Bella regained consciousness slowly in the aftermath of the crash.

The moment she opened her eyes, a splitting headache hit her, followed by a dull ache spreading throughout her body.

‘What…?’

She blinked in the darkness. A cloth completely obscured her vision. She tried to move her stiff limbs, but her wrists and ankles were bound tightly with rope. Even the slightest movement caused the coarse fibres to dig into her tender skin. A gag had been forced into her mouth, preventing her from screaming.

In the pitch-black void where she could see nothing, Bella forced herself to think calmly about her situation.

‘I was on my way to the station… there was an accident…’

Perhaps due to the violent impact, her memory of the crash was fragmented. She could not remember how she had got there.

The vehicle carrying her jolted relentlessly, as though travelling over uneven ground. Each time the wheels hit a stone, the frame lurched sharply, making her feel sick.

Bella bit down hard on the gag. Her lips moved, but no sound escaped.

Why was this happening to her?

Who had taken her?

There were no answers, no explanation she could understand, and not even a single plausible guess.

After what felt like an eternity, the carriage finally slowed and stopped.

A heavy silence followed.

Just as the stillness began to feel suffocating, rough hands seized her and forced her to stand up straight. Pain flared through her body, her muscles aching as she struggled to stand steady.

She was shoved down onto her knees onto a hard wooden floor. A moment later, the cloth binding her eyes was ripped away.

After such a long time in darkness, even the faintest light seemed to cut through her vision. Gradually, her eyes adjusted and the world around her came into focus.

She was inside a small cargo wagon.

Old, worn, splintered wooden crates were carelessly stacked around her. A section of the canvas covering had been left open, allowing the cold night air to pour in unhindered. The wind carried a biting chill that made her shiver.

Then—

A woman climbed into the wagon from the shadows.

The instant Bella recognized her, she was struck dumb with disbelief.

‘…Miss Amelia?’

Her eyes, filled with confusion and disbelief, lifted to the woman’s face. But with the gag in her mouth, she could not utter a single word.

As though she understood exactly what she wanted to say, Amelia looked down at her and smiled.

It was nothing like the composed, noble smile that Bella knew her to have.

This smile cast aside all pretense of refinement. It openly revealed contempt — an expression she had never worn before, not even when she was punishing Bella.

“You look a mess.”

Amelia’s gaze swept over her—her tangled hair, her face smeared with dried blood, her clothes torn and caked with dirt.

“It suits you. Something that looks like a beggar fits you perfectly. You should dress like this all the time.”

Though her tone feigned pity, there was n*ked mockery beneath it.

Unable to bear the scorn in her eyes, Bella tried to lower her gaze. But a brutal hand seized her hair and forced her head upwards.

“When your master arrives, you should look up like a dog. How dare you lower your eyes?”

The woman before her was savage — so cruel that she was unrecognizable from the Miss Amelia Bella had known. Bella had believed that Amelia might grow tired of her or resent her, but she had never thought her capable of such brutality.

“Do you know something? I hate you.”

But the words that followed shattered Bella’s assumptions. Amelia did not even attempt to conceal her hatred.

“There hasn’t been a single day I didn’t wish you were dead.”

All Bella could do was stare up at her in stunned silence while the insults rained down. She thought she knew why she was being hated, so she couldn’t bring herself to offer an excuse.

Miss Amelia had been the duke’s fiancée.

When she released her grip on Bella’s hair, she collapsed to the floor helplessly. Amelia looked down at her — at the woman who lacked the strength to get up by herself — as though she were an insect at her feet.

“This will be the last time you ever see me, so I’ll tell you a little secret.”

Her voice was light and almost playful. Seeing Bella reduced to crawling on the ground seemed to improve her mood slightly.

“Do you know who the duke’s unforgettable first love is?”

Amelia asked, as though Bella already knew the answer. But Bella had no idea. The mention of a first love — and why it was being brought up now — made no sense to her.

“You.”

The word fell like a declaration.

“It was you. From the very beginning.”

Amelia spoke the Imperial Tongue. Her pronunciation was flawless and her words fell with sharp clarity. Yet Bella could not understand her.

She could only stare at Amelia in blank disbelief.

Was the duke’s first love Bella herself?

At those words, Bella felt as though some memory or recognition should come to the surface. But there was nothing. No trace of a shared past with the duke came to mind. No memory of who she might once have been.

Only a hollow emptiness lingered in her mind.

“Why you? Why a mere maid instead of me? I tried to make the duke dislike you. I tried to draw his attention to myself. But none of it mattered.”

She did not raise her voice. She did not allow her emotions to show.

The more she spoke, the more confused Bella became.

Amelia was unearthing a past that Bella did not remember — a past that did not exist in her memory. Bella could not grasp Amelia’s true intentions.

“Yes… you still don’t remember anything.”

Amelia’s gaze turned almost pitying.

“How pathetic.”

Amelia looked down at Bella with eyes devoid of pity and gave a small nod. The corners of her lips twisted upward.

“It was I who brought you away. You, who were the duke’s maid.”

Unveiling the story she had rehearsed for so long, Amelia revealed everything. The fire that had consumed the Fraser estate. The young maid who had run into the flames to save the heir. The injuries she had sustained in the process. While the maid lay unconscious, Amelia stepped forward to take on the role of savior — the benefactor who had rescued the duke.

This incident led to Amelia’s engagement to the Duke of Fraser.

In order to hide the truth, Amelia staged the maid’s death in the fire and hid her away in a count’s household instead.

Only after hearing all this did Bella finally understand why Miss Amelia despised her more than the other maids.

The emotion that had once felt like an ancient grudge.

The isolation she had endured; The quiet contempt she had endured — it had all stemmed from the memories she had lost.

It had all stemmed from the memories she had lost.

This was why, on the day the duke visited the estate, Amelia had warned her not to draw his attention. It had never been because Bella was unworthy.

It was because Amelia had feared that the duke might recognize her.

The long years she had spent blaming herself flashed before her eyes.

The truth — revealed far too late — ripped painfully through her chest.

Still shaken by the shock, Bella slowly lifted her gaze to Amelia’s.

Had everything she had endured truly been because of her?

“It won’t matter anymore.”

Amelia said calmly.

She met Bella’s hostile stare with a faint, mocking smile. Then she turned away, speaking as though nothing lingered in her heart — no regret, no hesitation.

After Amelia stepped down from the wagon, Jack Hunter, who had been waiting behind it, climbed inside and threw a cloth over Bella’s head once more.

Her vision disappeared. Darkness swallowed her whole.

‘I was… the duke’s maid. The one he spoke of…’

The wagon started moving again, but Bella could not stop thinking. The headache that had been troubling her became unbearable. It was as if the truth she could not contain had manifested itself as physical pain.

Her eyelids, heavy as stone, slowly closed.

And darkness claimed her once more.