"Alice, get off that tree! It's dangerous!"

"Shut up and leave me alone!"

Alice continued tightening both ends of the rope and climbed further away from the tree trunk. With tears in her eyes, she stared into the dark distant sky ahead of her. I'll never grow up or learn to be independent. Every girl's fate is to be married off somewhere, so why do I bother staying in this house any longer?

The heiress closed her eyes and jumped, but rather than feeling the rope tighten around her neck, she fell straight onto the grass and landed turbulently. "How am I still alive?!"

"Why did you think it was a good idea to kill yourself?"

Beneath the redhead was Shun, and the former gasped before getting off him immediately. "Why did you save me?! Why couldn't you just look the away and—"

"What has you so upset that would make you want to cease to exist?!" He brushed the grass off his clothes and climbed the tree to remove a kitchen knife from the trunk. "I was on my way to the compost bin when I saw you climbing this tree. Then I rushed back to grab and throw this knife because it would be faster than actually climbing the tree to untie the rope. I sprinted over here to soften your landing, and this is how you treat me? I don't care if you're above me or if you think I'm being ridiculous, but you owe me one."

"Nobody asked you to save me."

"Then answer my question!"

Alice wiped her eyes and untied the rope around her neck. "I don't want to be in a loveless marriage with Shadow."

Shun's mouth parted slightly in awe. "I thought you liked him...or at least got along very well with him."

"Do you want to know the real story behind my late family?" The redhead tossed the severed rope to the ground and started pulling her hair. "My parents marriage was arranged by their parents. My mother never loved my father to begin with. Everything was just a profitable transaction for my extended family. I still remember that day when my mother was in labor with my younger brother. The midwife said he was a breech birth—basically more complicated than usual. Everybody said to save 'the child', but did they ever think about how difficult it was for my mother? They both died due to complications.

"Then everybody tried to convince my father to remarry. They thought I wouldn't understand or notice, but I knew all along what their intent was. They just wanted another son instead of me. But then even my father died during a traffic accident later on. As the only alive descendent of this household—and a daughter, nonetheless—I'm the reason why there was so much tension in the family. All my extended family moved faraway and didn't even comeback for Grandfather's funeral except Aunt Clara and Uncle Ben. I'm genuinely surprised that Grandfather left all his inheritance to me instead of splitting it among my aunts and—"

"I'm sorry."

Alice paused at Shun's sudden interruption. "Why are you apologizing? There's nothing you can do to change—"

"There is. I can't keep this from you any longer, especially since you're at the point of self-destruction." He removed every piece of paper and other communication from his pockets and tossed them to the ground. "Whether you say you'll end up in a loveless marriage or not, it wasn't going to be real anyway."

"What do you mean? How can a union be invalid if all the paperwork goes through the county clerk?"

"Shadow only wants you for your inheritance, Alice. He doesn't care at all about you, your extended family, or anyone for that matter. Don't kill yourself over someone that's only after your money. Not now, not later, not ever."

"And you know this because...?"

"Read all these notes and letters for yourself. The only reason why I work here is to convince you to move forward with marrying Shadow."

"You knew him already before coming to work here?" Alice then grabbed Shun by his shoulders and shook him violently. "What else are you hiding from me?!"

"He said I could get a cut of profits—which would've been your inheritance—once everything goes through. Clearly, neither one of us is ever going to see a cent at this point."

"So you saved me solely to keep me alive and marry Shadow as part of your plans?"

"No...not exactly. I don't agree with everything that he does, but I can't be a bystander and watch you kill yourself, either. Why won't you take care of yourself?"

"Why do you even care about my well-being if you're only in for the money as well?"

"That, I won't deny. No offense, but you were practically born with a silver spoon in your mouth, whether your family wanted a daughter or not. I didn't come from a wealthy background, and you'll never understand the struggles that I faced regarding poverty and overpopulation. You can despise me all you want about what I really do for a living, but I despise you for being so indecisive in life and not thinking about yourself. You've been brainwashed into thinking that 'daughters don't matter' by your family."

"Is that really how you think of me?"

"I don't even know why I even observe or bother telling you this. We'll probably never see each other again."

Alice finally let go and sighed. "Shadow's just too clever. How did he even pass my aunt and uncle's inspection in the first place?"

"I know him all too well. He asks for help when a task is too complicated to complete alone, but he keeps the profits all to himself." Shun looked to the side and bit his lip in deep thought. "I don't even know why I agreed to this either. Now I have nowhere to go since you know everything."

"I mean...I could keep you here until further notice instead of evicting you, so that Shadow doesn't become suspicious. Sounds like you're scared of him, too."

"He and I used to just pickpocket and steal random things from people with our other colleagues, but then he left and went solo in favor of 'bigger opportunities'. Way to get himself killed, if you ask me."

"Aside from that, what would happen after I get married? If he gets his hands on my inheritance, then he has no use for me afterwards."

"I'm not sure, but you do have a point. He didn't tell me the details of that stage of the plan yet."

"Of course he wouldn't. He lures you in with the surface details that sound too good to be true, then slowly reveals all the complicated tasks required to achieve your goals. Shun, I need you to look into my eyes and promise me something." The amber-eyed servant turned back as his gaze locked with the redhead's chocolate-brown irises. "I don't care if you steal anything from my house or insult me like you just did during our entire conversation, but don't ever lie to me again. I'm sick and tired of reading between the lines."

"I promise. I'm never helping Shadow again. He even asked me to drug you so that he would secretly feed you the antidote during your 'dates', but after seeing the side effects—and not knowing what he even gave me—I couldn't bear doing it to you again."

"So you do care, after all."

"Move on, please..."

"Hopefully, Soon and Chris didn't hear this. We're pretty far from the house. Chris is too sick to pay attention, and—"

"I told Soon to go rest before I came here. I'm surprised that our screaming didn't catch their attention."

"Which is a good thing. Do your other colleagues know about the deal you made with Shadow?"

"They do, and they're the closest to a 'family' that I'll ever get. Among the rest of us, Shadow chose me because I have better temper and because you were looking for a male domestic worker. I've only seen them once since moving to work here. I just realized that I haven't kept in touch with them in a long time."

"Do you think Shadow will hurt them if he knows that you're not the same boat as him anymore?"

"I don't know. Maybe he will. But it's not just my friends that I'm worried about. Ever since the local orphanage stopped accepting more children, we decided to take care of most abandoned children that we find, even though we struggled to feed ourselves. We're old enough to make decision for themselves, but those kids don't know anything."

"No wonder you were passionate about children being innocent. In that case, wait until Shadow trying to contact you again before making your next move."

"And I need to create another story to hide the fact that I'm not helping him anymore." Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew and sent Shun's papers flying everywhere. He draped his jacket over Alice's shoulders again before retrieving every single sheet. "Can't let this fall into other people's hands."

On the way back to the house, the redhead commented, "I don't think Shadow planned ahead very well when he decided to plant you as a spy in my house."

"What do you mean?"

"Because I don't think he anticipated for this to happen." Alice returned the jacket to Shun, but then pulled him in by the shoulders for a kiss on their lips. In response, he wrapped his hands on the redhead's nape and pulled her in even closer to prolong the kiss. "You could use a glass of water after all that talking earlier," the redhead suggested.

"Would you rather have my hands around your neck? Or have that hideous rope?"

"Now that I think about it... I'd rather have you over Shadow, anytime."

"So aren't you glad I stopped you from killing yourself?"

"Let me get you that glass of water. I owe you one, right?"

"Oh, you owe me more than just that..."

-x-x-x-x-x-

A few days later, Shun met up with Shadow at their usual secluded area for a progress report. "I'm running out of that substance that you gave me," the former lied. "The only side effects I've noticed are headaches, insomnia, lack of appetite..."

"Sounds like the drug is working. I should make a surprise visit and bring her food with the antidote."

"How nice of you. I actually thought you'd still take her outside when she's not feeling well, but a house visit wouldn't hurt. What's next?"

"After we get married, I'll somehow convince her to commit suicide or end up in a dangerous situation leading to an accidental death. Then I'll claim all her property since I'll be her legal spouse. Piece of cake."

Shun tightened his grip at the thought of Shadow's next steps, especially after saving the person in question from suicide already. "That's not going to work."

"And why not?"

Because she doesn't like you and isn't yours anymore. "If you really want her to kill herself, then you need a good excuse that people will believe. I can't help you if you use ridiculous reasoning without justification."

"Well...we could go to a beautiful place for our honeymoon, and she gets depressed when we come back to real life here. She could be unaccustomed to married life and overthink to the point of suicide. I don't know! You know her personal life better than I do!"

And that's exactly why she wants me over you instead. "Fine, go on your honeymoon and make me do all the work. But why suicide? Isn't there a more peaceful way to take her stuff without her dying?"

"Only dead people keep secrets, Shun. I'll get her to kill herself somehow, even if it means gaslighting or driving her nuts."

What did Alice ever do to deserve what Shadow has planned? What did I ever do to get myself caught in this mess? "When are you paying your house visit?"

"Maybe tomorrow. I have some business matters to deal with first. You should go back."

"And you should reconsider your outfit. You literally wear the same thing every day."

After Shun returned to Alice's mansion, the redhead rushed out of the sunroom and asked desperately, "Did he make any threats at you?"

"None at all." He dragged her back to the sunroom and explained discreetly, "He wants you commit suicide after you two register for marriage. Isn't that insane?"

"That's really extreme. If I die, then everything I own would go to him...unless the government wanted to seize my stuff for taxes. What are both of you doing next then?"

"I lied about continuing to drug you and noticing your side effects, and Shadow said might visit sometime with food containing the 'antidote' in hopes that recover. He just wants to keep interacting with you so that you'll finally, truly fall for him."

"You didn't tell him that I tried to kill myself before, right?"

"Of course not. If I did, then that's more reason for him to stage your future suicide—by claiming you were depressed to begin with. I want to back out, but it's too late now. He's escalated to violent tendencies. You could be danger at any moment."

"And so could you. You said he tends to keep all the profits for himself despite splitting the work among many. You're another burden to him as well."

"Shadow is out of control and out of his mind. I can't do this by myself anymore."

"Do you want to ask your friends to help?"

"But what can they do? Helping me would take time away from their current—"

"Have a seat first. You said that your friends are the only family you have. They wouldn't want you to die or get hurt for someone else's violent plans. I don't know how much they know, but they need to know that you're not safe anymore."

"Where would I start?"

"Send them a letter. If you think they're difficult to convince, then take this." Alice rolled up a sleeve, unclasped her silver bracelet, and dropped the item onto the table. "I have a lot more jewelry in my room. I honestly don't care about material goods, but if you guys can get a good price for this from the pawn shops, then go for it."

"Alice, I can't take this. I still feel bad about you giving me that bangle from last time."

"But you don't feel bad when you take it without my permission behind my back?"

Shun simply stared at the bracelet. "Sorry. I'm used to stealing people's valuables without being caught."

Then the redhead turned around and held her hands up. "I'm looking outside the window. I can't see a single thing behind me. I have no idea what you're doing."

The raven-haired servant smirked and pocketed the bracelet before ambushing his housemistress with a back hug as she squealed. "So I can take anything I want from here with no questions asked?"

"Hey, let go of me!" Alice removed Shun's hands from her waist and leaned toward him. "What's left to steal here? Everything is already yours."

"Really? Want to tell me when that happened?"

"Make some more ink while I grab more jewelry from my room."

He did as told and began drafting his letter after the redhead returned from upstairs. "I hope they don't think I'm crazy or blame me for inadvertently causing this mess. Here goes nothing."

Dan, Runo, Marucho—

Shun here. We have a change of plans, and I'm telling you this in a letter because I don't know when I can come back home. Instead of helping Shadow with his ridiculous scheme, I've decided to help Alice instead because her life could be in danger. In fact, I might be in danger as well. Forget about stealing her inheritance. Shadow's plans are putting Alice's life at risk. He's spiraling out of control, and I desperately need your help. Don't worry about money. Here's some jewelry that may trade for a decent value at the pawn shop.

After reading the first page, Shun then read the second page and prepared an envelope. "You don't blame me at all for what happened?"

"I mean...you need to make a living somehow, but your conscience stopped you from a path of potential violence. Every lesson, compliment, and insult you told me taught me to be a better person. If only I learned this before Shadow entered my life..."

The raven-haired servant wrapped the jewelry with old newspaper and placed it with his letter into an envelope. "I'll take this to the post office. Anything else you need me to do while I'm in town?"

"Nothing for now. Just watch your back. One more thing." That prompted Shun to look up into the redhead's concerned gaze. "I enjoy your company, but what future would we—"

He silenced her with a kiss before whispering, "We'll worry about that once you're safe and sound."