How to Live as the Mad Duke’s Fake Daughter

“Found you.”

In an abandoned church, in the middle of nowhere.
A man resembling a black leopard looked down at me while muttering as if he was possessed.

“Finally… I found you.”

Afternoon sunlight leaked through the shattered stained glass.

Iridescent brilliance shone down the man’s black hair, brightening his face.

The man’s face was covered in blood.

***

‘Scary.’

The black-haired man did not take his bright, jade-colored eyes away from me.

My knees went numb.
Just looking at him made me feel like I was going to die.

Even though I wanted to step back, the corpses strewn around me blocked the way.

‘If I make a mistake now, I will be the same as them.’

Thinking about it that way, my mind was blown.

“…Father, it’s me.”

I gave strength to my trembling legs and spit out a set line. (PR/N: ‘set’ in this case meaning ‘memorized’.)

Father.
It was insanely awkward to put that word in my mouth, but I couldn’t make it obvious.

“I am Lilietta, the daughter father had been looking for for 10 years.”

‘Is it too unnatural?’ 

But what about it? I didn’t even have time to practice my lines.

I laughed desperately.
I was hoping that the trembling corners of my lips would reflect on my father’s moved expression.

All I could do now was this.

“……”

The man who was staring blankly at my face slowly raised his sword.

It felt like my heart was sinking down to my stomach.

‘What should I do? I think I got caught.’

Death was just around the corner.
I was terrified and my teeth clenched against each other. 

I turned around, wanting to run away, but before I could move, the man swung his bloody sword.

‘I’m going to die…!’ 

Clank! 

With the sound of sword clashing, my whole body became warm.

Is my throat get cut and hot blood gushing out?

‘…No.’

When I opened my eyes, things were going the i opposite of what I expected.

The man threw his sword and hugged me.

My small, 9-year-old body was lifted up in the air.

Without even having time to scream, lukewarm liquid dripped onto the nape of my neck.

A liquid slightly thinner than blood.
I turned my head involuntarily and almost fainted.

He was crying.
Not anyone else, but Alan, the ‘Mad Duke’. 

The same murderer who had those men’s heads cut and piled up next to the drawbridge shed tears of sorrow.

“It is you.” 

The man hugged me and left the church.

The hand on my back was incredibly soft.

“My dear daughter, Lily.” 

Peeping over his wide shoulders, I could see corpses still in their warmth.

Those who had been decapitated by these hands that embraced me.

They were the bandits who kidnapped this man’s daughter 10 years ago.

The heads that rolled here and there would soon be stuck by the blue window and would be shown in the drawbridge. 

‘I might end up like that too.’

I managed to save my life, but my fear did not go away.

No, I was more scared than before. 

‘If the truth was revealed.’ 

I wrapped my arms around the man’s neck and hid my distorted expression.

Thump, thump, thump. 

It felt like my heart was about to come out of my mouth.

I barely endured the insult and swallowed the truth that only I knew.

Mad Duke, Alan.
I am not your daughter.

***

All the tragedy started this morning.
The name of the town I lived in is ‘Ant Cave’. 

With an open pit in the middle of the vast land, it was the most underdeveloped place among the slums.

On a sunny morning, as usual, I was wandering around the ant cave, begging for food.

Then a fat man came up to me and asked.

“Don’t you want to be a precious child?” 

The man also said, ‘I’ll give you everything you want.’ Tasty food, clean clothes……

I had no choice but to be tempted as I had already been starving for four days.

I followed him with a single hope – ‘Is it possible?’

As everyone would have expected at this point, he was a kidnapper.

The man entered the dark alley and threw me into a carriage.

I rolled over and bumped my head on a board that popped out.

At that moment, I realized that I’d die today.

Up until now, I thought I was going to starve to death, but surprisingly, that wasn’t the case.

It might be better to starve to death.

Because I was about to have my throat cut off by some crazy guy.

“Ahhhhhhh!” 

The horse-drawn carriage departed without a chance to run away.

I crouched in vain and pondered the future I had just envisioned.

‘I will be killed at the place this carriage is heading to.’

The reason for knowing this fact was simple and ridiculous.

‘This world is fiction.’ 

I originally lived in a world completely different from this world. 

My memories of my previous life weren’t perfect, but even then, it seemed like it was as bad as it is now.

Because the feeling of dying alone in the cold darkness was vivid.
Then I reincarnated.

And I was also an extra to the dark fantasy novel that I read in my previous life.

“Noisy, red ant.”

The fat man who kidnapped me approached me while calling my nickname.

He came one step forward, squatted down, and asked a random question.

“Do you know who Lilietta von Bauner is?” 

It was a familiar name.
If I didn’t answer, he was likely to hit me, so I nodded calmly.

“The princess who disappeared 10 years ago….”

“Yeah, no matter how young you are, you must have heard the princess’ name.
After all, the ant cave belongs to the duchy.”

The man patted the stubble on his chin for a moment, then smirked.

“We are goi