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[Episode 1] – Elise

As a child, Elise was an active and adventurous child.

Her mother was sick, and her father was always by her side, so he didn’t pay any attention to Elise, but Elise was still happy.

Elise’s parents were commoners, but thanks to her father’s business acumen, they had wealth comparable to that of nobles. They had a large mansion, numerous maids, and a nanny who took care of her in place of her parents.

That’s why Elise wasn’t lonely when she was young. When she was bored, she would run around with her maid or nanny, and just explore the spacious mansion, and she wouldn’t even realize how the day passed.

With her beautiful blond hair that seemed to have been woven with gold thread from her mother and her blue eyes like the ocean from her father, Elise had the cute nose, pink lips, and soft cheeks typical of a child and was loved by all the maids and servants in the mansion.

The adults around Elise, who knew that she was growing up without much attention from her parents, tried their best to raise her with as much love and attention as possible.

In this way, Elise grew up filling the void of her parents’ love with the love of her nanny and maids, and was able to grow up to be bright rather than dark.

That day was the same. Elise, who had grown up receiving love and affection, was running around the mansion with an innocent smile and was busy looking for her new ‘secret base’.

Sometimes in the corner of the stable, sometimes in the pantry of the kitchen, Elise’s hobby was to find her own ‘secret base’.

Elise, who had no peers around her, learned how to play alone. When Elise hid in the secret base, the maids started looking for her. As a child, Elise enjoyed playing like that.

Among them, the place with the most ‘secret bases’ was the maids’ quarters. It was not far from Elise’s room, and the maids who took care of Elise would often invite Elise to the quarters to play together, so Elise could freely move around the maids’ and maid’s quarters.

Elise began to explore the accommodations again in search of a new secret base. Where should I go today? Where should I hide today? Elise, whose mind was filled with such thoughts, found a room with an open door.

It was clearly the maid’s room. It looked exactly like the maids’ rooms that she had often visited. Two beds, a large closet, and an unadorned room made of brick and wood. Elise couldn’t hide her disappointment at seeing the maid’s room, which was no different.

As she was about to leave the room to look around and find the ‘secret base’, she heard footsteps approaching from afar. Elise, who had not yet found the secret base and was unable to hide, began to look around in confusion to find a place to hide.

At that moment, Elise caught sight of a slightly worn-out wardrobe. It was a large wardrobe, just the right size for her to fit into. Since she had sometimes hidden in wardrobes, Elise quickly opened the wardrobe door and hid inside.

Fortunately, it was just a closet full of dust, as if it were unused. There were no clothes. The only thing that was unsettling was that there was a very small ‘hole’ in the closet door, which made Elise feel uneasy.

I tried covering it with my hands and clothes to see if I could stop it, but it was no use. As I was fidgeting like that, the sound of footsteps grew closer and closer, entering the room where Elise was.

When she looked outside through the hole, she saw two maids who often played with her. She covered her mouth and hid in the closet to avoid being caught, but Elise heard a sound outside the closet that she had never heard before.

The sound of water hitting water, and what sounded like someone was groaning, made Elise check outside through the ‘hole’ to see if the maids were sick.

If the maid was sick, she had to take her to a doctor right away. Someone was groaning, and it sounded like her mother was groaning, so Elise had to check.

“Ugh…Haat..!”

When Elise looked outside through the hole in the closet, she doubted her eyes. Two maids were hugging each other and kissing each other. Elise knew that was called a ‘kiss’.

However, Elise noticed that this was a completely different action from the ‘kisses’ that the maids often gave her.

It seemed as if another maid was harassing the moaning maid, but even young Elise could tell that it wasn’t the case, as the maid’s face upon receiving the ‘kiss’ was ecstatic.

One pushed the other on the bed and they started playing around, tangling with each other. While they were groping each other wildly, the maids’ clothes were quickly taken off and they continued to play naked without stopping.

“Haha..! Sister…Okay, wait a minute…gently…!”

“Good but annoying…”

The hole was too small to see what the two were doing. Since she couldn’t get out in that atmosphere, Elise could only quietly watch the two’s actions through the small hole.

As word got louder about the maid’s good looks, screams of pain began to be heard.

It was so different from the sounds her mother made when she was in pain. Elise realized that even though she said no, her feelings were actually filled with love.

Little Elise had no idea what that act was, but…

Elise felt her heart pounding as she looked at the sight.

After that, Elise continued to sneak into their quarters.

It was a ‘secret base’ that was always made because she wanted to be caught, but Elise thought that she didn’t want to be caught here. Because every time she visited the secret base once, twice, or many times, she could continue to catch a glimpse of their actions.

*

After my mother passed away, the atmosphere in the mansion became very dark. My father was always drunk and crying. After my mother passed away, my father quit his business as if the world had ended.

As she squandered her fortune, the maids in the mansion had no choice but to leave Elise’s side. As she watched the maids slowly leave her side one by one, Elise felt ‘loneliness’ for the first time.

With even the last remaining nanny gone, Elise was truly alone and began to look for her father in search of his empty affection. However, her father did not look at her.

His father shouted at him to never show his face again, saying it reminded him of his dead mother.

As the years passed, Elise lived in seclusion in the mansion, working for the maids she had learned over their shoulders, and cooking for herself with the little money she had left.

Then one day, my father brought his stepmother and her two daughters.

It was then that she realized that her father had used his assets to win the heart of a woman called his stepmother. Still, Elise did not reprimand her father.

Because he also wanted to be loved, and he thought that he would have acted like his father to get that.

My stepmother was such a beautiful person that I thought that way.

The stepmother’s black hair, like the night sky, caught the light of the chandelier and sparkled like stars.

How beautiful her eyes were, the stepmother’s red pupils were surrounded by thick eyelashes, as if painted on a painting.

My stepmother looked at me and smiled with eyes as beautiful as crescent moons. I was delighted to hear that I would become a new family member with such a beautiful mother.

Although it was so different from Elise’s blonde hair and blue eyes, the words “new family” were such happy words to Elise, who longed for affection.

After my first meeting with my stepmother, I was unable to say anything when my father asked me if I still missed my real mother.

Elise had never felt affection from anyone who was her biological mother. Not even from her biological father who asked her this question.

So after my father and stepmother’s wedding, my stepmother came to live in this mansion, and we started living a new life as a ‘real’ family.

Eating a meal with her family, the maids starting to return, Elise seeing her father smiling so brightly for the first time in her life.

The title of stepmother quickly changed to mother.

My mother took care of me like her own daughter.

The new sisters were a bit mischievous, but I still liked them. The new sisters knew a lot of things I didn’t, so I often got caught by my mother for playing pranks.

I was happy. So happy that I didn’t want this relationship to end.

However, just as happiness comes with unhappiness, so too did great unhappiness come.

Six months after my father married my stepmother, he died in a carriage accident.

Although he was saddened by his father’s sudden death, he thought it was okay because he had his mother. He had no doubt that his mother would never abandon him.

However, after her father passed away, her mother changed. The mansion began to become cold again, the maids were kicked out again, and the mansion became as cold as it was when her real mother passed away.

With fewer people in the house, the maid’s work eventually became Elise’s job. She cooked, did laundry, and cleaned three times as much as when she worked alone.

Sometimes, her sisters would secretly help her with her work, but after their mother caught them and scolded them, they stopped helping Elise.

But it was okay. Surely, I thought my mother was lost in her grief over losing her father. I couldn’t understand why she was suddenly looking at me with disgust… but it was okay.

Because being with her ‘family’ was more important to Elise, she started doing chores around the mansion, as if begging them not to abandon her.

Another half year passed like that, and then my mother suddenly became very ill. Just like when my own mother was sick, she vomited blood and her body felt hot as if it was a fireball.

I called a doctor, but they just shook their heads and said they didn’t know.

He left the place, leaving only painkillers to suppress the mother’s pain. Several doctors visited, but they all said the same thing.

‘Unknown fever’.

Elise held her mother’s hand as she groaned in pain and prayed.

Please, please don’t get sick. Don’t abandon me. You can abuse and persecute me, but just stay by my side. Elise prayed, holding her mother’s hand in her pleading.

And… did God answer my prayers?

“…Where is this..?”

“Mother..? Mother? Are you awake..?”

“…Mother..?”

The next day, when my mother regained consciousness from her fever, she looked like a different person.

Although she was still half-asleep and not fully conscious, Elise could tell.

The venom in her mother’s eyes disappeared, and they became the same eyes she had when she loved her half a year ago.

Elise could tell.