SBCF 04

Chapter 04

That was when it happened.

Someone rushed in with hurried footsteps. The attic door swung open noisily, and everyone’s attention turned toward it.

“The, the head of the house has just sent Selly to the capital to fetch a dress that a young lady would wear!”

A maid said, gasping for breath.

“You came at the right time. We were just talking about that…”

“They’re sending that girl… no, the young lady… to the Grand Duchy of Valentine.”

At that moment, everyone fell silent.

As if they had agreed in advance, all chatter stopped at once.

“As the Grand Duchess.”

The maids all turned to look at Aria.

Their faces were pale with pity. They had stood by—and some had even participated—while the child was abused, so it made sense.

“But there hasn’t even been an official notice requesting a Grand Duchess yet.”

But the maids knew.

In noble society, marriageable age was fourteen at the latest, and few ever exceeded it.

The Grand Duke was fourteen this year.

“S-She’s going to die anyway.”

“Yeah, right. She’ll be sacrificed to the demon before she can even harm us.”

The Grand Duchy of Valentine opened its gates once every generation.

It was when they sought a bride for the heir to the duchy.

But that position was, in truth, nothing more than a place to bear the heir and die.

The wives who married into the Grand Duke’s family would give birth and then, not long after, slowly fall ill and die.

There were many rumors about it, but no one knew the truth.

Once you became the Grand Duke’s bride, you were cut off from family and all ties for life.

‘It’s no different from a sacrifice.’

No matter how they dressed it up as “bride,” everyone called it that.

“She can’t even speak. She’ll be locked up in the duchy forever. What is there to be afraid of?”

Aria listened silently to the maids and recalled what happened the night before.

Using a siren’s tears to brainwash the count was easier than breathing.

She had simply woven into her song a single line: to send her immediately to the Grand Ducal House.

‘Just like I did with my father?’

No, there was no need for that anymore.

The maids insisted, “There’s nothing to fear!” but their faces were tense, and they kept exchanging anxious glances.

She reached into the small, worn bag slung over her shoulder.

It was the bag she had carried every day when she could not speak, to communicate.

Inside were ink, a quill, and countless cards.

Aria quickly wrote a line and held it out.

[Bring it again. Make it edible.]

Eyes widened in shock, as if doubting what they were seeing.

“D-did she just give an order…?”

Aria stared at them without emotion, then kicked over the soup bowl at her feet.

[Now.]

Aria looked up at the maid serving tea with a tense expression.

She had merely asked for the inedible food to be taken away, but a tea time she had never requested had begun.

A variety of luxurious desserts.

The sweetness filled the air.

‘So this is what it feels like to be a noble lady.’

When was the last time she had been treated like a human instead of a caged bird?

Aria took a sip of tea and gestured for them to leave.

“If, if you need anything, please call us anytime.”

As if.

She would never give them a chance to redeem themselves.

Her gaze swept over the maids who had once subtly tormented her.

‘Spend your whole lives fearing when I might take revenge.’

Aria’s eyes curved slightly.

Between her long pink lashes, her deep crimson eyes shimmered softly.

When she smiled—so sweetly it seemed more enticing than the desserts on the table—the maids froze, dazed, their mouths slightly open.

Then her lips parted like falling flower petals.

—Get out.

Reading her lips, the maids flinched as if burned and hurriedly fled.

Their footsteps faded completely.

‘I’m sure my smiling face froze them solid.’

Is my face that unsettling?

Aria touched her now-healed cheek.

When she had been a siren, Count Cortes had repeatedly told her:

Those she would face were high nobles of the capital, their aesthetic standards were extremely strict, and they could not tolerate anything “ugly.”

Though the massive burn scar that once covered half her face was gone now…

‘Still, it’s better to hide it.’

The expression people made when they saw something they could not comprehend.

Aria knew that expression well.

It was the same one nobles had made when her mask slipped.

Wearing a mask was part of daily life.

And she intended to do so again.

“Are we even going the right way?”

Count Cortes struck the wall beside the carriage driver’s seat in frustration.

The guide seated there trembled as he answered.

“I-I don’t know. We’re clearly following the road, but we haven’t even left the entrance of the mountain range…”

“If you don’t know, who does?!”

Finally reaching his limit, the count shouted, “Stop the carriage immediately!”

They had arrived at the mountain in the morning, yet the sun was already setting.

After days of nonstop travel, both the count and Aria were exhausted.

“Damn it, those demon bastards acting so high and mighty. What do they think they are…”

The count muttered angrily through clenched teeth.

Valentine was an unknown land.

Surrounded by the Ingo Mountains and dense forests, it was cut off from the outside world and strictly forbidden to enter.

The Valentine family was extremely selective even in diplomatic relations and trade.

Naturally, they had ignored all of the count’s requests for an audience.

Aria watched the furious count.

‘They didn’t even reply to the letter.’

The Cortes family had produced many musicians over generations.

Among them, the former head—“Maestro Cortes”—was a genius conductor and composer.

He was called the Father of Music and still regarded as one of the greatest musicians.

‘Even a master like Cortes means nothing to Valentine.’

That only fueled the count’s pride and rage.

He had immediately hired a guide and was now attempting to force his way into the castle.

“I advise you to turn back,” the guide said.

Once confident he was the best in his field, he was now visibly terrified.

“This is an impossible request from the start. No one knows the path from the Ingo Mountains to Valentine Castle. No one who went there ever returned alive!”

The count, who had paid him handsomely including a life-risk bonus, glared as if he would kill him.

“You accepted the job. If you take the advance and refuse responsibility, you’ll pay with your life!”

“If you kill me, you’ll die here with everyone else!”

The count drew his sword and pressed it against the guide’s neck.

“Then decide whether you want to die first, or die while trying to find the castle.”

“Eek…”

As they argued, Aria’s attention was elsewhere.

She reached her hand out the window.

Her skin tingled.

‘A barrier?’

The source of a siren’s power was energy.

Siren “aura.”

Mage “mana.”

Priest “divine power.”

Shaman “spiritual energy.”

Though the forms differed, their essence was the same.

At a high enough level, one could sense the others.

At the entrance of the Ingo Mountains, a massive barrier lay like a wall.

‘An illusion-type barrier.’

Such barriers typically caused victims to wander in circles, believing they were moving forward.

At its worst, it could drive intruders to kill each other—or even themselves.

‘Of course they wouldn’t let us in easily.’

Then it happened.

As darkness fell over the forest, beastly roars echoed from all directions.

Growl—

The ground seemed to tremble.

“H-hey!”

“What is that!”

Knights and mercenaries drew their weapons at once.

They scanned the surroundings with tense faces.

“That’s why I told you to turn back…”

The guide said tearfully.

“So the rumors about monsters in the Ingo Mountains were true…”

“Monsters?”

“Giant, deformed beasts… much larger than ordinary predators…”

“Why are you only saying this now?!”

“You weren’t exactly willing to listen!”

Aria had heard of them before.

One of the reasons people believed the Valentine family worshipped demons.

“It’s the demon’s curse…”

Someone muttered.

“Aaaagh!”

A terrible scream rang out.

“Sa-save me…”

Screams and panic spread instantly.

Aria could not see what was happening.

Only that something too fast to follow was unfolding.

‘Something has begun.’

And by the time she realized it—

It was already over.

Knights, mercenaries, the guide—everyone lay dead in a horrifying, broken scene.

It was one-sided slaughter.

At the center stood a man.

Dressed in a pitch-black hood from head to toe.

“How interesting.”

His voice was heavy enough to freeze the air.

A cruel smile rose at the corners of his lips.

“When did Valentine’s prestige fall so low? For pests to crawl in without knowing their place…”

Aria felt no emotion, though a distant memory surfaced too vividly.

‘That method…’

Around him, beasts with glowing blue eyes growled.

The monsters the guide had spoken of.

“I’ll let the dogs feast after a long time.”

He called the monsters “dogs.”

Beasts that looked like wolves—but three times larger than normal.

Their gazes met.

“Kill her.”

For a moment, Aria felt completely powerless, as if a tidal wave were about to swallow her.

She collapsed.

The monsters closed in.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

“Yip…”

But there was no pain.

Instead, she felt hot breath and something wet and rough.

She opened her eyes.

“Huff… huff…”

One of the monsters was licking her hand—wagging its tail like a dog.