“Ugh!”

Daphne took a breath.

Tears were dripping down from her big eyes.

‘…What?’

Didn’t she die at the hands of Alan?

The feeling of the sword piercing through her chest, the burning pain rushing in, and the feeling of writhing in the depths of her stomach, was still vivid.

Now her body just aches.

She didn’t feel any pain.

“How did this happen…”

A squeak came out of her throat.

Daphne stood up from the bed and was still stiff.

The room she saw was a place she had forgotten now because she was not familiar with it.

This was where she lived until she entered the Imperial Palace and followed Alan.

“This place was demolished a few years ago and a new villa was built.”

Wait a minute.

Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Daphne got out of bed and quickly walked toward the mirror.

“…!!”

The shattered and cracked mirror reflected a child like a wretched donkey.

She had brittle hair, withered limbs, and even a wound on her left arm.

She was back to her thirteen year old self.

To be precise, it was the day that she recovered the memories of her previous life after suffering from a fever. Her flushed face and scar on her left arm from her fever proved it.

The wound on her left arm was healed by going to Alan.

She really wanted to go back before she died.

‘No, that’s not the point.’

I was reincarnated, but how the hell did you get back?

The most important thing now was that Alan had betrayed her.

“I believed…”

Both of her arms fell.

When she realized that she had been possessed by a book in her previous life, she was forced to smile and hope for better.

It would be fine, she was sure she would be happy. She held Alan’s hand with hope, but her life ended like that.

Tears welled up in despair.

‘I was really stupid.’

Not once, but twice, she lived a miserable life.

A life that missed happiness and the desired goal in front of her.

And a life betrayed by those whom she trusted the most.

Her uncle and Alan.

Those two people came to her mind one after another.

‘If someone saw me, they might laugh at me saying I’m stupid.’

How fun.

She lived with the hope that she would live, but in the end she was betrayed and died.

The amount of tears flowing down her cheeks increased more and more.

“…”

Maybe it was because she never had a loud voice before? Or was it because she had been sick for a long time?

Even the crying felt uncomfortable.

Her heart, which had been messed up with tears, mingled and swayed.

‘I can’t trust anyone in this life.’

‘Then at least I won’t get hurt.’

She then won’t be hurt or betrayed.

How painful was it when she died?

She would never go through such pain again.

‘I’m scared. No more…’

No more than this…

After crying for a long time, Daphne got up.

In the mirror was a picture of a young girl with empty eyes.

She gave up hope and lost faith.

All that was left was revenge.

“Alan Blake.”

Daphne’s face turned cold in an instant.

She quickly shook her head.

“What should I do? Who should I go to kill Alan most definitely?”‘

The Emperor?

“No.”

In the original work, the emperor used Daphne as a long-term chess piece to keep Alan in check for his second son, Claire, but abandoned her. 

Didn’t he throw her away because he didn’t need her anymore? Even if she goes to such a person, she will only be betrayed. The imperial family was truly black-hearted. If so, the answer was set.

“Duke Kael Bertrand.”

If he helps her with a few things, next to him, she’ll have the ability to surpass Alan in an instant.

The feeling of hating the royal family was mutual.

“On top of that, his personality is similar to mine.” 

Kael also didn’t trust anyone and didn’t put anyone next to him.

If she achieved what she wanted, he won’t be able to catch her even if she leaves. 

“Okay, let’s go to Kael.”’

It was just the time for the ‘work’ to happen.

If she uses that well, she will be able to get to Kael’s side easier.

“The problem is, how can I get into that place?” 

Daphne was in agony for a while, and the door suddenly opened. 

“Huh?”

The maid, who came in without a knock, had her face distorted and stared at Daphne.

“Are you awake?”

Without asking why Daphne was crying or what the wound on her arm was, her maid continued.

“Have you been fooling around all this time? I just came to the rescue.”

Annoyed by her, the maid threw a barrel in front of Daphne. It was medicine.

“I’ve been working hard to get it, you know? So thank me.”

“…”

Daphne silently picked up the medicine.

It was a cheap drug that can be easily bought on the street, but the effect was insignificant.

‘I can remember.’

Her only maid, who was also her own maid, treated her this way.

She ignored the pain, and she deliberately hurted her with her words. Then, when she really thought she was going to die, she threw a cheap ointment with bread at her.

The maid would then continue to urge her to listen carefully.

‘I can only remember this now.’

Even though it happened a long time ago before, it was not something that could be easily forgotten.

Daphne tilted her palms as she looked into her maid’s eyes, smiling as she picked the medicine up.

The pills then fell on the ground

Her maid’s eyes widened. 

“What are you doing now?!”

Either way, Daphne stared intently at the maid’s face. 

‘What was her name…?’

As Daphne’s silence got longer and longer, her maid’s face turned red and white.

She seemed to think Daphne was ignoring her.

“I asked, ‘What are you doing now?!’ Why aren’t you answering me?!”

When Daphne did not speak to her, the maid bit her lip because she thought Daphne had looked down on her.

“This time, you have to be really scolded so you can come to your senses.”

The maid was furious.

“Oh, I remember.”

Daphne laughed.

“Mariel.”

Yes, that was the name.

As Daphne pointed her finger at her and called the maid’s name, the maid stopped for a moment and contorted her face.

She had a devilish look.

‘It’s like a demon.’

Daphne was a commoner adopted by the emperor.

The emperor wanted to show that he cared about commoners which was why he adopted her.

However, the true meaning was that the commoners should not be dissatisfied and work hard to pay the rising taxes.

Who among the commoners truly knew what happens inside the high walls of the imperial palace?

Daphne was left with only a good position as a princess.

‘It was Mariel who volunteered to take care of me.’

Mariel volunteered to take on the role that everyone else was reluctant to take.

She didn’t do it for a warm reason like sympathy or compassion.

She simply hated that a commoner rose to a higher position than herself.

“You have to follow my words in order to be recognized as a part of the proud imperial family rather than a commoner.”

Saying that, she tormented Daphne immensely.

‘And on the outside, she acted like she was a benevolent maid.’

“Now you’re throwing things in a rude way and calling my name? How dare you?”

“What can’t I call your name?”

‘Isn’t that what your name is?’

At Daphne’s words, Mariel’s facial expression looked even more like a demon.

“You must be punished. If you do this, neither the Emperor nor the Empress will recognize you for the rest of your life!”

It’s the royal couple’s approval.

Daphne never asked for anything like that.

“You should be punished, Mariel, for stealing the imperial fortune. Do you like the house you just bought?”

At Daphne’s words, Mariel, who was looking for her training leash, stiffened.

She turned her head very slowly.

“Didn’t you buy a big mansion with all the budget that came from me?”

It was a very pretty mansion.

Daphne raised the corners of her lips as she looked at Mariel’s unblemished white hands.

“Your hands are beautiful.”

Mariel hastily hid her hands behind her back.

Her face turned blue.

Whoever laid their hands on the imperial budget, their hands would be cut off first.

After that, it would be their ankles, then their neck, and finally their whole family’s necks will be cut off.

There was no way that her maid, Mariel, would have known that.

“You, how can a commoner like you…”

“There are various ways.”

Daphne said so and touched her lips.

“I have a mouth to shout in front of the Emperor.”

In fact, the emperor wouldn’t really care who spent the money that fell in front of Daphne.

Unless it goes against his own will.

But if word gets around and it becomes known to other nobles and even the commoners…

“If that happens, where will the Emperor’s wrath go?”

Who started this?

Won’t the answer be too simple?

“By the way, you are the daughter of a viscount’s family.”

She was lucky enough to be chosen as her imperial maid, but she was just that. If there was a problem, the Viscount would throw Mariel out in order to live.

“Yes.”

Mariel, who had a brain, understood the situation in an instant.

Her face grew tired and her posture collapsed slightly.

Daphne sat down and smiled kindly in front of Mariel, who was shaking.

“You never know.”

If Daphne accuses her of her sins in front of His Majesty the Emperor, he would feel sorry for her.

He might even compliment her on how she caught the thief.

“If His Majesty the Emperor loves me that much, it’ll all be thanks to you.”

Daphne smiled brightly as she grabbed Mariel’s cheeks that were flowing with her tears.

“Thank you, Mariel. For sacrificing yourself so that I can be loved.”

‘After all, you are the best maid.’

“Her Majesty the Princess…”

Mariel’s tears fell from her big and pretty eyes.

As if Daphne’s little hands were her only rope of salvation, she desperately grabbed her hand.

“Please don’t tell on me. Please, save me…”

When she saw Mariel begging desperately, she remembered a scene from the book.

“Hey, don’t leave me alone. Please…”

After falling into the lake from the prank of the second prince, she suffered from a severe fever.

It hurted. It hurted so much.

And she was so scared.

She didn’t dream of being nursed, so she desperately reached out because she wanted someone to hold her hand.

How was Mariel then?

“You have to overcome this to be a great member of the royal family.”

And then she just left the room.

“What should I do…”

Daphne deliberately looked at Mariel.

‘In the past, I cleaned it up right away.’

As soon as she found out about Mariel’s sins in her previous life, she immediately removed her.

She was angry at her for treating her like that, and at that time, she had Alan to back her up.

‘But not now.’

Whatever the future may be, she was now still an abandoned princess.

So she needed at least one person to move for her.

‘All right, let’s use her then.’

“There’s nothing I can do, I’ll keep it a secret.”

“Really?”

That’s right.

Mariel’s eyes showed Daphne smiling brightly.

“Instead, you have to move as I say.”

Got it, Mariel?