Chapter 1: 1

“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.

You are reading story How to Live as the Mad Duke’s Fake Daughter at novel35.com

‘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 <No Dreams or Hopes> 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 going to meet Lilietta’s father. Duke Alan von Bauner.”

Alan von Bauner, ‘The Mad Duke’.

I had never seen him in person, but I had heard rumors about him.

Isn’t he the duke who rules over the vast territory of the northern empire, and the head of a prestigious family that even the emperor can’t treat him recklessly?

If there’s any downside to that perfect man, it’s just that his youngest daughter, Lily, was kidnapped when she was a baby and he went mad.’

He was a person who had absolutely nothing to do with me, who was just a beggar.

…At least until today. 

“I don’t have time, so I’ll tell you right away. I was the culprit who kidnapped Princess Lilietta 10 years ago.”

The fat man first revealed his identity and then glanced at my face.

You must have thought I would be surprised, but unfortunately, I had no choice but to move my eyes like a calf.

‘I already know who you are.’

Except for the chilling moment of death, I couldn’t remember exactly how I lived in my previous life.

But was it because of the instinct to live? I only sparsely remembered the contents of <No Dreams or Hopes>, which I had read in my previous life.

Not everything, but only the part where I appeared.

‘This man’s name is Thomas, the criminal who kidnapped Princess Lily, and the leader of the bandit ‘Walpurgis Night’…’

I was grinding my teeth, loudly, without realizing it.

‘You’re a damn bastard.’

The man in front of me was the one most responsible for my reincarnated death.

At that moment, while I was swearing inwardly, Thomas scratched the back of his head and continued explaining.

“Ahem, and… the princess died 10 years ago.”

I was belatedly surprised. What Thomas said was something I didn’t remember.

‘Is Lily dead? Ah, no wonder… the rumors I heard were a bit strange.

The reason Thomas’ bandits kidnapped the princess was for money.

But he had never demanded a ransom for Lily from the mad duke in these many years.

‘The child who was supposed to be exchanged with the ransom was dead.’

After all, very few children came back alive after being abducted.

Even in the ant cave where I lived, many children were abducted and never to be seen again.

I had personally witnessed moments of horrific disappearances many times.

As I hugged my knees in terror, Thomas leaned his head toward me.

“You don’t need to know the details, just remember one thing.”

Gulp, I swallowed my dry saliva. I didn’t know about the princess’s death, but I roughly remembered what this man was going to offer me.

“This is what you say when you meet the duke. ‘I am Lilietta, the daughter father had been looking for for 10 years.’”

…Even though I already knew it, it sounded so ridiculous.

“Do you understand what I am talking about? From today on, you are living as Princess Lilietta. I kidnapped you 10 years ago, but until today, when I give you back to the duke, I have raised you like a real daughter.”

In other words, it meant that I needed to impersonate someone’s dead daughter.

Thomas stopped babbling and pointed to himself with his thumb.

“After deceiving the duke, ask him to spare this Thomas. By referring to the grace that I raised you.”

The purpose of this bizarre fraudulent play was obvious to anyone looking at it.

To calm the mad Duke Alan, who was furious at the loss of his daughter.

Until now, he was still chasing Thomas, who stole his daughter.

‘You bastard, you have no idea what’s going to happen next.’

I secretly smirked.

Seriously, what can you expect from someone who lost someone else’s daughter and offered a fake one? 

To be honest, I wanted to scream like this in front of Thomas.

‘If we go on like this, we’ll both die together, you idiot!’

Now, I was lucky to realize that I am currently reincarnated, but in the original version, I get scared as soon as I see Alan and blow away the entire truth.

I said, ‘I’m not Lily! I don’t know that uncle!’, and the furious Thomas yelled at me, ‘You can’t even do this right!’ and was beheaded by Alan.

Thomas’ men who were next to him were also stabbed to death.

I didn’t care about the bad men, but the problem was that Alan killed me as well.

‘He’s a mad man anyway. He must have thought Thomas and I were on the same team, but I’m still nine years old!’

It was difficult to expect mercy from Alan.

<No Dreams or Hopes> is a dark fantasy novel.

In a cruel world without blood or tears, Alan was the outright villain.

‘What do I do? What should I do…?’

If I told Thomas what was about to happen, he wouldn’t believe it.

However, if I stayed still, it would repeat the tragedy of the original, like a poisoned mouse.

‘If I had recovered my memory a little earlier, I would have run away immediately… No, it’s no use thinking about the past now.’

I wrapped my hands around the nape of my neck, which had goosebumps, and shook my head desperately. I had to find a way to survive somehow.

If we kept going like this, we’d end up with the same fate.

‘Let’s run away before we run into Alan. I’ll have a chance to escape at least once!’

*** 

There was no such a chance

A few hours later, the back of the wagon cart opened, revealing an abandoned church.

It was the meeting place of Thomas and Alan.

You can find story with these keywords: How to Live as the Mad Duke’s Fake Daughter, Read How to Live as the Mad Duke’s Fake Daughter, How to Live as the Mad Duke’s Fake Daughter novel, How to Live as the Mad Duke’s Fake Daughter book, How to Live as the Mad Duke’s Fake Daughter story, How to Live as the Mad Duke’s Fake Daughter full, How to Live as the Mad Duke’s Fake Daughter Latest Chapter