Chapter 1

It was an ordinary day.

If I hadn’t been kidnapped and my arms and legs were free, it would’ve been an even more ordinary day.

Cordelia stared blankly at the knight who was fidgeting nervously the moment he saw her face.

He had been like that ever since he realized he had kidnapped the wrong person.

“This isn’t Saint Cordelia?”

Duke Valencia asked coldly, his tone just as icy as his expression.

The pale knight stammered as he tried to explain.

“Y-Yes. I definitely heard people calling her Cordelia…”

Yeah, I’m sure you did!

Because my name is also Cordelia!

Cordelia wanted to ask the knight if his eyes were working properly.

But unfortunately, all the sound she could make was, “Mmph, mmph!”

Duke Valencia didn’t even glance at Cordelia and muttered,

“What a waste of time.”

‘What? A waste of time?’

Cordelia could’ve collapsed clutching her neck after hearing that.

‘Isn’t it too much to say that just because I’m not the saint?’

She hadn’t expected a warm welcome after being dragged here against her will, but hearing something like that to her face still hurt.

But regardless of Cordelia’s anger, Duke Valencia was clearly upset.

From his perspective, he had broken through heavy security to kidnap the saint, only to find a completely different person in front of him.

It wouldn’t have been strange for him to curse out loud.

‘Come to think of it…’

The Valencia family was one of the empire’s four great houses. The duke wanted to adopt the orphaned saint to reach the peak of power.

But when the saint chose another house to be adopted into, he was furious.

So today—

‘The day when the saint is supposed to perform a holy ritual to stop the world’s destruction.’

He went ahead and kidnapped the saint.

‘Even though he didn’t actually kidnap the real saint.’

“From behind, her body shape and hair color looked the same, so I made a mistake. It’s my fault.”

“You sure talk a lot today.”

At the duke’s harsh rebuke, the knight gasped.

Then he gave Cordelia a resentful look.

What? Why?

What do you want me to do?!

You’re the one who messed up!

Cordelia was dumbfounded.

If she had any fault, it was that she had the same name as the saint, was about the same age, looked similar from behind, and had spent time near the saint.

And “near” meant physically close, not emotionally close.

‘If I knew this would happen, I would’ve kept far away from her like we were strangers.’

Cordelia had always been “that girl” who followed the saint around.

Maybe because they were both orphans from the same area and had the same name, the saint seemed to like her a lot.

She might have wanted to be close friends, but the saint was a noble figure, and Cordelia was just a lowly girl who escaped street life thanks to her.

So, although they were called friends, in reality Cordelia was more like a servant who attended to the saint.

“From the outfit, she seems to be part of the temple. If she was there, she must be connected to House Oryxa.”

House Oryxa was the one the saint chose.

Maybe trying to find some use for Cordelia now that he had her, Duke Valencia spoke.

But the reply was utterly disappointing.

“Um… well…”

“What now?”

“House Oryxa said they don’t care what happens to this girl.”

“What?”

“They showed no interest in negotiating or rescuing her. What should we do?”

Mumbling “No way, that can’t be,” the knight took off Cordelia’s mask—probably because he had received a response that would’ve been unthinkable if she were the real saint.

‘Right… They don’t think someone like me is worth saving.’

It wasn’t too shocking, since something similar had happened before.

A few years ago, there had been a fire. Cordelia was with the saint at the time.

[“People will come save us.”]

The saint had said that while holding Cordelia’s hand tightly.

But the flames were blazing so fiercely it made their faces burn just from the heat.

Unless someone wanted to die, no one would dare step into that fire.

While secretly scoffing at the overly optimistic saint, Cordelia was trying to figure out how to survive.

‘But then… three crazy guys actually ran into the fire.’

Three young men broke through the flames.

They were the sons of the other three great houses—excluding House Valencia. They had all been passionately pursuing the saint.

Each of them tried to prove they could save the saint, and they pulled her out of the fire.

Only the saint.

Because of that, Cordelia was left with burns on her face. Even if her back looked like the saint’s, her front no longer did.

‘By now, they’ve probably realized it was me beside her, not the saint, and are sighing in relief.’

Cordelia didn’t need to see it with her own eyes to know.

Once again, she had to survive on her own.

Now that they knew she wasn’t the saint, maybe they would let her go. That’s what Cordelia hoped.

“The only people who would think of using a fake decoy like this are from House Oryxa. By now, they must’ve realized I messed up and are probably celebrating with a toast.”

Duke Valencia sneered coldly.

Originally, only Saint Cordelia should’ve been at the ritual site.

But seeing a girl with burns on her face who resembled the saint meant House Oryxa had figured out his plan and used a trick from the start.

Now that Cordelia was of no use, the duke turned his back on her.

“Y-Your Grace! Then what should we do with this girl?”

The knight, now left alone with the fake Cordelia, asked urgently.

The annoyed Duke Valencia didn’t hesitate.

“Kill her.”

What? No!

But Cordelia’s screams didn’t reach them.

And just like that, Cordelia died.

If you think about how Duke Valencia would later use the saint to gain power and commit all sorts of evil, her death could be seen as a noble sacrifice.

The saint shed a single tear for the other Cordelia who died in her place.

Everyone except Cordelia had a normal day.

…That was what the book said.

Cordelia clutched her head.

Because…

‘I became that Cordelia!’

Not the saint Cordelia.

But the Cordelia who was meant to die in her place.

Staring at her small hands, Cordelia scowled.

‘This life is ruined. Why do I have to play the role of dying for nothing?’

If she had been born as the saint, she might’ve been happy, but life wasn’t that easy.

Cordelia thought,

Her misfortune started the moment she met the saint.

But she was only eight years old now and hadn’t met the saint yet.

In other words, she wasn’t “the fake Cordelia” yet.

Cordelia’s story—where she would constantly be compared to the saint—began when the saint spotted her during a charity visit.

‘I have to get away before she notices me.’

So Cordelia made up her mind to run away.

 

As far away as possible—so she’d never be involved with the saint or any of the four duke houses.