CH 1

Four days ago, when I first met the Duke, that day I was just sitting in an alley, not knowing what changes awaited me. I sat and read a newspaper that someone threw away.

“Why are you staring at this newspaper? If you become a prostitute, you can make tons of money,” said Walter.

I’ll just tell you in advance, Walter is a good kid. We are slum children, we don’t even know what prostitutes do. We only know from rumors that prostitutes make a lot of money. They can even afford delicious, sweet cookies every day.

Delicious, sweet biscuits… I wish I could taste them.

“Shut up, I’m trying to focus.”

I was annoyed by Walter’s interference, who kept nagging under my ear.

I couldn’t read most of the words, but I understood where the job advertisement was posted.

[We are looking for a beautiful girls for…]

“Awesome! I read few words today.”

“You can’t even read.”

“I know some words. Before my mom died, she told me to go and get a job. This is the only way to change your fate.”

“What’s fate? How will you change it?”

“I know it will be difficult, but…”

Of course, this was easier said than done for the beggar.

“Do you think that tall guy has a lot of money?” Walter asked.

“With a red hat?”

“No, the one in black.”

Walter was good at this. He always looked out in the crowd for people who looked rich. I mostly survived by begging. My friends said that I looked cute, so people gave me money more often than others. If everything went well, we all ate bread.

How could I know that it was the person who would change my life?

“Please, uncle, give me a coin.”

I went up to the man, and at that moment my stomach rumbled.

‘Wow, he’s really handsome.’

He had black hair and his red eyes shone.

‘I wonder… do the gems look the same?’

He… was… really… handsome.

“Get out of the way,” the man said.

He was wearing a black suit. He pushed me out of the way, and when his hand touched me, a strange memory swept over me.

‘…Huh?’

“… yes.”

“No hope.”

“Yuna, I love you. Do what you want.”

When he pushed me away, I saw his watch on a chain.

Collen de Lewellton.

That was his name. I didn’t know how to read, but for some reason I was able to read this particular name. While the clock ticked those few seconds, I saw many memories.

‘…Huh?’

And then I realized that in a past life I was a terminally ill girl named Yuna.

‘Where did I get these memories?’

They hit me like lightning. It was a strange feeling. At that moment, I learned something more amazing.

‘I am living in a novel.’

How did I understand this, you ask?

Dark hair and red eyes, black suit. All of this was consistent with Duke Lewellton in the novel. His name was Collen de Lewellton. He was the protagonist of this novel.

And the storyline is there…

Book 3. The killer in the red hat?

Suddenly, another memory crossed my mind. The dark story of the Lewellton family. A powerful and handsome hero who lives in darkness.

‘Damn it. Where did he go? Has he gone already?’ Collen thought.

[If Collen does not catch him, the perpetrator will soon board the train. And who knows where he will go after committing his atrocities. The culprit was the man in the red hat, and Collen knew it. The man changed into other clothes, but forgot about the hat. He wandered here and there in this red hat. Collen was about to run to the train station.

But this man in a red hat had to kill a bunch of people in a poor streets. More than thirty people will die if he is not stopped now, right now. The first to be killed is a child named Walter.]

What? Walter will die? My best friend?

“Hey, pull yourself together!”

Collen yelled at me.

I must have gone deep into my thoughts for a few seconds. When I came to my sences, he was about to rush to the station. At this time, I grabbed his suit. I didn’t know before that I had so much strength.

“…I saw a strange man in a red hat! He was hiding in the alleys. He looked just like that William, exactly like a devilish killer, like on the flyers.”

I’ve never screamed so loudly in my life.

“What?”

He looked at me with frightened eyes.

“Have you really seen him, child?”

“Over there, hurry up! You don’t have to go to the station, people will die!” I shouted.

Collen entered the alley and something dark emerged from his hand. Soon I heard someone screaming in pain.

“Today is not your day, is it? You’re out of luck, hm? My hobby is to beat people like you to death.”

I looked behind Collen’s back. The Devil Killer was there. Every night, he kidnapped drunk people, tortured them with great enthusiasm, and then killed them. This information came to my mind out of nowhere.

William looked like he was tied up by something, and he seemed unable to move.

The man screamed in pain as his bones broke. Collen beat him with a cane, which was in his right hand, while with his boot he pressed on his neck. This was the first time I saw so much blood.

Collen stopped hitting him to recover a little.

‘I need to run’, I thought.

I backed away. At that time, Collen’s eyes were fixed on me.

“Come here,” said Collen.

I went up to Collen, he grabbed my neck.

“It hurts!”

He pushed me against the wall…

‘I’m scared!’

When I saw his eyes so close, my body shuddered.

“Let me go…”

Many onlookers gathered at the noise, the police were already visible. Collen looked around and handed me the card.

“My name is Collen de Lewellton,” he whispered in my ear. “You’ll contact me, don’t you? We need to talk about the ‘help’ you gave me.”

He let me go. The police ran up to the alley, but I managed to escape from the scene of the murder. I can’t believe what I just saw. I need to think it over again. Is this world just a romance?

* * *

Why? How?

I couldn’t believe it. I looked at my hands, at the sky, at the slums where I lived.

‘Am I superfluous here?’

What is my role in this world? To be poor. To be a girl who asks for money from passers-by. Be the one who will shout “Oh my God! Here is the body.”

I was so stupid that I didn’t even know what it was like to be a prostitute…

My life was going nowhere.

Am I going to spend my life like this? I can’t even read nor eat anything tasty.

In a past life, I was a girl who died at a young age. I rarely got out of my bed, but I was smart. I’ve always read books, played puzzles, or solved Sudoku. My parents hugged me and told me to always be healthy and happy. I still remember their words.

‘How can I live now? After everything I’ve seen and learned.’

It would be better for me to live as an ordinary beggar. At least it was safe. I can’t believe… what I got myself into.

Four days have passed since those events. I woke up covered with an old blanket and newspapers.

“What’s this?”

I saw something roll off the blanket.

“Flowers…?”

I’ve never seen such flowers.

They look expensive.

There was a gold ribbon in the middle of the bouquet. Yes, it must be the same boy who sells flowers, he sometimes gave them to homeless children when there were too many.

Apparently I was lucky.

Several more flowers were wrapped in a newspaper nearby. Usually I used these newspapers as a blanket.

“Huh?”

My gaze fell on an ad that I hadn’t read yesterday.

[…work as a servant]

If I became a servant, I probably could leave the streets. But who will take someone like me?

Then I read the words that were just below.

Familiar words!

I took out the card Collen had given me and compared the words to those in the newspaper.

Soooo. Here is the address. And the name.

Yes, these are the same words as in the business card. I can read it!

[We are looking for beautiful girls to work as a servant.]

Below

[Duke Lewellton.]

I threw the newspaper aside.