Sunlight streamed through the small window beside the bed.

The brilliant white snow blanketing the earth reflected the light so brightly that it was difficult to keep her eyes open.

Even so…

It was a breathtaking sight.

More importantly, for the first time in her life, she’d enjoyed a deep, uninterrupted sleep.

She felt completely refreshed.

“Mmm!”

She stretched both arms overhead with a long yawn.

The lingering aches from old beatings still throbbed throughout her body…

But they no longer hurt as much as before.

“It’s so beautiful.”

After making her bed, Lilliana got up and looked around the house.

It was far cleaner than when she’d first arrived.

After crying for a long time the previous night, she’d cleaned the entire place.

She’d cleared away the cobwebs hanging from every corner, dusted off the thick layers of grime, then wiped every inch of the house until it gleamed.

It finally looked like a proper home.

She was happy with everything.

Having a place of her own.

Finding refuge in a village where she could finally feel safe.

It all felt perfect.

Kartel might have been a small village, but the Dos protected it with a magical barrier.

If it had managed to wage such fierce resistance against both the Kingdom and the Empire…

Then its barrier had to be a strong one.

That meant her family would surely have a difficult time finding her.

And once House Eberhardt realizes their Cero vanished without a trace, they’ll probably give up. Unless Rajes himself comes, they won’t be able to find me.

By their very nature, Unos were drawn to the scent of the Cero bound to them by fate.

It wasn’t physical attraction…

But the resonance of souls.

While ordinary people’s souls were whole and complete…

The souls of Unos and Ceros were fractured.

Their destined partner was the one whose soul fit perfectly with their own.

Only an Uno could perceive the scent of their destined Cero.

In other words…

Unless he came himself…

The chances of her location being discovered were slim.

Rajes is the head of House Eberhardt. He can’t leave the Empire whenever he pleases.

The original novel had never explained exactly how Rajes and his Cero first met.

Their story had only been mentioned briefly.

It simply stated that he absorbed his Cero the moment they met.

He was probably too busy to come himself, so he’d most likely sent his subordinates instead.

And since an entire day had already passed since she’d escaped…

There was no way his men would be able to find her now.

Besides, House Eberhardt has more than enough money. They’ll probably give up and look for another Cero instead… even if they can never find his destined one.

Lilliana shook her head.

She didn’t want to concern herself with the villain’s fate.

Nor did she have the luxury to.

Simply enjoying the happiness she had now was more than enough.

She was no longer anyone’s slave.

There would be no more beatings.

No more backbreaking labor.

Everything was perfect.

Before she knew it, she was humming softly to herself.

Smiling, Lilliana went into the bathroom, washed up, and came back out.

Even after bathing, the exhaustion that had built up over the years still lingered in her body.

She briefly wondered if she should simply go back to bed before suddenly laughing

I can’t believe I can think so carefree now!

Just as she changed into fresh clothes and was about to throw herself onto the bed…

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the front door.

Someone had come to visit.

Could it be Elder Valter?

“Who is it?”

Wearing a bright smile, Lilliana opened the door.

Instead of a face…

A large basket was suddenly thrust into view.

Inside the basket were bacon, bread, tomatoes, and various vegetables.

“Here.”

At the voice from behind the basket, Lilliana reached out. As she took the basket, the man standing behind it came into view.

Sun-bronzed skin, brown hair, and restless brown eyes that couldn’t seem to settle.

“Valer?”

It was Valer, the one who had roughly grabbed her shoulder the day before. For some reason, he fidgeted as though he had something he wanted to say.

Why?

She watched him for a moment before he finally opened his mouth.

“Uh, Lily… I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“Huh?”

“Kartel is a village without discrimination, so we tend to accept people pretty easily. Because of that, we’ve had a few bad incidents before. Ever since then, we’ve become wary whenever outsiders show up. We’re especially cautious of people from the Kingdom or the Empire, since they’ve always had their eyes on Kartel.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, I’m sorry.”

Until yesterday, Valer’s eyes had been full of suspicion whenever he looked at her. Now, however, the brown eyes shimmering in the sunlight were filled with nothing but remorse.

Knowing he had his reasons for acting that way, Lilliana understood. And now that she was facing him properly, Valer was simply a boy her own age, albeit one with a much larger build.

So Lilliana decided to forgive him.

“It’s alright.”

“Also, when I saw your luggage yesterday, it didn’t look like you’d brought anything to eat, so I brought you some ingredients.”

She had been hungry, so receiving food couldn’t have come at a better time. Despite his rough appearance, Valer seemed to be surprisingly considerate.

“Oh! Just a moment.”

Carrying the basket inside, Lilliana hurried into the house. She returned a moment later with the pouch she’d left on the table beside her bed.

“Here!”

She held out a gold coin to Valer. Instead of taking it, he frowned and stared at her.

Lilliana simply looked back at him with wide, innocent eyes.

A sigh escaped him. He didn’t know what kind of life this girl had lived, but it was obvious she knew very little about the world.

“Don’t you think you’ve been offering people money a little too casually since yesterday? Those are gold coins, not silver. You can’t just hand them out like that. Even if Kartel is a village without discrimination, like I said, there are still people with bad intentions. Understand?”

“Y-Yeah.”

It was a rebuke she hadn’t expected. Lilliana nodded and slipped the gold coin back into her pouch.

Having spent her entire life working without receiving any kind of payment, she’d come to believe that whenever someone did something for her, she ought to repay them with fair compensation, whether it was for a kindness or something material.

“And I didn’t bring these because I wanted money. They’re an apology.”

But there were acts of kindness in this world that expected nothing in return.

It was nothing like the Parvane family, who had only pretended to be kind after she’d become useful.

“Thank you.”

Lilliana smiled brightly.

Faced with such a genuine smile, Valer suddenly felt embarrassed and looked away. He hurriedly changed the subject.

“You can buy most ingredients at the market. Though most people in the village farm or have their own gardens, so the market’s pretty small. If there’s ever something you want to eat, come by our house.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You remember our house from yesterday, right? Grandfather wants to help you too, so you can come by anytime.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Such unexpected kindness filled her heart as though she’d received a birthday present.

Though she’d never received a gift before, everything about this village felt like one.

So, instead of paying him with money, Lilliana decided to treat him to something else.

“I’m about to make breakfast. Want to eat with me? I’ll treat you to a meal.”

“Sure.”

“Come in.”

Hugging the basket, Lilliana headed into the kitchen. Just as she was about to set it down on the table, Valer hurried over to stop her.

“One side of it’s uneven. If you set it there, it’ll slide off, so put it somewhere else for now. I’ll fix it real quick.”

“Okay.”

While Valer repaired the table, Lilliana began preparing breakfast.

The kitchen had plenty of cooking utensils. They looked as though they hadn’t been touched in a long time, but after washing them thoroughly, they were perfectly usable.

After cleaning the bowls, spoons, and forks, Lilliana paused to think about what to make.

I invited him to breakfast because I wanted to do something for him, but what should I make? What did the Parvane family usually have for breakfast?

After thinking for a moment, Lilliana looked through the ingredients Valer had brought. Remembering a breakfast the Parvane family had once eaten, she confidently began cooking.

“The table’s fixed.”

“Thank you!”

Sitting at the table, Valer watched Lilliana from behind. She’d cried her eyes out just yesterday, so he’d been worried about her. Yet after only one night, she seemed much brighter.

What kind of life has she been living all this time?

He knew she was Leshi’s niece, but that was about it. Aside from her name and the fact that she was from the Kingdom, he knew nothing.

As he watched her curiously, Lily suddenly turned her head. Valer quickly looked away.

“Oh, right, Valer. There’s something I wanted to ask.”

“W-What is it?”

“Yesterday, how did you know I was wandering around outside the village?”

“What do you mean how? I could see you plain as day.”

“But… I’d cast a spell. It was supposed to keep people nearby from noticing me…”

Lilliana explained how her perception-distortion spell had failed the day before. Valer burst out laughing.

“Of course it didn’t work. You’re a half-Dos, aren’t you?”

“Huh? Y-Yeah.”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Lilliana lied. Fortunately, Valer didn’t suspect a thing.

“Kartel isn’t made up of just Dos and Cuatro. There are plenty of half-Dos like you. Magic’s a normal part of everyday life here, even if it doesn’t look that way. Unless you’re a Cuatro, most spells won’t work on you. I’m half-Dos too.”

“I see.”

The original novel had focused primarily on Unos and Ceros, so there hadn’t been much mention of the Dos.

All she knew was that they were people capable of using mana to cast magic.

Unos could only be born through bloodline, while Ceros weren’t bound by bloodline or race, though they were born only under extraordinarily rare circumstances.

Unlike those two races, half-Dos were occasionally born.

At the moment, Lilliana had been mistaken for one.

She was immensely relieved to learn that half-Dos existed. Otherwise, her true identity might have been exposed on the spot.

“Done.”

By the time their conversation ended, breakfast was ready. Lilliana set the soup and bread on the table, then immediately sat across from Valer and handed him a spoon and a fork.

“Try it.”

“Thanks for the meal.”

Valer scooped up a generous spoonful of tomato soup and put it into his mouth.

Watching him, Lilliana suddenly felt nervous.

She wondered if the food had turned out well.

Please let it taste good!

But in the next instant, Valer’s expression stiffened.

After forcing the soup down, he immediately reached for some water and gulped it down.

“What on earth did you do to this soup?”

“I knew it didn’t taste good…”

Lilliana muttered, her shoulders drooping.

It was her first time cooking, so she hadn’t been very confident, but she hadn’t expected it to taste this bad. To think he’d even ask what she’d done to the soup.

After a moment, Valer frowned and asked,

“Did you make it taste bad on purpose?”

“No! I’ve done nothing but chores all my life. I’ve never cooked before…”

It was the truth.

This was the first time she’d ever cooked in this world.

Even so, she wanted to repay the kindness she’d received, so she’d put her whole heart into it.

She’d even chosen what she thought would be the easiest dish, taking into account the possibility that she might fail.

The result had been disastrous.

Disappointed, Lilliana picked up a spoon, tasted the soup she’d made, then dumped the whole thing out. Valer’s sharp reprimand immediately followed.

“If you weren’t confident in your cooking, you should’ve said so! What a waste of perfectly good ingredients.”

“…You’re right. I didn’t know I’d be this bad. I just wanted to treat you for once. I’m sorry.”

As she awkwardly scratched the back of her head, Valer rummaged through the basket. He transferred the remaining ingredients into a bowl before saying to Lilliana,

“I’ll cook. You go to the mountain behind the village and pick some fruit.”

“Fruit? There are fruits that grow in winter?”

“Not many, but some do. Every berry on the mountain is edible, so pick whatever you find. Just don’t pick too much. Half a basket will do.”

“Okay.”

Lilliana nodded obediently. Besides, there was no reason to refuse when he was offering to cook.

After taking the empty basket from Valer, she stepped outside.

She paused for a moment and looked back at the house.

Thin wisps of smoke drifted from the chimney connected to the fireplace.

Vines sprawled across the outer walls, but they gave the house a rustic charm. Fresh snow must have fallen during the night as well, because the roof was blanketed in white, making the little house look even more beautiful.

Unable to suppress the smile spreading across her face, Lilliana headed toward the mountain behind the village.

It wasn’t particularly large or steep, making it easy to climb. Since the snow was deep, she walked carefully so she wouldn’t slip.

“The air feels wonderful.”

She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the crisp, clean air.

Even though the cold seeped through her thin coat and chilled her entire body, she couldn’t have been happier.

I can finally live freely.

Am I really allowed to be this happy?

I’m so happy it almost feels like a sin.

Holding back her tears, Lilliana continued walking.

“Found them!”

After walking for several minutes, clusters of colorful berries came into view.

Red, purple, blue…

Each differed in shape and size.

She didn’t know their names, but Valer had told her she could pick whatever she found, so she diligently gathered them. She picked berries from the trees and gathered others poking out from the bushes.

“Mm?”

She’d picked about ten berries when an unfamiliar sound echoed through the forest.

Did I imagine it?

“Whine…”

No, I definitely heard it.

Lilliana immediately straightened up.

Somewhere nearby, she could hear the cry of a baby or a small animal.

“Where is it?”

Hugging the basket against her chest, she looked around, but there wasn’t another living creature in sight.

She took a few more steps.

Then the faint cry sounded again.

“Whine…”

In the middle of the forest, she spotted a small gray bundle trembling in the pristine snow.

Lilliana immediately hurried over. As she drew closer, she realized it wasn’t a bundle of fur at all, but a fluffy little puppy.

The puppy, no bigger than her forearm, trembled all over as it let out weak, pained whimpers.

The moment she saw the pale gray puppy, she saw herself in it.

Curled up tightly, enduring one painful day after another.

The memories of her past came rushing back, and her body moved before she could think.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Lilliana scooped the puppy into her arms.