Eine knew she needed allies, but was Mariam trustworthy? She had her doubts. The original Estel only had a vague understanding of the girl's past before her current position. From what she heard, Mariam came from the empire's southern border. Her vilge used to belong to a tiny kingdom étoile conquered one hundred years ago. Simir to many of the empire's past conquests, it forced the kingdom's inhabitants to assimite and abandon their culture. They stripped those who resisted their citizenship and sold them as sves—a dark history for one of the continent's most prosperous empires.

  However, at the moment, Mariam's background was the least of Eine's worries. Her primary concern remained on surviving until Estel's fateful death.

  But how? Even surviving a meal without getting poison was a problem.

  Knock, knock.

  "Midy, the duke and duchess summon you." Two loud knocks emerged outside the antechamber, followed by a man's voice.

  They finally came. Eine knew she could not avoid the consequences of Estel's actions forever. However, she did not expect them to summon her so soon.

  "Midy, please allow us to prepare you." Mariam and two other maids stopped their duties and advanced toward her.

  Eine nodded.

  Nobles did not dress themselves. Estel, too, was no exception. Although she was still unaccustomed to having servants dressing her, Eine did not want to raise suspicion.

  Despite choosing a simple outfit, the preparation process still took almost an hour. Eine exhaled in relief when the maids released her. She felt exhausted and admired those women who could spend hours a day perfecting their looks with no depletion.

  "Please follow me, midy." In his te thirties, a tall man dressed in bck greeted her from behind the door. The man led Eine through a long hallway, passing many rooms and several servants. The servants dropped when they glided by, and she noticed their terrified expressions and trembling hands.

  Was Estel that scary? How much did this little girl terrorize them in the past? Or was it someone else?

  She gnced at the man walking beside her. If memory served her well, the man was one of the duke's main butlers, Yusef. Estel had seen him several times before, like a shadow, always two steps behind his master. Yusef's face was never without a warm smile, but other servants beled him the smiling devil in secret.

  Besides his regur butler's duties, Yusef was also an enforcer. A role tasked with the disposal of unruly individuals inside the dukedom. Those he targeted disappeared and was never seen or heard from again—a fearsome reputation for such a friendly face.

  Eine shuddered. People in this world all hid behind a camoufge. Nothing was as it appeared.

  "Is something wrong, midy?" Yusef raised his brows and seemed to catch Eine's slight movements.

  "It's nothing. Let's hurry." Eine picked up her pace, not wanting another second alone with the smiling devil. What if he realized she was an imposter? What would he do to her?

  They went down the staircase and exited the building. Unlike Estel's younger brother, Armes, she did not live in the main manor but in a smaller structure, simir to her father's mistresses and illegitimate children, within the vast estate. But she could no longer withstand her mother's fgrant favoritism and requested to relocate to her current residence.

  Good. Since Estel lived by herself for two years, few people will recognize her switched soul. If possible, Eine would like to bury this secret forever. Even though magic and mystical creatures were common, necromancing and soul switching were taboo and forbidden by the temple and the magician association. They deemed those discovered practicing the art as heretics, tortured, and sentenced to death.

  "Midy, we've arrived." Yusef gestured ahead.

  Eine looked up, and a magnificent architectural structure came into view. A manor shrouded in pinnacles and sharp spires, embellished colonnades formed pointed arched doorways, accentuating high masonry walls supported by flying buttresses. The manor's outer walls were decorated with sculpted statues of gods and saints pced beside rge rose windows filled with eborate tracery.

  "A true beauty!" Eine excimed. Estel's memories of the pce did not remotely compare. She wondered how much time and wealth, not to mention efforts, Estel's ancestors must have consumed constructing such a masterpiece.

  "This way, midy."

  The knights guarding the pace entrance knelt as they approached. Their expressions were stoic and grim, and Eine could feel intense bloodlust emanating from their bodies.

  The house of Croix's knights were no flowers in the garden. Chosen since childhood through strict criteria, they experienced intense training and fierce battles. To ensure the knights' absolute obedience, they were all taken from the orphanage, with no family to miss and nowhere to return. Each granted a Croix symbol embedded in their chest, signifying honor and loyalty.

  Each year, étoile engaged in frequent expeditions against neighboring kingdoms and "savage nd" to stabilize the empire and expand its territory. Along with other dukedoms, they pced the house of Croix and its knights on constant standby, ready to participate.

  Eine glimpsed a young man kneeling in the far corner as she entered. A handsome young man with hair that resembled the morning sunlight and two different colored eyes.

  Heterochromia, why did this description sound so familiar? Eine was unsure where she knew him from, but he piqued her interest.

  "You in the far back. What is your name?" She pointed at him.

  A couple of seconds flew by, yet the young man's expression remained stoic, and he did not answer her question. Eine's face started turning red from the awkward silence.

  "My sincerest apology, midy, but he cannot speak without prior approval from his superior." An older knight in front of the formation expined and turned toward the young man. "You can answer the princess."

  “My name is Cecil, Cecil de Ascania, midy.” The young man looked up, dispying his chestnut and ocean-colored eyes.

  Cecil de Ascania!

  Eine's eyes widened. How could she forget such a significant character? Cecil was a highly skilled knight and one of the female protagonist's suitors.

  LittleFoodie

  [colpse]