I stared blankly at the baby that had been thrown into my arms.
The heat of its body was warm, as if it was ready to devour me whole.
“You are going to raise that child.”
The baby’s wailing rang out loudly as my father looked down on me coldly. My mother, who sat next to… the corpse of my dead younger sister, was clinging tightly onto her body.
I’m going to raise this baby?
But it’s not even my child.
Of course, I could understand my parents kicking me out. Afterall, I was a nuisance to the family and seen as an evil villainess across the empire.
However, this was the child Elice gave birth to.
I seemed to be the only bewildered person in the room. There was my sister who had died after giving birth to a baby and my dad, whose words had come out of nowhere leaving me at a loss for words.
In front of my younger sister’s withering body, I held onto her only daughter as I got kicked out of the house.
Goodness, this doesn’t make sense.
It doesn’t make sense at all!
This is definitely not the novel I wrote!
***
‘The Princess Lives Tomorrow’
I created three main characters in this novel. Elice, the female protagonist, Alexand, the male protagonist, and lastly, Veloce, the second female protagonist.
Elice and Veloce were the two daughters from the Count family of Artemio.
Veloce, the eldest daughter, had black hair and blue eyes. In the Count family of Artemio, black hair was reckoned to be even more devilish than crow wings, and so she suffered from frequent verbal abuse and ill treatment by her parents.
The prophecy given to the Count Artemio family also contributed to the beginning of discrimination against black hair.
‘If a child with black hair is born, they will lead the family to ruin!’
Their position as a Count family was also threatened severally ever since they birthed their eldest daughter. There was a debate within the household about whether it was right for the Count to give that child the position of head of the family.
Veloce had been without a name and was simply called ‘Devil’ after she was born. She was only finally named after a temple prophesied that Elice, who was born after Veloce, could counterbalance the curse.
The public, however, had no idea about the prophecy. Who would expose a prophecy about the Count’s family getting ruined?
Veloce was said to have been born weak from childhood and had to be registered late on the family register even though she was the young mistress of the noble family of Artemio.
The younger daughter, Elice, was the exact opposite of Veloce. She had golden hair and blue eyes, and was revered as a saint. It was only normal for Veloce to want to covet and take away everything Elice had.
Since there lived an unloved child in Veloce’s heart.
So, Veloce tried her best to separate Alexand from Elice.
One might say that Veloce should have been cursed and killed at the end, but to me, Veloce was like a precious child, no matter how bad she was, I couldn’t hate her. And so I let her stay alive in the novel. I thought it was a perfect ending. Veloce was punished by having to care for Elice all her life.
That was where I ended the story.
But, did I happen to have any lingering feelings or something? I ended up in Veloce’s body after the novel ended.
One of Alexand’s words were;
‘As I was born a knight, I wish to die on the battlefield as a knight.’
He died on the battlefield just as he had wanted, about a year after the novel was over. Elice, who was pregnant, got sick on her way to go confirm Alexand’s corpse for herself.
The doctor declared that Elice had only six months to live. He added that if she birthed her child, she could only live for three months.
I spoke to Elice, “Alexand is already dead!”
Sadly, it was the truth.
“It’d be better that this child dies instead, so that you can live a little longer. Please… do this for me at least.”
Even though I sounded harsh, I was being sincere.
She was the heroine of a novel that I was attached to and wrote consistently for three years. She was like a child I birthed and raised with my own hands.
Alexand’s death alone was enough to make my whole world come crashing down, and it would be even worse if Elice died too. Elice was more important than a baby whose face we hadn’t seen yet.
Nevertheless, like any other nice female lead, Elice wanted to save the child.
“Veloce, you’ll still have the baby left. The baby will be by your side for longer than I will. Far longer than I will… So, please take good care of my baby.”
I didn’t know that was her last will.
She gave birth to the baby and lived for only three more weeks. It was a shorter time than the doctor had predicted.
“… Aa?”
The baby, who was yet to be named, tilted her head. She had golden hair and blue eyes that looked just like her mother’s. Even the dimples on her cheeks were the same.
It reminded me of Elice so much that I made up my mind to not let this child freeze to death.
“Bah…”
The baby bit on its small lips and made eye contact with me.
Looking at her eyes which sparkled so much like Elice’s, I eventually made my decision.
“I’ll save you for sure.”
I clenched my teeth.
I didn’t have the time or luxury to shed tears.
I had been kicked out with a newborn baby in my arms in this freezing, cold weather. I had to find a way to survive first.
It was fortunate that Veloce’s fiancé immediately came to mind. I was the original author of the novel, afterall.
Luckily, he only lived 30 minutes away from here.
The only problem is that… I haven’t talked to him in 10 years.
I decided to go ahead and visit, hugging the baby closer to myself.
“That’s not the issue right now! I need to find a way to survive.”
Fortunately, I didn’t make Veloce’s fiancé a heartless character.
At least, I hoped so.
* * *
I walked over and over again, enduring the weather that was about to give me a frostbite.
Thanks to being kicked out with nothing, I had no money or valuables in my hand except for the baby.
‘So cold-hearted.’
They’re not even my real parents so I can cuss at them as much as I want to!
After hugging tightly onto the shivering baby and asking around from several people, I finally reached the magnificent mansion.
I murmured, looking entranced at the mansion located across the vast garden.
“When will I get to go back?”
“Haa… we’re here. We’re finally here. That’s all that matters right now.”
Comforting myself, I brought the sleeping baby, who hadn’t woken up once, closer into my arms.
‘I’m proud of you.’
Fortunately, the child slept well, ate well, and played well, perhaps because she inherited Elice’s docile personality.
I pressed the doorbell with hands frozen blue from the cold.
—“This is Hermias’ mansion. Who are you?”
“I, I…I am f-from the A-Artemio’s…”
—“… I can not hear you well. Could you repeat yourself?”
My teeth chattered from the cold, so I couldn’t even speak properly.
So I closed my eyes and shouted out loud as quickly as possible, “Veloce!”
There’s no way they wouldn’t know the house owner’s fianceé.
—“… And who is that?”
… I guess they wouldn’t know.
Ten years must have been a long time.
So I took a deep breath and shouted again, making it simple this time.
“Artemio!”
Only then did the gates open.
* * *
Tap tap tap~
‘There was no one in this household that would run around like that.’
‘Who in the world would be running around like that without proper conduct?’
Maynus, disturbed by the sound of footsteps, turned around with a frown. Maynus was quite sensitive when working, so the workers of the mansion had to be careful.
“Who the heck is it? I have a lot of documents to take care of today,” Maynus muttered.
Knock knock~
Someone knocked on the door and Maynus said irritably, “Come in!”
The butler opened the door and came in with a distraught appearance evident on his face.
The old gentleman’s face was pale and his mouth trembled, suggesting that the news he had brought was not such a simple one.
Half of the annoyance Maynus felt vanished as soon as he saw his expression. There must’ve been a reason for it.
Maynus sighed before asking, “What happened?”
“…Your fiancée is here.”
“…Who?”
Seeing as his master had apparently forgotten about his engagement from 10 years ago and was simply signing his documents, the butler added, “The Artemio family’s…”
Oh.
Maynus frowned as the name awakened old memories of his fiancée.
“Her name is Veloce, is it not? But why in the world would she come here?”
The last time he had heard from Veloce was the rumor of her ‘being so crazy about the hero, Alexand, that she was always at her sister’s throat.’
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The butler swallowed and shook his head, “I don’t know why, but you’ll need to come and see for yourself.”
Maynus sighed heavily. It looked like he would be having a rough day today. From the butler’s expression, he could tell that it wasn’t a simple situation that could be solved immediately.
“Sigh.”
He could only hope it wouldn’t be a huge issue.
Or else he wouldn’t let the Artemio family go scot free even if they were protected by the Imperial Family.