Chapter 3
“What, wh-what… Miss, do you even understand what you’ve just done?!”
“Of course I do, Ashley. Why wouldn’t I?”
I answered her in the gentle, docile tone she was used to hearing from me. Ashley’s expression stiffened.
“This is absolutely unacceptable. I’ll report this to the master.”
“‘Master’?”
I scoffed at the unpleasant word.
“Say that again. Who did you just say your master is?”
A bit of color drained from Ashley’s face.
But after years of looking down on me and treating me as less than human, she quickly lifted her chin and retorted proudly.
“Baron Varden and the Baroness are currently managing this estate. That goes for all of us—servants and maids alike.”
“And on whose behalf are they managing whose estate?”
I approached her with a smile. I could still feel the sensation of that live bug squishing beneath my feet.
As I got closer, Ashley reluctantly answered.
“…On your behalf, they are managing the Estelle family estate.”
“Then that makes me the ‘master,’ doesn’t it?”
I had to look up so far at her that my neck almost strained—she was much taller than me.
Now, there was hardly any space left between us. Beads of sweat formed on her pale face.
“You’re the one who called me the ‘cursed daughter of Count Estelle,’ remember? Said, ‘like father, like daughter.’ Isn’t that right? Then the rightful master of this place is none other than me—the one who inherited the Estelle name.”
Even a monster like me understands that. So why don’t you?
I whispered quietly, and Ashley opened her mouth several times to speak, but no words came out. In the end, she shut her lips tightly.
I pushed her chest with my index finger.
“Now get out.”
Smack! Ashley slapped my hand away, biting her lip.
“You’re a ward! Until you come of age, the Baron has full authority over both you and the estate—kyaa!”
I didn’t need to hear another word.
“So this is what it feels like to hit someone.”
My hand, which had never struck another person before, stung and trembled.
I rubbed it with my other bony hand. It hurt, but it felt good.
She screamed, clutching her cheek.
“What on earth is wrong with you today?! Have you been possessed by a real demon or something?!”
“Maybe I have.”
“Th-That’s ridiculous…!”
“I swear to you.”
I turned my back on her, frozen in place, and walked to the door. As I opened it myself, a broad hallway revealed itself.
Morning sunlight had already begun to stream through the windows.
“I’ll make sure to throw you out. No matter how long it takes. Once I’m out of the Baron’s so-called ‘protection’… you’d better start praying to God for what happens next.”
My eyes met Ashley’s, hanging in the air. What must she be thinking now? I cast the final blow.
“Leave.”
Ashley stood frozen for a moment, then staggered away.
The door closed, and silence greeted me like an old friend.
***
That entire day, no one came looking for me.
After I threw Ashley out like that, it was only natural that no one would bring me lunch or dinner.
Tomorrow is my birthday, but no one came to show me a dress or jewelry to try on.
In the original timeline, my fourteenth birthday celebration was a modest affair in the mansion with the Baron’s family.
It wasn’t much of a party. They just sat me down and spent the time showcasing how disgraceful I was—how vulgar and lowly I was, just like my father. That I was unfit in every way.
Normally, children of noble families invited close friends from other noble houses or the Valentina Academy.
But I had no friends at the academy. So of course, no one came.
I sat on my bed, hugging my knees, burying my face between them. Thinking about what to do from now on. How I would reshape this second life I’d been given.
As the sunset faded and the cold night air filled my room, I finally had a rough plan. I lifted my head.
There was someone I needed to find.
***
The next morning.
Baron Varden and his wife woke up in good spirits.
Before breakfast, the Baron dealt with several important documents related to the estate, and the Baroness reviewed preparations for Helena’s upcoming sixteenth birthday party.
She was narrowing down top-tier dressmakers and importing gems from abroad.
Only after all that did they leisurely head to the dining room for breakfast.
As they entered the elegant room, sunlight sparkled like jewels through the large windows that faced the garden. A grand chandelier on the high ceiling cast a magnificent glow.
A view that never failed to please. Baron Varden’s chest swelled with pride.
He sat at the head of the table, stroking his small beard.
Count Estelle may have disgraced himself with his madness—setting his own lands on fire, slaughtering peasants, and ultimately being executed—but the wealth of the old noble house remained largely intact.
Even without what was seized by the Empire, the Baron now enjoyed wealth and honor far beyond what he’d ever known as a low-ranking noble.
All of it would become his.
In just a few more years, when Kalia dies, the estate would legally pass to him as her guardian.
The Count had long been estranged from other relatives due to his madness. And Baron Varden was the closest remaining family member.
“Good thing I married off Marina, that worthless thing, back then. Who knew that woman would give birth to a golden goose?”
Marina Estelle, the former Countess and the Baron’s younger sister, had been sickly since childhood.
Plain-looking and the daughter of an unremarkable barony, it had been his idea to marry her off to Count Estelle—an infamous madman no one else would wed.
“I got a fat dowry out of it too! I really do have a knack for these things.”
The plan to eliminate Kalia before she turned 19 and became the legal heir was progressing smoothly.
Everything was perfect.
“Good morning, Father, Mother.”
“Ah, welcome, Helena.”
Helena entered the dining room. The Baron looked at his blossoming daughter with pride.
Her lovely curls were red like rose petals, and her vivid green eyes sparkled like emeralds.
Her limbs were long and elegant, full of graceful vitality like fresh summer branches.
Once she was seated, they waited a little longer for the last member. The maids stood silently against the walls like statues.
But as time passed, even their expressionless faces began to show unease in the cooling atmosphere.
“She’s late!”
The Baron finally lost his temper and yelled.
Today, just for once, Kalia had been permitted to join them for breakfast.
It was meant to be a ‘meal of penance,’ but out of generosity, he had allowed her to sit with them today—and that foolish, ignorant girl dared to make them wait?
The Baron’s fury boiled inside him.
“Ashley! What are you doing?! Go fetch Kalia, now!”
He bellowed at Ashley, the head maid. She hesitated—unusual for her—but eventually left.
“That impudent wretch… Fourteen years old today and still hasn’t learned a shred of proper etiquette?!”
“Father, please calm down. It’s just her nature. What can we do?”
Helena gracefully tucked her hair behind her ear and soothed the Baron. The Baroness nodded in agreement.
“Yes, dear. Once she returns, we can ‘educate’ her properly.”
“As her older sister, I’ll personally teach her what noble manners truly are. And how a ward should behave toward her guardians.”
Reading his mind like sugar on the tongue, his wife and daughter pleased the Baron.
The harmonious family then chatted amicably about how best to “educate” Kalia.
The one who shattered that warmth was Ashley.
“Um, M-Master…”
The Baron turned at her hesitant voice. Ashley stood alone, looking flustered.
“What? Why did you come back alone? Where is she?!”
“T-The thing is…”
The Baron, hot-tempered as ever, barked at her impatience.
“Speak properly! Where is Kalia?!”
Ashley shut her eyes tightly and answered.
“She’s not in her room, sir! I can’t find her anywhere in the mansion!”
“What?!”
The faces of the Baron’s family were frozen in shock at the unimaginable news.
***
At that very moment, I was leaving the mansion in secret—for the first time in my life.
No one paid attention to me slipping out early in the morning.
The guards at the front gate should have been the most alert, but they were nothing more than thugs the Baron had hired for cheap.
I had left strong wine, stolen from the storage room, near the night watch post. When the new shift arrived, they happily drank it and promptly fell asleep.
Wearing a tattered hood, I quickly slipped past the mansion walls.
Though the outside world was only separated from the estate by a stone wall, the air felt different. Clean. Sweet. It filled my lungs like fresh spring water.
But I didn’t have time for sentiment.
I ran straight toward the main road, where carriages waited.
I climbed into one that was waiting for passengers. The coachman yawned as he looked back at me.
“Where to, miss?”
Sitting on the hard seat, I pulled my hood tightly around me.
“To the Duchy of Desmier.”
