“Filthy things always need forceful measures to make them obey.”

He was an Ashterton through and through.

No matter how little they had to do with each other.

No matter that he was someone she saw maybe once a year.

The thought of confining her when she tried to leave—it was such a natural progression for Kyle.

“You brought this on yourself with your foolish behavior, so think about what you did wrong.”

Kyle, who spoke to her like she was a servant, called over a passing attendant.

Once he made his decision, everything happened quickly.

The knights he summoned seized her in an instant, and since her room had no lock, Serena was imprisoned in a small room tucked away in a corner of the corridor.

Though it was called a guest room, it had barely been used, and pale dust scattered with the slightest movement.

“Haa.”

A sigh escaped at the futile outcome.

“Maybe I acted too recklessly.”

Every single second in the Count’s estate was horrifying enough to make her shudder, but she’d known from the start that this was hasty.

Still, she’d acted based on the calculation that it was possible.

She never dreamed she’d encounter the worst variable.

She walked quietly to the window and looked outside.

The knights Kyle had stationed were already being positioned below her room, in front of the main gate, and throughout the garden.

‘Thorough b*stard.’

Naturally, Kyle Ashterton left no openings.

But that didn’t mean there was no way out.

If fleeing in the night had been her only option, she wouldn’t have moved so hastily.

The reason she didn’t put up much resistance to Kyle’s order to confine her was because she had another plan.

His confinement wouldn’t last more than a day anyway.

Once a week, Serena had a day when she escaped the Count couple’s clutches.

‘Though it just means being placed in someone else’s clutches.’

Her fiancé’s—Hayden Havernian’s clutches.

Serena planned to use those clutches to her advantage. Her fiancé was the empire’s one and only Grand Duke, Hayden Havernian.

‘How ridiculous. As though having a terminal illness wasn’t enough, here I am destined to be sacrificed, yet I have a fiancé.’

That very fact was precisely why he was her fiancé.

To gain the hollow honor of having as his wife a woman who would be offered as a sacrifice for the empire.

For a Grand Duke who’d been pushed out by political rivals and lived outside the empire for years, even that kind of honor seemed necessary.

It wasn’t a losing deal for him.

Since offering the sacrifice was the Emperor’s idea, this put him on the Emperor’s side, and he could enter the empire’s political sphere more comfortably.

Just lowering the Emperor’s guard would save Hayden considerable trouble.

In contrast, the fact that he had a wife who died right after marriage wouldn’t affect his reputation at all.

It wasn’t like he actually had to live married life.

Using Serena’s young age as an excuse, he requested to maintain their engagement.

They agreed to hold the ceremony the day before her nineteenth birthday, so her time living as his wife would amount to just one night.

When the Count couple heard of the Grand Duke’s proposal, they hesitated.

They wanted to monopolize the credit for offering the sacrifice named Serena all to themselves.

Their deliberation didn’t last long.

While receiving the Emperor’s favor was important, they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to establish a connection with someone like the Grand Duke.

And so the Count couple arranged Serena’s engagement to the Grand Duke.

‘How vicious.’

The transparent calculation made her sick.

Still, she accepted his proposal.

With just one condition attached—that he visit her once a week to maintain their engagement.

Compared to the benefits he gained, it was an infinitely insignificant condition, but it was all she could manage.

Any greater demands would be cut off by the Count couple anyway, so they’d be meaningless.

‘Besides, back then I was nothing more than a hopelessly naive child.’

Her body and mind were both exhausted from the daily ab*se.

To her in that state, the Grand Duke—even with his obvious ulterior motives—was like a ray of light.

However calculating he might be, wasn’t it still marriage?

Wasn’t it a vow to be together forever?

So young Serena foolishly believed that having a fiancé would change something.

‘That worthless belief disappeared long ago.’

But it still had value.

Her meetings with the Grand Duke were her only opportunity to escape the Ashertons’ surveillance.

Even though Kyle had confined her here, when the day came to meet the Grand Duke, he’d have no choice but to let her out.

Normally it only provided a brief respite, but this time was different.

Serena planned to use her meeting with Hayden to escape the Count’s estate.

* * *

“Ugh, this is so annoying I could die.”

“Tell me about it. Like primping will improve that beggar’s appearance.”

“Right? Isn’t it pathetic how she looks in the mirror, completely oblivious?”

Familiar laughter echoed through the room.

The maids who would douse her with water every morning walked into the room, openly raising their voices.

Though the Count couple encouraged the mistreatment, not all the estate’s servants abused her.

Most people simply couldn’t do such things in good conscience, regardless of social status.

Olivia handpicked maids without morals who enjoyed tormenting others and made them Serena’s personal attendants.

Since she didn’t want to actually assign proper ladies-in-waiting, they maintained their maid status, and the only new duty that came with being Serena’s personal maids was tormenting her under the pretense of caring for her.

But they welcomed the job.

Even without Serena, they were the type who couldn’t stand not tormenting someone.

So they’d never refuse the opportunity to torment someone called a noble, however insignificant.

No matter how busy they were with maid duties, they never forgot to seek out Serena to make her life more miserable.

On days when Hayden came, they looked noticeably excited.

Because they could trample Serena more ruthlessly than ever.

The maids who couldn’t physically strike her enjoyed tormenting her with words.

And on days when she had to prepare to meet Hayden, they would hurl all sorts of vile remarks right to her face.

“You’re disgusting.”

She’d just been catching her breath, relieved that she’d safely escaped confinement, when one of the maids standing boldly before her started running her mouth.

“Do you really have no awareness that you’re a woman? How can you live like this?”

“Like she’d understand. She’s stupid, practically an idiot.”

“If she went out somewhere, would anyone believe she’s a noble? Don’t you think so too, Miss?”

“Look at her not answering. She’s got pride, of all things.”

They spewed harsh words like Serena wasn’t even there, then burst into ash-light laughter.

The reason her head throbbed painfully whenever she heard others’ laughter—it was all because of them.

‘How far will they go?’

She had no intention of listening to their nonsense indefinitely, but she kept her mouth shut.

She wanted to see how long it would take them to notice she wasn’t crying or blushing like usual.

The two with brains as light as their loose tongues moved their mouths ceaselessly.

“She was with Master Kyle the night before last.”

“Eek, no wonder he looked like he’d lost his appetite all day yesterday. He must’ve seen something he shouldn’t have.”

“Right, what an ordeal for that noble gentleman.”

A snort escaped at their tone, seemingly genuinely worried about Kyle.

The maids, not about to miss that moment, glared at her with flounder eyes.

“Miss, did you just laugh at us? We should tell the young master about this.”

“Obviously. We normally wouldn’t, but you’re being so rude. It’s not like you’re showing off that you’re uneducated or anything.”

That was enough.

She couldn’t listen anymore out of sheer boredom.

Last night when Kyle confined her, one thought filled Serena’s mind.

Would her heart truly be at ease if she left this place like this, just like this?

‘Is what I really want to bow my head to them, force smiles, endure their torment while waiting for an opportunity?’

She spent the sleepless night lost in thought but couldn’t reach an answer.

The idea that she just needed to escape this h*ll somehow kept clashing endlessly with the desire for them to at least know that she was angry, that she felt revulsion toward them.

‘Though I couldn’t reach an answer, you two at least—’

They were just maids.

Bowing her head to them wouldn’t help her escape the Count’s estate at all.

So Serena could punish them all she wanted.

She lifted her chin high toward the maids running their arrogant mouths.

The intimidating gaze characteristic of nobility turned toward them.

Like a beast awakening from sleep, a strange light flickered in her clear blue eyes.

“The uneducated ones would be you.”

Her low voice cut between the two of them.