The back that touched the glass door was now cold.

Nevertheless, I didn’t want to take my body off of it.

I thought that if I moved a little, my body would touch the man in front of me.

“I missed you.”

The man, Eden, told me.

To think that there would be a day when the novel’s male protagonist would say that to me, the villainess.

If only he said that to my sister,…

Tears were about to form in his bloodshot eyes.

It didn’t make any sense how he said that he missed me.

I also tried to erase your memory, just like my father did to you.

With a firm belief that it was all for your own good.

“Eden, how, how come you could remember me…”

But his memories of me remained.

It was the worst.

I couldn’t believe he hadn’t forgotten the violence he received from my father.

That meant that he also remembered the last thing I said to him.

– What’s the benefit of having you by my side?

I thought he would have forgotten about it anyway, so I decided to say something harsh to separate his attachment with me.

– I don’t need you.

I believed that the magic would have erased all the time he spent in my house from his memories.

It was no other than me who gave up on Eden, who begged me with tears.

“How can I forget you?”

The current situation was too much for me even to calm down my trembling body.

Eden, who was staring at me, moved his hand and kissed my hair.

His delicate touch was rather suffocating me.

“Though it was you who wanted to forget me…”

Soon after, a sorrowful voice was heard from his mouth.

Every word of him was eating me inside.

“Elysia.”

When I looked at Eden, who was looking down at me.

Eden, who made eye contact with me, smiled brightly.

There was no mistake; his smile was…

“Am I still not good enough to be by your side?”

He looked like an angel who came to wash away my sins.

But it was just an illusion created by Eden’s beautiful appearance.

He wasn’t like an angel.

“It’s a pity that your father died before I could prove my worth.”

That was the easiest way.

Hearing the words that came one after another from his mouth, I was sure of one thing.

Eden was just an ordinary human being who was smothered with a wrong affection. He wasn’t an angel who came to forgive my sins.

“You don’t have to prove anything. You….”

I, who was too overwhelmed with the past, looked pathetic as I stuttered at the end of my speech. Eden’s smile deepened.

“You, you don’t have to….”

“Do you really think so?”

Pretending not hearing what I said, Eden grabbed my chin and whispered. His touch was so meticulous that it twisted my gut.

“No, I have to prove my value to you so that I can be with you.”

He forced his selfish reasoning on me.

“You abandoned me because you said that you didn’t need me….”

I wanted to cover my ears.

Just like Eden did in front of me in the past.

“If you say that I don’t have to do it anymore now…”

He trapped me with his body and suppressed me with words.

“It would be hard for me. Elysia.”

At this moment, I regretted throwing myself easily into his cover.

* * *

Elysia’s previous life was impoverished.

Initially raised in an orphanage, she had no family.

Then a couple adopted her, and soon after, her adoptive mother died.

Her stepfather, whom she was left alone with, was bothered by her existence as time went by.

It was natural for the annoyance at the beginning to lead to abuse.

Cursing and beatings were on a daily basis, and in severe cases, he tried to strip her dress off.

No one helped her.

There was a sympathetic gaze, but that was it.

She tried running away and begged him not to hit her. But her situation didn’t get any better.

As time went by, her options narrowed.

There were only two options left.

Either her stepfather died, or she did.

Or both.

Hence, she chose both.

“Haa… Ha…”

The little hands holding the veranda railing were dirty with her stepfather’s blood.

Broken bottles were scattered next to the unconscious man. If she hadn’t hit his head with that bottle, she wouldn’t have been successfully killed the man.

She had wanted to run away like this.

Though it was so unfair that she had to die after killing a dirty human being like that.

She didn’t want to die yet.

But there was no other way but to die. It would be difficult to escape the crime of killing that bast*rd.

What she did wasn’t morally wrong, but it was clearly a crime in terms of the standards and laws of this world.

She had no power, so once she was caught, she would be judged by the law.

She didn’t want to repent.

The hands holding the railing gradually lost strength.

Soon after, her skinny body crossed the veranda and fell to the ground.

* * *

“Ah…”

Elysia, who opened her eyes with dull pain in her head, doubted her eyes.

The reflection of herself in the mirror was the appearance of an unfamiliar girl, no, a child.

Even though the girl in front of her was still a little kid, her well-maintained black hair flowed down to her waist.

When Elysia blinked, she repeatedly covered and opened her red eyes.

‘A foreigner?’

Unlike the black hair that she was familiar with, the eye colours that weren’t common in where she lived raised Elysia’s doubt.

She raised her right arm and waved it. Then, in the mirror, the girl also raised her arm and waved at her.

Elysia, who gasped, raised her left hand and shook it. As expected, the girl in the mirror shook hers at the same time as Elysia.

‘Is this me?’

It wasn’t shocking enough to suddenly became another person, but the little girl was a foreigner.

When she realized that she was in a realistic situation, Elysia felt dizzier than when she smelled her stepfather’s blood.

“Woo!”

A toddler’s babbling sound came from behind Elysia, who was so engrossed with her thoughts. Elysia turned her neck toward the source of the sound.

There was a child younger than the one she saw in the mirror.

The child, who seemed to just begin learning how to walk, approached her.

It was her first time seeing this child. The child’s eyes also had the same reddish colour as the girl in the mirror.

‘Oh my gosh.’

Elysia wanted to close her eyes and turn a blind eye to reality.

But she couldn’t because the child’s steps approaching her sounded unsteady.

Elysia opened her eyes wide and watched if the child would fall.

Fortunately, the child didn’t fall and arrived safely at where Elysia was.

Elysia couldn’t grasp the situation, but it seemed that the child just had her first step.

“Humph!”

The child landed in Elysia’s arms as if she had put all her energy into coming all the way here.

Elysia unknowingly hugged the child who came into her arms.

Unfortunately, she, too, wasn’t old enough to even barely support her body, so she soon fell on her behind as she couldn’t support the weight of a child who was a little smaller than her.

‘Who is she and who am I….’

Where was she now…

Elysia, who collapsed under the weight of the little child, could only hold her questions inside.

* * *

Even in the unexpected second life, Elysia couldn’t relax and laugh.

Not long after she first woke up, she realized where she was and whose body she entered.

It was all thanks to Isabella, her mother, who affectionately called her Elysia.

Isabella was a friendly mother and cared for her two daughters, Elysia and Ariel.

Elysia and Ariel.

As soon as she heard the names, Elysia noticed that this was a novel she had read.

. Thanks to the names of her younger sister, the female protagonist, who was also in the title, Elysia was able to recognize her current situation without much difficulty.

‘It’s ridiculous enough to possess another person’s body, let alone to possess the elder sister of the female protagonist and the villainess, on top of that…’

Elysia Valtine, the body she possessed, was the first daughter of the Duke of Valtine. While Ariel, the main character, is the second daughter of the Duke of Valtine.

It was well up to that point. Of course, possessing another person’s body itself didn’t make any sense, so to be the first daughter of a Duke wasn’t that much of a big deal.

But there was another problem.

The fact that ‘Elysia’, whose body she possessed, was an evil woman who made the main characters suffer in their childhood.

She didn’t grow up to be a bully, but she harrassed Ariel, the female protagonist, and Eden, the male protagonist, as she grew up.

Of course, she still bothered them even after she grew up.

Elysia, a wicked woman who harassed growing children, was a manifestation of a scar that the main characters couldn’t heal from.

Elysia herself knew best how much childhood abuse had a significant influence on someone more than anyone else.

As soon as she recognized that she was Elysia, she predicted her future.

‘If I bully Ariel and Eden as the original storyline, I will die.’

Later, Eden would destroy the House of Duke of Valtine to save Ariel and get his revenge.

And the villainess Elysia Valtine would also die from his revenge.

‘Dying once is one thing, but if I have to die again….’

Elysia, who recalled the tragic story of the original ‘Elysia’, was thinking while watching Ariel practicing walking every day.

‘Let’s just be nice to Ariel.’

That was the only way to live.

It had been nine years since she took a baby step and took care of Ariel.

Elysia constantly vowed for nine years.

Even if the Duke of Valtine brought Eden in, Elysia wouldn’t interfere with the romance between him and Ariel like in the original novel.

‘If anyone should die, it would only be right to kill the Duke of Valtine who kidnapped Eden.’

Elysia didn’t want to die because of her parent twice.

Whether it was due to suicide or due to other people’s revenge.

When Elysia was lost in thought, she felt a familiar presence next to her.

It was Butler Edic.

“Miss Elysia. Miss Ariel had another accident…”

“I’ll talk to her, so leave her be.”

Elysia, who recalled her resolution, answered with her forehead crumpled.

Ariel, Elysia’s lovely sister and the female protagonist, often caused problems. It was, of course, her duty to deal with it.

As Elysia got up from her seat and beckoned the butler to step back, Edic bowed while maintaining an appropriate distance.

After sending out the butler, Elysia also stepped out from her room and headed to Ariel’s room, where she caused a problem.

“Ariel.”

She knocked on the large door with her small hand and called Ariel. There was only silence behind the door, even though Ariel did something problematic in her room.

Elysia kicked her tongue and opened the door.

“Ariel!”

“S-Sister…”

Ariel, who hid herself with a blanket, stuttered. Then she wriggled out of the blanket. As soon as Elysia, who was staring at her, made eye contact with Ariel, the little girl immediately lowered her gaze.

In Elysia’s eyes, even Ariel’s shrinking appearance was lovely.

Ariel, who had just turned nine, had chubby cheeks.

Ariel who had black hair and red eyes like Elysia.

In terms of appearance alone, she looked more alike with the Duke of Valtine than Elysia.

“What kind of accident did you have today?”

Even if she resembled the Duke of Valtine, Ariel looked the cutest and most lovely in the world in Elysia’s eyes.

Elysia asked in a stern voice, reminding herself to stay calm.

“I-It was…”

Elysia thought nine years old was the age when she could consider Ariel’s mischief as a cute small accident. But, of course, it was entirely because she had her own bias.

However, there was an etiquette to follow here that ‘if you had a status of a noble family, you should be mindful of your behaviour even if you were just a child’.

Even though Elysia thought it didn’t fit well with her values, she still scolded Ariel regularly.

That idea was way better than leaving the problem she caused unattended and reaching the Duke of Valtine’s ears.

“I-I watered the garden… I watered it every day, but the flowers are dead again….”

Ariel said what she did wrong in a gloomy voice. Somehow, she made it sound unfair to her.

Maybe it was because she didn’t know why the flowers died after she over-watered them.

“The flowers in the garden are being watered by the gardener regularly on an adjusted timing. If you keep watering them, of course, the flowers will wither.”

“Is that so…? I didn’t know….”

Elysia smiled at Ariel, who dropped her head, saying she didn’t know. Then, in a short stride, she approached Ariel.

Elysia, sitting with Ariel on the bed, stroked her head and said.

“You should be careful next time. You learned new knowledge today.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Elysia kissed Ariel’s forehead briefly.

It was quite a mistake, but Elysia had a significant influence on Ariel’s mistake.

It was because she was doting on Ariel so much.

“That’s fine since you have reflected on yourself. Today…”

As she comforted Ariel, Elysia sneakily checked the clock on the wall.

Lunch was long past.

“Did you eat?”

“Not yet!”

Ariel shook her head full of expectations to Elysia, who asked if she had eaten.

Since it was Elysia, she was sure that her big sister would ask her to eat together.

However, Ariel’s prediction was beautifully missed.

“I told you not to skip meals. Call Roa and eat first.”

“Huh? What about you?”

“I… I have something to do.”

According to Rachel, Elysia’s maid, this morning, the Duke of Valtine arrived at dawn.

If what she said was true, it must be today.

The day Duke Valtine brought Eden, the male protagonist.

“I see…”

Knowing that Elysia was always busy with her succession class, Ariel didn’t hold onto her sister.

Elysia kissed Ariel’s forehead shortly to show how she was as disappointed as her little sister was.

“….”

Looking at Ariel, who was disappointed, Elysia regained her composure and got out of bed.

Then she left Ariel’s room and walked through the bright hallway.

Around this time, the male protagonist was caught by the Duke of Valtine in the novel.

The year Ariel turned nine, the season when the leaves on the branches began to fall.

‘If my prediction were right, he would have brought Eden around this time.’

Eden who lost his memory.

To be exact, the Duke of Valtine commissioned the wizard tower to erase his memory.

Elysia looked over the window in the hallway.

As Ariel said, the flowers that should have bloomed in autumn drooped and withered because she overwatered them. Elysia watched as the leaves fell between the withered flowers.

Elysia, who moistened her dry lips with her tongue due to the dry air, hurried her steps.

* * *

Elysia, who saw her death at the hand of Eden, the male protagonist in the future, had fallen into deep despair once.

That was why she treated Ariel nicer to change the future.

At first, it was only a simple effort out of courtesy.

Elysia, who was not originally the owner of this body, did not think of Ariel as her own blood-related sister.

Then, it was her and Ariel’s biological mother who made Elysia have a change of heart in an instant. Isabella, their mother, had to suffer from a chronic illness after giving birth to Elysia.

Since Ariel was born from such a weak body, it was natural for Isabella to pass away early.

Despite her shortness of breath, Isabella held Elysia’s hand tightly and forced herself to continue talking.

-I’m sorry I have to leave you two, but I’m glad you’re not alone.

Isabella, who cared and loved her daughters more than anyone else, worried about her children until she died.

-Ariel, listen to your big sister well…

She was worried about how her young children would have to endure a lot without her on their side.

-Elysia. Mother is not strong enough, so I can’t hold…. it anymore. Mother is… sorry.

Isabella closed her eyes after saying that.

It was all thanks to Isabella that Elysia maintained her least sanity after entering another person’s body.

Without knowing that her real daughter had disappeared, Isabella devoted herself to Elysia. Each time, Elysia felt deeply guilty for Isabella, even though she knew it wasn’t her fault.

That was why Elysia couldn’t pretend not to hear her last wish. At the same time, she couldn’t help but shower affection on Ariel, the daughter of a woman who loved Elysia generously.

Therefore, Elysia returned the love she received to Ariel entirely, or she could say more than she had received from Isabella.

So that Ariel wouldn’t be hungry for affection.

In the original work, Ariel was so thirsty for family affection that Elysia thought her deprivation of family’s love was too much.

Ariel wanted to be recognized by her father even after her father extorted her power under the pretext of training.

It was Elysia who laughed at the foolish Ariel.

Elysia treated Ariel, who struggles to be loved by the man who drove her mother to death, like a mentally ill person.

‘The most important thing to be careful about is Eden…’

If the wicked woman like Elysia didn’t bother Eden and Ariel, she wouldn’t be trapped in such a big mess.

Of course, the most fundamental problem was where the Duke of Valtine kept Eden captive.

In the original book, Duke Valtine left Eden with two types of restraints and left him unattended all the time.

With shackles that restricted his movement and restraints that suppressed his mana.

Judging from the mana restraints, it was clear that Duke Valtine was sure that Eden would bloom into a wizard.

It was great to have recognized Eden’s talent at such an early age, but kidnapping a child because of his greed was another thing.

On top of that, he wasn’t just any child; He was a prince from another country.

‘What if a war really breaks out?’

Although he wasn’t a prince with the right to inherit the throne, Eden was the second prince of the Seimond Royal Family.

In the original story, Elysia, along with the Duke of Valtine, was executed for attempting to kidnap the blood of the Seimond family and for trying to seek a reason to start a war.

Having read Elysia’s execution scene, it was evident that Eden was a Seimond Royal Family.

‘I think he has a real name, too.’

Though Elysia couldn’t remember Eden’s real name exactly after it came to her mind.

The Duke of Valtine was also concerned that Eden was a part of the royal family; therefore, he did his best to hide Eden’s identity.

His deliberate action was proved when the servants who were in charge of bringing Eden and the knights who guarded where Eden was held captive were dead.

All of them couldn’t hold back their itchy mouths and gave up their lives after spilling Eden’s whereabouts to others.

The more Elysia thought about it, the more problems could possibly arise.

“And then what? If they could have just waited, he would run away anyway.’

In contrast to the Duke’s waiting, Eden escaped a few years later.

He managed to escape because the wizard tower magically erased the Duke’s memory.

At first thought, they seemed to have helped Eden, but in reality, the goal of the wizard tower was no different from the Duke of Valtine.

To use the legacy left by the Great Wizard Meldion a long time ago, the wizard tower would need the blood and mana of Eden, who turned out to be a descendant of Meldion.

The hardships faced by Ariel began after Eden disappeared.

It was because he suddenly flourished Ariel into a wizard.

The Duke of Valtine, just like the Seimond family, was also one of the descendants who inherited Meldion’s blood.

Meldion’s blood and mana.

As Ariel blossomed into a wizard, the conditions needed for using Meldion’s legacy were obtained.

Contrary to his expectations, however, Ariel couldn’t use the legacy because she lacked the ability as a wizard.

The Duke of Valtine, who saw red because of Ariel, who could not use power, forced her into training that anyone would say how close it was to torture.

One day, when Ariel’s wounds were getting better, Eden, who became the owner of the wizard tower after defeating the previous owner, returned to the Duke of Valtine and tried to take her with him.

However, since the Duke of Valtine didn’t want to let Ariel go, Eden exposed his crime of trying to start a war, resulting in the Duke to be executed for what he did in the past.

In addition, he didn’t hesitate to take his revenge by taking the trouble of being the executioner of the Duke of Valtine and Elysia himself.

The original Elysia remained confident enough until the moment she died that it remained strong in the reader’s memory.

‘I don’t have such confidence.’

Let alone confidence, she already felt relieved if she didn’t feel distressed with her situation.

Elysia, who was recalling the contents of the original work, gradually felt sore on her legs.

The annex where Eden was quite far from the main building.

It was a difficult distance for Elysia, who practically lived sitting on a chair all day long.

“Phew….”

A small annex came into Elysia view as she sighed.

As she got closer, the exterior of the annex became clearer.

Then at one point, Elysia hid behind the tree because she saw a knight in front of the annex.

‘Right, there’s no way that the Duke doesn’t put a guard.’

Elysia had predicted it right.

She didn’t expect to see Eden right away.

Initially, Elysia came today not to see Eden but to look at the knight’s face who would be guarding in front of the annex.

Elysia persistently looked at the knight’s face for a while.

“….”

As she was sure that she memorized the knight’s face roughly, Elysia returned to the path she came from without regret.

With the thought of coming again at a different time tomorrow.

* * *

Although Elysia seemed relaxed on the outside, the truth was she wasn’t inside.

It was because she knew that the more time she took, the more difficult it would be for Eden.

Elysia, the villainess of ‘Prison where Ariel was locked up’, was only able to meet Eden a year later.

This was because Duke Valtine hid Eden’s existence from his children.

“Get out of my way.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Elysia spoke in a stern tone to the maids who blocked the front gate of the main building.

The maids, who were sweeping fallen leaves and blooming amid the dead flowers, were surprised by the voice of her small master that came from below.

Elysia immediately passed between the two maids when the wall blocking her way made room for her to walk.

At a glance, to the maid who apologized, Elysia had a stern frown on her fine forehead.

She looked upset.

“Miss Elysia isn’t angry, right…?”

After all, finding a decent job in the Duke’s mansion, Cellendid’s estate, was as difficult as digging and discovering gold coins.

“They are going to write a letter of recommendation for us anyway. Why are you so scared?”

The maid snorted and said.

So far, all servants that Elysia didn’t seem to like had received at least a recommendation letter if they got laid off.

They had to move to another’s estate, but it wasn’t such a big problem since they didn’t lose their job at all.

‘She is still young, but she has that much power.’

When Elysia’s mother, Isabella, was alive, she couldn’t even make a sound and acted obediently.

At some point, Elysia caught the Duke’s attention and was appointed to be in charge of the overall management of the servants and maids.

All of the servants didn’t understand the Duke of Valtine at all.

It didn’t matter if she was the first daughter; Elysia was only 12 years old.

They couldn’t believe he gave his daughter the right to lead the house management while she still had a long way to become an adult.

As a result, all of the servants who ignored Isabella and her daughters in the past shivered when they met Elysia’s eyes.

“Really? Then, should I write one for you?”

“Eek!”

The maid, who felt their inside twisting, was surprised by the youthful voice and flinched instantly.

They were flustered because they didn’t know Elysia would hear what they were saying.

“N-No! No, Miss! We did wrong!”

Instead of the person who made fun of her with her mouth, the maid next to her hurriedly apologized. Elysia stared at the maid, who apologized to her.

When the child’s round eyes looked at her fiercely, the maid was greatly shaken.

“It hasn’t been long since you’ve worked here?”

“What? Yes, yes! That’s right. Since last year….”

“And you… worked here since my mother was alive.”

“….”

Knowing that Elysia was bringing out the topic of Isabella, the maid closed her mouth again this time.

“I think you should pack your things, right?”

That maid was the one she had been eyeing on, but today seemed to be the right opportunity.

Elysia smiled with a noble face and unilaterally notified the maid of her dismissal, who had missed Isabella’s bath preparation several times in the past.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

❇️

It had been a while since the moon arose. Elysia visited the annex again as she promised herself earlier. As expected, a different knight from the one during the day was on guard.

After carefully observing his face, Elysia returned to her room with a satisfied face and slept.

Even though she only went back and forth between the annex and the main building, her whole body was sore like she just had an exercise after a long time.

Though she slept well last night because she was tired as well.

Elysia, who opened her closed eyes, raised her body from her bed.

She managed to grab the bell only by moving her body a little.

When she shook the bell lightly, Elysia’s bedroom door opened.

“Miss Elysia, were you coughing again?”

Elysia’s exclusive maid came in. Rachel, the maid who was the most potential to take over the position of the next head of maid.

“How is Ariel?”

One of Elysia’s morning routines was to ask about Ariel.

Ariel woke up a long time later than her, so even if she didn’t ask, the answer was obvious.

“She is still sleeping.”

Rachel answered politely. Rachel who was familiar with this question bowed down.

Rachel could also predict what Elysia was going to do next easily.

Like always, she would go into the bathroom to wash her face. Contrary to her expectations, however, Elysia didn’t move or open her mouth again.

“Can I see the list of the knights of the Duke of Valtine?”

“…If you ask the Duke…”

“I don’t want my father to know.”

Elysia hugged her knee tightly and drooped her head on it. It was rare to see Elysia acting like this; like a child at her age.

“I’ll do my best”.

The problem was that Rachel was obsessed with Elysia’s cuteness. Even if she didn’t act cute, she would be willing to do whatever Elysia told her to do.

“Thank you.”

Rachel was a maid brought by Isabella.

Isabella, who wasn’t loved by the Duke of Valtine, became the object of disregard among the servants.

Her meals weren’t delivered on time, and her room cleaning was often skipped.

It was also a normal thing to do for them to mock Isabella loud enough for her to listen.

Elysia was glad that Rachel was here.

Without Rachel, Isabella would have passed away sooner.

“Is it because some of the knights may have offended you?”

“It’s not like that.”

Rachel, who knew that a maid packed up and left this morning, was wondering if it was a knight’s turn to leave this time.

Her answer that came back unexpectedly was negative.

“Thank you for your concern, Rachel. I’ll prepare by myself today, so you can go out now.”

Elysia, who jumped out of bed, approached Rachel and hugged her slightly.

She showed a completely different attitude from how she treated the other maids.

“It’s my duty, Miss.”

When Elysia, who was a little smaller than her, hugged her, her worried expression eased.

Behind Elysia’s back, everyone hated Elysia for being tough and harsh just like her father, but Rachel thought it was fortunate that Elysia wasn’t a soft-hearted person.

Considering Elysia’s attitude toward Rachel and Ariel, it was rather rude to say that she resembled the Duke of Valtine.

At least Elysia was a person who knew how to love others.

* * *

Elysia herself didn’t know how she would be reflected in others’ eyes.

She didn’t hide her displeasure and completely showed her values that she should return as much as she received.

‘In the end, I guess I look like a villainess to others.’

Still, Elysia never attacked others first because unlike when she was young in the past, she got to live and didn’t get beaten.

On the other hand, the original Elysia was different.

– Hey. It broke because you pushed it. Do you know how much it costs?

– Did you wash my blankets properly? What’s this stain?

– You’re not just lazy and slow. You can’t even work.

She always found a fault in the servants once a day.

It was Elysia who lift the expensive wine glass, and she was also the one who intentionally stained the blanket.

Whenever that happened, the servants raised their heads and refuted Elysia’s words to defend themselves.

However, eventually, the head of the maid even stepped up and said to Elysia.

– Miss Elysia. Please keep your dignity. How could a noble of the house of Duke of Valtine lie whenever she opens her mouth…!

‘No matter how easy Elysia was, she’s still a daughter of the Duke.’

Elysia, who was reading the newspaper, snorted inside and criticized the behavior of servants in the novel.

Unlike herself, Elysia in the original work had no authority to discipline the servants. It was purely a reward that she won by playing the ideal child that Elysia’s father wanted.

On the other hand, Elysia, the original work, had no power within the Duke’s mansion, so she created a scene and continued her little payback on the servants.

Of course, the subjects also included maid’s attire.

– Who’s pointing it out to who? You’re the one who is going to be screwed up if Father knew you took this family’s money. Those earrings… I don’t think those are something that you could afford.

– W-What are you talking about? Again! You’re lying again!

That wasn’t a lie.

The maid didn’t know, but Elysia was a smart child with a sharp intuition.

The original Elysia was a girl who knew how to bully and torment people according to her taste.

Therefore, when she was just the novel reader, she thought that Elysia’s ending suited her character, even though she didn’t deserve it.

As she was done remembering the ending of ‘Elysia the Villainess’, Elysia closed the newspaper.

The newspaper contained the news about the national power lost due to the war. The contents about the war, which began half a year ago, accounted for the largest portion in every newspaper.

Even though it was clear how serious the current national situation was, Elysia put the newspaper aside and stretched her limb.

Since she was Elysia, who read ‘Prison where Ariel was locked up’ she was relaxed because she knew that her empire would eventually win.

“Miss Elysia, this is Rachel. May I come in?”

Elysia, who was about to open a book to study, stopped when she heard Rachel’s voice from the door.

“Yes, come on in.”

When Elysia granted her permission, Rachel came inside. At first glance, Elysia could see Rachel had so many documents with her.

Elysia could easily notice that it was what she asked for this morning.

“From this part, it is a list of knights transferred from the outskirts.”

Rachel gave her a kind explanation.

Thanks to her, Elysia’s work has been halved.

Except for the knights who were not in Duke Valtine’s military forces and their personal information, Elysia searched through the remaining documents.

As her master didn’t tell her to leave the room, Rachel was standing still and waiting for Elysia’s next order.

“…These two.”

Elysia, who was carefully looking at the picture of two knights taken in neat uniform, pulled out two documents and handed them over to Rachel.

Rachel accepted the documents without a word.

“Can you look into these two in detail?”

In detail?

She had never seen Elysia so interested in others. Rachel opened her eyes wide and looked at Elysia.

“If possible, try to find out their weaknesses.”

A 12-year-old child asked you to find out about others’ faults and weaknesses with a relaxed voice.

If someone who didn’t know much about Elysia heard what she just said, they would have laughed at her or thought that she didn’t get a proper education.

To be honest, Rachel thought it was a matter of education rather than a joke.

“….Yes.”

Resisting her curiosity, Rachel bowed down and heed to Elysia’s order.

Cellendid had more slums than other territories and estates. It was because the Duke of Valtine didn’t take good care of his territory.

Therefore, it wouldn’t be difficult to conduct a background investigation.

* * *

A few days after that.

Rachel brought only two papers this time.

Elysia, who had lunch with Ariel, looked at the documents Rachel gave as soon as she returned to the room.

“…..”

One was a knight who liked gambling and had a considerable amount of debt.

The other was a knight who was supporting his physically and mentally sick brother’s medical expenses.

‘I did ask her to find out their weaknesses or faults.’

Both were perfect to Elysia.

How were they watching the annex where Eden was kept hidden?

These days, did they still live with this kind of circumstances?

Elysia, who had a more complicated story than anyone else, was having a fruitless thought.

‘Debt and little brother…’

It was written that the younger brother seemed to have a complicated condition, and that the knight couldn’t afford the considerable amount of medical expenses.

So, in the end, both of them needed money.

Elysia quickly calculated how much money she had in her hand.

It was the money that Eden saved to start a new life when the House of Duke of Valtine collapsed later in the future. It was a shame, but Elysia decided to think of it as an investment for her new life.

‘I have to live first to start a new life.’

After finishing the calculation, Elysia crossed her short legs and concluded.

‘People who have something to protect are more desperate.’

Elysia was like that too.

Somehow, she felt like she was getting close to the knights that she had never talked to before.

* * *

Rizbeth faced a second life crisis after becoming a knight of the Duke of Valtine.

He was more nervous than when he was worried about what he had to do when he was assigned to the battlefield.

Elysia quietly looked up at Rizbeth, whose forehead began to sweat even though it wasn’t a hot day.

‘I’m going to die.’

This annex was the least noticeable place in the residence of Duke Valtine. The poorly managed trees and grass hid the existence of the separate annex.

It may not have been intended, but it became the reason why the Duke of Valtine decided that this place was the best place to hide Eden.

“Sir Rizbeth”?

“How did you know my na– No, it’s an honor for you to know my name, Miss.”

But what brought her here…?

Rizbeth, who managed to get Elysia’s attention back from the annex, asked.

When the most desired question came out, Elysia answered with a bright face.

Seeing a bright smile, Rizbeth breathed in surprise.

“I have a favor to ask of Sir Rizbeth.”

“…You mean me?”

It was the first time that Rizbeth had talked to Elysia since he came to serve as the Duke’s knight.

The biggest reason was that Elysia did not pay attention to the knights, and they had never crossed paths.

So Rizbeth thought he was the only one who knew who Elysia was.

What did she mean by having a request, out of nowhere?

Didn’t the two even talk to each other for the first time today?

Toward Rizbeth, who seemed confused, Elysia kept her smile all the time.