“Just an Earl, yet he dares to look down on me. Not even funny how they’re bouncing around, trusting the Duke of Fliche.”

No different from a hunting dog that will be discarded once it has served its purpose, they were too ignorant for their own good.

He was the one who subtly sided with the Duke of Fliche while maintaining neutrality until now.

It wasn’t because he kept neutrality out of loyalty to Archduke Artem or the emperor.

The Duke of Dicar was just someone who stepped back because he didn’t want to get involved in the fight for the throne.

Until now, it was better to quietly observe how the power would turn out, but now the situation was tilting too much.

It was to the point where families who did not switch to the emperor’s line were considered strange.

The Earl of Wens noticed the Duke of Dicar’s intention and made such a ridiculous proposal.

If he gave his daughter, he would guarantee his future position.

The Earl of Wens’ proposal was too sweet, but he didn’t want to give up the daughter he had cherished so much.

So, he prepared a countermeasure in advance. He looked at the petite girl next to his daughter.

‘I, her father, think she looks like me.’

It wasn’t to the point where one couldn’t tell who was who, but they were quite similar.

“Don’t get angry, father. What if you faint again?”

The Duke’s daughter quietly put down her teacup, calming her father’s excitement.

“We prepared for this in advance.”

She pointed to the pathetic girl next to her. The girl shrunk back at the woman’s fingerpointing.

“Ha, right. If I hadn’t listened to you and stood still, I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened.”

The Duke stroked his chest and looked at his daughter.

Her green eyes, identical to his, sparkled brilliantly. Her cascading red hair was so short that it didn’t even reach her shoulders.

The Duke muttered, looking at the shortened hair.

“You cut your hair down to your waist without a second thought… I’m sorry. Your father is weak and you had to end up like this.”

“It’s okay. I can grow my hair back.”

The Duke made a loud fuss, on the verge of tears, but she was very calm. She added that her head felt lighter now that it was shorter and she didn’t seem bothered at all.

The Duke’s daughter looked at the woman next to her and spoke.

“You can cut long hair, but you can’t grow short hair in a short period of time, right?”

The girl flinched at the cold gaze examining her.

‘Sure enough… They planned to sell me!’

The Duke of Dicar had bought the slave girl and locked her in a solitary cell. She was terrified that she would be mistreated, but her life here was surprisingly comfortable.

They did not allow her to step outside the room. However, she was served hearty meals and could bathe in warm water.

She, who had been treated as less than a human, liked the Duke’s mansion very much.

She was allowed to leave the room for the first time in three days. As soon as she entered the Duke’s room, she couldn’t help but be surprised.

The daughter of the Duke sitting in the room looked shockingly similar to her.

‘I had hoped… at first.’

The moment she saw the girl, she had a glimmer of hope.

That she might be the lost daughter of this household.

Seeing a woman who resembled her so much that it was like looking in a mirror, that it could be mistaken for twins, was a first in her life.

But after listening to their conversation, she realized that her hope was nothing more than a vain dream.

‘They want to disguise me as their real daughter and pass me off…’

Yes, my life can’t be solved that easily…

For some reason, it hurt. The girl bowed her head low and trembled with fear.

Where could she be sold off to? Judging from the effort to find someone who resembles her daughter, it was clear that the other party was not a sane person.

‘Is she marrying an old noble who can’t even walk properly…?’

What if… she says she doesn’t like it?

The girl thought about many things, fiddling with her fingers. Then, a voice called the girl.

“Hey.”

The real daughter of Duke Dicar called the girl.

She forcibly lifted the girl’s head and examined her face.

“Really, it’s amazing. How did you resemble me so much? Father, am I not a twin?”

“What nonsense! Twins, what! I was right next to you when your mother gave birth. That person is just a slave who resembles you.”

Duke Dicar refuted his daughter’s words with indignation.

His words were true. He had watched the birth of the Duchess from the sidelines.

His daughter was not a twin. That girl was just a ‘stranger’ who looked astonishingly alike.

The daughter of the Duke seemed satisfied with his words and lifted the corners of her mouth.

“My face is not common… are you blessed? To inherit such a face as a slave.”

The girl flinched at her words.

For a slave, beauty was ‘poison’. Just for being beautiful, she was isolated from her group, and when she was mistreated by her masters, it was her fault.

That gracefully grown noble probably didn’t know anything and said those words.

“Do you have a younger sibling?”

“…!”

The girl who had been deadeyed all along widened her eyes at the daughter’s mention of a ‘sibling’ and looked at her.

The Duke’s daughter smiled as if she was satisfied with her reaction.

“Is… my sibling… still alive?”

It had been about five years since they were separated. The siblings who had depended on each other after their parents died were sold off to different places and parted ways.

She had lived not knowing if they were alive or dead. She had not even dared to hope to see her sibling again, living each day in hell.

“That’s right. If you listen to us well, we’ll let you meet your sibling.”

“Can I really meet my sibling?”

The girl looked at the Duke’s daughter with desperate eyes.

The Duke’s daughter nodded at the girl’s words with a smile on her face.

Hope had somehow sprung up in the desperate eyes of the girl.

“Please… let me meet my sibling! I’ll do anything you ask!”

She started begging while clinging to the Duke’s daughter’s arm. The Duke’s daughter was very pleased with the situation going as planned.

However, she couldn’t tolerate the dirty slave touching her body.

She pushed the slave who was holding her hand away and sent a warning look.

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

The girl also quickly apologized, realizing her mistake.

“Don’t get excited. Can you do what I ask like this? You must do my request perfectly to see your sibling, right?”

Was her speech a threat? The girl swallowed her dry saliva at the cool voice of the Duke’s daughter.

“In three days, you will be marrying as the daughter of the Dicar family instead of me.”

The girl was silent because it was something she had expected.

“The important thing is not to get caught that you are fake. Act perfectly like me. You have three days. If you don’t please me, whether it’s your sibling or whatever, your life will be at stake, so you’d better do it right.”

Her smiling face was so wicked that it was hard to believe she was just a young adult.

Duke Dicar teared up with emotion at the sight of his daughter.

“My chick has grown up so fast. Very smart indeed!”

The Duke, with his arm out, was not heard by the girl at all.

Her mind was full of pressure. In three days, she had to mimic the arrogant noblewoman.

‘It won’t be so hard… If you do this well, you can meet your sibling. So you have to do it unconditionally.’

Her eyes sparkled with a firm resolve.

In three days, Eric is getting married. Not to Doana, but to this woman.

Doana, who didn’t even dream of this fact, was spending her happy days believing that she would become a Countess.