Backstage Trap - Chapter 12

What had become of the other children who had once lived there? Every night, Lucia fell asleep praying that nothing terrible would happen before morning. Not once did she sleep without fear.

She was finally rescued only after someone anonymously reported the abuse. A social worker arrived at the Florianne household without warning.

“Over here! There’s a child in here!”

“We didn’t believe it when the kid reported it… My God…”

They found Lucia curled up on the cold kitchen floor without even a blanket.

A rat scurried past beside her. Dark bruises covered her small body.

They were the marks left behind whenever she failed to clean the house to her foster parents’ satisfaction or came home with too little money from shining shoes.

Once the evidence of abuse became undeniable, Lucia was immediately removed from the home.

She was transferred to the Lancaster family. They were refugees from Eldora who had fled to Terrinica after the war.

Vanessa Lancaster had entered the country with ease thanks to her considerable wealth. But being part of Eldora’s aristocracy did not mean the same status carried over into Terrinica.

“You still travel by horse-drawn carriage?”

“…It’s our family’s tradition. The Lancasters have always…”

“I suppose that’s what you’d expect from old nobility. People from Eldora really are different.”

“Oh, Countess. You’d do well to leave those outdated customs behind. Here in Terrinica, success is what matters most. Hahaha!”

“…”

Terrinica prided itself on freedom. It was just as quick to reject anyone who stood out.

People could smile and chat with you one day, then pretend not to know you the next simply because you were different.

“Just look at her. In this day and age, she’s still dressing like that. Does she think she’s some kind of princess? How arrogant.”

“Isn’t it strange how she keeps showing up at every party? She’s supposed to be a widow, isn’t she? She doesn’t look capable of earning a living. What if she’s after our husbands?”

A noblewoman who had fled alone without a husband received especially cold treatment.

Vanessa realized that if she wanted acceptance among Terrinica’s elite, she needed to display the kind of public charity they admired.

Around that time, word spread that the First Lady had taken a particular interest in the country’s foster care system. So Vanessa decided to take in a foster child.

That child was Lucia.

“U-Um… hello. I’m Ian…”

“There’s no need to become attached to her, Ian. She’s only staying here temporarily.”

Lucia’s existence served a single purpose.

She was little more than a prop Vanessa could point to while saying, “Our family has also opened our home to a disadvantaged child.”

The performance worked better than expected. Vanessa even secured a private conversation with the First Lady.

Soon, the very people who had once looked down on her began saying things like, “Perhaps we misjudged the Lancaster family.”

As long as that carefully crafted image remained useful, Lucia was allowed to stay. She understood her place. Her previous foster family had taught her exactly what it meant to read the room.

So she made herself invisible. She lived quietly, never drawing attention to herself.

It was the correct choice.

On the rare occasions she accidentally crossed paths with Mrs. Lancaster, the woman would simply click her tongue in irritation.

“Didn’t I tell the servants to keep you out of my sight?”

That was why…

Even now, as the heir’s fiancée stood threatened by an armed man, no one rushed forward to help her.

Marrying Ian had never truly changed Lucia’s standing within the household. Even in the middle of a crisis, the servants’ minds were busy calculating the safest course for themselves.

Besides, Lucia had never expected their help. She had always solved her own problems.

This time was no different. Her face pale, Lucia reached out and grasped Killian’s wrist.

“L-Let’s, let’s go outside and talk.”

This wasn’t something they could discuss in front of everyone. Even if he laughed in her face and refused, she intended to convince him somehow.

But the man who had stormed into the estate like a force of nature only moments ago suddenly fell silent the instant her fingers closed around his wrist.

He lowered his gaze to the small hand holding him. Then, without a single word of protest, he simply let her lead him away.