The mansion will be too busy to entertain guests, and there will be plenty of food and workers, so even a young girl like her could sneak out and no one would even notice. The only day when the Marquis was going to entertain visitors was that very specific day.
‘The day the Duke of Monica and his wife visits’
Orabi Jerome’s terrible joke that caused the incident started around night time so she just needed to get out before then.
Luckily, the day the Duke and d.u.c.h.ess of Monica visited was just a day after her 10th birthday, so a marriage proposal was possible. Without even giving it a second thought, Ariel planned to escape that day.
‘Parental consent.’
Her father, Lucilleon, did not want to let the public know about her. Not to mention, he also did not want to lose control of her magical powers.
Naturally, she could have agreed to the wedding.
‘If so, then my marriage partner should be someone more powerful than my father.’
In order to get Ariel out of the Marquis’s hands, her marriage partner must be someone who had a higher position than the Duke. Among them, they had to decide whom they would marry by contract.
Ariel, who is covered in dust, stood at the corner of the attic, and reached out to one of the books. They didn’t give her any s.p.a.ce for food, but the genealogy of each family was taking up the s.p.a.ce of the whole attic.
Still, she was lucky to enough to have access to a genealogy. As she opened the book, dust rose and filled the dark room.
“Cough, cough.”
Ariel coughed and began reading it. In the empire, there was one Grand Duke and three Dukes. Ariel began to trace the family line with her small finger.
‘Unmarried man, unmarried man….’
Ariel’s face darkened as she read the genealogy out loud.
Even when there were enough descendants of the three Dukes there was no man of similar age to marry Ariel.
The sons of the old Duke were all married or was out of the country, and his grandchildren were even too young to be married.
My eyes got bitter. Should I remain in the hands of the Marquis? Even though I know I’ll get beaten? Or do I have to use magic to attack with this weak body and risk my life to get away from our house?
With the magic present in Ariel, her father could have overpowered all the other n.o.bles.
Of course, with this body, I’m sure I’ll fall short even for just a few seconds.
If she can’t develop her own magic abilities and fail to even escape, the Marquis will surely not let Ariel off. But if she knew how to do a proper attack using her magic…
‘They would all die in my hands.’
Ariel’s mastery of attack was not suitable. After all, there was no other way but to kill them. Then all that would remain would be a small little girl who became a murderer at the age of nine.
‘No, you can’t’
Unlike in the past, Ariel no longer wanted the affection of her father and Jerome, but she did not want to kill either of them.
I just want to get away from this cruel and frightening abuse. In addition, this time, he would have a chance to die because his body couldn’t hold out due to my magic.
She didn’t want to die in vain again. A thick book flowed down from Ariel’s lap and she casually picked it up and read the t.i.tle.
[La Carte Family]
“La Carte.”
Mumbling a little she said, “The past has pa.s.sed by in a flash.”
Previously, she had done what she did without knowing it was the residence of the Grand Duke La Carte, and Ariel had killed all the knights present during that eventful day.
And that guy I’ll never forget…
Ariel read the genealogy, feeling her heart sink. Unlike the genealogy of the other families who had many branches, the Grand Duke’s was almost straight. Now, looking at the bottom….
Ah.
“… there it is.”
There was an unmarried man that was a descendent of the Grand Duke.
The son of Elwin La Ratchet.
[Lucian Desmond Le Ratchet]
Looking at the genealogy, he was 4 years older than her.
‘It’s possible that a man can marry at 12 years of age. “
Then when the sun would change and Ariel would finally become 10 years old, both are definitely old enough to marry.
And since the two are still underage, divorce was still possible when they became adults.
Instead of allowing a marriage to happen at a very young age, the Emperor gave everyone the opportunity to decide once more when the couple involved have turned into an adult.
If they want to continue on with their marriage, they will have to renew their marriage vows, but if they want to annul their marriage, the couple can divorce without any procedure.
In a n.o.ble family, it is normal to have contract marriages to give benefit for both families, and then they would divorce as soon as they turn into adults.
‘I found it.’
Ariel’s heart was filled with hope.
I’ve found someone who could marry me.
Unfortunately, it was from the genealogy on the La Carte Family.
‘But, how would I meet with the Grand Duke’s Son?’
This was a serious problem.
Ariel did not know much about the Aristocratic Society since she spent 17 years of her life in the attic, but she knew meeting with such a man would not be an easy task.
Even if it’s in vain, it would still be better.
Then Ariel thought of the black haired man she met during that time. She didn’t know who it was, but she a.s.sumed it was probably one of the knights.
The voice she heard before she died ‘I’ll help you’.
He said to Ariel that he would help. Despite the fact that he already knew what she was capable of and how hideous she looked. Above everything else, he did not even know a single thing about her.
“If I go into town….will I be able to see that person?”
When she thought of it that way, she did not need to plan anymore.
Ariel bit her small lips.
‘I’ll use whatever I have to get out of here and go to town.’
Ariel thought of a plan and went over it until the day before she was going to run away.
She had spent the year memorizing every detail of the house. She even had memorized when the maids would wake up and did what first, and what door the servants came and left.
The Marquis’ maid, and the housemaids would often rest on the stairs next to the attic without the butler knowing. Ariel had heard everything that the maids were talking about when they took their break.
”Because she’s just a child who isn’t treated like one, it wouldn’t matter if she heard what we said.”
Ariel used every information she obtained to make an escape route. Her only problem was how she was going to get out of the attic. Because the attic door was tightly locked, she wouldn’t be able to get out if she won’t use her magic.
“But I am not good at moving magic,”
Ariel felt how incompetent she was in the past. She was powerful but, she did not learn any magic to protect her body nor how to manipulate objects.
The magician ‘He’ always did the manipulating magic and let Ariel settled into battle with her offense magic.
The fourteen year old Ariel somehow did not think that was weird. Because she thought it was better than putting up with the Marquis in the h.e.l.l like place she called home.
The young and naive to the outside world, Ariel, did whatever ‘he’ told her to do even if it was bad. She didn’t know that it was to make sure she won’t be able to learn how to protect herself.
‘I’ll do it even if I make mistakes.’
I’ll do it.
Because this has to change.
Before this, Ariel did not try the things she couldn’t do.
She was afraid of failing.
She feared that If she failed, everyone would think badly of her.
She feared that they’d laugh and ignore her like Orabi Jerome or hit Ariel like her father did.
So, she only did the things she was good at.
She hated the things she couldn’t do and avoided it.
‘He’ had told her that his other magicians already knew how to attack using magic and Ariel believed him and learned a different type of magic instead.
The truth was that Ariel was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to do anything good.
‘Now, I don’t even have anywhere else to escape to.’
So Ariel had decided to try everything.
‘If it doesn’t work I’ll try again, and if it doesn’t work after that I’ll try again and again.’
If it doesn’t work even then I’ll try once more. This small body of hers is not able to take in mana properly but if she does not try to escape this place, her body would get damaged even more.
I only need to succeed one out of all the experiments.
‘I’ll be able to get out’
If I do escape this place the Grand Duke’s Place won’t be that far.
The estate of the Grand Duke is far from the capital, but their mansion is in the capital, just like the Marquis’ mansion.
And then after that…..
I haven’t thought of a plan to get inside after I got out of the mansion.
‘Let’s think about it then.’
She wrapped her body in a rough blanket to endure the cold. Ariel, exhausted by the cold, gazed out of the window with a tearful eye. The full moon looked down on her as if she was as little as a cold nail.
Ah, come to think about it…
‘Today’s my birthday.’
Ariel forgot about her own birthday because she was too focused on escaping. She whispered to herself,
“Happy birthday…happy birthday….”
Her small heart throbbed.
I am now 10 years old.
Mom, Ariela Lucilleon is 10 years old.
This was her second time to have her 10th birthday, but this one has come a long way for her. For Ariel, 10 was a miracle number.
The only candle of hope that will get me out of here.
Ariel, who’s eyes were full of moonlight instead of birthday candles, closed her eyes.
Ten candles were in front of her and she gathered her cold, twisted hands.
I have a wish. I made a wish on every birthday but…. I never made a wish until I was 10 years old. I hope you’ll listen to it this time.
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‘I want to live differently than my past life.’
“Huh.”
Ariel blew the imagery candles in her head and blew at the wind and the little girl soon put herself into deep slumber.
So, the life of Ariel, a 10 year old girl, began to change.