Isabel didn’t kick the woman out in the end.

“She is a guest who came to the mansion, so don’t treat her harshly. Dress her in good clothes, and if she says she’s hungry, provide her with warm food. However, you must always keep an eye on that woman’s actions. If she says she wants to leave, tell me right away, understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She had the maids take care of the woman. The angry father went outside the mansion and had not yet returned.

Dawn came to the mansion that had been silent.

* * *

‘…Father?’

Unable to fall asleep, I was just staring out the window.

I spotted my father getting out of the carriage. His face, as he staggered into the mansion, perhaps drunk, was all twisted.

‘What’s going on?’

Surprisingly, Father was quiet after entering the mansion. After some time passed, someone came up the stairs.

− Bang!

My bedroom door swung open. The strong smell of alcohol made it clear that the person who entered the room was Father. Instead of greeting him, I pretended to be asleep and pulled the blanket up to the top of my head.

‘Gasp!’

Father swiftly pulled my blanket away.

“Because of you!”

He suddenly grabbed my arm. Because it was dark and I couldn’t see well, Father’s face seemed as scary as a demon. Only his anger-smoldering eyes flashed.

“Ah, it hurts!”

“Get out! Get out with that woman! Get out!”

“Let go of me!”

Father was not in his right mind. He was determined to grab my arm and head into the hallway. I tried to resist with all my might, not wanting to go, but I couldn’t overpower a grown man drunk on alcohol. My body almost dragged across the floor.

My weakly pulled legs hit the corner of the wall or furniture. Groans of pain escaped me.

“Father!”

“I’m telling you to go with that woman! Together!”

‘Damn it!’

The place he was dragging me to was the room where the woman was.

With his eyes bloodshot, Father was reckless. As if he didn’t know his actions were violence, he grabbed me mercilessly. If I resisted and stood still, he shouted as if he would slap my cheek.

At that sound, Isabel finally appeared from downstairs.

“What are you doing?!”

Isabel, who had been calm all along, shouted in surprise at the situation in front of her for the first time. She approached Father and pushed away his hand that was grabbing me.

“Damn it! Everything is a mess because of that woman! She needs to be kicked out right now. Right now!”

“So you’re going to roughly grab the child?”

“You’re the one who kept that woman here in the first place. Isn’t this what you wanted too? To send Lize back to that woman.”

The children, awakened by their quarrel, opened the bedroom doors. They couldn’t easily intervene and just watched their mother and father through the crack of the door, trembling. Isabel, sensing the children’s gazes, sighed.

“It’s late at night. And you, Baron, are very drunk.”

“Drunk?”

“You’re not in your right mind.”

“Not in my right mind! I…”

Father ignored Isabel’s words and pulled my arm back.

“Ugh!”

He grabbed me so forcefully that I let out a loud scream I had been holding back. Startled by the unexpected sound, Father finally looked at my face. As his grip loosened slightly in his surprise, I struck down his hand.

My wrist was red from how tightly he had grabbed it. The mark stung and smarted, making it difficult to touch.

“Father!”

“…Ch-children.”

The children, who had been just watching the situation, took the opportunity to rush towards Father. All of them, including the second son Bernard, Felicia, and the twins, clung to Father’s waist, sobbing.

“Don’t send Lize away! Please?”

“Lize did nothing wrong! So…”

“Don’t fight! It’s all that woman’s fault, so just… just kick out the woman!”

Perhaps their pleas worked. Father’s expression gradually softened.

“Damn it… We’ll talk again tomorrow.”

Father went downstairs, hunching his shoulders. His body, staggering as he descended the stairs, looked like it would fall over at any moment. Isabel watched his back figure blankly for a long time, then belatedly looked at the maids who had rushed over in their sleepwear.

“It’s late at night, so put the children to bed first. And Bitty.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’ll entrust Lize to you. Her wrist must have hurt quite a bit, so treat it.”

That was all Isabel said. She didn’t say anything to me.

* * *

I don’t know how the weekend passed.

Since the woman arrived, the family members hardly left their rooms. In Father’s case, he refused meals and stayed in his study. Because of that, for the first time, the siblings sat at the dining table and had meals without Father or Mother.

Monday morning came, and Bernard and Felicia headed to school with gloomy faces. The twins must not have gotten out of bed yet, as it was quiet.

Looking at the time, it was past nine in the morning. I hadn’t seen the woman’s face in the mansion during that time. I couldn’t tell if the woman was deliberately staying in her room or if Isabel was controlling her.

“As the Baron wishes, I plan to send her out today. I’m tired of it now too.”

As I was heading to the dining room to at least get some bread, I heard Isabel’s voice. Turning my head, I saw Father’s room through the open door crack. Isabel and Father were talking there.

I hesitated for a moment, then approached the room.

“Send her out? Is there any law that she won’t come back again?”

“Then you want her to keep staying here? That’s unexpected.”

“That’s not what I meant…!”

Father stopped talking in excitement.

“I’m saying she might come looking again. That woman is no ordinary cunning person. It’s still vivid, what happened ten years ago, but have you already forgotten?”

“It was certainly shocking. She suddenly brought a newborn baby and turned the mansion upside down.”

“And yet, you pitied that woman. Tell me honestly, Isabel. You resented me then, didn’t you?”

Father, who hadn’t had a drink, sounded as clean as usual. However, his voice was strained as if he was still angry, suppressing his teeth.

“Come on, tell me, hmm?”

Father was the start of all this, yet he had not a single regret. I knew from the beginning that he was this kind of person, but actually witnessing it left no hope.

‘…My wrist still aches.’

The fact that I couldn’t trust my blood-related father, while I could trust Isabel who wasn’t related by blood, was enough of an answer.

“Don’t avoid it. Isabel. You resented me, right?”

“Yes.”

Isabel answered honestly.

“What?”

Even though he asked first, Father seemed shocked by Isabel’s answer and asked again.

“It would be stranger if I said I didn’t, wouldn’t it?”

“Isabel…”

“I wished you would have felt sorry towards me, Baron. So I gave you a chance through that woman, but…”

“Through that woman? Do you think that makes sense?”

Isabel also seemed tired now and closed her mouth.

“Isabel, I told you. That was just one night, a single mistake.”

“I raised the result of that mistake with my own hands for ten years.”

“Can’t a person make a mistake once?”

“That one mistake is quite frightening. It will remain a scar for me in the future. Right, Baron? If you make one more mistake, will you send me to the grave?”

Father didn’t apologize even once until the end. Even I knew what Isabel wanted to hear, so it was frustrating that Father didn’t know.

No, did he really not know? Or was he pretending not to know?

“Isabel. We were happy, weren’t we? Hmm?”

“I’m tired of you pushing all the blame on me now.”

“So, I’m saying, Isabel…”

Father opened his mouth. His hesitant tone was ominous.

“I’m thinking of sending Lize to that woman.”

The words I had expected finally came out of Father’s mouth. At Father’s remark, my legs almost gave out and I nearly collapsed. All my senses and nerves focused on Father’s words.

“…Lize?”

“Yes. Do you think that woman will easily leave the mansion? No way. She will definitely resist. In that case, it’s better to accept her demands and send her out. You’ve always disliked Lize anyway.”

Father spoke fluently as if he had been preparing these words all along.

“If we return Lize to that woman, do you think she will leave easily?”

“Do I look like I don’t know that? If she does something strange, we can deal with it then. For now, it’s urgent. I want to send that woman out as soon as possible.”

“Baron.”

“I think it would be better to return Lize to that woman. No matter how I think about it.”

Father’s words were firm. He intended to get rid of me and the woman, two troublemakers, at once with this opportunity. My hungry stomach and thirst completely disappeared.

Even I thought to myself, what a miserable life. The family I died and was reborn into was the youngest daughter of this household. With my first reluctant second life, a sense of disillusionment washed over me.

Did I sell out the country in my previous life?

“You only think of yourself until the end, Baron.”

Isabel muttered softly.

“What did you just say? Isabel.”

“I investigated the woman. She has someone behind her. It seems they’ve schemed this very meticulously.”

Isabel continued.

“Lize has more influence than you think, Baron. In the Marsen family. The woman intends to use Lize to exploit the entire Marsen family. It’s not simply money she’s after.”

“…That’s impossible. I won’t fall for such a trick.”

“Really? Even if that woman uses Lize to tarnish the Marsen family’s reputation and public opinion?”

“…”

“You know how cunning that woman is, don’t you, Baron? The fact that she came to this mansion with plausible stories like witch hunts or amnesia shows she’s no ordinary person, and there’s someone controlling her from behind.”

“…”

“We must not send Lize to that woman.”

After Isabel finished speaking, Father cursed. He must have been very angry, as he roughly moved his mouth for quite a long time without calming down. Isabel silently listened to those words.

“You were quite weak too. And then you let that woman into the mansion! Didn’t you say you would send Lize to that woman?”

“It was revenge. And Lize…”

Isabel paused for a moment.

“I took a little revenge on Lize too. She doesn’t know, but she provoked me.”

What?

Many things came to mind, but it was insufficient to say that Isabel was provoked by just that. I was about to think for a moment when someone covered my mouth.

“…!”

As I raised my head at the hand firmly covering my mouth, the woman’s face entered my field of vision. The woman’s eyes, which had almost no focus when I first saw her, were filled with madness.

“Be quiet. Okay, child?”

She whispered in my ear.

‘What’s going on?’

I couldn’t grasp the situation, but the woman’s fluent speech without stammering made my hair stand on end.

‘Damn it!’

Isabel knew she was trying to kick her out, so she was going to forcibly take me.

When did she come? Why didn’t I notice?

I looked around, but strangely, no maids were in sight. Could it be that the woman had tied up even the maids’ feet?

Could it be… Silke and Swel too?

‘I have to let them know!’