Chapter 4

I cried out in a hurry.

“Where are you going? Leave her alone today! Father has already been there once.”

Instead of stopping, Villain put his hands together and was about to leave.

I limped my legs and ran down the stairs and grabbed Villain’s arm.

“Leave her alone!”

“How dare…”

Villain’s green eyes, looking back at me, seemed on fire.

He raised his arm as if he wanted to slap my cheek now.

‘Do you really want to hit me?’

I shouted into his face, shrugging my shoulders.

“She might die! Even more if you are going to hit her too, she’ll die!”

It wasn’t an exaggeration. She would really die if she was beaten more often.

Villain stopped.

I did not miss that time and quickly took out an earring from my ear.

It was an emerald earring that matched my eyes.

“Take this. It will be a month’s worth of alcohol.”

Villain stared at me for a moment with an astonishment look and caught the earring.

“Okay, then I’ll only see you today.”

He staggered and turned his steps toward his room.

I took a deep breath looking at his back. When I talked to him, I ran out of breath.

So instead of going up to my room at the top of the mansion, I headed to the nearby parlor.

It’s just like there’s no one there anyway.

The parlor was hot because the maids I just saw had enough firewood.

‘I mean, even if the whole house is in a riot, they are still able to set a fire in an empty room.’

I smiled bitterly and sat close to the fireplace.

There is always a corner of money.

This premise made them debauchery.

A father who does not admit that he is not talented in the business.

Even though finances were tight, if he went straight down to the basement, there was always money. It never occurred to him to save money by reducing the number of employees.

‘Thanks to that, my jewels are safe too.’

I remembered Marcia’s memory of all kinds of jewelry and trinkets placed in the dressing room.

These are the things Marcia has accumulated over the years for her extravagance.

If you use it sparingly, there will be no obstacles for roughly one person to eat and live.

But what about two people?

‘If you are two people, you should save a lot.’

I muttered inside, rummaging the fireplace with a skewer.

All right.

I decided to take Larissa and run away together.

I can’t let a thirteen-year-old kid get beaten until she cries.

‘Isn’t this crazy? How do you treat a little child like that…’

As I read the fairy tale to my nephew, I always thought of this.

‘If you just need her tears, do you have to beat her?’

There are many ways to shed tears.

Tears shed when you distressed and sad, tears can also come out if you laugh out loud.

Even if you yawn, tears come out too.

You can go to the kitchen and chop the onions together.

‘Or maybe you can tell a story that is touching enough to cry.’

I thought that way, but because it was a fairy tale, I went over it without thinking deeply.

“Back then, I didn’t even dream that it would be the situation I was facing.”

If I arrived early, I would somehow save Larissa before she was trapped in the basement, but now it’s too late.

‘When I take her out, I should see the doctor right away.’

Is there a psychiatrist here too?

To heal her injured heart, it wouldn’t take a year or two.

Considering the cost of treatment… it seemed to be difficult just with the jewelry I had.

Larissa is a walking diamond mine, but I don’t want to lean on her.

‘Let’s grow up and don’t starve!’

The appearance of a little girl covered in blood kept coming to my eyes.

No matter what, I won’t force you to shed tears.

‘Ah, but if we run away together, won’t Larisaa be able to meet the prince who saved her?’

After three more years in this mansion, the prince who accidentally passes by will fall in love with her at first sight and save her.

If it were me, I would have chosen to run away immediately, but would that be the best for Larissa?

Wouldn’t you like to choose to marry the prince and take revenge on the family that tortured you after being beaten for several more years?

When I think of it, my body trembled.

‘How… isn’t this how the fairy tale ends?’

No way, I can’t change the ending.

I held my head with both hands.

At that moment, an idea came up.

“Wait, can I go find the prince myself?”

Yes, Larissa gets married after 3 years anyway, can she meet earlier?

She just has to meet in advance so that she can get engaged first.

‘There is no problem with the original story. As soon as the prince sees her, he will fall in love at a glance.’

It is the ending that the two married and lived happily, so the prince will surely take care of Larissa.

I really liked this plan.

No matter how much Larissa hates me, I took her out of this mansion, and I’m sure she won’t let the prince execute me.

“Very well.”

I woke up from the parlor chair with a satisfying smile.

There were a few things to check before implementing the plan.

* * *

“Unbelievable.”

I squeezed my head and fell down on my study desk.

Thanks to that, the royal family tree and the nobles’ directory that I read a while ago were a mess.

“No, it’s in a fairy tale but there is no prince, where is he?”

Shockingly, there was no prince in this country.

To be precise, the unmarried young prince.

I became sad and knocked on the book.

Strictly speaking, there was one prince.

But he was over thirty and already married. He even had a child with his mistress.

This kind of person can’t be the prince of fairy tales.

And the prince’s son was only two years old.

He was too young to be a prince Larissa was destined for.

‘How could Marcia not even know this?’

I blamed Marcia’s memory for nothing.

In fact, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand.

Far from studying normally, she didn’t even read.

In addition, House Blick only dealt with nobles without titles.

She wasn’t even invited to a party hosted by a high-ranking noble above the Count.

It means that the royal family and the high-ranking aristocracy did not even think about recognizing House Blick because they never met each other.

Dazzling blonde, alluring green eyes, and pretty face.

But that was all of Marcia’s virtues.

She was so criticized as a girl with an empty head and a bad personality.

“What should I do?”

Without the prince from the fairy tale, there is nowhere to go even if I take Larisa and escape safely.

I lie down on the book and bite my lips tightly.

At that time, there was a letter that caught my eye.

I jumped up and read through the part I just saw.

[Prince Laurent]

“Found it!”

It was the title of Prince, that is, the Grand Duke.

The words here were the same when referring to the title of the Grand Duke and the Prince.

It seems a bit suitable. But if it’s a grand duke, it deserves to be called the male protagonist of the fairy tale, the prince.

There was just one grandmaster in this country.

It is the Laurent family.

I checked the end of the family tree of House Laurent.

And I found hope at the end of a branch that stretched out quite intricately.

‘This is it!’

The last name is Fabian Laurent, 21 years old.

It was definitely a man’s name and he was unmarried.

‘He is 8 years older than Larissa, but this age difference is quite common in this world.’

Looking up one space, it seems that his parents had already passed away a long time ago.

Then he must have become a grand duke at a pretty young age.

“This is Fabian Laurent.”

I got the name in my mind.

Laurent’s family tree was written over several pages, and at the top was the crest of the family.

‘Huh…? I think I saw it somewhere.’

I frowned and looked closely.

It was a very antique crest with a red and white colored shield wrapped around a thorny vine, and two swords crossed behind it.

“Where did I see this?”

Marcia couldn’t have seen it in the social world.

I chewed my lips and searched my memories eagerly.

“Ah…!”

I remembered it.

It was the last page of the original fairy tale.

[They lived happily ever after.]

A magnificent wedding was drawn with such a sentence.

A number of guests were seen behind the bride and groom who smiled brightly, and the castle was painted in a blur at the back.

The little flag was hung on the top of the castle, and that was this coat of arms drawn there.

‘The original fairy tale is a picture book. The hint wasn’t just in writing!’