Chapter 2

I lay on a bed, staring at the ceiling, in a room provided to me by the servants who work in this remote mansion.

How long has it been since I've been doing this—maybe a few days at least or a week at most?

“Haa”

Taking a deep sigh, I continued staring up at the ceiling. What should I do?

The servants who were taking care of me were gradually coming to see me less and less, partly because I didn’t want to leave my room and I was just ignoring them when they tried to communicate with me.

The chances of a noble among the old nobility faction being born without magic are incredibly rare, only happening a handful of times, with the last one happening over a hundred years ago.

My family probably has about a month or two left to stall from announcing that I have no magic.

I guess the reason my father didn’t just get rid of me outright is because a lot of people have their eyes on me, even the royal family. To them, I was a gem among the next generation of aristocrats, seeing me as highly valuable to have, which is why I was the fiancee of the 3rd prince.

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised that they already know that I have no magic.

What should I do? I've been asking the same question again and again for the last few days.

There is nothing left for me. Once everything had settled, I’d probably be married off to the son of some random family since my blood is still valuable to families outside of the old nobility faction. I doubt he would not care who I’d end up with, and it would probably be an easy way to get rid of me.

Suddenly, an idea sprang up in my mind as I was mulling over what to do.

There was no point in being in this family; I'd just run away since I wouldn’t benefit from being in this family anymore.

The last town I passed, riding the carriage to get here, was the town of Farsbarow. If I remember correctly, it was a beginner-friendly adventurering town, which is about a day's carriage ride away from here.

I can’t really escape right now; it would be a bad idea just to run away. My clothes are not proper attire for traveling, and I have nothing to my name. If I'd run away right now, I probably would get myself killed, get lost, or be found and brag back by a search party sent to find me.

So then, I’m going to have to make a plan for my escape and look around the mansion for things that could help me.

I waited till night, when most of the servants were asleep, to roam around and get a layout of this manor.

10 minutes into roaming around, I heard two pairs of footsteps around a corner. I quietly opened a door to a room on my right as fast and quietly as I could to hide from the pair of footsteps. Less than a minute later, I heard two female voices chatting, probably maids working the night shift.

“Thought I heard something.”

“Maybe you're just hearing things.”

“Sigh. I really hate that it’s our turn to do the night shift; I just want to go to bed already. Can’t they hire more servants so we don’t have to do this?”

“I doubt anyone would want to work in a place like this; we better hurry and finish our chores for tonight."

As they were walking off, I heard them begin talking about me.

“Oh, have you heard about Lady Rita?”

“Ya, who hasn't?”

“I wonder what happened to her and why they just dropped her here.”

“Who knows”

The two maids continue on their way, and I sigh in relief at the maids not finding me.

Interesting; they gave me some useful information. This place is understaffed, which will make it easier to sneak around.

I think I should follow them to get an idea of where to go for their night shift.

“Hey, do you feel like we are being watched?”

Right now, I was standing outside the kitchen, poking my head inside to watch the two maids clean the kitchen.

Thankfully, my ability to spy on people and sneak around has only gotten somewhat rusty. I never thought learning it in my past life would be useful until now.

“I can feel it too.”

“This is really creepy.”

Then one of them turned her head in my direction as I was poking my head in the room.

“Gagh!!”

She screams when she sees my face. I guess it’s because I look like a mess. My hair is disheveled, and I haven’t eaten much in the last few days, so my cheeks have sunken. I kind of look like a ghost at a glance.

I should go back to my room right now before her screaming gets the attention of the servants or the guards.

I ran to my room as unnoticeably as I could. Lying on my bed, I tried calming down my heart rate from all the running and acting how I usually act because, not one minute later, a guard barged into my room and kneeled.

“My apologies, Lady Rita, for barging in; it seems that an intruder has entered the building.”

I didn’t reply, but just glanced at him and stared back at the ceiling, blankly acting as normally as I could when I got here.

“I’ll be guarding you for the time being, and I do apologize for the disturbance.”

He left, and I heard him standing next to my door outside. I guess this will last a few days until everything calms down.

Three days later, everything calmed down, and I could finally explore the mansion again.

Sneaking around the mansion again, I’d explore the gates, garden, storage rooms, servants' quarters, pantry, and armory. Thankfully, nobody noticed me like last time, and I managed to get myself a knife from the armory since all the other weapons would be more easily noticed if they were to disappear. Additionally, I’d gotten myself an unused backpack from the storage room and some coins.

This is today's haul for now; now I need a place to hide it. Looking around the room, I looked to find a good place to hide until my eyes landed on a drawer. Maybe I should hide my things on the walls and have the drawer cover the hole.

I moved the drawer away with all my strength because it was heavy and I’m still a child. Then I use my knife to hatch out a hole in the wall. When I was done, I put all my stuff inside and moved the drawer back in place.

This is not enough to run away with, but it is a start.

Two weeks have gone by since I was sent to this mansion. Rumors have already circulated among the nobility that I have no magical powers; surprisingly, they even reached here.

I was sneaking around to my room in the middle of the night like every night, carrying some stuff in my arms and being as quiet as possible to not get any attention from the servants or guards.

I reached my room, opening and immediately shutting the door without making too much noise. Then I walked to a drawer and pushed it to the side to reveal the hole in the wall I made.

Throwing it on a steadily growing pile of stuff, I push back the drawer to hide the hole with a sense of accomplishment.

With that, I have gotten everything I need to run away. It took longer than expected because some of the stuff was kind of hard to find, like a map or some clothes that could fit me.

The servants who work in this mansion have been actively trying to avoid me lately. I've been hearing them say the mansion is haunted since I showed up because of them hearing mysterious footsteps in the middle of the night, things randomly going missing, having the feeling of being watched or seeing a small figure appearing in the dark.

Living in such a remote area, people tend to be more superstitious; everyone now thinks I’m cursed and will bring extremely bad luck if I’m near them.

The servants are refusing to enter my room and be near me, only leaving food and some clean clothes to wear outside my room.

I waited till it was an hour before the crack of dawn because today is the day I escape and run away to begin living my new life as an adventurer.

Once I saw the hand on the clock in my room turned to 4 in the morning, I took my stuff out of the hole that was behind the drawer, pulled it out, and changed into some pants, a shirt, and a traveler's cloak. Then a belt that held my knife, a flask of water, and a pouch of rations.

Finally, I put on a backpack that holds other important stuff like a map, some money, and most important of all, the jewelry that I wore when I was sent here. I’m planning to sell them if I need the extra money; they will sell at a high price.

Leaving my room and sneaking out of the mansion, I made sure I didn’t run into any of the servants working at night since I had already memorized everyone's shifts.

When I was at the front gate, the gate guards were easy to sneak past since they were always sleeping on the job.

Honestly, I’m surprised at how they even manage to not get found out.

Slowly opening the gate to not wake them up, I exited the gate and looked back at the mansion once I was somewhat far away.

I probably had a few days at max till one of the servants noticed I was missing, so I better start walking.

I’d walk away from the mansion, not looking back.