I tried to make a sound, but the woman didn’t give me a chance. She covered my mouth and headed towards the door.

‘What strength…!’

The woman, whom I thought would be as fragile as her thin body, was strong and rough in her actions. When I kicked, she used her knees to strike my back or thighs forcefully.

The scream that rose to my mouth scattered in front of my lips without any strength.

Meanwhile, the woman’s back touched the door leading out of the mansion. It was highly likely that there was someone behind the scenes who had plotted with the woman outside the mansion.

It was really dangerous.

With my remaining strength, I took out an item from my pocket. In a hurry, I threw the contents of the item towards the woman’s face.

“Wha-what!”

“…Cough!”

It was a pouch of sand that I always carried in case of emergency. I escaped from the woman’s grasp and took the opportunity to sprinkle more sand.

“What’s going on?”

“Mother!”

Isabel, who noticed something strange, came out of the room.

I ran to her side and guarded against the woman who was rubbing her eyes. Isabel seemed to have roughly figured out the situation and didn’t ask any more questions, hiding me behind her back.

“…Where are the maids?”

“I-I don’t know. They might have been taken by the woman, they’re not in sight.”

“They don’t seem to be on the first floor, so go upstairs and check.”

Although Isabel spoke firmly, it was not easy for her to move. The woman was more dangerous than I thought. She was blinded by desire and tried to harm me, so what would she be afraid of now?

If the woman attacked, Isabel would fall over without being able to use any force.

“What on earth is going on…? Isabel?”

“Lize, the Count is here too. So don’t worry and go up quickly, hurry!”

As soon as Father appeared, Isabel pushed my back. I hesitated, but placed my only means of attack, the sand pouch, into Isabel’s hand.

“U-use this.”

I hurriedly went upstairs, and I heard the shouts of the woman who had regained her senses. The words of the excited woman were jumbled, but what was important to me was not that voice. I don’t need to listen.

After removing the longsword held by the armor on display, I reached the twins’ room and pulled the doorknob. The door didn’t open, as if it was locked from the inside.

“Swel! Silke! Are you inside? Answer me! Silke, Swel!”

“…”

No matter how late they sleep, the twins usually wake up by this time. Something must have happened to the twins.

‘They can’t be in danger of their lives, right? Or seriously injured somewhere.’

To open the locked door, I needed the key in Mother’s room, but there was no time to go there in this urgent situation. Moreover, Isabel’s room was on the first floor. I rummaged through my pocket again and took out a case containing needles.

Like the sand pouch, it was an item for self-defense that I always carried in case the woman came to me.

Using the thickest and longest needle among the several needles, I pierced the keyhole.

“Silke, Swel!”

“…Mmph!”

When I opened the door, the twins and the maids who had been out of sight appeared. Not only were their mouths tied with cloth, but their feet and arms were also tightly bound.

I couldn’t believe the woman did it alone, so I looked around. Fortunately, I didn’t feel any strange presence.

I quickly approached them, removed the cloth covering their mouths, and cut the ropes that bound their hands and feet.

“Lize!”

“Lize…!”

Silke and Swel ran to me. Except for being scared, they seemed to have no physical abnormalities, which was a relief. Instead of comforting them, I finished untying the five maids in the room.

“It-it was that woman’s doing! She threatened the young master and lady and tied us up!”

“I know.”

Bitty grabbed my arm and spoke urgently as soon as her mouth was free.

“A-are the master and madam all right?”

“Mother and Father are in the hall with the woman. So don’t worry and go upstairs quickly, hurry!”

As soon as Father appeared, Isabel pushed my back. I hesitated, but placed my only means of attack, the sand pouch, into Isabel’s hand.

“U-use this.”

As I hurriedly went upstairs, I heard the woman’s shouts. The excited woman’s words were jumbled, but what was important to me was not that voice. I don’t need to listen.

The complexion of the maids darkened.

“…O-okay.”

“You have to be careful. There may be people outside who are working with the woman.”

When I spoke calmly, the maids nodded their heads. They exchanged glances and assigned roles. Despite being tied up until just now, the maids who were rising to protect the mansion were reassuring.

“Bitty, protect your older sister and brother.”

When I held out the knife, Bitty’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What? Where are you going, Miss?”

“The rest of us will go to Mother. So keep the door locked. Never open it, even if someone knocks. Understand?”

“M-miss, why are you so calm?”

Bitty asked, gripping the knife tightly with trembling hands. It wasn’t a scolding or sarcastic tone. It was a voice that genuinely wondered if I was really calm.

I was scared. I was scared, but still less scared than before. Back then, I was alone, and now I had people on my side.

I was about to get up, but the twins, who were crying, grabbed the hem of my clothes and wouldn’t let go. I knew what they were afraid of.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“B-but you’re younger than us…”

“Don’t worry about that. If you think about it, I’m probably twenty years older than you.”

I placed my hand on the back of Silke and Swel’s hands and smiled slightly. There was no time. Before the twins could hold me back any longer, I left the room with the maids who were assigned roles.

“S-stay away!”

I heard the woman’s voice from downstairs. As I descended the stairs, I saw Isabel and Father still confronting the woman. Except for the cane that the woman had picked up from somewhere, the situation was not much different from before.

“Give me the child!”

The woman’s gaze turned to me, who had come down from the stairs. Isabel, who noticed me, frowned deeply.

“Why on earth did you come down?”

“The maids are safe. The twins too.”

“Then you go back up too!”

I climbed about two steps of the stairs but didn’t run away. Strangely, the woman’s gaze looking at me was no longer scary.

“I can’t give you the child. When you abandoned her, you suddenly ask for her like an entrusted item? If you wanted to see Lize, you should have come before her hair grew.”

“I gave birth to her…! The Count and I…!”

A verbal confrontation went back and forth between the woman and Isabel. This would go on endlessly.

Isabel, who let out a small sigh, moved one step forward. The woman, who had become highly sensitive to her movement, waved the cane in the air and threatened her. Even when the woman shouted at her not to come, Isabel’s steps did not stop.

“Mother!”

Isabel, who had been waiting for the right moment, rushed towards the woman. She accurately sprinkled the sand pouch I had given her towards the woman’s face. The woman, who fell for the same trick once more, closed her eyes tightly and waved the cane in a frenzy.

Isabel knocked the woman’s wrist and dropped the cane. Then she pushed the woman’s chest to knock her down and put her weight on the woman’s body.

“What are you doing! Count, why aren’t you helping!”

“…Ah, all right!”

At Isabel’s words, Father and the maids also rushed to the woman. Father grabbed the woman’s feet, and the maids tightly locked the front door in case any accomplices could enter.

The woman was completely subdued. By Isabel’s hands at that.

I had never seen Isabel charge like that before. She had only raised her voice at most when excited, but she rushed into a dangerous situation. Isabel kicked away all the threatening objects around the woman and never let her guard down until the end.

“Let go! Let me go! Give me the child!”

The woman kept screaming until her voice was about to burst. Later, her exhausted voice even cracked. After struggling for a long time, the tired woman cried instead of screaming. She punched the floor with her fists and wailed, as if something was so unfair.

“This won’t do! It’s too noisy, so bring a cloth.”

“Yes, Madam!”

At Isabel’s command, the maid moved immediately.

“You, you! Don’t you hate that child? She’s not your bloodline! She’s not your child! She doesn’t have the same hair color as you, and her eye color is different too!”

“…”

“You’ll surely mistreat that child! You’ll discriminate against her compared to your other siblings. That child will live unhappily for the rest of her life because of you! A witch like you has no blood or tears!”

The woman spoke while sobbing.

“You witch! You witch-like woman!”

“…”

“Demon! You demon-like wench!”

The woman hurled words close to curses at Isabel. It was her last struggle.

Still, when Isabel showed no reaction, the woman changed the target of her attack.

Her gaze was fixed on me once more. Her eyes were reddish, and her hair was stuck to her face along with dried tears. Perhaps because the woman’s face was so ugly, she really looked like a witch.

“Oh, my baby…”

The woman calls me.

“My baby… I’m your mother. I gave birth to you. So let’s go together, okay?”

“…”

That voice was very desperate.

“…I’m not a baby.”

A dry voice came out of my mouth.

“I’m ten years old. I can write and play chess. I’m not a baby.”

“…But in my eyes, you’re still a baby…”

“D-do you even know my name?”

I cut off the woman’s startled words. This time, I firmly held her gaze and persistently demanded that answer.

I knew well that the woman didn’t know my name. The woman didn’t even try to learn my name.

So it was normal for no answer to come out of the woman’s mouth.

“You don’t know my surname either, do you?”

“…I know, I know! It’s Marsen, Marsen, isn’t it?”

The woman flinched after answering herself.

“That’s right, I’m a Marsen. A daughter of the Marsen family.”

“Baby! Names are not important. I can give you a prettier name from now on, right?”

“With what?”

“…I’ll think about that gradually.”

The woman hesitated to speak.

“A name proves my identity and existence… But how can you give me a prettier name and become a family when we don’t know each other’s names?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“…It means I will never follow you.”

“…”

“Never.”

The woman’s clenched fist gradually loosened. Instead of screaming, the woman bit her lower lip hard. Because of that momentary hesitation, the woman lost her last chance to speak. The maid who brought the cloth tightly tied her mouth.

“Now it’s finally getting quiet.”

Isabel said, looking down at the woman.

At that moment, the sound of a horse urgently approaching from beyond the door was heard. It was the maid who had gone to bring the guards at the right time.

It was also a signal that the commotion that had engulfed the mansion for days would be settled for now.