Damn! Talk about bad timing.

Of all days to end up here.

“Hey! Let’s teach her a lesson!”

The rough voices of drunk men could be heard again.

My heart began to pound.

I grabbed Hubert’s arm and shouted.

“The back door!”

“What?”

“The back door!”

According to the diary, those idiots would soon go around to the back door and try to set it on fire.

Eventually, acrid smoke would fill the castle, and we would have no choice but to run outside and confront them.

While Hubert and Marina desperately tried to prevent the fire from spreading to the castle, Clarence would plead with the mob to show mercy since she didn’t have a penny.

But they would mercilessly push Marina aside and strike Clarence Philoraine’s head with a large stone.

She wouldn’t die from it, but Clarence’s severely injured body would deteriorate further, and her will to live would completely disappear.

I couldn’t just stand by knowing what was about to happen.

As I turned to follow Marina and Hubert who had rushed out, my dress caught on something.

Looking back, I saw the fingers of the man tied to the bed barely grasping my clothes.

“Hey! This…… quickly!”

The man spoke urgently, nodding toward his wrist.

I was almost hypnotized by that sharp jawline that looked like it could cut paper and those delicate eyes, nearly untying him, but quickly came to my senses.

“We’re not done talking yet! Don’t try anything! For all I know, you might be in league with those guys outside. How can I trust you?”

Crash!

Again, the sound of something breaking and Marina’s scream came from outside.

I yanked my dress free and left the room, going halfway down the stairs before stopping abruptly.

In the midst of all this, I kept seeing the face of the man who had stared at me helplessly with his limbs tied—those blue eyes like a summer sky.

No, more like the eyes of a tied-up puppy?

Ah, damn it! I shouldn’t be thinking like this!

***

When I finally ran down the stairs, an action drama was unfolding before my eyes.

No, with the grand staircase, massive back door, huge chandelier swinging overhead, loud shouts, and acrid smoke smell combined, it felt like I had stepped into a revolution film.

And nobles never met good ends in such films.

“Noooooo!”

Marina’s scream came from outside the back door.

“How dare you sit here after ruining the village!”

“We heard you’re hiding treasure in there! Living well all by yourself? Give us our money now!”

“There’s really no such thing…… Kyaaaa, no!”

I quickly ran out through the open back door.

There were three men in total.

They were sturdy, wearing shabby clothes and holding torches, staggering as if thoroughly drunk.

“E-everyone, let’s not do this here……”

Hubert, who bravely stood in their way, looked as fragile as a paper doll. His trembling voice disappeared beneath their rough shouts.

I stared blankly at the blazing torches, the wailing Marina, and the trembling Hubert.

Reading about a situation and experiencing it were definitely different.

The fact that only the three of us were guarding this huge castle, how flimsy and easily collapsible our defense was, hit me hard.

But having entered this situation, having been given a new life, I had to do what needed to be done.

So I stood in front of the approaching men, shouting. I don’t know where I found such courage.

“All of you, get out of here now! How dare you come here!”

“Ha! ‘How dare’? Who do you think you are, acting like a lord! We’re not leaving until you return our money!”

One of the men stepped forward, bellowing.

Sparks dripped from the torch in his hand.

“Philoraine witch! Don’t underestimate us. If you don’t bring out the treasure hidden in the castle, we’ll burn this place down tonight!”

“There is no hidden treasure!”

I placed my hands on my hips and straightened my back to hide my trembling body.

“Lies! Where did all the money your father extorted disappear to?”

“Yeah! He collected extra tenant fees claiming it was urgent. He said he’d pay it back soon, but those were just empty words!”

“I-I apologize on his behalf. I promise to return it someday. But right now, I truly don’t have a penny. We’re all starving!”

“Stop talking nonsense and hand it over now! Do you know how much of a mess the village is because of you people? You must take responsibility!”

The man holding the torch walked forward without hesitation.

“Hey! Get out right now……”

When Marina wailed and pulled at the man’s arm, his large, rough hand grabbed her face and shoved her hard.

“Marina!”

As Marina stumbled and fell to the ground, she reached out and grabbed the man’s ankle, refusing to let go. That’s when it happened.

The man fell forward, and the torch he was holding dropped into the flower bed.

In an instant, flames rose with a whoosh.

“Kyaaaaa!”

My mind went blank when I saw the flames growing rapidly, consuming the flower branches.

Hubert ran over, taking off his jacket, and began beating the flames with it.

Marina quickly got up and used both hands to scoop up soil piled next to the flower bed, throwing it frantically onto the flames.

While the men hesitated at the sight of the fire, I also rushed over and threw handfuls of soil with my bare hands.

In such a situation, it’s not easy to look around.

By the time I vaguely sensed a dark shadow entering my field of vision, it was already too late.

A rough hand painfully twisted and grabbed my arm.

“Aaagh.”

“I’ll teach this damn wench a lesson.”

The man’s other hand held a large stone.

Unable to move because of my tightly held right arm, I could only stare at the stone in the man’s raised hand.

For a moment, time seemed to stop. Is this what they call the curse of the past—knowing what will happen but being unable to change it?

“Kyaaaa! No! No!”

Along with Marina’s scream, the large stone fell toward me.

I squeezed my eyes shut. For a moment, my ears went numb and I couldn’t hear anything.

Then after a while, the surrounding noise became audible again.

“Aaaaargh!”

A terrible scream came from somewhere…… but it wasn’t my voice?

I didn’t feel any pain at all.

That shouldn’t be…… possible?

I opened my eyes wide and looked around.

“Huh?”

The stone had fallen on the ground right in front of me.

It was a massive, heavy stone that could have made a deep dent in the ground.

And the man who had been holding it was now lying face down in the dirt some distance away.

Looking around in a daze, I saw the man who had been tied up in the second-floor bedroom clutching the fist he had just used to send the attacker flying, breathing heavily.

He had a bandage soaked with blood wrapped around his head and was barefoot.

“How cowardly to untie just one hand!”

The man shouted, holding up one hand.

“Be grateful I untied even one in that situation!”

I shouted back.

“You untied him in the middle of all this? What were you thinking?”

Marina interjected.

“Well, at least he doesn’t seem to be in league with them.”

Hubert chimed in.

“Everyone shut up!”

The man standing behind shouted as he helped up his companion who had been punched by the amnesiac man and was now face down in the dirt.

Blood streamed from the dirt-covered nose of the man who had been hit.

Looking at the stone rolling on the ground, I realized that at least the tragedy described in the diary had been avoided.

That suspicious man had saved Clarence’s—no, my—head.

“Who is that guy! I’ve never seen him before!”

“Aha, you’ve been hiding an outsider in the castle? Did you bring him in to sell the estate behind our backs? Or……”

The men’s gazes shifted to the amnesiac man’s bare feet, then back to my body with disgusting expressions.

“Are you now consorting with some base, filthy man of unknown origin? Claiming you don’t have a penny while bringing in a male pr*stitute?”

“All of you stop this at once! How dare you speak to the Baron like that!”

Hubert shouted at the top of his lungs.

“This person is…… this person is……”

The butler’s hoarse voice trembled.

All of us—myself, Marina, the menacing thugs in front, and the amnesiac man—stared at Hubert’s mouth.

“This person is…… a n-new worker at our castle! Isn’t that right, Rian?”

When Hubert poked the amnesiac man’s back, the dazed man stumbled forward.