Chapter 2

* * *

"Ti, what brings you here?"

The Duke asked in a voice completely different from the one he used when speaking to me. Cladie, who had entered the hall, placed her hands on her hips and frowned.

"Dad, you shouldn't be stepping on a child like that."

The Duke removed his foot from my shoulder and laughed heartily.

"Our Ti is so kind. To worry about such a child."

"Che."

Cladie pouted, and a shy blush crept up her cheeks.

"It's my birthday soon, you know."

"Right, that's why I'm making you clean the hall."

"But we don't need to have a party in such a large hall."

Despite her words, her eyes sparkled with the anticipation of a grand birthday party.

"Can we treat your birthday lightly when it's our daughter's?"

"Even Dad, you know."

A pair of light pink shoes stopped in front of me.

"Are you okay?"

Her gentle voice fell on me like a petal. I nodded as I raised my upper body.

"Then, try your best."

Cladie, who smiled, hugged the Duke's arm. The Duke affectionately stroked her hair. The loving father and daughter began to walk towards the door.

"Hee, Dad, my shoes got wet in the dirty soapy water."

"I'll buy you new ones, so don't worry."

"Wow, Dad is the best!"

I was left alone, watching them. The soapy water had soaked my entire body.

Thud, the door closed.

I stared at the firmly closed door and bowed my head.

'...Let's hurry and clean.'

If I don't finish, I might receive another punishment.

* * *

Rumble!

My stomach growled.

No matter how much I tried to suppress it, it was useless. My stomach was still demanding food.

Since I didn't finish cleaning the hall, I was punished by the Duke. I received thirty lashes on my calves with a thin cane.

In pain, I couldn't stand properly and groaned. The Duke said to me,

"From today, there will be no dinner for a week."

That meant I had to survive on one meal a day.

Usually, I only ate breakfast and dinner, and even then, it wasn't proper meals but hard bread and watery soup without any chunks.

After the Duke left, Cladie entered.

"Oh, how pitiful."

Cladie clicked her tongue, looking at my bruised calves.

"Don't be too upset. Dad is a fair person. Giving you free meals just because you're my cousin would be unfair to others, wouldn't it?"

Even if you're my cousin, you and I are different.

Her eyes said as much.

"Try harder next time. You should finish your work. Dad said, 'Those who don't work shouldn't eat.'"

Cladie smiled, seemingly proud of her encouragement, and left the room.

Thinking about it made me angry.

'Just a meal...!'

Rumble.

I wanted to say I didn't need just a meal, but my stomach was so hungry.

'It hurts.'

The emptiness from not eating and the burning pain in my calves hurt.

My breathing was rapid.

My breath was hot.

My head felt numb.

'I'm suffering.'

I stayed in my wet clothes until they dried, and I felt like I was catching a cold.

I hid in an old blanket, but the winter night's cold froze my body.

In a daze from the heat and cold, the Duke's voice echoed.

"You should be grateful to me."

"Your father irresponsibly left you here and doesn't even pay child support."

"So, you should pay for your meals. Do you know how much you eat? How much it costs to raise you!"

"Ultimately, you can't even pay for your meals! You're lazy! Be grateful for the food and shelter I provide to someone as useless as you."

I covered my ears, but the Duke's voice didn't stop.

Now, I couldn't feel the hunger or the pain in my calves.

I clutched my chest and panted.

"It hurts so much..."

It felt like my heart was being torn apart.

I didn't want to, but my heart kept breaking.

In front of the Duke, my whole body trembled, and I couldn't speak properly.

To me, he was too big.

"Don't forget that your real father abandoned you, and I'm raising you."

"Well, I'll have to see if he's really your father. You can't even use magic, can you?"

I gripped the blanket tightly.

'Am I really abandoned?'

At first, I thought not.

No matter how evil the other party was, a contract is a contract.

But the result is this.

'Trusting the devil's contract was foolish.'

I don't know how many times I've been disappointed.

I don't expect promises to be kept anymore.

So, there's no need to be disappointed.

Sniff.

My nose was stuffy.

Tears rolled down my cheeks.

Why am I crying over something so trivial?

I'm still young, that's for sure, huff!

Sniff, sniff.

'Damn devil.'

If he had given me a silver spoon.

If he had given me abilities.

If he had given me a father and a brother.

'...I thought I would have a family.'

"Achoo!"

My whole body jolted from the sneeze.

I sniffed and pulled the blanket tighter. It didn't provide much warmth, but it was better than nothing.

'There's no medicine here, and my young body is too weak.'

I've almost died more than once.

Today is no different.

...Maybe it would be easier to die.

'No, no! I can't get weak!'

I won't die like this, no matter how unjust it is.

I will survive in this zero-star world.

* * *

"Ti, happy birthday!"

"Wow, you're still so young, yet you're dazzlingly beautiful."

"When you grow up, all the men in the empire will fall for our Ti."

Cladie, surrounded by her family, smiled brightly. Even to me, she looked like an adorable and lovely angel.

She was wearing a light pink dress today, so luxurious and elegant that it didn't seem like a child's dress.

The voluminous skirt, reaching her ankles, was layered with lace, and the lace was adorned with tiny diamonds.

No matter how rich they were, they wouldn't be this extravagant with a child's dress that wouldn't be worn for a year.

But the Duke's love for Cladie was evident, and every year around her birthday, such expensive dresses would arrive at the mansion.

The dresses were so beautiful that Cladie always looked forward to seeing what they would be.

'The Duke never told her what the dress would look like.'

No matter how many times Cladie asked for hints, it was useless.

He probably kept it a secret so she would be even happier when she received it.

'She really is loved...'

I turned my gaze to the beautifully decorated party hall.

Of course, the hall was cleaned and decorated to shine.

The Duke probably didn't think I could clean it all.

'He just wanted to torment me.'

I stood in a corner, looking at my feet.

The shabby shoes on my small feet didn't fit in here.

Even the serving staff wore better shoes and clothes than I did.

'I look so pitiful.'

Even when I stood quietly in the corner, I could feel mocking gazes.

It was a cozy family birthday party, but I didn't belong.

After all, who would think I was part of the Duke's family, looking like this?

In reality, I wasn't attending the birthday party as the Countess of Pheraton and Cladie's cousin.

"Ah!"

Cladie's surprised voice rang out.

It seemed the cream from the cake had fallen on her shoes.

Her lovely face turned into a frown, worried that her new shoes might be ruined.

"What are you just standing there for!"

The Duke's sharp voice hit my back.

"Quick, clean it!"

Yes, I wasn't attending as a cousin.

'I'm here to serve Cladie.'

If I delayed, the Duke would punish me again.

I quickly approached Cladie and spoke to a nearby maid.

"Can I have something to clean it..."

She turned away with a troubled look before I could finish.

I knew why.

'It's probably the Duke's order.'

Without asking, I knelt in front of Cladie.

I pulled up my tattered sleeve and started to wipe the cream. The greasy feeling was unpleasant.

But there was something even more unpleasant.

The countless gazes of the Duke's family on my back.

When I looked up, I met the Duke's eyes.

His eyes were filled with contempt, pleasure, and a sense of victory.

"Is that all? You need to polish it!"

The Duke urged me.

My small hand, gripping the sleeve, tightened.

"Are you not listening again! Is one week without food not enough? Or were the lashes not enough?!"

I bit my lip.

I wanted to stand up and shout at the abuser.

But my small body trembled and wouldn't move.

I'm scared. I'm afraid. I'm terrified.

My body moved involuntarily, lowering my posture and bringing my lips close to Cladie's shoes.

Cladie shook her foot, and I almost touched the shoe with my lips.

'It's okay. This is nothing.'

I'm... precious.

'Really?'

A voice full of doubt echoed from the depths of my heart.

I tried to ignore it and was about to blow on the shoe when—

"Is my memory wrong?"

A low but clear voice cut through the hall.

"My daughter wasn't blonde, was she?"

I looked up to see a tall man standing with a cloak draped over one shoulder, leaning slightly.

He frowned as he looked at Cladie, or rather, at the light pink dress she was wearing.

"Count of Pheraton?!"

The Duke exclaimed, his heart leaping and then sinking.

The Count of Pheraton?

Is that him?

My gaze wavered as I looked at the man.

The Count of Pheraton.

He is the father of the Countess of Pheraton, me.

* * *

Even standing casually, his presence was overwhelming.

Broad shoulders, long limbs, a tight waist, and a face so stern it seemed no blood could flow from it.

An incredible aura radiated from his entire body, yet his good looks couldn't be hidden.

'Wow... He looks like a protagonist from a novel...'

His hair, darker than the depths of the abyss, and eyes redder than the blood of a pure dove.

If I were to describe him in a novel, it would surely read like that.

He was more of a protagonist than any I had imagined.

"Didn't you say you were on the Western Front?"

Western Front?

I frowned at the Duke's words.

'So, the Count was at war?'

I didn't know.

"It's over."

"Pardon?"

"The war is over."

The Duke shook his head in disbelief.

"Over? It's clearly not..."

"Do I look like I have time to deal with every little thing?"

The Count's eyes sharpened like a blade.

Despite his slanted stance and lazy attitude, the atmosphere changed.

Cladie and the Duke's wife stiffened, taking deep breaths.

"Ha, ha, that's impossible."

The Duke, with a pale face, forced a smile and approached the Count.

"Still, what brings you here without any notice?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

The Count ignored the Duke and moved forward.

His long legs made it only a few steps to reach Cladie.

His red eyes scanned her.

Cladie couldn't bear the cold, sharp gaze and lowered her head.

Her trembling body and pale face suggested she might faint.

The Count's eyes narrowed, and his blood-red gaze slowly moved.

'Ah.'

Our eyes met.

The Count's eyes twitched.

"What is this scrawny rat?"

"That, we have a servant—"

"Surely, this ragged person isn't the Countess of Pheraton?"

The Count's voice was dangerously low.

The Duke, who was trying to explain, froze and couldn't continue.

The Count's family and the surrounding staff couldn't even breathe.

A suffocating silence.

A thick, dense silence that not even a needle could pierce.

I bowed my head.

Scrawny rat.

Yes, that's true.

Even I could see how pitiful and unimpressive I looked.

'He must be disappointed to find out I'm his daughter.'

He would want to deny it.

But.

"Still, can't you take me with you?"

I gathered all my courage, looking up at the Count.

I can't stay here any longer.

I'll surely die if I stay.

The red eyes that met mine distorted slightly.

"What?"

"It's just that... I haven't washed... I couldn't wash."

I tried to look as neat as possible, moistening my dry mouth.

"I won't be a bother. I can wash myself well."

Thump, thump, my heart echoed in my ears.

"I can cook and clean well! I can pay for my meals. I eat very little..."

The Count was silent.

"I can polish your shoes every day! I can make them shine!"

My courage was fading.

I didn't want to, but my head kept lowering, only seeing his jawline.

His jaw was rigid.

My head was completely lowered.

I saw Cladie's shoe, still greasy with cream.

I don't like it here.

I want to live in a warm, cozy place where I can rest.

I want to live in such a place, now, in my past life, always—

"I want to go home..."