§ Chapter 14 §
At my question, Dietrich just shrugged his shoulders. His expression was that of someone who wouldn’t care in the least even if I dropped dead right now.
‘You ungrateful brute!’
Spit out every drop of milk you’ve ever drunk from me, you villain!
The rules of Lagrange’s succession game were simple.
“Do not kill the servants.”
That was the one and only rule. Which meant that when it came to eliminating other candidates, anything else was allowed.
Sneaking into another palace to slip poison into their food was so common that it happened three or four times a week.
“Whimper…”
If that cherry had been poisoned, I could have died before I even got to enjoy the fruits of all the trouble I’d gone through to become Dietrich’s sister—if I’d even truly become his sister.
Since I wasn’t an heir candidate, I’d never received poison resistance training.
Dietrich saw my pupils trembling like an earthquake and let out a small laugh.
‘You laugh?! I’m on the verge of death and you’re laughing?’
“It’ll be fine. The sibling-killing game is over, and every candidate knows I can’t be killed by poison.”
And indeed, just as he said, none of the other candidates used poison on him anymore. By the time he was two years old, his body had already built up tolerance to every kind of toxin.
All thanks to his biological mother, Camille, who had fed him poison daily.
‘That crazy woman…’
Instead of despairing over her fate as a battle slave sold to Lagrange, Camille poured all her efforts into making Dietrich the Archduke.
‘Still, what kind of mother feeds poison to her baby barely two years old?’
No matter how strong Dietrich was—born with a shadow’s power and a tough body—it was far too cruel. Just reading about it made me feel sick; it was such a twisted family tradition.
‘There’s no way I’ll ever understand this family.’
I swallowed the cherry that seemed stuck in my throat and refused to go down.
“Oh my, the young lady is here again?”
“Mya-ming!”
It was Marilyn, the new maid hired after Janine had disappeared.
Janine, the one who had slammed the door in my face when my palm was cut, claiming she couldn’t treat it—and who had exploded with anger when I ate her chocolate—had vanished at some point without a trace.
‘Now that I think of it, she really hasn’t been around. Did she transfer to another palace?’
“I don’t know what Lancel is even doing, not watching over the young lady properly.”
Marilyn laughed brightly and stretched out her arms to me. I naturally nestled into her embrace.
“My, how can our little lady be so beautiful?”
She stroked my cheeks with such affection. She was supposed to serve as Dietrich’s maid, but lately, she seemed to look after me more than even Lancel did.
‘All thanks to this irresistible cuteness of mine!’
It hadn’t worked on Dietrich or Janine, but Marilyn seemed quite taken in.
“Mya-ming, mya-ming!”
“Yes, my lady. Let’s head back to your room now.”
I made a babyish nasal sound and rubbed my head against Marilyn’s chest, much like when I had rubbed my cheek against Dietrich’s leg earlier.
‘Hmm… but why does the air suddenly feel cold?’
A chilling aura crept down my back. I quickly turned my head, but Dietrich’s aura was as calm and ashen as usual.
“Di-ttri, bye-bye.”
From Marilyn’s arms, I waved my little hand at Dietrich. If I’d had such a younger sibling, I would’ve been tempted to bite them from how cute they were—but this brat didn’t even glance at me.
Humming, I returned to my room, and the very next day, Marilyn was gone.
I began roaming everywhere to search for the vanished Marilyn. She was the very first adult I’d actually grown attached to.
“Dietrich.”
“Di-ttri.”
“Oppa.”
“Oppa?”
“No, oppa.”
I wasn’t particularly bothered by my clumsy baby pronunciation, but Dietrich seemed to be.
Since Marilyn—the only one who played with me—had been dismissed, I wandered the garden alone.
Catching me rolling on the grass, Dietrich immediately started correcting my pronunciation.
“Oppya.”
“Guess your tongue hasn’t grown enough yet.”
“Hmph.”
I puffed out my cheeks at his condescending remark.
‘A baby can have bad pronunciation, okay?!’
As if he’d been perfect at my age.
…Actually, knowing him, he probably had spoken perfectly from birth.
‘What kind of unfair setting is this!’
I dipped my hands into the fountain water splashing down in the summer sunlight.
‘Instead of a fountain, they should’ve planted fruit trees here.’
My gaze shifted to the spot where I’d planted the cherry pit Dietrich had given me.
‘Will it sprout? Marilyn had helped me plant it…’
Unlike Lancel or Dietrich, Marilyn usually granted my little requests.
‘So why did she suddenly disappear?’
Come to think of it, even Lancel hadn’t been around much lately.
“Oppya.”
“What.”
“Ma-ming-min, where go?”
“Who?” He feigned ignorance, fully aware that I couldn’t pronounce her name properly.
I was certain Dietrich was behind Marilyn’s disappearance. I had no proof, but I just knew. I’d even bet on it—if I had anything worth betting.
“Di-ttri’s maid.”
“…What about her?”
“Miss Ma-ming-min. I wanna see her.”
Marilyn had been the very first adult in my life to treat me kindly.
‘The first and the only one.’
Lancel no longer pinched or bullied me on purpose, but he never played with me either.
‘The only ones who even talk to me in this vast palace are Dietrich and Marilyn.’
And Marilyn adored me far more than Dietrich ever did.
Though Dietrich no longer ignored me, he didn’t come to me with storybooks, play dolls, or share tales of the world like Marilyn did.
Most of the time, he just looked annoyed whenever I sought him out.
‘But I need to learn about the world!’
I loved listening to Marilyn’s stories. They helped me understand this world better—things like tales of other noble families not mentioned in the novel, or legends of shadow demons.
‘I still had so much left to learn from her. Why did she have to disappear?’
“I sent her to another palace for a while.”
At his cold reply, my head drooped.
I didn’t have ears that could flop down like a dog’s, but if I had, they would’ve been dragging along the ground.
Without Marilyn, I was back to a lonely and dull life.
“When’s she coming back?”
“Who knows.”
‘Playing in the garden only keeps me entertained for a day or two.’
I couldn’t read books to pass the time, and lately, Dietrich was out of sight more often than not.
“Don’t cry.”
“I’m not.”
I’d barely cried in front of him at all, yet he seemed convinced I was a crybaby.
‘If there’s a baby out there who cries less than me, bring them here, you brat!’
“Why do you even like that maid?”
“Ma-ming-min read me books… and told lots of stories.”
At my answer, Dietrich let out a short snort.
“So what you need is… a toy.”
‘No, that’s not it.’
Before I could protest, he lifted his hand and summoned something. I hadn’t seen it in person before, but I knew what it was.
‘Baal, wasn’t it?’
The shadow demon he commanded was one of the strongest belonging to the Lagrange family.
‘A Demon King, no less.’
Strong enough to rival even the sun god, Hela.
It was largely thanks to Baal that Dietrich could grow into one of the strongest villains in this world.
‘But why would he summon that guy now?’
In an instant, the lush green lawn turned pitch black as the Demon King Baal appeared, bowing politely to seven-year-old Dietrich.
His demeanor was so formal he seemed more like a butler than a demon king—though, of course, a real butler wouldn’t have fiery red horns sprouting from his head.
“You called for me?”
Baal looked like a mass of writhing shadows. He had no face, so I couldn’t tell if his expression matched his tone, but his voice was impeccably respectful.
“Play with her a bit.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Uuung?”
Baal flickered uncertainly at Dietrich’s command.
He had no face, but I could feel his aura trembling—he was flustered.
Honestly, so was I. My jaw nearly dropped out of its socket.
‘Did he just tell the Demon King to play with me?!’
“Keep the baby entertained. She says she’s bored.”
“…Your command is for me… to play with this baby?”
“Yes.”
At Dietrich’s short nod, Baal slid toward me without hesitation. For a demon, his loyalty was something else.
‘If it were me, my pride would’ve made me rebel.’
But up close, his aura was too heavy, and the stench was unbearable—like a heap of rotting garbage.
I recoiled, shaking my head furiously.
“Don’t want!!!”
Yet Baal only stood there, unmoving, before gathering a shadowy hand and shaping it into a rattle.
“Shall I shake it for you?”
Clink—
The sound of the rattle stirred something instinctive.
Though made of shadows, the rattle Baal created chimed with a crisp, pleasant sound of marbles rolling.
“Ah, no!”
Clatter—
‘…Huh?’
Clatter, clatter—
“Oooh.”
No, no, no. I couldn’t let myself be taken in by a demon!
But—
“Kya-ha-ha!”
I couldn’t help it. I burst into giggles, enchanted by the rattle the demon king was shaking.
