Chapter 1
I’m about to be kidnapped.
With my mind in chaos, I recalled the conversation I had overheard earlier today.
“Son, the lord has granted permission for your remarriage.”
It was close to noon.
After finishing my morning tasks, I had been dozing off in a pile of hay in the corner of the stable when I woke up to a familiar voice.
The speaker was none other than the old butler of the lord’s mansion—and his son.
At the time, I didn’t think much of it.
I simply stayed still and pretended not to notice, trying not to lose my precious moment of rest.
The butler’s son is remarrying? He’s already over forty with three kids my age. I wonder who the bride is.
That was about the extent of my thoughts.
Until—
“Father, then it’s fine if I take that bitch, Liliata, tonight, right?”
My name came out of his mouth, filled with excitement.
What?
Unaware that I was there, they continued talking.
“Yes. I’ll make sure all the guards near her room are cleared tonight. The lord wants this handled quietly, so there must be no commotion.”
The old butler added,
“Especially since the young lady is fond of that girl—make sure she doesn’t hear a thing.”
“Don’t worry, Father. Even if she resists, what can she do? If I cover her mouth while she’s asleep, no one will notice. No one.”
“And don’t forget the marriage tax. No matter how urgent it is, the lord gets the bride’s first night.”
“Of course. I’ll wrap her up nicely and present her to the lord’s bedroom first. That way, I’ll get my turn after.”
Their eerie laughter made my hair stand on end.
The moment their presence faded from the stable, I jumped to my feet.
Should I run away like this?
I looked toward the castle gate, where guards stood watch in the distance.
But if I ran without a plan, I would definitely be caught and dragged straight to the lord.
There was only one option.
My gaze turned toward Priscilla’s room.
***
“Liliata?”
Priscilla, who had been quietly reading, looked at me in confusion as I burst into her room, gasping for breath.
“Miss, please save me.”
“What happened? Did you cause trouble in the kitchen?”
Still bewildered, she listened as I told her everything I had overheard in the stable.
The old butler. His son. Even the lord himself.
As she realized the scale of it, her face turned pale.
“That’s horrifying… Those men must be insane!”
She practically threw the book she was holding.
“You’re someone I brought here! And they want to marry you off to that filthy old man’s son when you’re only nineteen? My father has completely lost his mind!”
A few months ago, I suddenly appeared on a road in this territory.
Priscilla was the one who found me and brought me to the mansion, giving me a place to stay.
She even tried to find my parents—or rather, the parents of the original owner of this body.
But unfortunately, the parents of this body, Liliata Hayes, had already died after being attacked by wolves.
When Priscilla learned that, she pitied me deeply and took me in.
Apparently, her own mother had also died from a beast attack, so she must have felt a sense of connection.
That’s right.
I’m not originally from this world.
I was a twenty-five-year-old college student in South Korea before I suddenly fell into this strange place.
Anyway, the name of this body is Liliata Hayes.
A nineteen-year-old serf from a rural territory.
“Miss, what should we do?”
“Tonight…?”
There wasn’t much time.
As a serf, I was considered property of the territory, meaning I couldn’t leave without the lord’s permission.
If I tried to escape carelessly and got caught, I could lose my life.
While thinking hard, Priscilla suddenly seemed to recall something and rushed to her desk.
She pulled out a document from the drawer and handed it to me.
“It’s a magic contract. It’s for a servant position at a noble estate in the capital.”
She continued,
“Right now, signing this is the only way for you to safely leave this territory.”
Why would something like that be in her drawer?
Wouldn’t servant contracts normally be managed by the head maid or the butler? Or is it different because it’s a magic contract?
But this wasn’t the time to question it.
“Do I just need to sign this?”
I didn’t have the luxury to weigh options. If it meant escaping safely, I would grab even a rotten rope.
As I reached for the document, Priscilla grabbed my hand.
“Rita, there’s something you need to know before signing. Once you enter that estate, you won’t be allowed to leave until the contract ends.”
“Not allowed to leave?”
“According to the document, it’s because of the family’s special circumstances. Probably to prevent military or political secrets from leaking. And the young master you’ll be serving has a very difficult personality—several servants have already been dismissed.”
“I can handle that.”
“You might be confined there for months… or even years. Are you really okay with that?”
I hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
It had to be better than being forced into marriage with a man over forty, becoming a stepmother to kids my own age, and being offered to the lord on the first night.
“I’m fine. I can do it.”
“If that’s your decision, then write your name here.”
With the quill she handed me, I was about to sign my name at the bottom of the contract.
Then a sudden thought occurred to me.
“But why would such an important noble from the capital be hiring a servant from a rural territory?”
“Well… I’m not sure either. Now that you mention it, it is a bit strange.”
Priscilla tilted her head.
“Maybe the estate is haunted or something…”
My hand froze.
“Haunted?”
“I’m joking.”
She patted my shoulder.
“It’s probably because of the no-leaving clause. If you can’t go outside while working in the capital, fewer people would apply.”
That made sense.
If you had to stay locked inside a mansion in the middle of a lively city full of sights and food, it wouldn’t be an easy job to accept.
“If you’re uneasy, we can look for another way. But the capital is safer than here, and we don’t have time to find another option—”
Be offered to the lord on the first night and forcibly married off versus working as a servant for an unknown noble family.
It wasn’t really a choice.
“I’m fine. It’s not like I’ll die.”
I was doing this to survive.
With that, I took the quill Priscilla gave me and wrote my name at the end of the contract.
The black ink of my name began to glow brightly.
A light that would decide my fate.
