IGJDW 01

Chapter 01

The family was completely ruined.

It wasn’t an extremely powerful house, but it was fairly well-known. Yet it collapsed overnight without any chance to resist.

Someone must have hated them deeply, because they were falsely accused of treason.

The connections and wealth that had been built up for generations were useless in the face of that charge.

Father raged about the injustice until he was cut down with a sword, and Mother killed herself out of fear of punishment. Selfish people until the very end.

The one who’s truly wronged is me.

If I had at least enjoyed the benefits of being born into a rich family, it might have been different. But even though I was their biological daughter, I was never treated like a child of the house.

Because the moment I was born, they claimed a demon had possessed me and locked me in the basement.

What demon? I was just reincarnated!

The problem was the strange ability I gained when I was reborn. Because of that ability—something even I didn’t fully understand—it became obvious that I wasn’t normal.

“Ahhh! No! That’s not my child!”

“Get it out of my sight immediately!”

Amid all the screaming and curses, I was imprisoned in the basement.

For more than ten years, I never once stepped outside.

I turned twenty this year, which meant I had spent most of my life underground.

I died young in my previous life and was reborn, only to have my so-called parents lock me in a basement without caring whether I lived or died. The cruel maid would starve and torment me whenever she had the chance.

My reincarnated life was basically Cinderella—if Cinderella were constantly abused.

And now I had to die together with the very people who had mistreated me.

It felt terribly unfair.

Someone tugged at my sleeve.

When I turned around, I saw a blond little boy with tearful eyes.

It was my younger brother, Bran.

“N-Noona… are we all going to die?”

Since it was treason… probably.

Even the servants who had simply worked in the house were being dragged away in chains.

As the children of traitors, we were unlikely to survive.

But I didn’t want to scare him by telling the truth.

Bran was the only person who had ever been kind to me.

He secretly brought me food when I was starving and once tried to help me escape, only to get caught and beaten for it.

That was why I considered him my real family.

“It’ll be okay. Don’t worry.”

Anyway, even if I died, I would just be reborn again.

That’s what happened to me before.

I still remembered my previous life—living peacefully in a good country before dying. Because of that, this situation didn’t frighten me very much.

Still… I hoped I wouldn’t die too painfully.

“You two. This way.”

The soldiers who had finished searching the mansion approached us.

I quietly nodded and followed them.

Bran hurriedly clung to my side.

* * *

To get straight to the point—

I didn’t die.

The cart I thought was heading to the execution ground stopped at a harbor instead.

For the first time since my reincarnation, I smelled the salty scent of the sea.

Is this forced labor instead of execution?

Forced labor—where you don’t die, but the work is so harsh you might as well.

My body was already weak, so I doubted I could survive that kind of life.

What will they make us do at a harbor? Carry cargo? Scrub ship hulls?

But once again, my guess was wrong.

The moment I stepped off the cart, a shackle clamped onto one of my ankles.

The heavy iron weight made my vision go dark.

Is this to stop us from running away while working?

But when we were locked inside a cage and loaded onto a ship, I had no choice but to face reality.

I had become a slave.

And not just any slave—

An export slave being shipped overseas.

What do you mean I’m a slave?!

I had been a free citizen in my previous life!

Thinking about the terrible things that could happen to a female slave erased the tiny bit of attachment I still had to this life.

Should I just jump off the ship?

As I struggled with the temptation of reincarnating again, I heard sniffling beside me.

Noticing my gaze, Bran hurriedly wiped his tears and said,

“D-Don’t worry. I’ll earn merit quickly and save you.”

A slave who achieved great merit in war could be granted freedom.

Bran seemed to think he would become a war slave.

I sighed quietly.

The one we should be worried about isn’t me—it’s you.

Bran was a beautiful boy with blond hair and green eyes.

Although he was thirteen, he was especially small and slender for his age.

“Oh, what a miserable fate.”

I abandoned the idea of escaping through death and reincarnation.

If I died, I could be reborn again.

But Bran couldn’t.

I’ll have to negotiate with whoever becomes our master.

I possessed a special ability.

It was the very reason I had been locked in the basement since birth.

But in truth, it was an incredibly useful power.

I decided I would tell my future master about my ability and how it could be used.

Then I would negotiate: if Bran were freed, I would devote my loyalty completely.

Looking at my brother’s tear-swollen face, I made a firm vow.

At least you—I’ll save you no matter what.

But just as I finished making that noble resolution, someone poured cold water all over it.

It was the slave trader who had purchased us.

The moment he saw me, he frowned.

“Just looking at her, she seems fierce. Breaking her spirit won’t be easy.”

“Huh?”

I stared at him in disbelief.

The man’s fat belly jiggled as he clicked his tongue.

“She’s too lively to sell at auction right away. Starve her for a while.”

“Wait! Hold on! I have absolutely no intention of rebelling!”

I grabbed the bars of the cage and shouted.

Look again—I’m a perfectly obedient worker!

But the trader glanced at my desperate face and added,

“Give her only the bare minimum of water.”

“…Hey.”

When I get out of here, you’re the first one I’ll reincarnate.

* * *

Three days passed without proper food.

The ship rocked endlessly somewhere across the sea, and I lay there weakly.

Bran had already been moved somewhere else.

Apparently, since he was gentle, there was no need to “break” him like me.

Break me? What am I, a wild beast?!

I imagined punching the trader’s fat belly.

Just because I looked fierce, he was starving me. That lunatic.

Grinding my teeth, I tried to calm myself.

It’s okay. I’m used to starving.

The maid who brought food to the basement had been old and cunning.

Every day she stole most of my food and only brought me the scraps.

If I complained, she pretended to be deaf and didn’t come the next day.

Eventually, I had no choice but to grow accustomed to hunger.

I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

Not moving made hunger easier to endure.

Then—

I heard a faint clinking sound somewhere.

It was quiet, but in the darkness and silence it sounded unusually clear.

What was that?

The moment I opened my eyes—

The door opened silently.

A man entered with a faint light and looked around.

His completely black outfit practically screamed, “I’m someone sneaking in secretly.”

Is he a thief?

I curled up, trying not to be noticed.

After checking the area, the man muttered,

“There’s no one here.”

“No. I can hear breathing. Look again.”

At the second voice, my heart sank.

Startled, the man looked around again.

I decided to surrender myself.

“H-Here.”

When I slowly sat up, the man hurried over.

After confirming that I was a slave locked inside a cage, he reported,

“It’s just a slave. No one else.”

“A slave?”

The voice sounded displeased.

Then the surroundings suddenly darkened.

A large shadow blocked the light coming through the doorway.

I tensed and looked at the person approaching me.

He was extremely tall.

So tall I wondered if his head might hit the low ceiling.

His figure, backlit by the doorway, looked long and slender as he moved silently.

When he stopped in front of me, an inexplicable pressure filled the air.

He was the kind of person who could overwhelm others just by existing.

I was certain he held a very high status.

Sensing my gaze, he said,

“I don’t particularly enjoy being observed.”

His voice was deep and husky.

It felt like sand scraping against my eardrums, making my shoulders shrink.

Touching my ear, I grumbled,

“It’s too dark to see you properly anyway.”

I felt him laugh quietly.

Embarrassed for some reason, I pouted.

“My mistake. Since you were staring so intently, I thought you could see.”

The next moment—

Click.

A light appeared.

I instinctively covered my face, then lowered my arm when I realized it wasn’t bright.

The man had summoned a tiny glowing light in the air, like a firefly.

“Is it fair now?”

I stared blankly at his face.

He’s handsome.

It was a cliché description, but there was no better word.

His features were so refined and aristocratic they were almost frightening.

No—“aristocratic” wasn’t enough.

If someone turned the concept of nobility itself into a human, it would look like him.

A sense of purity that seemed to reject others.

An icy, cold aura.

A restrained, ascetic air that felt distant from the mundane world.

His neatly combed hair shone like silver.

His eyes were a piercing blue.

When I noticed that those cold eyes were becoming even colder, I snapped out of my daze.

He said he didn’t like being observed.

Lowering my gaze, I muttered,

“Are you a magician?”

“No. And that’s not what you’re really curious about.”

He cut me off firmly.

It sounded like he had no intention of wasting time on pointless talk.

So I spoke plainly.

“Please buy me.”