Chapter 1
The wide plaza in the kingdom’s capital.
Cordelia stood among the crowd, staring blankly at one spot.
A man was on his knees, his arms tied behind his back, his thin face hanging low in defeat.
Cordelia’s lips trembled.
“Kill the demon!”
“How dare he defy the great Empire and make a deal with the devil!”
The ones yelling and throwing stones at him weren’t strangers. They were his own people.
Cordelia shook her head. She tried to push through the crowd toward him, but someone grabbed her arm hard.
On the raised platform across from the man, two people sat on shining, luxurious chairs, watching him closely.
Their faces showed completely different emotions.
Beside them, a knight stood tall, unrolling the verdict. His uniform carried the crest of the Imperial family.
The plaza went silent.
“The criminal has threatened the sacred peace treaty between the Rihart Empire and the Therion Kingdom, causing fear among the people of both nations. His crime is heavy!”
“…”
“Therefore, the criminal shall be sentenced to death!”
The knight’s booming voice was followed by the interpreter’s translation, and the crowd erupted in cheers.
“No…”
Cordelia twisted her trapped arm, about to dash toward the man. But instead, she was pulled tightly into someone’s arms, held so firmly it almost hurt.
Tears fell on Cordelia’s hair as she struggled, her small body pinned in place. She opened her mouth, ready to scream instead.
At that moment, the man slowly lifted his head and looked right at her.
His clear, steady gaze made Cordelia’s heart sink like a stone.
She moved her lips desperately. She had to say it.
That he wasn’t guilty. That it was all her fault.
If anyone should be punished, it was her.
But the man shook his head faintly. Then he gave her a small, gentle smile.
The knight behind him drew his sword. The blade gleamed coldly, and Cordelia’s chest tightened.
She had to speak. She had to—
But it was like a giant candy was stuck in her throat. No voice came out.
The knight raised the sword high. Cordelia turned her head away.
She wanted to beg the people on the shining chairs to stop.
That this wasn’t the man they wanted. That the true criminal was standing right here.
Then came a strange sound. A dull thud, like something heavy falling to the ground.
The crowned one closed their eyes, while the other simply stared at it all with a chillingly cold face.
The arms holding Cordelia slackened, but she didn’t run forward.
Her stiff neck creaked as she turned her head.
What she saw was blood splattered everywhere.
The crowd’s cheers turned muffled, as if her ears were full of water.
Her mouth hung open, but no sound came out.
“Del!”
Cordelia’s eyes shot open. She gasped for breath, wiping her sweaty forehead.
“Get up, time for breakfast!”
Her mother, Amelia, banged on the door loudly before heading downstairs.
Cordelia sat up, shaking her head to push the nightmare away.
She dragged herself out of bed and into the small washroom attached to their inn room. Standing on a wooden stool, she looked into the wall mirror.
Her empty blue eyes stared back at her with pity.
“Del! Hurry up!”
Sighing at her mother’s nagging, Cordelia dunked her whole face into the washbasin. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath as bubbles rose from her mouth.
Part of her wished she could just stop breathing forever.
***
Cordelia’s belongings were light for someone leaving home.
A few sets of clothes, two notebooks, a cheap pen, and a bottle of ink.
No different from when they had moved from Therion to the Empire.
She climbed into a carriage with the small purse of money her mother had given her.
It was expensive, but Amelia said it was better to pay than risk getting lost and missing the appointment.
When she showed the driver the map, he looked her up and down skeptically.
Under her worn straw hat and faded dress, her skin was pale white.
“Are you sure you’re really going there?” he asked.
Cordelia only blinked silently. With an annoyed wave, the driver told her to hop in.
She sat inside and stared out the window. Even the familiar sights seemed strange when seen from this lonely ride.
If feelings could float, she thought, hers would be drifting through the sky like soft clouds.
She remembered feeling like this before—
When she found a baby bird that had just hatched,
when she saw her village festival for the first time,
when she built a doghouse with her father…
Lost in memory, she only snapped back when the driver said they’d arrived.
The mansion was so huge it made the inn she’d lived in look like a toy.
Her jaw dropped.
“What business do you have here?”
The gatekeeper frowned at the sight of a little girl.
Cordelia hurriedly pulled out her notebook and pen.
She wrote: “Maid.”
“Maid? Who are you here to see? A maid wouldn’t have any connections in Asteris…”
“Oh, you’re here!”
A warm, familiar voice interrupted.
Cordelia quickly bowed to the middle-aged woman who stepped forward with a kind smile. At her gesture, the gatekeeper opened the door.
“You must be tired from the trip. Come in.”
Cordelia followed her inside.
The woman had gentle features, neatly tied hair, and spoke with calm refinement. She carried herself differently from the other Empire folk Cordelia had met.
Cordelia remembered when they first met a few days ago.
“Hello. I’m Catherine, head maid of the Obenherdt Duchy. I’m working here at the Asteris villa for now.”
She had smiled kindly before giving Cordelia an unexpected offer:
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to hire you as a maid here. What do you say?”
Amelia had told her that Catherine was impressed when she saw Cordelia calmly stand up to a rude drunkard at the fruit shop.
She said the girl was brave.
Cordelia, however, hadn’t acted out of courage or justice. She just didn’t like wasting time doing nothing, because then her mind filled with thoughts of longing and regret.
But she didn’t bother correcting Catherine’s misunderstanding.
The mansion grounds were so huge that Cordelia had to walk a long way from the gate to the front entrance.
When her eyes fell on the wide garden filled with blooming flowers, she stopped in her tracks.
There were so many bright, colorful blossoms—flowers she’d never seen back in her hometown of Ernel.
Perhaps nowhere in Therion had such a sight.
Asteris was a port city in the Empire’s south. With its warm sun all year long, it grew countless plants, each more exotic than the last.
Cordelia was used to the heat and the ocean, but this…
this garden looked like something straight out of a fairytale.
If this were a story, she thought, this must be the castle of a prince.
…Or, judging by the rumors, maybe not a prince at all. A beast? A demon king?
As her childish thoughts drifted, her gaze froze.
A boy was sitting on a window ledge, looking out over the garden.
Cordelia’s lips parted in surprise.
If she had a voice, she might have gasped.
The boy’s eyes looked so familiar—
They were the same eyes she saw every morning in her own reflection after waking from her nightmares.
A soft breeze lifted her light-brown hair, and at the same time, the boy’s golden locks fluttered too.
Just as his empty eyes turned, Catherine’s voice called Cordelia’s name.
Startled, Cordelia quickly turned away and followed after her.
Still, she could feel a strange prickling at the back of her neck.
