Chapter 1

“… It’s tiring to be disappointed by you.”

At the voice of a man like a phantom, her hands and feet trembled.

“You are not my daughter. You meant nothing to me, from the beginning.”

The moment she heard those words, her heart felt like it was being torn apart, and she cried in pain.

As if the world had collapsed, sorrowfully.

Gasping for breath and clutching her chest.

“Dad, no, Father. I-I was wrong. It’s all my fault.”

So please don’t go. Don’t abandon me. I’ll be a good daughter.

She desperately begged for forgiveness, murmuring incessantly.

Forgiveness… forgiveness…

‘Why am I even asking for forgiveness?’

Suddenly, her mind snapped back.

‘Huh?’

Doha realized a beat too late. Her hands were soaked with sticky, crimson blood.

When she raised her gaze slightly, there were beasts pierced with daggers in front of her.

“…”

They say that when you’re too shocked, you can’t even scream.

Doha stiffened, only her eyes darting around her surroundings.

The only thing illuminating the dim warehouse was the flickering candlelight.

Around the spot where she sat, there were circular patterns, hexagrams, and unknown symbols drawn with blood.

A bizarre scene, as if someone deliberately cursed and condemned someone…

“Did you beg for Ophelia to die?”

“…”

“I asked if you begged like that!”

“No! I-I just wanted to become O-Ophelia, I wanted to be a real daughter…”

Doha slammed her head against the floor, prostrating herself and fervently praying.

Then, a harsh sound of breath, as if tightly suppressing anger, echoed.

Soon, a deeply ingrained voice settled over her head.

“You’ve finally crossed the line.”

“Oh, Father…”

“Live as if you were dead.”

“…”

“Otherwise, I don’t think I can tolerate you any longer.”

And the man left without a trace of remorse, as if turning away.

Since the sound of footsteps gradually faded away.

Simultaneously, her body, which had been as if pressed under scissors, finally moved.

The words she had shouted without understanding, the emotions that had surged, abruptly ceased.

Doha quickly wiped away tears that blurred her vision with the back of her hand.

Bang!

But the door had already closed with a loud noise, as if it would shatter.

Dust that had filled the ceiling and floor rose pleasantly.

“Cough, wheeze…!”

Doha coughed up in the dusty air and looked around.

“What on earth is this place…”

A space filled with dust, cobwebs, and mold.

It was the place where she, thought to be dead, had newly awakened.

* * *

Park Doha was an orphan.

So, when her name caught the eye of the chaebol family, everyone knew, she was extremely pleased.

She harbored fantasies about parents and siblings.

What is it like to have an absolute ally?

How does it feel to receive love and attention every moment?

Until she climbed into the luxurious foreign car that made everyone else envy her, she was full of anticipation.

Now, she thought a family fence would be built around her too. Surely, she didn’t dream of being trapped like that.

“Please, save me! Get me out of here! I was wrong! I was wrong!”

In the pitch-dark darkness where she couldn’t see an inch ahead, Doha pounded on the door until her hands were bruised, scratched the door until her nails were turned over and blood flowed.

But it never opened, except when her meals were delivered.

After 120 days, the shaman who opened the door sent a chilling glance at Doha and said, “Don’t even dare to breathe as you wish. You are here to receive the young lady’s misfortune.”

Only then did Doha realize her situation.

That she had been adopted only because she resembled the family’s precious daughter who was destined to live a short life.

For ten years, she lived like that, trapped in darkness, bearing misfortune.

It wasn’t until she became an adult that she could finally escape from that oppressive household.

More accurately, she was discarded because she was no longer useful.

Still, she was happy. Finally, she could live like others. Finally, as an ordinary person, not a tool.

It was rewarding to endure and survive obediently. However…

She got into a car accident.

Without warning, the brakes malfunctioned, the driver shouted and screamed in panic, the car crashed through the guardrail and rolled off a cliff, causing a dreadful pain piercing her abdomen, her breath fading away…

Watching the series of events unfold in an instant, Doha was convinced.

Ah, the Park family is determined to kill me.

‘They plan to disguise it as a traffic accident after murdering me.’

It was so unfair that she couldn’t even cry.

If she died like this, wouldn’t she linger in the afterlife with unresolved grudges, unable to reach the Nine Courts?

But she never expected to become a ten-year-old child again.

“This can’t be… I’m definitely dead.”

Doha muttered, denying reality.

She remembered the moment her breath was cut off vividly.

However, as if betraying her conviction, unfamiliar memories flowed into her mind.

It was the memories of the body she inhabited, ‘Bunny.’

‘Bunny?’

Surprisingly, the name that seemed suitable for a pet rabbit was her real name.

Originally, she was nothing more than an orphan born and raised in a slum known as the ‘trash heap.’

But one day, she was adopted by the Duke Kredel through a chance encounter.

It was because of her appearance, excessively resembling Ophelia Kredel, the youngest daughter.

It wasn’t a sad story of adoption due to the Duke’s inability to forget his deceased daughter.

Ophelia was living well in the rural mansion.

There was a reason for sending the real one to a remote, uninhabited place and bringing in the fake one into the noble family.

‘To avoid the curse of a sorcerer.’

It might sound like they were engrossed in some fanatical cult, but it wasn’t the case.

In this world, curses actually existed.

‘Sorcerer’ is a term used to refer to those who use wicked abilities called ‘forbidden arts,’ also known as ‘forbidden sorcery.’

One of them cursed Ophelia, and Bunny was adopted to bear that curse instead.

Doha lowered the sleeve of the dress she was wearing.

Then, a small black pattern hidden beneath it appeared on her forearm.

This was the mark of the curse that Bunny received in place of Ophelia.

‘No one ever told Bunny what kind of curse it was.’

But one thing was certain – when Bunny turned eighteen, the curse, lurking dormant, would activate.

On the day the curse would be perfectly transferred to Bunny, everything was supposed to return to the way it was.

The real one to the noble family, the fake one to the slum.

‘Is this even possible?’

Growing up as an orphan. Being noticed by a prestigious family with high social status and wealth, admired by people.

Adopted because she resembled the youngest daughter, destined to be used as a vessel for misfortune…

Bunny’s life was eerily similar to Doha’s life, almost like the soul’s doppelgänger.

‘So, am I possessing her?’

If that’s the case, what happened to the original Bunny?

It was confusing what had happened.

However, more than anyone, Doha knew what to do next.

Because she had experienced it herself.

‘I have to escape.’

But it had to be different from before. If she got kicked out after becoming an adult, it would be too late.

‘Like in the past, I might be killed.’

After rabbit hunting ends, the hunting dogs are eaten. So, she had to escape before the curse affected her, before becoming an adult.

‘Can I do it?’

No, she had to.

Astrology and physiognomy.

Doha had not completely learned nothing in the oppressive Park family.

Doha narrowed her eyes in the dark warehouse.

* * *

Bunny was currently confined at the top of the western tower of the Duke’s castle.

“Why, of all times, did you possess me now…?”

Doha sighed, leaning her chin on the window and peering down into the darkness.

The western tower was a place where guilty nobles were confined instead of prisons.

Now closed, only Bunny was alone in this tower.

‘I can’t even figure out my bones if I jump from here.’

The moment Bunny got caught by Duke Kredel while using ‘forbidden arts,’ she ended up trapped in the tower precisely at that moment.

Originally, Bunny lived in the Imperial Palace, to receive education to become a fake lady.

“If you can’t get rid of the habits from the trash heap, you can’t enter the main palace.”

The first son of the Kredel family, Angelus, said with his peculiar, ice-cold gaze.

Bunny had to learn noble ecology, etiquette to be maintained as a lady, speech, posture, and dignity from a teacher personally selected by him.

And she also learned the basics like writing, the history and culture of the empire, literature, arts, and so on.

In fact, they wouldn’t have expected much from an eight-year-old.

At least, they probably expected to correct her habits, like a stray dog.

But it was utterly useless.

The extravagant speech, rough behavior, and the radical mindset of stealing whatever one desires had already become ingrained habits for Bunny.

‘But it’s not Bunny’s fault.’

What could a child understand?

The trash heap was the place where the most heinous crimes had been rampant since the foundation of the nation. Unfortunately, being born there, Bunny had seen and learned nothing but crime.

However, Kredel didn’t wait patiently while considering Bunny’s circumstances. First, she was driven away to the country estate, and when it was judged that she couldn’t be used as a fake lady, she was eventually driven to the tower.

It had only been two years.

‘So, in summary, I’ve become the scapegoat who has to live trapped in this tower until I become an adult.’

For the next eight years?

“It’s too bleak…”

Doha sighed.

‘At least if I had possessed Bunny before she got caught using forbidden arts, it wouldn’t have been this desperate.’

But it happened to be forbidden arts.

Duke Kredel had to send away his beloved daughter because of forbidden arts. But then, attempting forbidden arts to switch destinies with Ophelia in front of him…

‘It’s over.’

There was no other conclusion.

No matter how much she thought, there seemed to be no way to escape this tower.

Completely deprived of the chance to live as a fake daughter for eight years, left to rot in this abandoned tower.

‘In this case, it might be better to return to the trash heap.’

Although it was an lawless zone teeming with all kinds of crimes, at least she could move freely.

She had the option to demand to be let out, and there was also the option to leave the castle right now.

‘If only I had a pretext…’

Bang!

At that moment, the door suddenly opened without any warning.

Startled, when Doha turned around, a boy was standing by the door, glaring at her as if he were about to kill her.

“Hey, did you steal?”

Steal?

Before she could ask what he was talking about, her neck was grabbed.

Doha blinked, forced to take in the face that came uncomfortably close.

Unrealistic appearance.

Not just pretty or handsome, but beautifully drawn like a masterpiece by a skilled craftsman…

But the appreciation of the appearance was short-lived.

Other things captured Doha’s attention.

A broad, thick, and clean forehead.

‘Inherited the household and wealth.’

Eyebrows cut like claws.

‘Likely separated from siblings when young.’

A firm jawline and lips that closed straight.

‘Bold in action, but the mind is narrow. Lacks flexibility and never compromises once a decision is made.’

Sharp eyes, a high and straight nose, and particularly pointed canine teeth under the milk.

Curly golden hair left disheveled like a lion’s mane.

Full of vitality, even the gleaming eyes seemed to emit a radiant glow, as if containing blue flames.

Developed muscles despite being young, sturdy and robust physique.

‘Aggressive and moves instinctively, but intuition and senses are well-developed.’

While following instincts like a beast might be poisonous, overall…

‘If he becomes a soldier, he’ll rule the world.’

It took only a moment to reach such a conclusion.