MDCP 01

Chapter 1

Xavier looked at his older brother standing before him.

No—he tried to look, but the skin around his eyes was torn, making it difficult to open them properly.

Even when he forced them open, his vision was red from the blood streaming down.

Still, Xavier stubbornly and quietly kept his gaze fixed only on Declan.

He wished all of this were just a nightmare.

Though they were born of different mothers, Declan was his only brother.

Even if Declan had not been born with the power of the dragon, Xavier believed he possessed an innate nobility that made him worthy of being emperor.

Anyone could see that Declan was more suited to the throne than himself—Xavier had even been willing to give up everything he had.

There was a time he had thought, How fortunate that he is the emperor’s eldest son.

Xavier had always believed his brother would become a greater emperor than anyone—greater even than their father.

Following Emperor William, who had conquered not only the southern continent but advanced into the north, Declan would lead Etarinta into its greatest golden age.

But…

Where had it all gone wrong?

“Brother.”

He called out in a low voice, but Declan did not react.

The face that had always been gentle and kind was now frozen cold, as if it were nothing but a mask.

How foolish. The face I believed in all this time must have been the mask.

Xavier let out a bitter, self-mocking thought.

“Are you satisfied?”

He hadn’t expected an answer.

After betraying a younger brother who had truly respected him, after successfully executing a plan that destroyed an entire empire—Xavier almost wished Declan would at least smile.

But Declan’s eyes were empty.

Was revenge always this hollow?

Was it like a violent storm that left behind nothing but barren land?

“I wanted to see your empire, brother.”

“Silence.”

For the first time, Declan reacted.

Xavier forced a smile—a twisted expression thrown at a world filled with disillusionment.

All this time, Xavier had tried to make himself as insignificant as possible, so that the man before him could become emperor.

Even betraying those who followed him for his legitimate dragon lineage, he had given up countless things.

Did his brother ever understand what that felt like?

“Do you know that today is your last day?”

The casual tone—like asking whether he had eaten—made Xavier chuckle faintly.

The end, was it?

“Any last words?”

“What happened… to my daughter, the one I never even knew existed?”

“Ah. That child.”

Only then did Declan seem to remember, frowning slightly.

“I made good use of her.”

“…”
“Don’t worry. I sent her to hell ahead of you.”

For a moment, Xavier’s pupils trembled.

He bit his lower lip hard, then let out a hollow laugh.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I suppose I can settle my remaining debts in hell.”

I’ll be waiting for you there as well, brother.

As Xavier finished speaking, Declan raised his sword.

It was the same sword Emperor William had wielded during the war against the Kingdom of Rienna.

The moment it pierced Xavier’s chest felt like an instant that stretched into eternity.

In the 40th year of Emperor William’s reign, and 38 years after the war with the Kingdom of Rienna—

Declan, the emperor’s eldest son, led a rebellion. He killed both his father and his only half-brother, and declared the birth of the Rienna Empire.

Thus, the Etarinta Empire—once known as the Empire of Dragons—met its hollow end.

“Annabella, this is where you’ll be staying from now on.”

“Okay.”

At my calm reply, Mother’s face turned a little sad.

She had decided this from the beginning—so why look at me like that now?

I wanted to tease her, to poke at her trembling chin and call it a walnut, twisted from holding back tears—but I clenched my fists and held myself back.

“It’s okay. You can endure this. You can do it.”

I didn’t respond.

After gripping my shoulders and steeling her resolve—whether for me or herself, I didn’t know—she slipped a pocket watch into my hand.

“I’m sorry. I’m… so sorry.”

If this was truly our last moment, I wished she would at least smile.

After roughly wiping her face several times, she stood up.

“Go inside.”

I bit my lip hard and turned away.

She said we’d just live happily together. That having me was enough…

If I gave myself even the slightest opening, resentment toward her would come pouring out, so I had no choice but to bite my lip until it hurt.

“Annabella!”

Why are you calling me?

Don’t. It’ll weaken me.

It makes me want to run back, cling to your leg, and cry, begging you not to abandon me.

“Annabella!”

Why do you keep calling me…?

Wait—since when did my mother’s voice sound this sharp and unpleasant?

“Wake up already!”

When I opened my heavy eyes, it wasn’t my mother I saw—but Susan, glaring at me.

…Tch.

I carefully pushed myself up.

“Can’t you get up already? Did you forget today’s curtain-changing day?”

Her sharp tone made me frown.

I stretched my stiff body.

At the border between winter and spring, servants in the imperial palace had to welcome spring earlier than anywhere else on the continent.

Today marked the beginning of that—curtain-changing day.

Meanwhile, the window above my bed was cracked, letting in cold drafts.

It was a tiny crack, barely noticeable—but for someone like me who was sensitive to the cold, it was unbearable.

I had asked the head attendant to replace it, but was refused. Apparently, the budget for trainee maids had already been used up.

The look in his eyes was colder than the wind coming through the window, so I couldn’t argue further.

Well… once spring comes, the cold air will stop anyway.

“Stop dawdling and get up!”

“…Breakfast?”

“Is this the time to ask about breakfast? You already overslept!”

If you were going to wake me, you could’ve done it at breakfast time.

Still, oversleeping was clearly my fault.

I quietly got up and changed.

“Ugh, this is ridiculously heavy…”

I groaned as I lifted the laundry basket.

Inside were soaked curtains, heavy with water.

Even if I was just a trainee—not even a proper maid yet—and expected to do all the odd jobs, wasn’t it unreasonable to make an eight-year-old do this?

“Can you handle it, Anna?”

My name is Annabella.

I don’t have a surname—just Annabella.

People hearing it for the first time sometimes misunderstand it as “Anna Bella,” thinking Bella is a family name.

That’s understandable—for strangers.

But Susan, standing in front of me, knew my name perfectly well and still called me Anna.

She had called me Annabella earlier when waking me up.

Honestly, it annoyed me a little—but she wasn’t important enough for me to insist on correcting her.

Maybe she thought it was a nickname… though that somehow made it even more annoying.

“You’re fine, right?”

“Do I look fine?”

“What?”

“I said, do I look fine? You just dumped your work on me because you couldn’t be bothered, didn’t you?”

“You little—!”

I wanted to ask what that made her, trying to shove work onto someone “little.”

But I had too much to do to waste energy arguing.

As if sensing that, Susan stepped closer.

She wasn’t tall, but I was much smaller—smaller even than most kids my age—so she still felt intimidating.

Susan, a laundry maid, had disliked me for quite some time now.

Why? I didn’t really want to think about it.

There didn’t have to be a reason, did there?

So instead, I figured I’d just give her plenty of reasons.

“What are you two doing right now?!”

Just as Susan was about to smack my head, the head maid rushed over and stepped between us.

The look in her eyes clearly said, You again?

This is so unfair.

“Why aren’t you finishing your work? Anna, if you cause trouble again, you’ll go without dinner tonight!”

Threatening someone with food—wasn’t that clearly child abuse?

But I wasn’t a child to be protected here.

I was a “maid trainee”—in other words, a glorified errand girl.

So I just struggled along, carrying the heavy laundry basket.

Behind me, I saw Susan stick her tongue out.

Really? Is that necessary?

I shook my head—and stuck my tongue out back at her.

“They said she came here at six, right?”