Chapter 1: Prologue

In the midst of the dim darkness, his eyes shimmered with a bluish light, sending shivers down my spine.

His eyes, as sharp as the crisp dawn air and as keen as a finely honed blade, reminded me of a predator sizing up its prey.

“Um… Duke Valtezar…?”

Warning bells rang in my head.

Klaus de Valtezar, the owner of this mansion.

The Duke before me was different from his usual intensely cold and indifferent self. Eyes the color of a frozen sky, as if reason had completely evaporated, pierced through my throat.

One of his enormous hands, seemingly capable of effortlessly crushing a human skull, looked as though it might seize my slender neck at any moment.

But contrary to my expectations, Klaus’s hand slowly approached my hair. The time it took for the colossal and thick-fingered hand to draw near felt excruciatingly slow.

My black hair, which barely reached the tips of my ears, brushed against his hand. Roselia, leaning against the wall, her shoulders hunched, gazed at the duke with a perplexed expression, her face clearly showing that she didn’t understand what was happening.

“Um… Did you summon me because you have something you want me to do?”

With an innocent and clueless look, she awkwardly met his gaze. In response, Klaus let out a sardonic laugh.

“Something to do…? Well, yes.”

Saying so, the Duke, who seemed uncomfortable with the current situation, or perhaps angered, reached out to her head with a thud.

“I need to check something.”

In an instant, a chill ran down her spine.

“Check? What do you mean…?”

No way… Did he find out?

I thought I had successfully hidden it for three months…

Roselia’s long black hair, as dark as the night, was neatly cut short like a boy’s, and her attire consisted of a typical servant’s outfit, a tidy black tuxedo vest over a white ruffled shirt.

To be precise, it was the attire of a male servant.

“What do you mean by checking…?”

Despite her calm voice, Roselia’s gaze avoided Klaus’s eyes and instead fell to the floor.

Apparently displeased by this, Klaus gently lifted her chin to make her look at him. His navy-blue eyes, gazing into her emerald-green eyes, were filled with confusion and anger.

“Antonio de Hesingk.”

It was a name that had never seemed to become familiar, the name of her brother. As that name echoed in her ears, her heart, which had been pounding like a drum, suddenly steadied its pace.

Stay calm. Right now, I am Antonio. I can’t show any sign of hesitation.

If he finds out that I’m a woman, I’ll be killed by the author.

To be more precise, I’ll be used and then discarded, just like in the original story. Unfortunately, I’ve possessed an extra handmaiden who is doomed to be used and then die at the hands of the villainous duke. But for now, I’m okay.

As long as he doesn’t discover that I’m a woman.

“Antonio…”

His face came down so close that it almost touched her nose.

For some reason, his breath seemed rougher and faster than usual.

“I told you not to wear that damned perfume, didn’t I?”

Klaus’s growling warning made Roselia feel unjustly upset.

“I did say that I don’t wear perfume.”

“Well… You always talk so neatly, considering you’re the substitute for the fallen Marquis’s debt…”

“…”

That was it.

She was a maid… no, a servant who had come in place of the debt owed by the Marquis of Hesingk. Originally, she was Marquis Hesingk’s daughter, but her family’s downfall led her to become a servant in lieu of the substantial debt owed to Duke Valtezar.

And she would foolishly fall in love with the duke, dedicating her body and heart to him, only to be used and then die at his hands.

That was the extra maid she had unwillingly possessed.

However, naturally, she had no intention of dying as the story dictated.

So, in order to avoid that death, she disguised herself as a man.

She thought that as long as she remained inconspicuous in the duke’s eyes, this darn duke, who wasn’t even part of the original story, wouldn’t drag her in as a substitute for the debt, disguised as a man.

Did it not matter that she was a man, or was it impossible to change the course of the original story to this extent?

Roselia’s calm eyes were filled with questions as she stared intently at the duke’s face. Whether he interpreted this as defiance or a challenge, Klaus, his lips curling up in a smirk, pressed his body closer against hers, trapping her between his arm and the wall.

It seemed like a threatening move, but unintentionally, a strange tension formed. Klaus, too, seemed to instinctively sense this tension and remained silent for a while.

“Your Grace…?”

It was she who broke the strange silence.

She could feel his hot breath pouring onto her forehead. Being this close, she felt her heart pounding wildly, fearing that her chest, wrapped tightly in fabric, might give away her true gender to the duke.

“I told you, Antonio. I have a knack for uncovering hidden secrets, as if I were a ghost.”

As if he were referring to her chest, wrapped tightly in fabric, cold sweat formed on her back.

Klaus’s hot lips drew dangerously close to her ear.

“I need to know what you’re hiding.”

His breath on her ear and their thighs pressed closely together felt scorching. The sensation of being surrounded by heat left her mind in a daze, making it impossible to gather her thoughts.

Roselia gazed back at Klaus’s navy-blue eyes, filled with confusion. It felt as though an invisible thread, stretched taut with tension, hung perilously between them.

Inwardly, Roselia lamented her extremely awkward and perplexing situation.

Come on, Your Grace. Does it really not matter if I’m a man or not?