Their appearance alone was suffocatingly imposing. Dressed in black, with long swords at their waists and large, muscular builds, they were unmistakably well-trained men.
At the front stood a striking middle-aged man who appeared to be their leader. His silver hair and sharp eyes made it clear he was no ordinary figure.
‘He feels familiar. Was he in the original story? Who is he?’
There was no time to dwell on it. The baron and baroness were already trembling in front of him.
“W-We had no idea our daughter would try to run away! We swear!”
“We’ll find her before daybreak!”
The man didn’t even pretend to listen. He spoke in a cold, steely voice.
“I heard someone ran away with her. Who was it?”
Under his pressing question, the couple only shook their heads slowly. But when he glared at them with razor-sharp eyes, the baroness choked up and finally answered.
“There was a man who used to chase after our daughter. We thought they had broken up after we gave him a stern warning…”
The man didn’t react. Instead, he turned toward the soldiers behind him.
“Yes, sir!”
As if they could understand his command just from a look, several soldiers swirled their cloaks and swiftly exited the room. They must be heading out to search for the man who had fled with Kayla—whether his name was Vittorio or Victorin.
“Places the young lady frequented?”
His voice was growing shorter, more clipped.
“S-She used to visit the monastery near the edge of the estate… and sometimes the forest beyond the lake,” the baron answered this time.
No sooner had he spoken than the remaining soldiers briskly left the room as well. Now, only four people remained—the baron and baroness, me, and the terrifying man.
His piercing gaze turned on me.
“You didn’t know your mistress was sneaking out?”
I swallowed hard and slowly nodded. A blatant lie, yes—but what choice did I have if I wanted to survive?
Contrary to my fears, he didn’t press further. Instead, lowering his sharp gaze, he turned to the baron and baroness behind me.
“I heard you have another daughter.”
I couldn’t make sense of his words.
‘Kayla had a sister?’
That’s strange. Nothing like that was in the original novel. Did that mean there was another young lady in this mansion?
But what truly unsettled me was how he stared at me while saying it, eyes full of ill-omen. The baron and baroness’s faces stiffened slightly, and my anxiety flared.
“If we fail to deliver the bride, Her Majesty the Empress will be furious. Not only I, who was entrusted with the mission, but you two—and even this land—may not escape her wrath.”
His expression remained emotionless, his voice calm. Which only made his words more terrifying.
Eventually, the baron and baroness dropped to their knees and began to beg.
“P-Please, spare us!”
“My lord, I beg you. We’ll find our daughter somehow—just spare our lives!”
They pleaded at his feet, but he didn’t budge an inch.
I happened to glance up and met his eyes again—quickly averting mine. His gaze felt like it was burning through me.
‘Why does he keep staring like that? It’s creeping me out.’
His gray eyes, murky like puddled mud, remained locked on me.
“Come to think of it,” he said, “Her Majesty instructed me to bring the daughter of Baron Enrio—but didn’t specify which one.”
The baron and baroness’s eyes widened, and in unison, they turned to me.
As I saw the meaningful smile on the imperial officer’s face and the startled expressions of the baron couple, a chilling premonition crept up my spine.
‘W-Wait a second. What the hell is this?!’
I was neck-deep in a mess I hadn’t seen coming.
“There’s still time before we depart. I’ll leave you to have a calm discussion… as a family.”
The man from the palace left us alone.
As a family? That was the most absurd thing I’d ever heard.
After the man left, I listened to the baron couple trying to “persuade” me—and pieced together Stella’s backstory.
Stella was the baron’s daughter, born out of wedlock after a brief affair before his marriage. The baroness refused to acknowledge her as a daughter and made her serve as a maid in the mansion. After her mother died of illness, Stella had nowhere to go and thus became Kayla’s loyal servant.
As a reader, I felt completely deceived.
Even if she wasn’t the protagonist in the original story, shouldn’t they have at least hinted that the duchess’s maid was actually her half-sister?
Having emotionally connected with Stella, I felt utterly betrayed.
This was like some trashy soap opera.
‘Half-sisters? How the hell was I supposed to know?!’
In the original novel, Stella had fooled the readers completely.
No matter how grateful she was for being taken in, what kind of saint would treat her half-sister like a rightful mistress? That defied all logic.
The sun was rising, but my insides were burning.
If I could turn back time, I wouldn’t have helped Kayla escape.
‘I should’ve just gone to the capital and found a way to survive.’
Like a rabbit trapped in a cage, I’d wandered the room all night without a wink of sleep, completely unaware that morning had come.
The moment dawn broke, the baron and baroness returned.
“We may have been strict with you, but we never once thought of you as anything but our daughter.”
Something about their attitude had shifted since the night before. The baron’s face radiated fatherly affection, and the baroness—who’d slapped me across the face last night—was now speaking gently.
“Yes, Stella. Even though you were technically a maid, you were always by Kayla’s side, weren’t you? We never made you do anything too hard. You enjoyed everything a noble young lady would have.”
Enjoyed, my ass.
I’d read the original—I knew exactly how much Stella had suffered under that foolish Kayla.
My displeasure must have shown on my face, as the baroness suddenly turned cold again.
“I never expected things to turn out this way either. But what choice do we have? If no one goes, everyone here will die.”
She placed her hands on her hips, her tone threatening.
“That includes you, Stella. No matter your origins, you carry the blood of House Enrio.”
Funny how I was just a maid when they needed me to serve—and now I was suddenly a daughter when it suited them.
“Honey, I’ve said what I can. It’s your turn now. We’ll all just die together if this keeps up!”
As she stormed out, the baron turned to me with a look that poorly disguised his desperation as affection.
“Stella. I know it must feel like we’re pushing you forward as our daughter only now, and I’m sorry. But this is the only way to save everyone. Didn’t you and Kayla grow up like real sisters?”
My head was spinning from how fast everything had turned.
“Please… just give me some time to think.”
“Of course. Take your time. You’ve always been a thoughtful, wise girl. I believe you’ll make the right decision.”
After he left, I walked over to the window, trying to sort out my thoughts.
Outside, maids and servants were already bustling around from the early morning.
They wore worn-out clothes, their faces haggard and drained. Their backs were hunched from hard labor, their skin dry and cracked like firewood.
Seeing them reminded me—I was still possessing a maid’s body.
‘If I don’t go to the capital, I’ll either die here or work myself to death like them.’
I clutched my head.
‘This whole thing is a disaster. I thought only Kayla needed to escape.’
Then, a thought popped into my mind.
‘What if I ran away too—like Kayla?’
But the estate was now heavily guarded. From the window, I could already see large, terrifying dogs prowling the grounds.
Even if I managed to escape, the men from the palace would hunt me like a runaway slave.
Besides, this novel’s world was a brutal place where bloodshed happened daily and commoners had to fight to survive under a rigid class system.
‘If a maid runs away, she’ll either starve or get caught and killed.’
That sobering thought forced me to focus.
‘Calm down. I’m not dead—yet. One thing is certain: the original story has gone off-script.’
I had to rely on reason, not emotion.
“Stella. I know it must feel like we’re pushing you forward as our daughter only now, and I’m sorry. But this is the only way to save everyone.”
The baron’s words echoed in my mind.
Revolting as they were, I had to admit part of it was true.
I didn’t care what happened to the Enrio family—but if I wanted to survive, I had to find my own way.
So I considered it.
‘What if I—meaning Stella—became the duke’s bride in Kayla’s place?’
