Chapter 2

The Demitria Family.

They are from a Marquis lineage that is also a distant relative of the Royal Family. The Demitria Family is also known for their businesses abroad and they specialize in creating sturdy ships that can travel even through stormy seas. There are also rumors among the nobles that they are richer than the Royal Family and the other noble families in their kingdom.

The current head of this family, Marquis Fernando Demitria, is married to Viviane Forvela. She is also the female General Commander of the Black Knights. After a lot of years of their marriage, Marquess Viviane gave birth to three children—two sons and one daughter.

Finnick Demitria, the firstborn and the future Marquis of their family, is quite the mix of his parents' appearance and personality. He is known for his intelligence after getting the top place in the academy for three consecutive years. Many people are praising him saying their family will have a brighter future once he becomes the next Marquis.

Leandre Demitria, the second Young Master of their family, is very similar to the Marquis. Just like his mother, he has a talent for swordsmanship. At the age of seven, Leandre started learning how to swing a sword. He already won two junior swordsmanship competitions in their kingdom and many are expecting him to be a fine knight when he becomes an adult.

And lastly, the only daughter from their family, Cordelia Demitria.

Cordelia looks similar to her beautiful mother who has scarlet hair and sunset eyes. The young girl used to be a cherished existence in their family. Everyone spoiled her a lot. They were giving her anything she needed and she was treated as a pampered princess by the Marquis and his sons.

But these things drastically changed in the past two years.

After receiving an official summons from their Emperor, Marquess Viviane marched towards the North because a platoon of knights from their enemy kingdom was trying to enter their borders and raise a war against them. As the General Commander, it is her duty to protect their kingdom and lead the Black Knights. After leaving their mansion, they haven't heard anything from Marquess Viviane since it will be risky on her side to send a letter.

At that time, a Paladin who is also a close friend of their family visited the mansion since he had something to talk about with the Marquis. When the Paladin saw Cordelia, he made a weird expression on his face and it was seen by the Marquis. Worried, he forced his friend to tell him what was wrong. After showing them a hesitant face, the Paladin told the Marquis that Cordelia's mana wave was completely different from the Marquis unlike his two sons.

That brought a shock for Marquis Fernando. A mana wave is something that can be used to identify a person in their kingdom. Hearing that Cordelia had a different mana wave, his heart made a dull thump on his chest. And when the Paladin checked the young girl's mana, he told Marquis Fernando that she was not his real daughter.

That started the doubt in Marquis Fernando's heart. His friend is a Paladin so he wouldn't lie to him. Soon, he recalled all the things that happened in the past.

The Marquis knows his wife is a beautiful woman. Before they got married, Viviane received a lot of affection from different men despite her position as the General Commander. Many men yearned to be her lover but Fernando is the lucky guy who won her heart. But even after they get married, there are still a few men who keep confessing their love for Viviane although he knows she will always reject them.

But is that really the truth? Fernando knows Viviane is also a playful woman. She loves to tease everyone and make them fall for her charms. There were also times that Viviane didn't go home claiming she was busy with her duty as the General Commander. Marquis Fernando never questioned it before since he loves her wife.

But now...

After knowing that Cordelia is not his daughter, Marquis Fernando starts pushing her away from him. He tried to send letters to Viviane asking for her explanation but the Marquis never received a reply. Knowing that she might be a product of his wife's unfaithfulness, he can no longer bear to look at Cordelia the same. To his anger, the Marquis also ordered his sons not to treat Cordelia as their sister anymore.

There are times when Marquis Fernando wants to send Cordelia to an orphanage or their distant relatives. But he still has a reputation to keep. So even if it's against his will, Marquis Fernando decides to keep the young girl in his mansion but she will not be treated as his youngest child anymore. The Marquis asks the head maid to train her to become a servant in his mansion.

All the servants in this mansion are tight-lipped so the news about the young girl turning into a servant never gets out to society. Although he lowers her status as a servant, Marquis Fernando never orders her to hurt the young girl. But he doesn't know or expect that all the servants in this mansion will abuse the young girl and pour all of their anger and frustrations on her whenever they have a chance.

Cordelia, who was only six years old at that time and doesn't know what truly happened, accepted all of it and believed the servants' words saying it was the Marquis's way to punish a bad child like her. They never explained to her what she did to deserve those things. The servants just brainwashed the young child to accept all the things they did to her without any complaints or else the Marquis would kick her out in the streets and let her die alone.

'Such a tragic life for a small child.'

Cordelia is currently lying on a moldy bed inside her dark room. She had already given up on sleeping since her stomach kept making a sound because of hunger. After the young girl cleaned all the chimneys in this mansion, Madam Nora only gave her a piece of hard bread and a cup of water before kicking her out of the kitchen last night. Obviously, the bread was not enough to make her stomach full but Cordelia remained silent knowing no one would listen to her complaints anyway.

Since she couldn't sleep, Cordelia decided to recall the novel's details. She is not a fan of dark fantasy and didn't finish reading it until the end. But there are still a few important things that she can recall about the story, such as the poor backstory of Cordelia Demitria.

Aside from recalling the novel's details, she also made a few theories about why all of these are happening to her. The most plausible among them is the idea that the real Cordelia had died from the abuse she endured and her soul is now residing in this body and received all of her old memories. But for someone who is now possessing someone else's body, she is truly calm.

'Well, I will only harm myself if I make a fuss about it.'

This small body is already weak and malnourished. She doesn't want to make things more difficult for her. So she remains lying on the bed instead of wasting her energy. As she tries to recall the other details of the story, someone rudely opens the door of her room and another maid enters it.

"Why are you still here?! Have you forgotten it is now time for you to remove the weeds in the garden?!" the maid shouted at her.

'Oh, right. According to Cordelia's memories, she needs to wake up early every Wednesday to remove the weeds in the garden with her bare hands.'

Cordelia softly lets out a sigh before trying to stand up. But because of fatigue and hunger, the young girl feels like she doesn't have any energy in her body. Cordelia tries to stand up again but her body refuses to cooperate with her.

"Ha! I knew it. You just want to ditch your work and become lazy! Come here!"

The maid walks towards the young girl and grabs her arm. She forces Cordelia to stand up and drag her out of the dark room. The maid doesn't care whether the young girl is getting hurt or not. When they arrive in the garden, the maid heartlessly throws Cordelia on the grass field.

"Start your work now and don't be lazy! The First Young Master will host a small party in the garden so make sure to remove all the weeds today. Did you hear me?!"

Cordelia doesn't make a response. She is too tired and weak to even do that. Cordelia also doubts whether she can still pull even a single weed in this condition. All she wants to do is to stay in her room and sleep for the whole day.

'After experiencing all of this abuse, there's no wonder why the real Cordelia died.'

When the maid doesn't receive any response from the little girl, she clicks her tongue and attempts to step on her hand to make sure Cordelia is not sleeping again. The maid is about to step her shoe on the young girl when she feels something hard hit her back making her scream in pain. Before she could scream again, someone kicked her hard on the stomach which almost made her breathing stop in an instant.

"How dare a lowly life like you treat my daughter like that?!"