I Thought I Was the Real One

Though I was raised as the daughter of a noble count’s family, it turns out I had been switched with a maid’s daughter when I was kidnapped.

Seeing how the true daughter, Sienna, grew up suffering as a maid, all the family’s anger was directed at me.

"I’m holding back the order to drag you out like a dog and throw you into the rain."

My brother’s words stabbed into me like a knife.

"Why should I help you? What would I gain from helping you?"

After I was driven out of the family, my friends turned their backs on me, and the fiancé I loved mocked me.

Then one person approached me: Aiden Calypso, a war hero born a lowly slave.

Now that he had just become a noble, he proposed that I become his etiquette tutor because he needed a teacher for high society manners.

"30 gold. At this salary, I’ll be able to save more than enough to leave this house."

With nowhere else to go, I became his tutor. Using the wages I saved bit by bit, I started a business and made it on my own.

And then I uncovered proof that I really was the true daughter. The ones who abandoned me came to me and begged.

"My child, my daughter. I’m sorry. Please come back home."

How ridiculous. When I said I was the real one, they ignored me.

"It’s too late to apologize now. Regret is yours to bear."

* * *

"If you’re tired, lean on me. I may not be a tree with good blood, but I can be the bushes that block the wind and rain."

My disciple, Aiden Calypso, smiled as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. His smile was light, but the look in his eyes was intensely heated.

Only then did I realize it all.

That asking me to be his tutor had all been an excuse. From the very beginning, he had wanted me.