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Chapter 12 …
It was clearly morning, but I couldn’t open my eyes.
They felt so heavy, as if someone had placed stones on my eyelids.
“Sigh…”
Regret surged up inside me.
Why on earth had I cried so much yesterday?
I wasn’t the type to cry easily.
And to make it worse, I’d bawled my eyes out in his arms, of all places.
“I’m such an idiot…”
When I turned to my side, my entire body ached as if I’d been beaten with a hammer.
Why were my shoulders and neck so stiff?
“Did that jerk hit me while I was sleeping yesterday?”
That would explain it.
He must’ve tormented me while I was asleep.
“But how many hours did I even sleep…?”
I forced my swollen eyelids open and glanced at the clock.
I’d closed my eyes when the sun was setting, around 6 p.m.
And now it was 10 a.m.
“Sixteen hours?”
Elena threw off the blanket and sat bolt upright.
How could a person sleep for sixteen hours straight without waking up even once?
Her jaw practically dropped.
This was probably the first time she’d slept this long since being possessed and brought into this world.
No—she hadn’t even slept this much in her past life.
While she was still marveling at this miracle, a knock came from the door.
Knock, knock—
“Come in.”
“My lady!”
The person knocking was none other than Jane.
Seeing Jane first thing in the morning oddly lifted her mood.
“Jane!”
“But my lady, your face…”
Jane furrowed her brows and came closer, clearly shocked at Elena’s puffy eyes.
Elena gave a sheepish smile and reached her hand out toward Jane.
“What did you bring?”
“A simple breakfast. But… my lady, did you cry?”
Elena clamped her mouth shut at that question.
She’d cried in Jane’s arms once before—if she admitted to crying again, Jane would think she was a crybaby.
“No, I didn’t cry. I just slept too much, that’s all.”
“These aren’t eyes swollen from sleep, though…”
Jane tilted her head and rested her chin in her hand like a detective deep in thought.
“I said I didn’t! Anyway, I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”
Trying to hide her embarrassment, Elena grabbed the tray like someone who hadn’t eaten in days.
She bit into the well-baked, golden-brown bread in one big chomp.
“Mmm, it’s delicious. This house really does bake the best bread.”
Jane smiled, her eyes curved into crescents.
“There’s plenty more bread, my lady. Please eat as much as you like.”
“Okay!”
Elena picked up the butter knife and spread caviar over the bread.
Her mouth watered at the sight of the appetizing pink color.
“His Grace said that you always like to have caviar with your bread, so I brought some.”
“That guy?”
Did he spy on her while she ate? How else would he know?
Had she enjoyed it that much?
“Yes, and there’s also a soup made with carrots and beef… Ah! And I heard you like salad with rice in it…”
Elena’s eyes widened with irritation.
How did he know all these tiny details about her?
She felt as if she were completely exposed, and her face grew hot.
“W-Well, yeah…”
She liked the cheese-and-beef soup because it reminded her of the instant soups she’d eaten in Korea, and she liked rice salads because they reminded her of rice.
After all, bread was the staple food here.
“His Grace really takes care of you so much, my lady. From your meals to your clothes—he personally oversees every little detail!”
Jane cupped her cheeks with both hands and blushed like a lovestruck teenager.
Yeah, sure. The world’s greatest romantic, isn’t he?
“Whatever. I hate that man. I really hate him.”
Elena tore into the bread with the ferocity of someone chewing steel, flames practically blazing in her eyes.
“Please don’t hate him too much. I’m sure His Grace regrets the way he treated you.”
If not hating him were that easy, she’d have done it already.
Her affection for him had already dropped to absolute zero!
“Enough, Jane. That man’s not the type to feel remorse.”
Jane gave a small, helpless smile, then gently lifted the tray with the empty dishes.
“All right, my lady. I’ll be going now—I have something to attend to.”
“Already?”
Elena looked up at her with round, pleading eyes, like a lost kitten.
Jane was the only person here she could talk to.
“Yes, there’s been some trouble in the ballroom. I need to check on it quickly.”
“…Okay.”
She couldn’t very well hold back someone who was busy.
She had no choice but to let her go.
“See you.”
Bang—
Jane left, and once again, Elena was alone.
Is this what it feels like to be in a private hospital room?
The emptiness of the large space made her feel oddly hollow.
“Haa…”
Elena sprawled out on the bed.
They said you’d turn into a cow if you lay down right after eating, but she couldn’t afford to care about that right now.
She couldn’t even get a breath of fresh air, let alone escape this place.
“He really… takes care of me, huh.”
Her head was full of questions.
From the things he’d said and done yesterday, to what Jane had just told her.
“Does he… actually love me?”
If he really did, then why?
She’d never met him before—there was no relationship or connection between them.
And what was even stranger: though it was their first meeting, he acted as if he knew her inside out.
Had they met before she was possessed? Before the age of seven?
“Sigh… whatever.”
Elena opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling mural.
A beautiful painting of cherubs spinning through the sky as if blessing her.
Just a few days ago, she’d felt that same kind of freedom.
“Is this how my life ends…?”
She couldn’t come up with any escape plans—only deep sighs.
The knights and servants in the house watched her like hawks, and even Jane seemed to be on Dekarus’s side.
Nothing in this world went her way.
“If Aiden were here, would things have been different…?”
She wondered if things might’ve been a little better if she had been with him.
Then again, he wasn’t exactly a fighter—what help could he have been?
“Ha, get it together, Elena. Now’s the time to be strong.”
If she held on with determination, surely something good would happen eventually.
She would escape this place somehow and meet Aiden again.
Elena jumped off the bed and headed for the door.
Creak—
“Um…”
“……”
The moment she opened the door, silver-armored knights stood stiffly on either side, backs straight.
No matter how many times she spoke to them, they simply stared ahead with stone-cold expressions.
“I… want to go out.”
“His Grace has forbidden you from leaving, my lady.”
Their robotic answer made her sigh.
How could she be free, even within this mansion?
“I won’t tell Dekarus. Promise.”
“I’m sorry, my lady.”
“Ha…”
Creak—
Their unyielding refusal forced her to close the door again.
She couldn’t come up with an escape plan unless she at least got out of this room.
“Ah!”
After pacing in circles for a while, a brilliant idea suddenly struck her.
Creak—
“Um…”
The knight flinched, surprised by the déjà vu.
“My lady, His Grace has—”
“No… I just need to use the bathroom.”
Surely they wouldn’t follow her there.
She was rather proud of herself for coming up with this in such a short time.
Maybe she was a genius.
“Ah…”
The knight hesitated, then slowly opened the door for her.
The air in the hallway felt completely different from the air in her room.
“You’re not going to follow me into the bathroom, are you? Like some kind of pervert?”
She turned around and said it primly, like a princess.
“P-Pardon?”
She had to make it clear so they wouldn’t try anything weird.
It was a skill she’d picked up while wandering around in the past.
“No, of course not.”
Yeah, like he wasn’t planning to follow her.
His face flushed red with embarrassment.
“Then please hurry back, my lady. Otherwise, I’ll really be killed by His Grace.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
She waved him off lazily.
Her steps felt unusually light in this rare taste of freedom.
“Let’s check out the inside first.”
If she went outside, the soldiers stationed there would definitely catch her.
So her first target was his office.
She might find his weakness or some state secrets she could use for leverage.
Then she could use it to negotiate—or blackmail—her way out.
“He should be in a meeting around now…”
Elena carefully made her way to his office, avoiding the maids’ eyes.
Luckily, he wasn’t around, and there were no guards posted at the door.
Click—
“Hm…”
She turned the long golden doorknob, but of course, it was locked tight.
“I knew it. That’s why I brought this.”
Someone as thorough as him would never leave his door unlocked.
Who knew the iron rod she’d found in the room would come in handy like this?
Click—
“As expected.”
For someone with her background, picking a lock like this was child’s play.
She’d used the same trick with an iron ring to get into empty houses before.
Creak—
The room was, unsurprisingly, empty.
The bed he’d left in disarray yesterday had been neatly made, of course.
Despite his insufferable personality, he was surprisingly tidy.
Elena immediately went to the desk and rummaged through the drawers.
“There has to be something…”
But perhaps she’d been too confident.
She found nothing of value—except for a tempting bag of chocolate.
“Sigh… This isn’t it.”
She sat down in the chair and scanned the room.
In movies, giant mansions like this always had secret doors.
“Secret door… secret door…”
Where could it be?
Her eyes darted around the furniture—paintings, clocks, sofas, bookshelves…
“Bookshelf?”
Her eyes sparkled.
Bookshelves were almost always the triggers for secret rooms.
“So that’s where you are.”
She skipped over to the bookshelf, heart pounding.
She pulled out books one by one, feeling around for a hidden mechanism.
But nothing moved—not even a creak.
“What’s wrong with this thing?”
After a moment of thought, she snapped her fingers.
“Maybe I should push it?”
But could she even move such a huge bookshelf?
She’d never lifted anything bigger than her own body before.
Still, giving up without trying would be foolish.
Elena pressed her back against the side of the bookshelf and pushed with all her strength.
“Please…”
At first, it only creaked, refusing to budge.
But slowly, little by little, it began to move.
Grunting and straining, she finally pushed it aside enough to reveal a small hidden door.
“This is it.”
At last, the secret space revealed itself—a small door, just big enough for one person to squeeze through.
Elena tied her long, flowing hair up with a rubber band.
“Well then… let’s see where this leads.”
