MDCHC 03

Chapter :〈003〉

I’m going to be found! I’m not a jiangshi—just holding my breath won’t keep them from realizing there’s someone here…

“That’s the best option—buy time and wait for reinforcements.”

Huh?

The male voice that had seemed to be approaching me was now drifting farther away. I cautiously opened my eyes, but the man who had been right in front of me was gone. Instead, his voice now came from the direction of the stairs I had climbed earlier.

They… passed me by without noticing?

The two men had already walked right past me. Granted, it was a dark hallway and I was standing in the shadows, but how could they miss a full-grown woman standing there?

Don’t tell me… it’s because I’m just an extra?

Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind. Extras were supposed to be practically invisible. They existed, but at the same time… didn’t.

Even if the main characters were fighting, extras were there just to spectate, never interfering. They had to suppress their presence so villains could hold secret conversations in public, and so the male and female leads could kiss in the street without concern.

I survived because I have no presence…

I lowered the hand that had been covering my mouth and was just about to take a deep breath when—

“Who’s there!”

A cold, sharp blade was suddenly pressed to my neck. And in the darkness, a pair of eyes gleamed as sharply as that blade, fixing on me.

“I asked who you are.”

“Ugh!”

When I didn’t answer, the man pushed his sword closer to me. A prickling sensation touched the skin of my neck, and in pain and fear I instinctively raised my chin to get further from the blade. It was useless, but my body moved on instinct.

“Could she be a spy?”

“N-no! I’m just an ordinary baron’s daughter!”

Seriously—does he want to see someone’s head roll?! Hearing the man next to him whisper to the swordsman, I panicked and shouted.

“Don’t be fooled, Lord Winchester. If even a Sword Master like you failed to sense her presence, she’s no ordinary person.”

Lord Winchester? Then this was Daniel’s father? The same awful man who didn’t care about his own daughter?

“That’s not true! I’m innocent!”

Now that I knew whose sword was at my throat, my indignation grew. Honestly, shouldn’t he be the one with a blade at his neck—for neglecting his daughter and marrying her off to some wastrel?

“Then how did you hide your presence so well?”

“That’s…”

Would he believe me if I said Because I’m an extra with no presence? Of course not. And if I told him this was all inside a novel, I’d be thrown straight into an asylum. There was no way I could say that.

“I’m not sure myself. I just got lost and ended up wandering…”

“Ha! Even if the Camellia estate is large, how does one get lost inside a building? Especially a noble lady who should be used to such mansions?”

I don’t know who you are, but can you not butt in right now? My life is hanging by a thread here!

“Lord Winchester.”

I called his name calmly, but his gaze didn’t soften in the slightest. He just kept staring at me with those cold, suspicious eyes.

“If you doubt my words, send someone to Baron Pomots’ estate right now to confirm. They’ll tell you the baron’s second daughter received an invitation to tonight’s ball and attended—and that person is me.”

With every word I spoke, the sharp blade scraped lightly against my skin. But I ignored the pain and focused only on looking straight into Lord Winchester’s eyes.

Eyes that shone cold and blue in the dark.

“….”

The sword stayed at my neck. Those icy blue eyes never left me. The air between us was so heavy I could barely breathe. Worse than the blade was the crushing force of his presence.

I didn’t blink.
He didn’t blink.

Our gazes tangled, my palms growing slick with sweat. He had me completely pinned.

“…It doesn’t seem like you’re lying.”

At last, the blade withdrew—just when my limbs were going numb from the tension, and I was so dizzy from holding my breath I thought I’d collapse.

“…Ha!”

“Lord Winchester!”

As I exhaled in relief, the other man barked at him as if scolding him.

“She could still be a spy!”

“No.”

“How can you be sure? She was hiding and eavesdropping on an important conversation.”

“She was pale as a sheet and trembling, yet still clearly stated her identity.”

“So what?”

“If she were a spy that frightened, she would have either confessed or killed herself—not kept denying it.”

Sliding his sword back into its scabbard, Lord Winchester spoke as quickly as he had drawn it.

“But still…”

“Eden. Go write up what I told you earlier and send it to the Imperial Palace immediately.”

The man called Eden looked like he wanted to argue more, but Winchester cut him off with an order.

“…Yes, understood.”

Eden still eyed me with suspicion but left to carry out his task.

“My apologies for the discourtesy.”

He said it with a face that showed he didn’t feel the slightest bit sorry.

“It’s fine. The fault is mine for wandering around uninvited.”

And he didn’t deny my words either. For a man who had just pointed a sword at a lady’s throat and nicked her skin, he showed no remorse at all.

…Why does that suit him?

With the danger gone, I finally got a good look at Lord Winchester’s face. Just as my mother had said, he was indeed handsome.

Once the killing intent left his eyes, what remained was a man almost too good-looking. Under his strong brows, his eyes were sharp and refined. Even without hostility, those blue irises still seemed to pierce straight through people.

His lower lip was fuller than the upper, set firmly in an upward curve, the stubborn and arrogant line suiting him perfectly.

“I’ll call someone to treat that wound.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary. It’s just a scratch.”

The bleeding had already stopped.

“Then I’ll have someone escort you home.”

“That’s not needed either. My carriage should be waiting for me.”

“Consider it my courtesy—don’t refuse.”

There was a weight in his voice then, and I realized—this wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order. And it meant he still wasn’t fully convinced of my innocence.

He likely intended to have his men watch me enter the Pomots estate to confirm who I was.

“Yes, I understand, Lord Winchester.”

Eden was right—she was a suspicious woman.
But the way she met his eyes and explained herself seemed genuine.

Eyes without emotion—cold eyes.

Most people couldn’t stand to meet Lorinus Winchester’s gaze for long. Even the bravest knights, even those who trusted him, would look away after a moment.

“Looking into Lord Winchester’s eyes makes you want to confess a crime you haven’t even committed,” people said.

Even the crown prince, half-joking and half-serious, had told him so. The unspoken second half of that sentence wasn’t hard to guess: Otherwise, you feel like you’ll die.

But that woman had looked straight at him. Not only that—she had clearly pleaded her innocence.

A strange woman…

Lorinus trusted his own judgment over the situation. His sharp instincts, honed on battlefields where split-second decisions meant life or death, told him she was telling the truth.

Still, just in case, he ordered a subordinate to follow her and verify her identity before returning to the ballroom.

He was about to descend the stairs when he noticed a slightly open door, with light spilling through the gap.

“….”

He paused, then walked toward it. Pushing the door open, he saw a small child standing quietly inside.

“Ah…!”

The child looked startled—like they had just seen someone completely unexpected. Their round blue eyes resembled… someone.

Someone Lorinus had loved—and failed to protect.