Chapter 2


    1. Laritte and the new house


    620 years ago, the Iyasa continent unified and the Empire was born.


    The Brumayer family supported the Imperial family in their rise to power and umted enough


    aplishments to be considered a founding contributor to the Empire.


    However, the current generation of Brumayerscked power, as seen in their current status of Count.


    But now, with a daughter married to Duke Reinhardt, a man second in power only to the Imperial family,


    the Brumayers hoped to see the light once more.


    ‘…That’s what I thought.’


    Count Brumayer felt regret when he thought of the current situation over dinner.


    On the table was the family chef’s ‘Beef Steak’, magnificent enough to be called one of a kind. It shone


    brightly yet he couldn’t bring himself toy his hands on it.


    Rose, too, felt depressed about their situation.


    Everytime she closed her eyes, she could see Duke Reinhardt’s shimmering form, just like how he had


    appeared to her three years ago.


    When the continent of Iyasa had unified for the first time in history, the Empire prided itself so highly


    that it kept the name.


    In the heart of the pceid the first banquet hall.


    The ceiling in the corridor leading to the banquet hall towered above the banquet goers. The intricate


    carvings on the ceiling was, in royal fashion, decorated brilliantly with gold.


    Below that ceiling, Rose encountered the Duke for the first time.


    ‘…Ah!’


    His hair was so ck it seemed to absorb all the light, standing out in that bright corridor. Beneath his


    hair were the world’s purest gold eyes, appearing aloof and detached. Though his eyes were narrow,


    their masculine beauty matched well with the finely tanned muscles outlined by his shirt.


    “I can’t believe such a Duke passed away…”


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    Rosemented and tormented the steak with her fork.


    Although there were some women who had never seen the Duke, it was said that all women who’d met


    him would fall in love with him.


    The few swordmasters in the Empire were nicknamed ‘the murderers’, but the Duke did not care for


    such things as others did.


    “I’m confident I could have melted his heart.”


    “Quit speaking of the Duke! We should not even be using that traitor’s title!”


    The countess, who had been quietly eating, put down her sd fork as a threat.


    “But mooooom…none of this makes sense? He was killed by a barbarian in the western sea! Plus, the


    war was nearly over!”


    “There were various circumstances involved in his death. We have to let him go. Your father was able


    to circumvent the marriage contract thanks to that illegitimate child.”


    “Ahem!”


    The Count deliberately interrupted the conversation by clearing his throat. The Countess wiped her


    mouth with her napkin but continued to speak.


    “Who would have guessed that lowly wench none would consider a Brumayer could be so useful? She


    resembles that crude dancer from head to toe. With her fulfilling the contract, we won’t have to return


    the Duke’s money to the Imperial family.”


    Laritte had been sent to the Reinhardt dukedom for no reason other than to allow the Brumayers keep


    the Duke’s money.


    “That’s right! She must be rotting in a ditch somewhere, right?”


    All that remained to the dukedom was an old vi in some corner of a mountain. Laritte had been sent


    there with no support. All she had to do now was die a miserable death.


    Rose was extremely happy.


    ‘Laritte was the only stain on the otherwise happy Brumayer family.’


    Rose may have disliked her father who sired an illegitimate child, but she loathed Laritte even more.


    It annoyed Rose to no end that Larittecked the typical Brumayer characteristics. Rather than red hair


    and freckles, Laritte resembled her dancer of a mother with her pale skin and silver hair. And those


    were traits that any noble girl would envy at some point in their lives.


    ‘Adding to that, her eyes…’


    Her blue eyes resembled the ocean, yet they felt so simr to Duke Reinhardt’s golden eyes. It was


    that cold look, as if she were looking down on you! That expression had been the reason why Rose


    tormented Laritte more in the recent days.


    “I can’t wait to get rid of the corpse.”


    No one at the table knew that Rose was talking about Laritte. But still, no one scolded her for her


    choice of words. It was clearly demonstrated here how Laritte had been treated.


    Surprisingly, for the first time in her life, Laritte was able to spend her time rxing. She already knew


    what the first thing this abandoned house needed was: firewood to fight off the chill of the night. So,


    with all the money she had left from the Brumayers, she purchased firewood before leaving for her new


    home.


    “Look, what aplete fool, right? Hahaha!”


    That’s what Rose told her as she was leaving. Rose was aware that she was heading to the mountains


    where trees were plenty, so why would she need firewood?


    Rose ignored Laritte until the very end. In truth, Rose was the one who didn’t know what the outside


    world was like.


    In the Empire, it often drizzled. If Laritte were to pick a branch off the ground, even the smallest bit of


    dampness would have made it impossible to light with a flint.


    If that happened, Laritte would be fighting the cold on her very first day in the mountains.


    ‘It’s autumn and already this cold…’, Laritte thought as she entered the house and lit the firece using


    her wood.


    She had already realized this fact when she was six years old.


    While living with her birth mother, Laritte had to pick herbs from the mountains in order to make money.


    Most of the herbs had been useless weeds, but she couldn’t help it. The alternative was to be home,


    where her mother could bear her.


    And once, just once, Laritte had gotten lost in the mountains.


    As a little girl she’d somehow managed to gather enough branches to survive the cold. But one day, a


    violent storm wet the branches. They could no longer catch fire.


    She had clung to those branches for dear life, seeding in lighting them and starting a fire only when


    she was on the brink of death.


    “Phew…”


    Larrite, who had been distracted by her old memories, looked around. The inside of the vi was very


    dusty and had a spooky feeling. The furniture was old, so it would have been unsurprising if a ghost


    popped up out of nowhere.


    She felt drowsy as she sat on the wheelchair, doused in sunlight. There was no other heaven than this


    to her.


    With both her biological mother and the Brumayers, Laritte had always felt like an uninvited guest and


    never spoke up about her treatment.


    “I should start cleaning before having dinner,” she mumbled as she lifted herself from her seat.


    However, she wasn’t foolish enough to use the vi’s kitchen. It looked as if it hadn’t been used for


    decades.


    This was the chance for the second item she had prepared to shine. Laritte dug through the luggage


    that the coachman threw at her.


    In the bag that Count Brumayer gave her were some lumps. They were potatoes.


    But these potatoes weren’t for ordinary people. They were great potatoes that even aristocrats would


    not have been bored of to eat as a side dish.


    Potato sd, cream and caviar garnished with baby potatoes, potato pizza, gnhi… there were


    infinite recipes she could make, but unfortunately Laritte could not afford that luxury. All she’d managed


    to steal from the Brumayers were some potatoes and some spices.


    Instead, Laritte made ‘roasted potato’, a substitute of a meal that farmers often ate. Laritte sprinkled


    salt and pepper and let it cook by the firece.


    Laritte held the potatoes to the firece and watched as they cooked, staring at the fire with an empty


    look. Before long, she stretched herself.


    “Up we go,” Laritte said to herself.


    While the potato was cooking, she felt like she needed to do something else.


    In fact, Laritte had a lot of work to do.


    Washing was a non-issue since there was a stream in the valley nearby. But people ate three meals a


    day, and Laritte didn’t have an infinite supply of potatoes.


    So, like what the Brumayers and Laritte originally believed, she was supposed to die here. But that


    wasn’t going to happen.


    She looked around the vi. There were treasures hidden under a grayyer of dust so thick that it


    even hid the original colour of the items.


    Laritte walked past an old rug that was about to fall apart and stood in front of a cab filled with


    spider webs.


    Originally, it had been a cab that held expensive dishes.  All the priceless items it once held had


    already been confiscated by the Empire, so all that remained was bowl shaped dust.


    But her ‘treasure’ was still intact. It was the storage cab itself.


    “Look at this nice design,” she mumbled. She swept her fingers across the wood inside the cab that


    must have belonged to the Duke before. If she sold it, she definitely would have enough money for a


    month’s worth of potatoes.


    Unconsciously, she hummed as she explored the living room to see what other furniture she could sell.


    “You’d be worth fifty pieces, twenty pieces, thirty-five pieces…What’s this? I’ve never seen anything like


    it before. Wonderful, that’d be seventy pieces.”


    Everything would at least be enough for her to live off of before she found another means to make


    money.