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Chapter 3
Just looking at them made it hard to breathe.
The men were huge, dressed in black, with long swords hanging from their waists. Anyone could tell they were highly trained soldiers.
The handsome middle-aged man standing at the front seemed to be their leader. His silver hair and sharp eyes gave off an intimidating presence.
He feels strangely familiar… Was he in the original story? Who is he?
Before I could think further, I saw Baron Enrio and his wife trembling before the man.
“W-We never imagined our daughter would run away! We swear it!”
“We’ll find her before sunrise!”
Ignoring their frantic excuses, the man spoke in a cold voice.
“I heard someone fled with her. Who was it?”
The couple slowly shook their heads.
But when the man stared at them with piercing eyes, the Baroness finally answered tearfully.
“There was a man who used to chase after our daughter. We punished him harshly once, so we thought they had already broken things off…”
The man showed little reaction to her words.
Instead, he glanced back at the soldiers behind him.
“Yes, sir!”
As if they understood his command from his gaze alone, several soldiers swept out of the room with their cloaks billowing behind them.
They were probably going after the man who had escaped with Keila—Vittorio or whatever his name was.
“Places your daughter frequently visited?”
His sentences were becoming shorter and sharper.
“Sh-She occasionally visited the convent near the border of the territory… and often went to the forest beyond the lake.”
This time, the Baron answered instead of his wife.
The moment he finished speaking, the remaining soldiers also left the room as though they had received their orders.
Now only four people remained:
The Baron and Baroness.
Me.
And the terrifying man.
He turned his piercing gaze toward me.
“You didn’t notice your young lady leaving?”
I swallowed hard and slowly nodded.
It was an obvious lie, but I had no choice if I wanted to survive.
Contrary to my expectations, he didn’t interrogate me further.
Instead, lowering his eyes slightly, he stared at me intently before addressing the Baron and Baroness.
“I heard you have another daughter.”
I had no idea what he meant.
Keila had a sister?
That was strange. The original story had never mentioned anything like that.
Did that mean another noble daughter lived somewhere in this estate?
But then why was he looking at me like that?
And why were the Baron and Baroness suddenly making strange expressions?
A chill ran down my spine.
“If we fail to bring back a bride, Her Majesty the Empress will be greatly displeased. I, too, will suffer for failing my mission. But I wonder what will become of you, Baron and Baroness… and of this territory.”
His expression remained emotionless.
His voice calm.
Which somehow made him even more terrifying.
At last, the Baron and Baroness fell to their knees before him and began begging desperately.
“P-Please spare us!”
“My lord, please spare our lives! We’ll find our daughter somehow!”
But no matter how they pleaded at his feet, the man didn’t even flinch.
I accidentally met his eyes again when I glanced up briefly, and immediately looked away.
His stare felt unbearably oppressive.
Why does he keep looking at me? Creepy bastard.
His dark gray eyes, murky like muddy water, refused to leave me.
“Come to think of it, Her Majesty instructed me to bring back Baron Enrio’s daughter… but she never specifically stated which daughter.”
The Baron and Baroness’ eyes widened instantly.
Then both turned toward me at the same time.
Seeing the meaningful smile on the imperial envoy’s face and the expressions of the couple beside him, I finally realized what kind of horrible situation I was trapped in.
W-Wait. Don’t tell me…!
I was definitely screwed.
“There’s still time before departure. Why don’t you discuss things calmly as a family?”
The man from the Imperial Palace left the room, leaving only us behind.
Family?
This was completely insane.
After the man left, I listened to Baron Enrio and his wife trying to persuade me, and gradually pieced together Stella’s background.
Before his marriage, the Baron had a one-night affair that resulted in Stella’s birth.
The Baroness refused to acknowledge Stella as her daughter but allowed her to remain in the estate as a maid.
After Stella’s mother died from illness with nowhere else to go, she became Keila’s loyal servant.
As a reader, I felt utterly scammed.
Even if Stella wasn’t an important character in the original story, shouldn’t they at least have mentioned that the Duchess’s maid was actually her half-sister?
For someone who had emotionally invested in Stella, this was outrageous.
What kind of ridiculous soap opera was this?!
Half-sisters? I had absolutely no idea! How was anyone supposed to know that?!
The original story had completely deceived its readers.
No matter how grateful Stella felt for being taken in, unless she was some kind of saint, how could she possibly serve her half-sister with such devotion?
I genuinely couldn’t understand it.
As dawn slowly approached, my insides burned with anxiety.
If I could turn back time, I would never have helped Keila escape.
I should’ve gone to the capital first and figured out a way to survive there.
I spent the entire night pacing around the room like a rabbit trapped in a cage, too anxious to sleep.
When morning came, the Baron and Baroness visited me again.
“We may have treated you strictly, but I never once thought of you as anything less than my daughter.”
Their attitudes were completely different from last night.
The Baron wore a gentle smile.
Even the Baroness—who had slapped me across the face only hours ago—spoke softly now.
“Yes, Stella. Even if you were technically a maid, you were always together with Keila, weren’t you? We never gave you difficult tasks. Thanks to that, you enjoyed everything a noble young lady enjoys too.”
What nonsense.
I already knew from the original story exactly how much Stella had suffered while serving that idiotic Keila.
Perhaps my displeasure showed on my face, because the Baroness suddenly turned cold again.
“I never expected things to end up like this. But what choice do we have? If someone doesn’t go, everyone here will die.”
She even placed her hands on her hips threateningly.
“That includes you too, Stella. Regardless of your birth, you still carry Enrio blood.”
How funny.
When they needed a maid, I was just a servant.
Now that they were desperate, suddenly I was part of the family.
“Husband, I’ve done all I can. Handle the rest yourself. What else can happen except all of us dying together?”
The Baroness stormed out of the room.
Then the Baron turned to me with a pitiful smile pretending to be kindness.
“Stella… I’m sorry it seems like we’re only calling you our daughter now. But this is the only way for all of us to survive. Weren’t you and Keila practically real sisters?”
My head felt completely tangled from the absurdity of the situation.
“Please… give me some time to think.”
“Of course. You’ve always been a thoughtful and wise child. I’m sure you’ll make the right choice this time too.”
After the Baron left, I walked toward the window to organize my thoughts.
Below, servants and maids were already working busily despite the early hour.
They wore worn-out clothes, their faces dull and exhausted.
Bent backs from endless labor.
Skin dry as dead branches.
Seeing them reminded me once again that I had possessed a maid.
If I don’t go to the capital, I’ll either die… or spend my whole life suffering like them.
I instinctively clutched my head.
Everything’s gone completely wrong. I thought all I had to do was help Keila escape.
Then another thought surfaced.
What if I run away too?
If I escaped just like Keila—
But security around the estate had become far stricter after her disappearance.
Even from the window I could see enormous hunting dogs prowling the grounds.
And even if I somehow escaped the territory, those terrifying men from the Imperial Palace would hunt me down like a runaway slave.
Besides, this world was one where bloody battles broke out daily and strict class systems ruled everything.
For ordinary people, survival itself was war.
A runaway maid would probably either starve to death or get caught and killed.
That realization forced me to think more rationally.
Calm down. I’m not dead yet. One thing’s certain—the original story has already changed.
I needed logic, not emotion.
“Stella… I’m sorry it feels like we’re only calling you our daughter now. But this is the only way for all of us to survive. Weren’t you and Keila practically real sisters?”
The Baron’s earlier words resurfaced in my mind.
Disgusting as they were, part of me had to acknowledge the truth.
I didn’t care what happened to the Enrio family.
But if I wanted to survive, I had to find a way myself.
So I imagined it.
What if I—Stella—became the Duke’s bride in Keila’s place?
