chapter 3
When laid out plainly, it was a simple story.
The Count of Hessen’s household consisted of a loving husband and wife, their adorable daughter, and one unjust contract with dreadful conditions that had been passed down from a distant ancestor.
A former head of the family had once owed his life to a monster, and in exchange had promised to offer one of his descendants as a bride.
That ancestor peacefully entered his grave after pushing the responsibility onto future generations, but those left behind paid the price, losing sleep every night in fear.
Then, on the very day the Countess safely gave birth to their lovely daughter, a letter with no sender arrived at the Hessen estate.
[The promised time has come. Fulfill the oath.]
The nightmare that had haunted the Count his entire life had finally become reality.
As he watched his precious daughter grow, he despaired over the tragedy awaiting her.
At the same time, he desperately searched for some way to save her from the monster.
About two years after his daughter’s birth, he finally devised what he thought was a convincing plan.
Together with his wife, he pretended she was pregnant with a second child and brought home an orphan who resembled them.
One day, when the time came, they intended to offer that child to the monster in place of their real daughter.
Several years passed, and once the lie had ripened enough to seem natural, the Count staged his eldest daughter’s death and secretly sent her away somewhere no one would notice.
Then, wearing a grief-stricken expression, he said this to the orphan he had taken in:
“Ivnia, my one and only daughter. From now on, you must take your sister’s place.”
Ivnia knew nothing.
Literally nothing at all.
She was so ignorant, so foolishly innocent, that when her older sister “died,” she naturally believed she should take her place and be sacrificed to the monster.
Had the truth never been exposed, she would have closed her eyes willingly to the very end, believing it was a sacrifice for her family.
That foolish misunderstanding shattered without warning.
On a day when the sun shone especially brightly, Ivnia impulsively visited the home of her uncle’s family nearby. Before leaving for Ritberg, she had wanted to personally say her final goodbyes.
At the time, she had no idea that such a beautiful farewell would never be allowed to her.
She still remembered it vividly.
The servants’ strange panic at her unexpected visit.
The oddly tense atmosphere.
The maid who quietly slipped away the moment she saw her.
Driven by a bad feeling, Ivnia secretly followed her.
And there, surrounded by everyone and smiling brightly, was the sister she had believed dead.
“Everyone… what is going on? How is my sister…?”
“Ivnia! W-well, actually, we found your sister recently. You remember how we never found her body after the ship accident? By some miracle, Emilia survived!”
Before Ivnia could even finish speaking, the Count of Hessen hurriedly leapt to his feet and explained frantically.
Rather than sharing the joy of finding his daughter alive, he looked like he wanted to shut Ivnia’s mouth immediately.
“If my sister was alive… if she came back… why didn’t you tell me?”
“That’s… your sister was overwhelmed too, and…”
Ivnia did not immediately understand the truth from her father’s fumbling expression.
Her mind could not yet grasp the situation.
But she sensed it.
With instincts bordering on animal intuition, Ivnia tested them.
“…Since my sister is back, I don’t have to go to Ritberg anymore, right?”
At those words, Emilia—who had been silently watching the entire time—finally snapped and rose from her seat.
The family tried to pull her back down, but they could no longer stop the mouth that had grown sick of silence.
“What nonsense! We brought you in from the start just to feed you to that monster!”
“Emilia! Be quiet!”
“Why should I?! She’s saying she’ll send me to that monster! Whether I miraculously came back alive or not, it worked out perfectly, so she should just go get eaten by the monster instead! How dare she say things like that to the sister who returned from the dead!”
Ivnia could not respond to Emilia’s words.
She could only endure as the family she had known her whole life, the love she had given them, and the world that made up her existence crumbled apart.
Seeing Ivnia’s face turn deathly pale, Emilia shouted even more fiercely.
“Don’t act so pitiful! I suffered too! I couldn’t meet anyone I knew, and I had to hide in that miserable place, never once able to say my real name, living like I was dead!”
“Emilia, stop. Father will explain everything…!”
“You were just some abandoned orphan girl from the streets! Our parents took you in when you were practically dying and fed you! You should’ve died on the roadside ages ago. We already let you live in luxury this long—what more do you want from us?!”
As she listened to Emilia speak those cruel truths, Ivnia blankly found herself thinking:
Why hadn’t they been more careful?
If only they had waited a little longer.
Why bring Emilia back so soon, right within reach?
Had the relief of finally nearing the end made them careless?
Still… they could have endured just a little longer.
Even if she had been used, hiding that fact from her until the very end would have been the only kindness they could offer her.
“Ivnia, my daughter born of my heart.”
After the uproar finally settled, the Countess of Hessen spoke carefully.
Emilia, having poured out all the resentment she had bottled up, buried her face in her mother’s chest and sobbed bitterly.
“I truly am sorry to you. But…”
But.
What had she said after that?
Had she gently asked Ivnia to die for them?
Had she expressed gratitude for the sacrifice forced upon her?
Had she elegantly warned her that if her real daughter died, Ivnia would not escape unharmed either?
Or perhaps… had she said all of those things in the end?
“Excuse me, my lady. Are you here?”
At the knock from the doorway, Ivnia suddenly lifted her head.
She had been sitting blankly in a corner, killing time, unable to understand why they had brought her here. She had even wondered if they intended to abandon her like this, so fortunately someone had come for her before too long.
Ivnia hurriedly stood and opened the door.
“Um, what did Lord Ram say? What will happen to me now…?”
“To commemorate your arrival today, a banquet has been prepared. You must be hungry, so please change into indoor clothes and come down to the dining hall.”
In response to Ivnia’s urgent question, Guillermo answered with a smooth smile.
The reply was so unrelated to her question that she instinctively froze.
She had felt it since earlier, but conversations with him never seemed to connect properly. At the most important moments, something always felt slightly off.
“The dining hall is beside the central hall on the first floor.”
As if that was all he had to say, he finished and quietly left.
Ivnia stood there blankly until he disappeared beyond the stairs, then finally muttered the words she had failed to say earlier.
“I didn’t… bring any clothes to change into…”
He had not even told her when the banquet would begin, whether she would be dining alone, or whether she would be eating with his master.
Though if the meal was meant only for her, perhaps there was no need to prepare anything special at all.
Staring silently down the empty hallway, Ivnia stepped out of the room.
After all, she had only been forced out of there. It was never a place she stayed because she wanted to.
If she waited in the dining hall beforehand, at least she would not be scolded for being late.
In truth, leaving early had been a good decision.
The castle was so enormous that Ivnia wandered through several corridors before finally finding the central staircase.
After hurrying down to the first floor, she paused before entering the dining hall and looked around the hall carefully.
Perhaps because the lights were now on and the darkness gone, the building that had seemed frightening at first now appeared surprisingly ordinary.
It was old and poorly maintained, but the decorations and craftsmanship were impressive. In its prime, it must have possessed tremendous grandeur.
‘Back then… was he not a monster yet?’
Pushing aside the meaningless thought, Ivnia entered the dining hall.
In truth, it was an unnecessary question.
What mattered now was whether he was still human even now.
The question could also be asked another way:
Was this banquet for her… or for the master of this castle?
Come to think of it, he had only told her to leave because he was naked. He had never actually said he would not eat her.
There was no guarantee that the banquet celebrating her arrival would end up in her mouth.
The “hungry” person Guillermo referred to might not have been her at all, but his master.
Looking at the enormous table before her, Ivnia hesitated briefly before climbing onto it.
Lying across the dining table, wondering whether her fiancé would ultimately devour her or not, she suddenly realized that this was probably a very bad sign.
‘This isn’t good.’
She had thought that once she died, this suffocating feeling would finally end.
So why was she still breathing so normally?
Ivnia stared weakly up at the old chandelier, blinking blankly.
Then suddenly, against the white ceiling, someone’s face appeared.
The man who had abruptly appeared before her eyes clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
“This isn’t your bedroom, little girl.”
