I Became the Substitute for the Runaway Heroine - Chapter 53

“Cough, cough… My lord…”

Jacques threw off the blanket draped over him and spoke urgently to Caesar.

“L-Lady Odette told me to take the injured maid out first… and then she went down into the basement.”

The woman in Jacques’s arms was dressed in a maid’s uniform.

‘Ah… no, no!’

At the thought of Odette being trapped in the burning basement, Caesar’s world came to a halt.

In the blink of an eye, he was back in Harak Village, facing Heravrua.

“Caesar, aren’t you curious about your destiny? Look—see the child sleeping there? That is your fate. At the end of your trials, Odette awaits you. Please, in this life… do not choose revenge.”

High Saintess… why did you lie to me?

You said Odette would be waiting at the end of my trials.

If that were true, then when Odette opened the door and walked toward me—that should have been the end.

Without hesitation, Caesar charged toward the roaring flames, as though throwing himself into death.

“My lord, it’s too dangerous! Going in now is suicide!”

“Then I’ll die.”

“…What?”

Odette—the hope he had finally found at the end of endless trials.

Losing her now… death would be preferable.

‘What was that? Who’s calling me?’

Odette couldn’t ignore the voice calling out to her so desperately, and so she stepped onto the stairs leading into the basement.

“Help me… I’m trapped.”

It wasn’t something she heard with her ears—the voice echoed inside her mind.

“Where are you?”

The basement was as large as a mansion, filled with countless rooms.

She had no time to open them all.

Scorching heat radiated from the ceiling.

It seemed the entire first floor had already been swallowed by flames.

Thankfully, the maid she had saved had escaped and shown her the emergency exit leading outside.

The door was locked from the outside, but the maid had promised to circle around and open it.

Moving toward the emergency passage, Odette raised her voice.

“Please, answer me! The fire will reach this place any second!”

As if in response, a door creaked open at the end of the corridor.

“Help me… I’m trapped.”

The desperate voice came from within.

Odette swallowed hard and continued forward.

“O-Oh no…”

A large glass coffin stood before her, and through the haze of smoke, the silhouette of a woman lay still inside.

“Andrea?”

Black hair, porcelain skin, crimson lips—she looked exactly like Caesar.

“A-Andrea… you were here…”

Odette thought Andrea might awaken if she shook her shoulders, but the woman wasn’t breathing.

Eric had preserved her long-deceased body with dark magic.

“You said it would hurt if I touched you… because I have divine power.”

Odette clenched and unclenched her trembling hands, muttering to herself.

She couldn’t leave Andrea’s body to burn in the flames, but neither could she touch it carelessly.

“Andrea… I wish I could bring help, but I can’t. Not now.”

Clink. The key inserted into the glass coffin fell to the floor.

Cre-eak. A tiny gap appeared in the lid.

Perhaps her divine breath had seeped through the opening, because Andrea’s body began to collapse—like a sandcastle eroding away.

Only then did Odette understand why Andrea’s soul had called her here.

‘She must have wanted me to break the dark magic with my divine power.’

In an instant, Andrea’s body turned to white ash and vanished.

Something sparkled in the empty coffin.

A necklace with a locket, and a ring.

Odette grasped them tightly in both hands and left the room—only to find that the flames had already consumed the entire basement.

“It’s so hot…”

The maid had promised to unlock the emergency door, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Ugh! Someone… please, someone help me!”

As she cried out with all her might, a transparent barrier formed around her.

Her divine power surged, pushing back the flames before they could touch her.

Even her feet lifted slightly off the ground, as if she were standing in midair.

Her power wasn’t only offensive—it could protect her as well.

“Ah!”

But the relief was fleeting.

Flames raged in every direction.

Crack! With a deafening sound, the building lurched—tilting dangerously.

The ceiling was collapsing.

I’m going to die!

Terrified, Odette instinctively curled into herself—

And then, through the flames, Caesar burst in and swept her into his arms.

“Odette.”

Why are you here?

You said you’d lock me away somewhere the sunlight couldn’t reach.

She looked at him with eyes full of resentment—and thud! Caesar’s body shuddered violently.

Shielding her from the raging flames, he bore part of the burning ceiling on his back, cradling her tightly in his arms so not even a flicker of fire could touch her.

“Odette.”

“……”

“I’m sorry.”

This man… he always does this.

As her consciousness slipped away, Odette mustered all her strength to push against Caesar’s chest.

“Did I ever tell you? That the first time I met you… was a long time ago?”

Odette was deep in a sweet, peaceful sleep.

It felt like she could sleep forever—but someone kept whispering softly into her ear.

“You were seven, and you were fast asleep, just like now. You had no idea I was staring at you.”

When she was seven, Odette had lived with her mother in a cabin deep in the mountains.

The only visitors back then were hunters.

Were you… one of those hunters?

Puzzled, Odette focused intently on the voice.

“I wanted to see you again, but then… my father died. I had to become head of the family. From that point on, nothing was under my control.”

Head of the family? So you’re a nobleman?

“I wondered how you were growing up… if you were doing well. But I knew you weren’t. People like you and me—we were destined for trials. That’s our fate.”

Whoever this was, he was saying the strangest things.

Assuming her life had been full of suffering? How ridiculous.

Yes, she had lived in a cabin with her mother—but those days had been happy.

Even after becoming an orphan and working as a maid, life with Maxcalion and Leorahill had brought her daily joy.

Her life had only truly turned miserable after Amelia ran away.

Wait a second!

She suddenly recalled the man who had thrust her into an even more absurd situation than posing as Amelia’s stand-in.

Caesar Maes!

The lunatic who insisted she become his ally in revenge—only to lock her in a room when it mattered most, refusing to trust her.

Is this voice… yours?

Odette strained to listen, waiting for the man to speak again.

“Wake up, Odette. Tomorrow is the engagement. You need to marry me and take down the villains—the ones who brought you all that pain.”

Of course—it was Caesar’s voice.

See? There’s no chance I’m taking your side now.

If he’d only stopped the annex fire, she could have brought Andrea safely to the family grave.

They could’ve ended it by framing the Count for kidnapping and murder—justice served, revenge complete.

“Odette, please wake up. Why won’t you regain consciousness?”

Hearing his pleading only made her want to sink deeper into sleep.

“Odette, I was wrong.”

If you truly understand your mistake, let me go—now.

“Please… come back to me. Please…”

You’re insane.

In the end, you just can’t let me go, can you?

Odette dove deeper, beneath the surface of consciousness.

She no longer wanted to be chased, or to live in fear.

She didn’t want to be bound by anyone anymore.

Maybe it’s better to sleep forever.

If she stayed like this, maybe—just maybe—she’d meet her mother again.

Thinking of her mother’s warm embrace, she felt as though her whole body was sinking into a soothing pool of warmth.

Like a child returning to her mother’s womb.

Odette drifted in the depths of slumber.

“Odette, please! Open your eyes!”

Caesar’s desperate voice faded far, far into the distance.

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