In a wide plaza in the kingdom’s capital, Cordelia stared blankly at one spot among the crowd.

A man knelt with his arms tied behind his back, his gaunt face hanging low. Seeing his seemingly resigned appearance, Cordelia’s lips trembled.

“K*ll the demon!”

“How dare you rebel against the great empire by making a contract with a demon, you shameless man!”

The people shouting and throwing stones at the man were none other than citizens of the same kingdom.

Cordelia shook her head. As she tried to push through the crowd to approach the man, someone firmly grabbed her arm.

On a platform opposite the man, two people sat in splendid chairs, watching him. Their expressions were completely different.

A knight standing proudly beside them unfolded a judgment scroll. The knight’s uniform bore the emblem of the imperial royal family.

The surroundings suddenly fell dead silent.

“The criminal has committed grave sins by threatening the sacred peace agreement between the Rihardt Empire and the Therion Kingdom, causing terror among the citizens of both nations!”

“…”

“Therefore, the criminal is sentenced to death!”

The knight’s resounding recitation was followed by an interpreter’s translation. The spectators cheered.

“No…”

Cordelia twisted her captured arm. Her small body, poised to rush toward the man, was completely confined in someone’s embrace.

Tears fell drop by drop onto the arms that held the child with crushing strength.

Cordelia opened her mouth. She was determined to at least shout, since her body was restrained.

At that moment, the man’s drooping head turned toward Cordelia.

The man looked straight into Cordelia’s eyes. The moment she saw his steadfast gaze, Cordelia’s heart sank.

Cordelia urgently moved her lips. She needed to speak now.

That he was innocent, that she had done everything. If someone must be punished, it should be her.

The man looked at Cordelia and shook his head slightly. Then he smiled faintly.

The knight standing behind the man drew his sword. Cordelia’s heart raced at the coldly gleaming blade.

Quickly, she had to speak quickly. But her voice wouldn’t come out, as if a large candy was stuck in her throat.

The knight raised his sword high. Cordelia turned her head to the opposite side.

She wanted to beg the high-ranking people sitting on the gleaming chairs to stop. It wasn’t him.
The criminal they were looking for was right here.

An alien sound rang out. A thud followed as something heavy fell to the ground.

The one wearing the crown had closed his eyes, while the other person sitting beside watched the entire situation with a frighteningly cold, expressionless face.

The arms of the woman holding Cordelia tightly went limp. Even so, Cordelia did not run forward.

Moving her stiffened neck with difficulty, she looked at where the man had been.

The scene of bright red liquid splattered everywhere burned into her eyes. The surrounding noise became muffled, as if water had entered her ears.

Still no sound came from her open mouth.

“Del!”

Cordelia’s eyes flew open. Breathing rapidly, she wiped her damp forehead. It was soaked with cold sweat.

“Get up and have breakfast now!”

Cordelia’s mother, Amelia, noisily knocked on the door to wake the child, then went downstairs.

Cordelia sat up. She shook her head, barely holding onto her consciousness that was being pulled into the dream.

She sluggishly got out of bed and entered the narrow bathroom attached to the inn room.
Standing on a wooden platform, she looked at the mirror on the wall.

Empty blue eyes from the mirror pitied herself.

“Del! Hurry up!”

Cordelia sighed at the urging voice.

The child plunged her face straight into the water in the large basin. She closed her eyes tightly and held her breath. Bubbles leaked from her mouth.

She thought it would be nice if her breath just stopped now.

***

For someone leaving home, Cordelia’s luggage was simple.

A few clothes, two notebooks, a cheap pen, and one bottle of ink. Not much different from when
she had migrated from Therion to the Empire.

Cordelia hailed a carriage with the money her mother had given her. It was an expensive fare, but she decided to follow her mother’s advice that it was better than being late for the appointment by getting lost.

When Cordelia showed the map, the driver looked the child up and down after confirming the destination.

Her skin was pale white beneath the old straw hat and faded short-sleeved dress.

“Are you sure you’re going here?”

The driver asked with suspicious eyes. When Cordelia just blinked silently, he soon gestured for her to get in, as if bothered.

Aboard the carriage, Cordelia looked out the window. Riding alone in a carriage and passing unfamiliar roads made even familiar things seem strange.

Cordelia thought that if emotions were visible, hers would be floating like clouds in that blue sky right now.

She had felt this way before. When she lived in the small town of Ernel in Therion.

When she discovered a baby bird that had just hatched in the forest, when she first went to see
Ernel’s festival, when she built a house for a stray dog with her father…

Lost in distant memories, Cordelia got off the carriage when the driver announced their arrival.

The mansion was so enormous that it couldn’t be taken in at a glance, incomparable to the inn where she had lived. Her small mouth fell open involuntarily.

“How may I help you?”

The gatekeeper’s expression upon seeing the small child standing blankly in front of the gate was the same as the driver’s earlier.

At the man’s indifferent question, Cordelia hurriedly took out her notebook and pen from her bag.

“Maid.”

“Huh? Who are you here to see? There’s no way the maids here have acquaintances in Asteris…”

“Oh my, you’re here!”

A familiar face appeared behind the puzzled face.

Cordelia politely greeted the middle-aged woman who welcomed her with a gentle smile. At the woman’s gesture, the gatekeeper opened the gate.

“You must be tired from your journey. Come in.”

Cordelia followed her through the gate.

The woman had a warm impression, with neatly pinned-up hair that looked tidy. Her wrinkles at the corners of her eyes when she smiled and her gentle voice exuded refinement.

As she had felt from her first impression, she was indeed different from the imperial people
Cordelia had seen so far.

“Hello.”

Cordelia recalled when the woman had visited her a few days ago.

“I’m Catherine, the head maid working for the Obenhart ducal family. I’m currently working at the villa in Asteris.”

Catherine smiled kindly and made an unexpected proposal to the child.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to hire you as a maid for the villa. What do you think?”

According to Amelia, Catherine had coincidentally seen Cordelia calmly dealing with a troublemaker, and found her courage impressive.

Cordelia had been helping at her mother’s fruit shop every day.

It wasn’t out of filial piety, and certainly not because she wanted to learn the business. It was simply because doing nothing only increased her useless thoughts.

Those were mostly useless emotions like longing or regret.

That day, Cordelia had merely demanded payment from a customer who had eaten fruit without paying.

Having lived in the Empire for three years since migrating from Therion, Cordelia was accustomed to the imperial people’s contempt and mockery toward Therion people.

So even when the customer cursed, raged, and tried to raise his fist, it wasn’t a big deal to her. But apparently not to Catherine.

The reason Catherine wanted to hire Cordelia as a maid was probably because of that “brave appearance,” but regrettably, it wasn’t done out of a sense of justice or courage.

It was just Cordelia’s daily life.

However, Cordelia decided not to correct Catherine’s misunderstanding.

Cordelia followed Catherine, walking for quite some time from the main gate to the mansion entrance. She never dreamed the villa would be this large.

Cordelia stopped, her attention caught by the wide garden full of flowers.

These colorful flowers didn’t exist in Ernel. They probably couldn’t be found anywhere in Therion.

Asteris was a port city in the southern part of the Empire. The plants growing in this land, bathed in warm sunshine year-round, were very diverse in type and appearance.

While Cordelia had grown accustomed to the hot weather and beautiful sea, she had never seen such a variety of bright flowers blooming together.

It felt like stepping into a fairy tale.

So is this a castle where a prince lives?

No, considering the rumors, more like a beast? A demon lord…?

Cordelia’s gaze, wandering with the kind of far-fetched imagination typical of a twelve-year-old, suddenly stopped.

A boy was sitting on a windowsill, looking out at the garden.

Cordelia unknowingly opened her mouth. If she could make a sound, she might have let out an “ah.”

It was because the boy had such a familiar look in his eyes.

It was the same look Cordelia faced in the mirror every morning after waking from nightmares.

Cordelia’s light brown hair fluttered in the gentle breeze. At the same time, the boy’s golden hair waved in the distance.

Just as his empty eyes, partially hidden by his hair, began to move, Cordelia heard Catherine calling her.

Cordelia quickly turned and hurried away from the spot. Somehow, the back of her head seemed to tingle.