"I’m going crazy, really.”
I lay sprawled out on my bed and looked around the barracks I was in.
Luxurious furniture, soft bedding, rare fruits, and fragrant tea.
Although it was just a place made of a single sheet of cloth on bare ground, there was not the slightest hint of inconvenience.
But why am I wearing such a death mask?
That's because this is the last place I will stay in this world.
Because my body was soon to be offered as a sacrifice to the goddess.
That too, on behalf of my half-sister.
***
So, let me explain from the beginning...
The Catalonia Empire, where I was born and raised, was originally the wealthiest nation on the continent.
A country that everyone envies, with fertile farmland, abundant underground resources, beautiful tourist attractions, and a strong military.
But now it was just a cursed country.
Dried rivers, frozen crops, and hail that pours down without warning.
An erupting dead volcano, and a terrifying epidemic sweeping the nation.
‘Oh, how did a country that was once praised as having received the blessings of a goddess end up like this...’
Most people assumed that the reason was the goddess's wrath.
After the 28th Saintess died, the next Saintess who should have succeeded her did not appear for 13 years.
The royal family also seemed to be secretly concerned about the speculation and used all sorts of methods.
They donated large sums of money to the temple, distributed clothing and food to the poor in the name of the goddess, and even held prayer services themself.
But even then, the disaster did not stop...
'So the last card that was taken out was this human sacrifice.'
The idea was to appease the goddess's wrath by sacrificing virgins under the age of twenty as sacred offerings.
To avoid being accused of being an inhumane nation that offers mountain sacrifices, they packaged it as pulling out the 'goddess's tomb'.
In reality, they were just thrown as food to the lions as 'agents of the goddess', but quite a few volunteered.
Since the royal family would pay a considerable amount of compensation if the goddess' tomb was destroyed, commoners who had difficulty making a living would give up their daughters.
But as the years passed and there was no sign of an end to the disaster, public sentiment grew increasingly resentful.
“With the country in this state, what are the royal family and nobles doing?”
“Look at the women who were chosen for the slaughter. They are all commoners. There is not a single noble who gave up his daughter!”
“You enjoy so many rights, but when the country is in crisis, you force only our common people to make sacrifices!”
The empire hurriedly began to evolve.
They threatened that each family must give up one daughter.
The nobles had no choice but to give up their daughters, but here they used a trick.
They offered up their illegitimate daughter.
Because they couldn't bring themself to let their precious blood relatives become food for lions.
But there are exceptions everywhere.
There was a case where a legitimate daughter was sacrificed in place of a beloved illegitimate daughter, and that was me, Shayne Veloce.
“Oh my, Your Highness, you are also very angry. Sacrificing the heir of the family to save an illegitimate child. Where in the world is there such a law! Oh my, our poor young lady...”
I swallowed a sigh as I looked at my nanny, who was crying loudly and clutching my hand tightly.
'Yeah. I'm so excited, so excited.'
I was born as the only daughter of the empire's one and only Duke, and I walked the path of succession from the age of five.
When I was six, my mother passed away in a carriage accident, and as soon as the funeral was over, my father brought a commoner woman into the house.
Even though the illegitimate child born between that government and my father was running wild through the house, I didn't care.
Why?
Because I was the legitimate heir anyway.
After all, I was the one who would inherit this dukedom.
Those kinds of trivial things could have been kicked out after I inherited the title.
'But what kind of damn fate is this? To be sacrificed in place of an illegitimate child.'
I was so shocked that I couldn't even cry.
But I have already been chosen as a sacrifice.
Even if I came now and started to complain, nothing would change.
Instead, I hugged the sobbing nanny tightly and comforted her.
“Stop crying, Nanny. What can I do with this fate? No matter how much I think about it, it’s a really shitty fate, but I was able to endure it thanks to Nanny. Thank you.”
Then I handed her a fairly heavy box that I had prepared in advance.
“I set aside this for the nanny when I was sorting out my belongings a few days ago. You really worked hard taking care of things for me.”
“Oh my, why are you giving me this? What good are all these treasures when you are about to die?”
The nanny threw the box down roughly and hugged me, sobbing.
Seeing her, who was like a mother to me, crumble, my eyes became cold and my heart felt heavy.
It was at that very moment that I was patting my nanny's back with bloodshot eyes.
“Shayne.”
A familiar voice polluted my ears.
As expected, I looked up and saw an ugly face.
"...Father."
What did you come all the way here to see?
Instead of the illegitimate child, you would love so much, you wanted to see what kind of expression your daughter, who you had driven to the brink of death, would make before she died?
Or are you trying to act hypocritical now by apologizing?
I thought it would be the latter, even though I was secretly complaining.
Even though he was a father who didn't give even a single bit of affection to his daughter who was born out of a political marriage, he wasn't the type of trash who would pass the responsibility onto his daughter.
Maybe he was just an ordinary man who was lacking in affection, just like everyone else in the world.
But the truth about my father's true nature that I discovered when I was on the verge of death was truly surprising.
“I checked a little while ago and there were none of your belongings left. Did you sell them all?"
“...But?”
When I suddenly answered with a question of why he was asking that, the Duke furrowed his brow.
“How could you dispose of it as you pleased? Even if it was your private property that you managed separately, it originated from your family!”
...What did I just hear?
I was just staring blankly at him as he became furious, and then I asked with a bewildered expression.
“So... the reason you came here now is because of my private property? Because you don’t like how I disposed of it?”
I felt even more astonished after spitting it out.
'What kind of people are these?'
His own daughter is on the verge of death, and the topic of our possibly last conversation is money.
I felt ashamed of myself for having considered this piece of trash my father.
When I looked at it with contempt, the trash belatedly realized it was sorry and hurriedly waved its hand.
“No, that’s not it. What I mean is...!”
But before he could make an excuse, a voice interrupted...
“Oh, Sister. Why are you saying such things? Of course, Father came to see you because he was worried about you. He probably just asked if some worthless person had taken advantage of the chaos to get his hands on Sister’s personal belongings. Isn’t that right, Father?”
A lovely beauty with beautiful pink hair and sky-blue eyes.
At first glance, she looked like she had grown up receiving lots of love from her parents. She was my half-sister.
“Melina, you’re here too.”
“How could I not come and see my sister’s last thorny path?”
Melina answered with the corners of her eyes drooping and grabbed my hand.
“Even the goddess is going too far. Even though she is a ruin, she took away such a beautiful sister. And the only successor to the Veloce Dukes...”
While she was shedding tears like chicken poop, her appearance was so heartbreaking that I almost got fooled.
“Now, stop being so pretentious, Melina. There’s no reason to burn your acting spirit until the end when you’re not going to see me again.”
“What are you talking about, Sister? What kind of pretense did I have... I’m just not a good sister...”
“Melina. Isn’t that dress you’re wearing mine?”
“Oh, sis! This is...”
Melina was startled by my remark and tried to make an excuse in a hurry.
I know you wore it on purpose to get on my nerves, so why are you making a fuss about it?
“No matter how uneducated you are, you dare touch someone else’s property without permission. You are like your mother’s who dared to occupy the Duchess’s room without knowing your place.”
For a moment, Melina's expression hardened.
It was understandable that a child who had lived her whole life with an inferiority complex as a half-noble person was reminded of her humble origins.
Still, there was no such thing as regret.
Wasn't she an illegitimate child who had nothing but trust in her father's love and fearlessly bullied the successor to the dukedom?
'This is nothing compared to what I've been through.'
It was refreshing to see her lips, which were always upturned with arrogance, trembling.
But soon an intruder appeared.
“Shayne, what kind of wicked thing are you doing! Your only sister is crying so sadly because she’s worried about her older sister, and you’re not only acting and insulting her, you’re even insulting her mother!”
Trash, enraged that his beloved daughter was hurt, took action himself.
I burst out laughing.
“Don’t worry about it. Instead, are you worried that I’ll appear in front of you and just keep talking nonsense while you're being pushed aside?”
"What?"
“If you’re that worried, why don’t you come forward and become a sacrifice right now? Oh, I wonder if Father will stop you first? He can’t bear to see his beloved daughter torn apart by a lion. Right?”
“Shayne, you really...!”
I was just staring blankly at him as he became furious, and then I asked with a bewildered expression.
“So... the reason you came here now is because of my private property? Because you don’t like how I disposed of it?”
I felt even more astonished after spitting it out.
'What kind of people are these?'
His own daughter is on the verge of death, and the topic of our possibly last conversation is money.
I felt ashamed of myself for having considered this piece of trash my father.
When I looked at it with contempt, the trash belatedly realized it was sorry and hurriedly waved its hand.
“No, that’s not it. What I mean is...!”
But before he could make an excuse, a voice interrupted...
“Oh, Sister. Why are you saying such things? Of course, Father came to see you because he was worried about you. He probably just asked if some worthless person had taken advantage of the chaos to get his hands on Sister’s personal belongings. Isn’t that right, Father?”
A lovely beauty with beautiful pink hair and sky-blue eyes.
At first glance, she looked like she had grown up receiving lots of love from her parents. She was my half-sister.
“Melina, you’re here too.”
“How could I not come and see my sister’s last thorny path?”
Melina answered with the corners of her eyes drooping and grabbed my hand.
“Even the goddess is going too far. Even though she is a ruin, she took away such a beautiful sister. And the only successor to the Veloce Dukes...”
While she was shedding tears like chicken poop, her appearance was so heartbreaking that I almost got fooled.
“Now, stop being so pretentious, Melina. There’s no reason to burn your acting spirit until the end when you’re not going to see me again.”
“What are you talking about, Sister? What kind of pretense did I have... I’m just not a good sister...”
“Melina. Isn’t that dress you’re wearing mine?”
“Oh, sis! This is...”
Melina was startled by my remark and tried to make an excuse in a hurry.
I know you wore it on purpose to get on my nerves, so why are you making a fuss about it?
“No matter how uneducated you are, you dare touch someone else’s property without permission. You are like your mother’s who dared to occupy the Duchess’s room without knowing your place.”
For a moment, Melina's expression hardened.
It was understandable that a child who had lived her whole life with an inferiority complex as a half-noble person was reminded of her humble origins.
Still, there was no such thing as regret.
Wasn't she an illegitimate child who had nothing but trust in her father's love and fearlessly bullied the successor to the dukedom?
'This is nothing compared to what I've been through.'
It was refreshing to see her lips, which were always upturned with arrogance, trembling.
But soon an intruder appeared.
“Shayne, what kind of wicked thing are you doing! Your only sister is crying so sadly because she’s worried about her older sister, and you’re not only acting and insulting her, you’re even insulting her mother!”
Trash, enraged that his beloved daughter was hurt, took action himself.
I burst out laughing.
“Don’t worry about it. Instead, are you worried that I’ll appear in front of you and just keep talking nonsense while you're being pushed aside?”
"What?"
“If you’re that worried, why don’t you come forward and become a sacrifice right now? Oh, I wonder if Father will stop you first? He can’t bear to see his beloved daughter torn apart by a lion. Right?”
“Shayne, you really...!”
His face turned like a rotten tomato as if he was extremely angry, but whatever.
I asked, leisurely sinking into the sofa.
“But do you have time for this?”
"What?"
“It looks like you only investigated my personal assets, but that’s not all I disposed of. I sold all of the family’s assets and donated them.”
“What... what did you say?”
“You didn’t expect that because you’re stupid, did you? I knew it.”
I folded my eyes as I watched the trash's face turn red in shock.
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