Chapter 1 - Prologue

I guess I died and fell into hell.

"Get ready quickly! It's only a few steps away!"

"The girl must be fine, right?""

"It looks like half of the guests are here to buy the kid today. Keep an eye on her!"

Otherwise, is there any reason to go through only these terrible things from the moment you were born until now?

Raaaaaaaaaaaa.

Soon there was a roar from the outside.

Feeling the ominous atmosphere, her shoulders slumped by itself.

"Hey, it's time."

A man with a wobbly voice behind her back said, banging the wall.

I've seen his face for the past few days, and I've always felt scared whenever I see that man without one eye.

Either way, they just looked at the light purple dress I was wearing, whether it was wrinkled or there was no defect in my body.

Finally, they checked the condition of the handcuffs that tied my wrists tightly.

The handcuffs weighing heavily on the skinny forearm heated up my wrists.

The handcuffs were not soft enough and were enough poison for the tender flesh of a child.

"Oh, my God. Somebody get the medicine!"

As soon as they took off the wooden handcuffs for a moment, the red mark showed swollen flesh.

The other man who brought the plaster put it on my wrist, wrapped it in a cloth and covered the swollen spot.

"Don't be too scared. If you go out there and cry, you know Ruri who we just threw away in the gutter? You're going to be a meal for the rats like him."

Ruri was throwing into the gutter. As soon as I heard it, I was choked up.

Slave wagons came from a week's end through the Kepa Birch.

Meanwhile, the children who fled the slave trading market were mercilessly killed as soon as they were caught.

Ruri was one of them, and he ran away with me as bait and died before my eyes.

When I remembered the body, I was in a terrible mood and I felt like all my blood was draining from my body.

A little later, when the shouts were heard again, the slave traders dragged me away in a ruthless way.

"You've been waiting a long time. The next item is what you've been waiting for!"

As soon as I was dragged out of the tent, a strong beam of light came as if I were about to break my eyelids.

As I narrowed my eyes, I was dragged to a high platform.

The aristocrats, who covered their faces or wore masks, gathered in one place to stare at me all at once.

"Daughter of the monstrous duke, whose life and death are now unknown due to the tragedy of seven years ago!"

My biological mother was killed in an accident. It's because of the tragedy they're talking about seven years ago.

My biological father was sent to prison in connection with the incident. Some people say he really died there.

Anyway, I, who was just a baby at the time, became an orphan.

"I'm sure there are a lot of people who are here who have lost their heart to him! I promise this would be a great opportunity today!"

Unfortunately, my father didn't seem to have been very close with his relatives.

It is clear from seeing that he entrusted me to the family of Count Semond, who was not even blood related to us.

Count Sémond took great care of me until he heard of my father's death.

Even if I'm not as good as his real daughter, he still feed me with rice.

But right after the news of my biological father's death, their treatment changed completely.

There are a total of three roles that have changed.

To be in charge of all sorts of chores in the mansion, or to become a toy for Shady, the real daughter of Count Semond's couple. Or maybe the countess maids' anger dolls.

Unable to bear such treatment, I risked my life one day to flee from the Count.

But I could not go far because I was a child and hid in a mountain located right behind the County, and was soon captured again.

Count Semond was furious and had his servants beat me todease their frustrations.

Finally, when I woke up from a faint, I was crumpled in the wagon of slave traders.

That's how I came here to the slave auction house.

"It will be a great opportunity. No matter how you use this child to your heart's content."

People usually call such a place hell.

"500!"

"700!"

"800!"

The light penetrating into my field of view was too harsh.

I wanted to close my eyes, but that wouldn't change the reality.

Just looking down at the handcuffs that were sinking in the wrist heavily, I murmured a word.

'This life is ruined. Really ruined.'

"1,500."

At the moment I thought so, the voices that shouted their countless desires were silenced at once.

Even I was surprised and raised my head reflexively.

Beyond the few pale pink hair flowing down the chin that hid the trembles, a shadow of a streak rises through the dazzling rays of light.

The young man's voice penetrated the auction house clearly.

"If it's not enough, I'll add another 3,000."

He was presenting an amount of money that would no longer be necessary for the provocation or verbal ingenuity of the hunters who had been placed all over the auction house.

The inside of the auction house, which had stopped responding, was just in endless confusion.

As if he should not miss this opportunity, the man who was hosting the auction shouted in a hurry.

"One thousand five hudred and three thousand more! A total of 4,500! Is there anyone else?"

I, who had been trying to be indifferent until now, was suddenly seized with fear.

What a great man he is to give gold to a child only seven years old. Something like that.

I don't even want to know the frightening things that i would experience once I've been sold.

Fortunately or unfortunately, no one offered a higher price.

Thanks to this, my turn quickly ended, and the slave traders took me to the waiting guest.

When a young man, who I could not recognize his face with a mask, beckoned lightly, the servant standing next to him handed a bag of money to the slave trader.

"Then I hope you have a great opportunity."

It wasn't once or twice that I think the future was unpredictable, but at this moment I feel more clearly buried deep in the darkness.

There was no window in the waiting room, and there was no place to run away except for the door I entered.

And the only people in the waiting room were me and that man.

What will happen to me now?

Feeling scared and slumping my shoulders, the man who was just watching me threw a question.

"What's your name?"

It was a cold and beautiful voice. I managed to answer.

"....that…name, I don't have one."

The man seemed mad when he heard it.

As it was, he hadn't said anything for a long time, and then he sighed very slowly.

"Don't move in case you get hurt."

Soon the man lowered himself and sat down. He reached out his hand.

He took my tightly tied wrists and untied the handcuffs, then unfastened the fabric that had been rolled up and threw it away.

When the red mark on my two wrists, which had been swollen, felt the cold air, I got goosebumps on my back.

Thanks to this, my shoulders are shivering and the man wrapped his hands around my wrist and spoke in a low voice.

"...First, Chehilb Semond is responsible to fully protect Henriette Cittlitt Wensgray's fourth child. In return, the Semond family is supported by the Wensgray family."

Kuang!

Suddenly, a loud explosion broke out outside the door.

I looked behind his head, breathing heavily in surprise, and something cold came into my wrist.

Now, I saw a faintly bluish energy flowing from the man's hand, gradually sinking the red swollen flesh.

Before long, a scream broke out over the halls.

"Second. Name the fourth child as carefully as possible. And the last."

The sound insulation of the door was not very good.

There was a series of terrible noises outside.

The voices of slave merchants who we became accustomed to hear because we were trapped in a carriage for a week and heard them throughout the journey, was heard.

'Please, have mercy on my life! I have a child, ahhhhhh!'

And still,

"...you'll be in charge until I go to see my daughter."

The swelling on my wrist had subsided completely before I knew it, when the man held it.

The broken handcuffs were spread out with the cloth on the floor.

He lifted himself up and took a step back and took off his mask.

An aristocratic face that never suits the messy waiting room was revealed.

Pale and cold like a piece of glass, but it was a beautiful face.

"...This was the promise I had with Count Semond when I entrusted you to him seven years ago. But now it's a broken promise."

His short hair looked as black as night.

The man with an elegant impression has a face with a different and mixed beauty, as if it were a mysterious being far from human beings, with a faint smile.

And the golden eyes, resembling the fragments of the sun, clumped each other clearly.

It was the same color as my eyes.

"Just like those who break that promise, everyone who has brought you here will be held accountable."

The door opened wide behind his back, and hot heat came from beyond.

The sweat-soaked and blood-soaked armor was seen strangely gleaming under the dim light.

The eyes of the knights, who appeared from outside of the door, met my frightened face for a while, then quickly looked away, and then moved to the other person and looked silently.

The man took me and turned toward them and said,

"I have secured the target, so we will now return."

Like a grim gift of fate,

I became the daughter of Duke Wensgray, the most notorious villain in the Empire, while being pulled up from hell.