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∼Chapter 3∼
A feeble voice slipped out of me.
It was heartbreaking.
Sad, miserable, and depressing.
I felt as though I were the only person left behind in this world.
The Duke’s cold voice settled over my head.
“This is absurd.”
My emotions surged.
“He’s my dad!”
I shouted and lifted my head.
Honestly, there was no way I could immediately feel like he was my father just because the Duke had appeared.
But……
“Sniff…….”
Maybe it was because of this wretched little child’s body, but I felt as miserable as if my real father had abandoned me.
I had tried not to cry, but apparently my eyes had already filled with tears.
The Duke’s face became blurry.
And strangely enough, that gave me courage again.
I couldn’t see his stiff, cold expression anymore.
“He’s my dad!”
Just as Clatie had the Marquis, I had you.
“You’re my dad!”
“I wanna go home!”
Big tears rolled endlessly down my cheeks. The tip of my nose stung.
I clenched my tiny fists and tightly wrapped my arms around the Duke’s leg.
As if I would never let go.
“Daddy, take me with yooou—!”
“…….”
“…….”
It was unnaturally quiet.
For a moment, I thought I could hear people holding their breath around me.
I cautiously opened my eyes.
Drip.
At the same moment a tear that had gathered at the corner of my eye fell, I saw Duke Phaeraton’s face.
It was terrifying.
Not because he was making a fierce expression or furrowing his brows.
If anything, his face was almost completely expressionless.
And yet, there was something murderous about him.
“Hic.”
A hiccup escaped me before I could stop it.
The Duke reached out his hand toward me.
‘No! I’m not letting go!’
I desperately clung to his leg.
Although I had wrapped myself around him with every ounce of strength I had, Duke Phaeraton easily scooped me up with one hand.
Contrary to my expectations, he didn’t throw me away or shake me off.
Instead, he lifted me to eye level and glared at me.
His red eyes met mine from barely a foot away.
It was obvious that he didn’t like me.
Hmph. As if I liked him!
I only did this because if I stayed here, I was definitely going to die!
Hic.
Unlike the bold declaration I had made (inside my head), hiccups kept escaping me.
The Duke raised one eyebrow, then began walking.
While still holding me.
“Your Grace.”
The adjutant who had been following behind him like a shadow called out to Duke Phaeraton as though trying to stop him.
“We’re leaving.”
But the Duke left only those words behind and strode away.
I dangled from his waist, swinging slightly every time he took a step.
‘If we’re going back like this…… does that mean he’s taking me with him?’
My heart pounded.
Finally, finally, I was escaping this horrible place!
I stared without blinking at the door that grew closer with every step.
Then—
“Ah.”
Suddenly, Duke Phaeraton stopped dead.
‘Why?’
I glanced up at him, but there was nothing to read from his emotionless face.
For some reason, uneasiness slowly crept up from my feet.
With the exit right in front of him, he turned around.
Since I was dangling from his waist, I had no choice but to turn away from the door too.
‘D-Don’t tell me…….’
My heart dropped.
I grabbed onto the Duke as tightly as if he were my lifeline.
‘No! Don’t leave me!’
That was when—
“AAAAAAAH!”
A scream that sounded like it would tear the hall apart rang out.
‘What……?’
Still clutching the Duke’s chest, I stared blankly toward the source of the sound.
“T-Tie!”
“Miss!”
“W-What on earth happened……?”
Through the chaos of everyone running around in panic, I caught sight of Clatie.
The dress, which looked like it alone contained diamonds worth billions of won, had been torn to shreds.
“M-My dress! My dress……!”
Clatie sat on the floor, running her hands over her tattered dress.
“Duke Phaeraton!”
The Marquis wrapped an arm around Clatie’s shoulders and called out to the Duke with a deathly pale face.
‘Could the Duke have done that?’
The Duke hadn’t even drawn his sword, nor had he been anywhere near Clatie.
But judging from the timing and the Marquis’s reaction, it seemed that he had done it.
“Have you lost all sense of judgment? You should know what is and isn’t worth coveting.”
At Duke Phaeraton’s chilling words, the Marquis flinched.
I was surprised that he didn’t immediately protest, but instead turned his head away as though avoiding the Duke’s gaze.
The Marquis, who had seemed so enormous that I couldn’t even imagine defying him, had lowered himself so easily—
But more than that—
‘He looks like someone who has something to feel guilty about.’
That was what surprised me most.
“D-Dad!”
Clatie called for the Marquis with a tearful face, but he merely soothed her without arguing with the Duke any further.
As though there was nothing more to see here, the Duke turned around.
Still clinging to his chest, I let out a sigh of relief.
‘Thank goodness. He’s not leaving me behind.’
But what exactly was the Marquis feeling guilty about?
Leaving that question behind, I escaped the hellish Marquis’s residence and headed toward Duke Phaeraton’s residence.
‘Why is the ceiling above the bed so extravagant?’
I’d been seeing it every day for the roughly ten days I’d spent at Duke Phaeraton’s residence, and I still hadn’t gotten used to it.
I was startled by the sight as soon as I opened my eyes, just like every morning, and stretched my arms and legs.
Yaaawn—.
Even though I had slept that much, sleepiness still clung stubbornly to my eyes.
‘What time is it?’
No matter how late I slept, the people here never woke me.
Thanks to that, I was able to sleep as much as I wanted.
And whenever I woke up, they somehow noticed immediately and entered my room.
“Are you awake, Youngest Miss?”
Like this.
“Yes, good morning.”
At my reply, the maid gave me a slight bow.
I dipped my hands into the water for washing my face and glanced at the maids standing around the room like decorative ornaments.
‘They still don’t have any expressions today.’
Quite some time had passed since I came here, but I had never seen them laugh.
I hadn’t even seen them smile.
They only said what was absolutely necessary and gave only the answers they needed to give.
‘They don’t seem to be ignoring me or dislike me, though…….’
After washing my face, I struggled to climb down from the bed.
The beds here were even higher than the ones I’d commonly seen in my previous life, making it difficult for my tiny body to get on and off.
Well, I’d heard that expensive beds were higher even in my previous life.
Not that I’d ever owned one.
Once both feet landed firmly on the rug, I bounced up and down in place a few times.
‘Good. My legs don’t hurt either.’
Whenever I put pressure on the muscles in my calves because of my injuries, there had been pain, but now I couldn’t feel anything.
My cold had also disappeared completely a long time ago.
After coming to Duke Phaeraton’s residence, my health had recovered at an incredible speed.
After scrubbing away all the grime that had accumulated on me and sleeping beneath warm blankets every night, I was actually in better condition than before I had gotten sick.
‘The Duke hasn’t come even once.’
Even though I had recovered quickly, more than ten days had passed.
During all that time, I hadn’t even seen a single strand of the Duke’s hair.
‘Not that I was particularly hoping he’d come.’
Judging from his attitude when we’d first met, he didn’t seem to think of me as his daughter.
Meanwhile, I had clung to him and called him Dad.
Thinking about it now made me a little embarrassed.
In my previous life, I had been an orphan too, so I had never once thrown a tantrum or demanded anything.
Ugh, how embarrassing.
‘No, no. I can only think this way because my stomach is full and my back is warm.’
Feeling embarrassed or ashamed was a luxury in the face of pain, suffering, and hunger.
‘I want to stay here forever.’
That thought swelled inside my chest like a balloon.
I still hadn’t been told that I could continue living here.
‘Hmm. Before that, I should figure out what kind of person the Duke is.’
At first glance, the Duke seemed about as far removed as possible from words like justice, protection, and peace.
‘If anything, he looks like a villain.’
Based on my long experience with romance fantasy novels, villains could generally be divided into two types.
- Villains like Marquis Tarenka who deserve to be beaten up.
- A villain, tyrant, and mastermind who is actually a good person (but only toward the heroine).
If he’s number two, then that’s exactly the kind of character I love.
Given the flow of the story, the Duke has to be number two!
I made the right investment!
Finally, the day when sunshine reaches the mouse hole has come……!
—I would like to say that, but after reincarnating, I had spent my entire life getting blindsided by that damn demon.
The last time I thought the day of sunshine reaching the mouse hole had finally come and signed a reincarnation contract, what greeted me was an even worse cesspool.
‘Not a single thing that bastard said turned out to be true. I can’t let my guard down.’
All right.
Then how should I figure this out?
‘First, I have to earn my keep.’
I had told the Duke that I could earn my keep and asked him to take me with him.
As long as he didn’t give me some impossible task right from the start like the Marquis had, I was confident I could handle most things.
I’d been working since I was a little kid in my previous life, too.
I’d work hard enough to earn my keep and observe the Duke’s reaction.
If the Duke was number one, I’d flatten myself against the ground and prepare to run.
If he was number two, then my life had basically struck gold!
‘All right! Let’s go to work!’
I clenched my tiny fist.
“Y-Youngest Miss…….”
“We can do something like this…….”
The employees of Duke Phaeraton’s residence were always stiff.
Their movements were so precise and they made so little sound that I wouldn’t even know they were there unless I actually looked at them.
But right now, those expressionless people were unusually flustered.
“Please, at least give us what you’re holding.”
“I have to do it.”
I answered simply and continued diligently wiping the window frame.
“But…….”
“I came here after deciding that I would work.”
“Pardon?”
At my words, the maids looked even more bewildered than before.
They exchanged glances for a moment before opening their mouths as though they had made a decision.
“I believe there has been some misunderstanding.”
“Youngest Miss, you are the youngest daughter of the House of Phaeraton. Why would you have come here to work?”
“If I could live here simply because I’m the youngest daughter of this household, I would’ve been living here from the beginning.”
Not at the Marquis Tarenka’s residence.
“You bastard bastard child, abandoned even by your own father, and you still don’t know your place!”
The Marquis’s words were still pricking painfully at my heart.
I had denied it again and again, telling myself that wasn’t true.
But deep down, I knew.
I had been abandoned.
I’ll come get you after you’ve slept ten nights.
I’d never once seen the parents who had said those words come back.
And Duke Phaeraton hadn’t even made me a single promise.
‘An abandoned child can never become someone’s child again.’
The iron gate that had once closed coldly before my eyes in my previous life appeared reflected in the window.
“Youngest Miss, that…….”
One of the maids began to say something, but another grabbed her as though stopping her.
I scrubbed the window even harder, as though trying to wipe away the reflection from my mind.
“What are you doing here?”
At the cold voice from behind me, I stopped wiping the window and turned around.
Under the afternoon sunlight stood a handsome man who looked like he had stepped out of a painting.
My legal father, Duke Phaeraton.
‘Looks like he came home unusually early today.’
While staying here, I had asked about his whereabouts several times, but every time, I had received the same answer:
He was away.
“I’m good at cleaning.”
The window had already been clean, but now it was so transparent that it looked as though there wasn’t even any glass there.
I was rather proud of myself.
But the Duke’s eyes sharpened.
“Who told you to do something so pointless?”
Something so pointless.
“I said I would earn my keep—Eek!”
Before I could finish speaking, Duke Phaeraton casually lifted me into the air.
He looked at me as though he were staring at something unpleasant, then strode away while still holding me.
I immediately became anxious.
Surely he wasn’t going to throw me out because he thought I was useless?!
But the place I arrived at was the dining room.
“Eat.”
His tone sounded as though he were threatening me.
If you don’t eat, I’ll kill you.
My courage shrank to the size of a bean, and I hurriedly reached for the plate.
The Duke stared intently at me as I ate—or perhaps I should call it a desperate struggle to stay alive.
His gaze was so sharp that I actually started thinking, If I don’t eat, he’s not just going to throw me out. He might really kill me!
I shoved the bread into my mouth without even knowing where it was going.
But even that had its limits.
“Is that all you can eat?”
The moment my hand stopped, the Duke asked.
His voice was cold enough to make my bones ache.
I reached toward the plate again, but I couldn’t put any more food into my mouth.
I wasn’t lying.
My stomach genuinely felt like it was about to burst.
“You should be able to eat more.”
Was that a threat?
Was he planning to make my stomach explode and kill me?!
‘Th-This gluttonous criminal……!’
