IBSM 03

When laid out clearly, it was a simple story.

The House of Count Hessen had a happily married couple, a lovely daughter, and one deeply unpleasant contractual obligation passed down from a distant ancestor.

An earlier head of the family, who had once been saved by a monster, had promised in return to offer one of his descendants as a bride.

The ancestor who had passed the burden onto his descendants had long since died in peace. But those who inherited the debt were forced to live every day in restless anxiety.

Then, on the day his wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, a letter of unknown origin arrived at the Hessen estate.

[The promised time has come. Fulfill the pact.]

The nightmare that had haunted the count all his life finally became reality.

Watching his precious daughter grow, he despaired at the tragedy that had already been set in motion.

At the same time, he desperately searched for a way to save her from the monster.

It was about two years after her birth that he came up with a plausible plan.

He conspired with his wife, pretended she was pregnant with a second child, and brought home an orphan who resembled them both.

It was so that, when the time came, he could offer that child to the monster in place of his biological daughter.

Years passed, and once the deception had matured enough, the count staged his own death and secretly sent his first daughter away.

Then, with a grief-stricken expression, he said to the orphan he had raised:

“Evnia, my only daughter. From now on, you must take your sister’s place.”

Evnia knew nothing of the truth.

Literally nothing.

She was so ignorant that she believed—purely and naively—that since her “sister” had died, she herself must be offered to the monster in her place.

If the truth had never been revealed, she would have gone to her end believing it was a noble sacrifice for her family.

But that foolish misunderstanding shattered without warning.

On a day when the sun shone unusually bright, Evnia had impulsively visited the nearby home of her uncle’s family. She wanted to say a final goodbye before leaving for Lithberg.

She still had no idea that such a beautiful farewell would never be granted to her.

She still remembered it clearly.

The servants who were unusually flustered by her unexpected visit, the strangely tense atmosphere, and the maid who quietly avoided her the moment she saw her.

Following a bad feeling, she secretly trailed after them—and there she saw her “dead” sister, surrounded by everyone and smiling.

“Everyone… what is going on? How is my sister…?”

“Evnia! W-well, we actually found your sister recently. When she disappeared in that boat accident, we couldn’t find her body. But thankfully, Emilia survived and came back alive!”

Before Evnia could even finish speaking, Count Hessen abruptly stood up and hastily explained.

He did not look like someone sharing joy at a long-lost daughter’s return. Rather, he looked as if he desperately wanted to silence Evnia.

“Why didn’t you tell me my sister was alive? That she had returned?”

“Well, your sister was also in no condition to explain, and… ah…”

The father stammered, unable to continue.

Evnia did not fully understand the situation in her mind.

But she felt it.

With an almost instinctive sense, she tested them.

“…So if my sister has returned, I don’t need to go to Lithberg anymore, right?”

At that, Emilia could not hold back any longer and stood up.

The family tried to pull her back down, but they could not silence the mouth that had finally grown tired of long-held silence.

“Don’t be ridiculous! We brought you here from the start to feed you to that monster!”

“Emilia! Shut your mouth!”

“What? So you were just going to send me to that thing anyway?! Whether my sister miraculously came back or not—what, I should just go get eaten?! You’ve got no problem saying whatever you want about your supposedly dead sister now that she’s back!”

Evnia could not respond.

She could only endure the moment as her entire world—the family she had known all her life, the love she had given them, everything that defined her—collapsed.

Seeing Evnia’s face turn ghostly pale, Emilia grew even more heated.

“Don’t act pitiful! I had it hard too! I couldn’t see anyone I knew, I had to live hiding like I was dead, never even allowed to speak my real name!”

“Emilia, stop—father will explain everything…!”

“You were originally just a stray orphan on the street! My parents took you in when you were practically dying! You should’ve been dead already! We gave you this luxury life—what more do you want from us?!”

Listening to the cruel truth spilling from Emilia’s mouth, Evnia thought blankly:

Why were they not more careful?

If they had only waited a little longer—why did they call Emilia back so soon?

Had relief that everything was over made them careless?

They should have just endured a little longer.

If they were going to use her, the least they could have done was let her die without ever realizing she had been used.

“Evnia, my daughter whom I bore in my heart.”

After the chaos subsided, Countess Hessen spoke cautiously.

Emilia, who had finally released all her pent-up sorrow, buried her face in her mother’s chest and cried.

“I am truly sorry to you. But…”

But.

What did she say after that?

Did she ask her, with a gentle face, to die?

Did she offer thanks for the forced sacrifice?

Did she elegantly warn her that if her real daughter died, she would not be safe either?

Or perhaps she said all of it in the end.

“Excuse me, is the bride here?”

A knock from the doorway made Evnia lift her head abruptly.

She had been sitting in a corner, killing time without understanding why she had been brought here. She had thought she might simply be abandoned—but someone had come for her before it was too late.

She quickly stood and opened the door.

“Um, what did Lord Ram say? What am I supposed to—”

“A banquet is prepared today in honor of the bride’s arrival. You must be hungry, so please change into something more comfortable and come down to the dining hall.”

Guillermo responded with a smooth smile.

Evnia froze at the mismatched reply.

From earlier, it had felt like conversation with him never properly connected—like something was always slightly off at the crucial point.

“The dining hall is right next to the central hall on the first floor.”

Having said only what he needed, he left without another word.

Only after his figure disappeared beyond the stairs did Evnia finally speak the words she had failed to say.

“I… didn’t bring any change of clothes.”

She still did not know when the banquet was supposed to begin, whether she would be eating alone, or dining with the master of the estate.

If the food was only for her, there was no need for preparation at all.

Staring down the empty corridor, Evnia eventually stepped out.

It was not as if she had been staying there by choice anyway—it had simply been a place she was pushed into.

If she went to the dining hall early and waited, at least she would not be reprimanded for being late.

Leaving early turned out to be a reasonable decision.

The castle was enormous, and she wandered for quite some time before finally finding the central staircase.

After descending to the first floor, she paused before entering the dining hall and looked around the grand hall.

With the lights now lit, it no longer felt so dark. The building that had once seemed frightening now looked almost ordinary.

Though old and poorly maintained, its decorations and structure were still impressive. In its prime, it must have been magnificent.

‘Was he also a monster back then?’

She pushed the pointless thought aside and entered the dining hall.

But the more important question was not that.

It was whether the man was even human now.

This question could be rephrased:

Was this banquet prepared for her—or for the master of the castle?

Come to think of it, he never said he wouldn’t eat her. He only said she should go in naked.

There was no guarantee that this celebration would end with food entering her mouth.

The “hungry person” Guillermo mentioned might not have been her at all—but the master himself.

Staring at the massive table before her, Evnia thought for a moment, then climbed onto it.

Lying there as if on display, she considered whether her fiancé would eventually eat her or not—and found the thought unsettlingly disturbing.

‘This isn’t good.’

She had thought that if she died, this suffocating feeling would end. So why was she still breathing so normally?

As she lay there, blankly blinking up at the old chandelier above, a face suddenly appeared against the white ceiling.

A man had appeared instantly above her.

Looking down at her with clear displeasure, he said:

“This isn’t your bedroom, kid.”