A voice that sounded like it was crawling came out weakly.

It was heartbreaking.

Heartbreaking, mournful, and depressing.

I felt like I was the only one left alone in the world.

The duke’s cold voice settled on my head.

“You’re trembling.”

I flinched.

“Daddy!”

I shouted, raising my head.

Honestly, just because the duke appeared, I didn’t feel like he was my father right away.

But…

“Sniff…”

I felt so tormented as if I had been abandoned by my real father because of this childish body that seems like my sworn enemy.

I tried not to cry, but my eyes were already welling up with tears.

The duke’s face was blurry.

But that actually gave me courage again.

I couldn’t see his stiff and cold expression anymore.

“You’re my father!”

Just as Clatie has the marquis, you’re there for me.

“I want to go home!”

Big tears flowed endlessly down my cheeks. My nose was stuffy.

I tightly held onto the duke’s leg with my small fists.

As if I wouldn’t let go.

“Daddy, take me with you!”

* * *

“….”

“….”

It was excessively quiet. It seemed like you could hear the sound of people swallowing around you.

I opened my eyes quietly.

Tap, tap.

As tears fell from my eyes, the face of Duke Phaeraton appeared.

It was a terrifying face.

It wasn’t because of the fierce expression or the distorted eyes.

It was a face that was almost expressionless.

But still, I felt a sense of severity.

Hiccup.

Without realizing it, I started to sob.

The duke reached out to me.

“No! I won’t let go!”

I desperately clung onto his leg.

But with one hand, Duke Phaeraton easily lifted me up.

Contrary to my expectations, he didn’t throw me away or push me aside.

Instead, he lifted me up to his eye level and glared at me.

Our red eyes met from a hand’s distance away.

It was clearly a hostile gaze.

Hmph, like I care if he likes me or not?

I have no choice but to stay here because I’ll surely die if I leave!

Hiccup.

Despite my (silent) declaration, tears kept falling.

The duke raised an eyebrow and started walking.

With me in his arms.

“Your Excellency.”

The officer who had been following behind like a shadow called out to Duke Phaeraton, as if objecting.

“We’re going back.”

But the duke continued to walk without saying a word.

With every step he took, I shook in his arms.

‘If we go back like this…will he take me with him?’

My heart pounded.

Finally, finally, I can escape from this terrible place!

I was staring at the door, not even blinking, when suddenly…

“Ah.”

Duke Phaeraton abruptly stopped.

‘Why?’

I looked up at him, but his dry face revealed nothing.

Suddenly, anxiety crawled up my spine.

He turned his body around despite the exit being within reach.

As he did, I had no choice but to turn my back to the door while still clinging to his waist.

‘No way…could it be…’

My heart dropped to the floor.

I held onto the duke as if holding onto a lifeline.

‘No! Don’t leave me!’

That was the moment.

“Kyaaaaa!”

A piercing scream echoed through the hall.

‘What…?’

I looked around in a daze while still holding onto the duke’s chest.

“T-Tie!”

“Miss!”

“What happened…?”

Through the chaos, I saw Clatie’s figure.

Her dress, which could be worth billions just for its diamond embroidery, was torn to shreds.

“My dress! My dress…!”

Clatie sat on the floor, feeling her ruined dress.

“Duke Phaeraton!”

The marquis called out to the duke with a pale face while holding onto Clatie’s shoulders.

‘Could it be that he did this?’

The duke didn’t draw his sword, nor was he close to Clatie.

But judging by the timing and the marquis’s attitude, it seemed like something he had done.

“Has your sense judgment disappeared. If you’re going to be greedy, you should be more greedy.”

The cold words of Duke Phaeraton made the marquis flustered.

I was surprised to see him turn his head away instead of immediately rebelling.

Not only was it surprising to see the marquis, who was so huge that I couldn’t rebel against him, lower his posture so easily, but also…

‘It’s like he’s being stabbed.’

That was the most surprising thing.

“Ah, Daddy!”

Clatie called out to the marquis with a tearful face, but he just comforted her and didn’t argue with the duke.

The duke turned his body around as if there was nothing else to see.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I clung to his chest.

‘Thank goodness. He’s not leaving me behind.’

By the way, what could be stabbing the marquis?

I put that question aside and left this hellish marquisate behind and headed for Duke Phaeraton’s estate.

* * *

‘Why is the bed ceiling so fancy.’

I’ve been staying at Duke Phaeraton’s estate for about ten days now, but I still can’t get used to it.

I stretched while yawning in surprise at the sight that greeted me as soon as I opened my eyes.

Ughhh.

Even though I slept like that, my eyes still feel heavy with drowsiness.

‘What time is it?’

People here never wake me up no matter how late I sleep.

Thanks to that, I could sleep as much as I wanted.

And when I wake up, they come in like ghosts and notice me.

“Have you woken up, Youngest Miss?”

Like this.

“Yes, good morning.”

The maid sister slightly bowed at my words.

I looked at the maid sisters standing still like indoor decorations while dipping my hand in the water.

‘They still have no expression today.’

It’s been quite a while since I came here, but I’ve never seen them smile or even show a hint of it.

And they only spoke the necessary words and answers.

‘I don’t think they’re ignoring me or dislike me….’

I finished washing my face and got off the bed with a groan.

The bed here was higher than the one I used to see in my past life, so it was hard to get up and down with my small body.

Well, expensive beds are higher even in my past life.

Although I’ve never had a bed of my own.

I stood on the rug with both feet and took a few small steps.

‘Okay, my legs don’t hurt.’

When the muscles in my calves were tense because of the wounds, there used to be pain, but now I didn’t feel anything.

It had been a long time since I last caught a cold.

Since coming to Duke Phaeraton’s estate, my health had recovered rapidly.

After shaking off the stagnant energy and sleeping in a warm blanket every night, I was actually in better condition than before I got sick.

‘The Duke hasn’t come once.’

Even though I recovered quickly, more than ten days had passed.

During that time, I couldn’t even see a single strand of the Duke’s hair.

‘I didn’t really want him to come, but…’

Judging by his attitude when we first met, he didn’t seem to think of me as his daughter.

In contrast, I clung to him calling him dad.

Thinking back to that time made me a little embarrassed.

Even in my past life as an orphan, I had never tried to be clingy before.

Ugh, how embarrassing.

‘No, it’s just a thought that comes to mind when you’re full and your back is straight.’

Feelings of embarrassment or shame were a luxury in front of pain, suffering, and hunger.

‘I want to stay here forever.’

That thought swelled up like a balloon in my chest.

I hadn’t heard anyone say that it was okay for me to stay here yet.

‘Well, first I need to figure out what kind of person the Duke is.’

Just looking at him, he seemed far from justice, protection, or peace.

‘Rather, he seems like a villain.’

Based on my long experience with romance novels, villains can be divided into two types:

1. A villain who deserves to be defeated like Marquis Tarenka.

2. A villain who is an evil tyrant and black-hearted, but is actually (limited to heroines) a good person.

If it’s option 2, it’s my favorite character attribute.

In terms of flow, the Duke must be option 2! This stock, I succeeded!

Finally, even a mouse hole has a sunny day…!

I want to say ‘once,’ but I’ve been living my whole life in this reincarnation getting backstabbed by that bastard demon.

Last time when I made the reincarnation contract, he said that a sunny day would come even to a mouse hole, but the slum I faced was even worse than before.

‘He didn’t say a single thing that was right. I can’t let my guard down.’

Now, how do I figure this out?

‘Well, first I need to earn my keep.’

I said to the Duke.

I can pay for my food, so please take me with you.

As long as he doesn’t ask me to do something impossible like the marquis, I’m confident in myself.

I’ve been working since I was a baby in my past life.

Let’s work hard and see how the Duke reacts.

If the Duke is option 1, I’ll prepare to dodge and roll flat on the ground, and if it’s option 2, my life will be saved!

‘Okay, let’s go work!’

I tightly clenched my small fist.

* * *

“Y-Youngest Miss…….”

“We can’t do this….”

The employees of the Duke of Phaeraton’s estate were always stern.

Their movements were so precise that they seemed to be asleep if you didn’t check with your eyes.

But now, they were rare and flustered without expression.

“First, please give us what you have in your hand.”

“I have to do it.”

I replied simply and started cleaning the window frame very hard.

“But….”

“I came here to work like this.”

“What?”

The maid sisters seemed much more confused than before at my words.

After exchanging glances for a moment, they opened their mouths as if they had made up their minds.

“It seems like there’s some misunderstanding.”

“Miss is the youngest daughter of the Duke of Phaeraton, and she came here to work.”

“If I could have lived here just because I was the youngest daughter of this house, I would have been here a long time ago.”

Not at the Tarenka Marquisate.

“A discarded bastard who doesn’t know her place!”

The Marquis’s words still stung in my heart.

I denied it many times, saying it wasn’t true, but I knew the truth.

I was abandoned.

I’ve never seen the parents who said they would come to get me after ten nights of sleep.

And the Duke of Phaeraton never made any promises to me.

‘A discarded child can never become a child again.’

The iron door that closed coldly in front of me in my past life was reflected in the glass window.

“Youngest Miss, that’s…”

The maid sister opened her mouth to say something, but someone else grabbed her to stop her.

I scrubbed the glass as if trying to erase the illusion reflected in it.

* * *

“What are you doing here?”

I stopped cleaning the window and turned around at the chilly voice behind me.

Under the afternoon sun, a beautiful man appeared like a painting.

It was the Duke of Phaeraton, my father on paper.

‘He’s back unusually early today.’

I’ve asked his whereabouts several times while staying here, but I always got the answer that he was absent.

“I cleaned it well.”

It was already clean, but now it was transparent as if there were no glass.

I was proud of myself.

But the Duke’s eyes sharpened.

“Who told you to do this useless thing?”

Useless thing.

“I’ll pay for my food!”

“You’re still as stubborn as ever.”

Before I could finish my sentence, the Duke of Phaeraton lifted me up and started walking with me dangling in his arms.

I became very anxious.

Surely he wouldn’t just abandon me because I’m useless?!

However, the place I arrived at was the dining area.

“Eat.”

If you don’t eat, I’ll would kill you.

The tone was as if I could hear the threat.

I shrank down like a small bean and reached out my hand towards the plate.

The Duke was staring at me with a look that could be described as either ‘having a meal’ or ‘struggling to survive.’

His gaze was so sharp that I thought, ‘If I don’t eat, he might not just kick me out, he might actually kill me!’

I put the bread in my mouth without even knowing where it was going.

But that was also my limit.

“Is that all you can eat?”

The Duke asked in a bone-chilling voice as soon as my hand stopped.

I reached out my hand towards the plate again, but I couldn’t put any food in my mouth.

It wasn’t a lie, I really felt like my stomach was going to burst.

“You can eat more, can’t you?”

Is he trying to force me to eat until I die?

‘This, this is an enlarged crime¹a crime that has a wide scope and affects a large number of people or areas.…!’

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  a crime that has a wide scope and affects a large number of people or areas.