck my brain.

More homework?

What kind of horrifying words were those…?!

“No. Actually, it’s still hard.”

“I’ll only assign easy questions, so don’t worry. From here… to here should be enough.”

Lamela marked the homework range in my book before standing up.

More than five pages.

An absolutely monstrous amount of homework.

‘This is insane…!’

I stared at him with a wronged expression, but as expected of teachers, he showed no mercy.

“Goodbye, my lady. Make sure you finish all your homework.”

“You’re really leaving?”

“Yes, really leaving. Well then…”

After giving one final polite bow, Lamela exited the room.

I watched him go in despair.

Usually he assigned around three pages, but today it had jumped to five.

Homework was basically hard labor.

And I couldn’t exactly refuse to do it either…

“Haa…”

I had just let out a deep sigh from the depths of my soul when—

Knock knock.

“My lady, may I come in?”

“Yeah… come in.”

After spending three days here, I had realized one thing.

Lisa genuinely cared about me.

Because of that, I had managed to gain a single ally in this mansion.

“The duke is calling for you. Shall we go together?”

She usually brought snacks, but today she brought a bomb instead.

Lately, the duke hadn’t shown any interest in me, so I’d assumed he’d forgotten I existed.

Apparently not.

‘Well… can’t be helped.’

“Okay. Let’s go.”

I held out my hand toward Lisa.

This body’s legs were too short, so walking alone was painfully slow.

And deep inside, I still had the Korean instinct that faster was always better.

“Then… let’s go!”

Lisa grabbed my hand and smiled brightly like an amusement park employee.

‘Was she an Everland worker in a past life?’

Honestly, it seemed possible.

Though the destination wasn’t a dreamland—it was hell.

And so, Lisa and I headed toward Silas’s office.

I had never visited the evil duke’s office before, and it seemed to be quite far from my room.

Still, the beautiful sculptures and gardens along the way kept things from becoming boring.

It felt like walking through one of those gorgeous cathedrals I’d only ever seen in pictures.

“The fountain in that garden is especially beautiful. The duchess personally takes care of it.”

‘The duchess…?’

I tilted my head at Lisa’s words.

“Ah, you haven’t met her yet, have you? You’ll probably see her soon. That room over there belongs to the duchess.”

I turned toward where she pointed.

After passing through the Great Hall and climbing a long staircase, I saw a door.

A pure white, beautiful door adorned with matching white roses.

“……!”

“The room is gorgeous, isn’t it?”

Seeing me stop and stare, Lisa enthusiastically began explaining.

The wood used for the door only grew in the North.

The duchess herself was incredibly beautiful.

Things like that.

Lisa thought I was simply admiring the pretty door.

But that wasn’t it at all.

‘The pure white door was stained with blood.’

A line from the setting book.

It described the death of the duchess, Selena.

More specifically, it happened when the saintess Lagrasha was eight years old—before she was chosen by the temple.

‘On the day the flowers bloomed, black mist hunted the red wolf.’

The saintess and Iris were two years apart in age.

And right now, I was six.

Judging by the garden earlier, spring had just begun in the North.

White flowers bloomed everywhere.

Which meant…

‘There’s not much time left.’

Not until the duchess was assassinated.

I swallowed hard.

‘Can I save her…? No, should I save her…?’

Right now, I was just a powerless little kid.

And there was no way I could tell the duke about this.

“My lady, we’re here.”

My thoughts were interrupted.

We had already arrived at the duke’s office.

Lisa smiled brightly before knocking on the door.

“Your Grace, the young lady has arrived.”

“Send her in.”

“My lady… don’t lose heart! Fighting!”

“Yeah… I’ll be back.”

Leaving behind Lisa, who pumped her fist encouragingly, I entered the office.

The interior was neat and elegant.

And then I saw Silas smiling…?

“……?”

I blinked and looked again, wondering if my eyes were broken.

Only to see his usual terrifying expression.

Guess I imagined it.

While I was thinking that, Silas spoke.

“You’ve arrived. Come here and sit.”

The way he spoke sounded less like an invitation and more like a threat.

As if refusing meant death.

Which, coming from him, was entirely possible.

Determined not to give him any reason to target me, I hurried toward the chair.

“……”

Delaying in front of him was basically suicide, so I quickly tried to climb up—

‘It’s taller than I thought…’

Wiggle.

From down here, I could only see the top of Silas’s head.

And judging from the twitching, he seemed irritated by how long I was taking.

‘I need to hurry.’

At the moment, I was standing beneath the massive office desk, staring up at the chair.

The problem, as previously stated, was that the chair was ridiculously tall.

‘Furniture is huge…!’

“Ugh… hup!”

Using my tiny limbs, I desperately tried climbing the chair.

Unfortunately, the chair remained mercilessly tall.

‘I need to get up quickly!’

I was a tiny prey animal standing before a predator.

I had to stay unnoticed and avoid annoying him at all costs!

Gathering every ounce of strength, I hoisted myself upward.

“Hngh…!”

And then—

Poot!

“Ah…”

Apparently straining my entire body while climbing had stimulated my intestines.

A small yet impressively loud sound echoed throughout the office.

My face instantly turned scarlet.

“Hm…”

At the same time, I heard Silas sigh behind me.

Trembling in humiliation, I slowly turned around.

There stood Silas, frozen mid-motion with one hand stretched toward me, apparently about to help.

‘Just kill me instead…!’

This had to be one of the evil duke’s schemes.

A brand-new torture method!

I desperately denied reality.

But one sentence shattered all my delusions.

“Hmm… perhaps cookies don’t agree with your stomach?”

“N-no! That’s not it!”

* * *

“My lady’s growth is truly astonishing!”

“Is that so.”

Silas listened indifferently to the report from Iris’s tutor, Lamela.

Lamela, top graduate of the Imperial Royal Academy’s Department of Healing Arts.

Not long after graduation, he had been dragged to the northern territory of Duke Arphote.

Practically by force.

And the order he had received was simple:

Educate the child perfectly.

Judging by his enthusiasm, he seemed to be doing exactly that.

“You may leave now.”

Lamela, who had been endlessly praising Iris, bowed politely and exited.

“Hm… is that so.”

Silas stroked his chin thoughtfully.

A habit he always had when deep in thought.

A little time passed.

Then, as though he had reached a decision, Silas rang the bell on his desk.

Ding.

The clear sound echoed through the office, and soon an elderly but sturdy gentleman entered.

“You called for me, Your Grace?”

“Bring Iris here.”

“At once.”

The old man bowed and left immediately.

Some time later, Silas sat with his eyes closed, lightly tapping the desk as he waited.

“She’s here.”

He sensed two approaching presences.

Both were extremely chaotic.

One energetic and bouncing around as if overjoyed.

The other nervous and withdrawn, yet slowly beginning to peek outward.

The first was clearly her maid.

The second was Iris.

Soon enough, they entered.

As expected, Lisa’s cheerful voice rang out.

“Your Grace! The young lady has arrived!”

Silas looked toward the small figure standing at the door and spoke.

“Come in.”

At the same moment, the tiny white presence began taking shape.

Pure platinum-blonde hair.

Puffy cheeks.

And a matching white dress.

For just a moment, Silas unknowingly smiled.

Though the expression vanished almost instantly.

The child’s already large eyes widened even further in surprise.

The sight was unbearably adorable.

But Silas showed none of it.

To him, it would feel like betraying the daughter who might still be somewhere out there.

‘This father will never forget you.’

Carving that promise into his heart once more, Silas addressed Iris.

“You’ve arrived. Come here and sit.”

At his words, the child’s face twisted dramatically, though she obediently walked over.

But no matter how long he waited, she never climbed onto the chair.

Wondering what was taking so long, Silas finally stood up.

“Ungh… hup!”

Iris was literally climbing the chair using her tiny legs.

“Hah…”

The absurd sight almost made Silas laugh aloud, though fortunately Iris was too focused to notice.

“Hup…!”

She struggled desperately to climb upward.

Watching her felt oddly similar to watching a tiny animal try to scale a tree.

Without realizing it, Silas stepped forward to help.

“Uuu…”

Iris was so serious about climbing that she didn’t even notice his approach.

If she had known the terrifying duke had briefly stared at her wiggling backside, she might have fainted on the spot.

Regardless, Silas reached out to help her.

And then—

Poot!

A loud sound escaped from Iris’s rear.

Silence.

For a moment, Silas genuinely had to process what he’d just heard.

A few seconds later, he realized the child had farted.

“……”

Seeing her turn around with a bright red face made the answer obvious.

In the end, Silas failed to suppress his smile and finally said:

“Hmm… perhaps cookies don’t agree with your stomach?”