“…Hey!”

“…Please wake up!”

“Hmm…” Eve said.

“Let me sleep a little more. Wake me up after five minutes.”

Evangeline turned over to her side. Her hand wandered to where the blanket was. That’s weird. Where’s the blanket?

“Miss! Wake up, please!”

Wait. The bed was too cold and the mattress was too hard to be even called a mattress. Am I… sleeping on the floor?

Wondering that, she managed to open her eyes. Her eyes that were barely opened, saw a human-shaped figure holding onto her and crying.

“…Who are you?”

“Oh, my god! You’re finally awake! Thank god!”

The unknown person burst into tears.

“Waaah, I thought… you died… wuuuu…”

“Uhh, excuse me?”

Evangeline began rolling her half-asleep head to deal with this sudden situation.

***

“So, in summary, we were kidnapped on the Sixth Street and now we’re trapped here?”

“Yes!” Margaret replied, while holding onto Evangeline’s handkerchief.

“And, in the midst of this, you found me kidnapped and fainted.”

Margaret started nodding. Her eyes turned red, while recalling the fear she felt during that time.

“I see.”

Evangeline answered calmly, which was quite unbelievable for a girl who’s been kidnapped with her hands tied up.

“I’m getting married next month, so I can’t die here!” Margaret said while crying.

“Miss. Please, calm down.”

“I have been stuck here for an entire day!”

“Oh.” Evangeline sighed. Lying on her side while using her head as a pillow, she looked up at Margaret, who was sniffing. Although she wanted to comfort her, she was unable to do so, since her hands and feet were currently tied up.

Evangeline stretched out her right foot in a noble manner. Margaret stared at the shoe, which was dangled before her eyes.

“What… are you doing?”

“I’m sorry, but I’d like to ask you for a favor. If you take a closer look at the soles of my shoe, you’ll see a small knife there. If you don’t mind, could you please take it out for me?”

“Your Royal Highness, why do you have a knife hidden under your shoe…?”

“Just call me ‘My Lady’. Also, this is just an insurance since you’ll never know what might end up happening to your life.”

Evangeline couldn’t stand waiting anymore. She wanted to be prepared for whatever was waiting for her. She raised her shoe elegantly.

From under the soles of Evangeline’s shoe, Margaret took out a thin dagger, which was the same size as her three fingers, and cut the rope around her wrist.

With the rope finally gone, Margaret staggered to her feet. While turning her chubby body, she began to look around.

Rubbing her free wrists, she looked up at Evangeline with wonder. Unlike her, who was distracted by anxiety, Evangeline remained calm.

‘Is she used to this?’ A rude question rose up to her throat.

“My Lady, you’re so calm…”

“There’s no reason to be anxious. Someone will definitely come to rescue us.”

Evangeline said, with a firm tone, as if she was telling the obvious.

After freeing her wrist from the rope, Evangeline made a lap around the warehouse. In this dirty, old, worn out warehouse, the only source of the shining light was the sunlight, which came through a window the size of a palm.

Although it wasn’t much help, she was able to estimate what time it was.

She noticed the steady gaze on her, and turned her head around.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I was wondering why you sounded so sure…”  Margaret Von Saxen said, while crying with an uneasy face.

Passing her handkerchief to Margaret, Evangeline started speaking.

“Margaret, why do you think we’ve been kidnapped here?”

“Well…?”

“Isn’t it funny that they dared to kidnap me when they should be aware of the rash act they subjected towards the Grand Duke, who’s a person with a private army. Aren’t they aware of the consequences if they got caught? You do know the rumors about my brother, right?”

“The rumors… state that… he’s a cruel… bloodthirsty killer… who drinks the blood of his enemies…”

Margaret answered with frankness while being wary of her words.

The rumors of her brother’s notoriousness was greeted with a grin on her face. She couldn’t help smiling. Although she tried to hold back, she just couldn’t help laughing.

“I’m sorry if I was being rude. You just asked me about the rumors, so I said what I heard!”

“No, it’s fine.” Said Evangeline, while smiling.

Seeing how Evangeline didn’t deny anything, Margaret arbitrarily guessed the meaning behind Evangeline’s words.

“No way…”

“If the person is willing to offend such a strong person like the Grand Duke, then isn’t he more of a villain than the Duke. Then, that means-“

“No. Not that, silly.”

“Then?”

“I’m talking about the reason I was kidnapped here.” Evangeline spoke seriously.

“It’s because my brother is the male lead.”

“What?”

Margaret was bewildered with confusion. This conversation… Where is it even going?

***

“Uhm…”

While Margaret was wondering about what to say, Evangeline, who was lost in her own world, suddenly looked up.

“Wait a minute. What did I just say?”

“You said… the Grand Duke is… the male lead…” said Margaret with a confused look on her face.

“Oh, is that so.”

Margaret looked at Evangeline with anticipation, expecting an answer for this confusing conversation.

“In fact, the world we are living in is a fictional novel, where Damien is the male lead and I’m the male lead’s sister.”

Although she tried to explain it to Margaret, it only confused her more.

“Ah…” Margaret groaned.

The conversation gradually turned into a labyrinth.

It would have been quite rude to argue with the lady’s words, but Margaret took the liberty for asking,

“Uhm, I can’t understand what My Lady is trying to say. But, what does it have to do with our abduction…?”

Without taking Margaret’s words in mind, Evangeline continued where she left.

“So, I was saying that I used to read romance novels. You know about them, right?”

“A little bit…”

“These types of novels require scenarios like this, using certain events to connect the male protagonist and the female protagonist to have something worthwhile happen.”

Evangeline spoke with a serious tone. Which led Margaret to accept the premise that ‘Damien = the male lead”. Although she was still confused, she believed that there’s no way The Lady would blabber nonsense. It must have a deeper meaning…

“Alright…”

Evangeline didn’t speak and thought something for a moment. Then, she began stacking up the old boxes against the wall with the window.

A moment later, she brought wooden boards of similar thicknesses and stacked more boxes. Margaret who was looking that way, also hurried to help Evangeline.

When the shape of the stairs was made, Evangeline sat on it and continued where she left.

“Think about it, Miss Saxen. Once the male lead gets tired of spending every single day with monsters, he would have to deal with some unusual incidents sometimes, right? For example, saving a kidnapped person.”

Margaret who was carrying a wooden board, stammered and replied,

“Yes, yes?”

“It’s no coincidence that my brother stays in the capital and we’ve been kidnapped. It’s a natural flow, sooner or later, my brother, the main protagonist, will come to save us.”

“He must be in a rush.”

Margaret nodded her head wistfully.

“It’s already been a day. So, it won’t be long before he understands the situation. He’ll be here soon.”

“Oh, yes.”

‘You mean, there is a series of invisible events that led to our kidnapping and allows him to save us?’ Margaret thought.

Margaret, who became sullen, remained quiet. Since she didn’t know what to say anymore.

After struggling for about 10 minutes, they piled a stair made up of shabby boxes against the wall with the window.

Evangeline climbed up through the boxes and stayed close to the window.

When she looked outside, she saw that the sun was slowly going down. Only a few collapsed streetlights were visible on the streets during the day. She was able to see the belltower of the downtown from there, but it was too far.

‘If you scream for help, you’ll only irritate the kidnapper.’

Evangeline readily abandoned plan A.

“Miss?”

“Please speak.”

In the meantime, Margaret who was finally able to catch up with the flow of their previous conversation, asked a question, “But isn’t there any other way? Does it really need to be you, the Duke’s sister?”

“If you were to consider other solutions, you can use the other characters. But, since I’m the main character’s sister, I’m the perfect person to be used in the plot.”

Things are not as simple as they seem. Evangeline began to seriously explain the ‘butterfly effect of the main character’s sister’s abduction’.