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Chapter 4 ….
Bang—.
The moment he disappeared, the tension in her body melted away.
Huddled into a small ball, she stared blankly into the air.
She was too scared to even cry anymore.
She was simply wondering, “What am I supposed to do now?” when—
Creak—
“Lady Elena, we’ve come to assist you with your morning preparations.”
The maids he had mentioned came in.
They were women dressed in black maid uniforms with white aprons.
Behind the door, a three-tiered cart carried a change of clothes and bathing supplies.
“Ah… it’s fine. You can just go.”
She let out a sigh, clearly reluctant, and gave them a half-hearted response.
“We were ordered to serve you no matter what happens.”
How frustrating.
Just being here was exhausting—why did they have to keep bothering her?
When she stayed under the covers without moving, the maids, as if they had no choice, grabbed her hands and tried to pull her up.
“What are you doing?”
Smack—.
Elena glared at them, breathing quickly.
“My lady, please… If we don’t serve you, we’ll be killed.”
The maids, trembling, pleaded tearfully for her help just this once.
It was like looking at her own trembling figure from a few days ago, standing before him.
Right. It wasn’t their fault.
They were just working in the house of that psycho.
“Ha… Fine.”
No matter how much she despised him, she didn’t want to cause trouble for others.
She didn’t want to become like that man.
“Thank you, thank you so much, my lady.”
They bowed deeply, relieved as if they’d just overcome a crisis.
She couldn’t understand why they were thanking her so profusely just for allowing them to serve her.
But she was starting to get a sense of what kind of existence he was in this mansion.
“And please, my lady, if you could lower your speech a little.”
“…Fine.”
She nodded reluctantly, and the maids gently helped her sit up, holding her thin arms.
One of them hurried into the bathroom to prepare the water, intending to wash her grimy body first.
“My lady, this way.”
The word “my lady” was so unfamiliar to her that it almost made her cringe.
The maid led her to sit before a vanity with a large mirror.
“Then, please excuse me.”
Aquamarine-like blue eyes.
Pearly white, smooth skin.
Wavy light pink hair cascading down to her chest.
A tiny face with big, deer-like eyes, a high nose bridge, and dainty lips.
The girl reflected in the mirror was Elena Helios.
“I’ll trim your hair a little.”
“Mm…”
She wasn’t from this world.
She was someone extraordinary who had crash-landed in the Estelle Empire from South Korea.
That was the only way to define her.
“It’s done, my lady.”
The strands of hair cut with thin silver scissors looked as pitiful as she did.
The short hair that piled on the floor lay scattered and limp.
“Tha—”
“My lady, the bath is ready. This way, please.”
Before she could finish thanking the maid who trimmed her hair, another maid called urgently.
Elena was led to the bathroom like livestock to a slaughterhouse.
Inside was a large bathtub carved with elegant curves and a lion’s head ornament, as well as big windows that let in ample light.
It was excessively extravagant.
She quietly stood before the bathtub, ready to undress.
But the maid who followed her in didn’t leave and stood there silently.
“Aren’t you going out?”
“Bathing my lady is our duty. Please, over here. You must undress.”
“Ah, no, it’s fine. I can bathe myself.”
Elena clutched her clothes tightly, bristling like a hedgehog.
The maids bowed their heads, then reluctantly turned and left.
“Please let us know when you’ve finished bathing, my lady.”
“Okay…”
Splash—
“…Ha.”
Her cold body, once immersed in the water, quickly warmed as if a fire had been lit.
A gentle fragrance, like rose water, spread from the bath prepared by the maids.
The milky-white water shimmered softly, as if mixed with horse oil.
Elena flicked the water absentmindedly, then stared at the droplets forming on her fingers.
“How… did I end up like this?”
There are two kinds of people in this world.
Those who have parents, and those who don’t.
She belonged to the latter.
She was abandoned at an orphanage in South Korea right after birth.
She didn’t even know her parents’ names or faces.
The orphanage teachers were her gods and parents.
She grew up poor and cold.
She was bullied but endured it with pride, and she always excelled in her studies.
Because if she didn’t win scholarships, she’d be beaten.
Those were the days when she couldn’t even walk the next morning.
Thanks to that, she got into a good university, but her life was still a mess.
The scholarship she received for her grades went straight into the director’s bank account.
To gain independence, she secretly started part-time work from middle school.
But, as they say, God is unfair to humans.
The director found her one and only bankbook hidden under the bed like a rat—and beat her again.
That day had been her birthday, too.
At nineteen, still in need of protection, she left the orphanage.
She didn’t care whether it was a goshiwon, a semi-basement, or a rooftop room.
She just wanted to escape the orphanage.
And that’s how she lived.
“It was hard… I resented it a lot, wondering why only I had to live like that.”
Was it the gods’ prank, or a cruel twist of fate?
One bitter winter day.
She had escaped a tiresome company dinner and was on her way home.
The traffic light was green, and she crossed the crosswalk as usual.
She was about halfway across when—
A loud honking sound echoed.
She turned her head to see an overloaded truck speeding toward her, out of control.
Like a scene from a drama, she couldn’t move, couldn’t even scream.
She just stared blankly at the massive truck, waiting for death.
Her last memory in her previous life was probably the truck driver’s startled face.
“I can still remember his expression. I’d never seen someone’s eyes open that wide before.”
And just like that, her fate changed.
In the blink of an eye, as if waking from a dream, everything was different.
Her adult body became a child’s.
The road full of cars became an orphanage full of children.
A foreign language and a foreign appearance.
At first, she was extremely confused.
Not only did she understand a language she had never heard before, but the words came out naturally without effort.
“And since my perspective was suddenly lower, the world looked completely different.”
She thought God had given her a second chance to live happily.
But that too was a huge mistake.
Violence lurked around her no matter where she went.
Just like in her past life, if she couldn’t solve math problems, the inside of her thighs—where others couldn’t see—would be pinched.
If she ate slowly, she’d be forced to skip meals the next day.
If she fought with other kids or the director was in a bad mood, she was beaten indiscriminately.
And this was when she had just turned seven.
That was probably when she first began to resent the existence of God.
If God existed, shouldn’t He give her a better life than her previous one?
She cried every day, asking that question.
And so she grew up, over 20 years across two lives, within the thorny fence of orphanages.
She first thought about escaping when she was barely seven years old.
Having lived an entire life already, she knew from the moment she opened her eyes here that the orphanage would be of no help to her.
So, one night when the owls cried, she ran away.
Food, shelter, clothing—she lacked everything.
But after escaping that hell, she was as happy as anyone else.
And she wasn’t alone.
‘Elena, look at this.’
‘Hm?’
She had a friend.
A friend who had grown up with her in the orphanage, someone who was always by her side.
‘What’s that? A flower?’
Aiden had entered the orphanage when he was nine.
He was childishly whimsical, yet mature beyond his years.
Sometimes he was like a parent, sometimes like a comrade—a reliable support.
He was the friend who always gave her a refreshing smile.
Someone precious. Someone indispensable to her world.
To young Elena, he was a pillar of strength.
‘I was afraid your ugly face might get even uglier. So smile a little. You keep looking so gloomy, you’re making me gloomy too.’
‘What? Ugly?’
‘Ah! I’m sorry! Don’t hit me!’
She loved singing and dancing.
She wandered around like a gypsy.
As long as she was with him, it didn’t matter if the path was rocky or through a forest.
Sometimes they performed plays, sometimes they sang on the streets to earn money.
It wasn’t much, but being free made her happy.
And Aiden had been her support through it all.
His amber-colored eyes were still vivid in her memory.
His bright smile when he looked at her was unforgettable.
“Aiden… I wonder what happened to Aiden. He’s not being dragged off and beaten like I was, is he…?”
Lost in her thoughts, her blue eyes drifted blankly into the air.
Before she realized it, tears rolled down her cheeks and fell slowly into the warm bathwater.
“Ah… this isn’t the time.”
The maids were waiting patiently outside. She needed to get ready.
When she stood up, the bathwater splashed outside the tub.
Her milky white body glistened like a jewel under the light.
Creak—
“Um… I’m done.”
“Yes, my lady. Then please, this way. We’ll show you to the room you’ll be using from now on.”
She put on a simple white dress and a thin shawl, then stepped out the door.
For the first time in a while, the outside world made her feel a little at ease.
The hallway was the epitome of luxury, clearly belonging to a noble family.
Walls adorned with gold, sculptures that looked expensive at a glance, and artworks that could have been displayed in the Musée d’Orsay—all lined up proudly.
“Why would someone like that… be interested in someone like me?”
“Because, my lady, you are extremely important to His Grace the Grand Duke.”
“…What did you just say?”
She froze like an ice statue.
Her clear thoughts ground to a halt.
Grand Duke.
Did she hear that right?
“Seeing as he assigned even me, the head maid, and the other top maids to serve you, he must value you greatly. Everything prepared for you is of the highest quality. Clearly, His Grace holds you very dear—”
“No, not that. Just now… Did you say Grand Duke?”
Elena’s lips trembled.
In the Estelle Empire, the title of Grand Duke was granted to only five people.
Only rulers of duchies could hold that rank.
And he was a Grand Duke?
“Oh my, you didn’t know?”
Jane, the head maid with neatly tied light brown hair, widened her eyes.
“He is the Grand Duke who governs the Duchy of Ardeo.”
“…What?”
Elena furrowed her brow and slowly shook her head.
She grabbed Jane’s arm to confirm.
“What did you say he was?”
“His Grace Decarus de Sculrus, Grand Duke and ruler of the Duchy of Ardeo.”
