Chapter
Prologue
The duke’s daughter with silver hair and beautiful green eyes—Safinia Estman—decided to “die.”
With the help of an ally by the lakeside, she faked her own “death” and vanished.
Abandoning both her name and her status, Safinia left the detached palace.
On the day the carriage went out of control, she had pulled her maid to safety.
Her fiancé never once called out Safinia’s name.
The one who saved her was a stranger.
After thanking him, she glanced back at her fiancé and caught sight of him through the crowd, tenderly caring for the maid.
At that moment, Safinia understood everything.
She had not been chosen.
In the future where the two would be united, she was the intruder.
So she chose to disappear, feigning her own death.
Her ally silently accepted her resolve.
On the appointed day—
after preparing everything to erase her traces, she left behind signs of her “death” by the lake and departed.
The journey of abandoning her name and status turned out to be far freer than she had imagined.
Days of never introducing herself, never getting deeply involved, passing through like the wind.
She did not wish to be needed by anyone.
She only wanted to avoid living in a way where she would be seen as a nuisance.
Six months passed, and the jewels sewn into the lining of her travel clothes had almost all been spent on the road.
All that remained was a small rabbit brooch.
That alone she could not part with—
because it was the first gift her fiancé had ever given her of his own will, a precious memory.
She had begun to think, a few days ago,
that perhaps it was time to find a place to settle down.
Before her travel funds were gone, she wanted to find a live-in position where she could work—
and perhaps a final home.
Riding a stagecoach, Safinia arrived at a small mountain village.
Though the sky was clear, the village felt heavy with a strange air.
The shop signs were old, and no figures could be seen beyond the windows.
Her travel-worn instincts told her this was not a place to linger.
She stood before the town map, looking for the stagecoach stop, when—
“Hey, are you by any chance a traveler?”
A voice called from behind. Safinia turned.
There stood a girl about her own age, smiling at her.
“If you’re looking for the stagecoach stop, I’ll show you the way.”
Since the map was unclear, Safinia decided to follow her.
They went through an alley, turned down a narrow path, and continued deeper in.
The farther they moved from the center of the village, the older the buildings became and the fewer signs of life remained.
Is there really a stop in a place like this?
Suppressing her unease, Safinia kept following.
Never imagining that this would be where her “faked death” would finally lead her—
