The tale of a princess trapped in a tall tower sounds so cliché. But it doesn't have to be a princess. I'm sure you might have heard of a young n.o.ble lady trapped up there as well. It's a surprisingly common story.

“…Maybe they all planned this together to surprise us?”

Benya, the boy with the smaller build, immediately went against his brother Lettice's opinion. In a sharp, sarcastic tone, he snapped back at him. “You're the only one who would think of something like this. This isn't funny! You deserve to be punched for this.”

Puffing out his chest, Lettice looked unwilling to put up with his little brother's att.i.tude. “What? You ought to be more respectful towards me. I'm your older brother!”

“You never gave me a reason to.”

Shaking his head in annoyance, Lettice ignored  Benya and his somber eyes turned to me.

“Hey, Sasha, do you know anything about this? Such a carefully planned prank… I highly suspect that you're behind all of this.”

“Oh, yes. That does seem likely!” The two brothers mumbled in unison.

Ah, these boys… Perhaps their mischievous behavior is their coping mechanism. I could imagine how anxious they must be at this moment—suddenly waking up in a place which seems to have a no way out.

The feeling of being trapped… it's suffocating.

I dropped my face in my hands as the boys continued to argue in their usual carefree manner. They seemed so innocent, completely unaffected by the evils of the world.

As for I… I couldn't believe it. How would such harmless little boys grow up to be villains that would bring ruin to the entire empire in the future?

“Sasha?”

Having transmigrated into this novel world, an ominous feeling slowly crept up on me. My heart raced as anxiety swirled inside, probably stemming from the fact that all of us were beginning to panic slowly.

Behind the bickering brothers' faces, I could see the fear they so tried hard to conceal. They had to act tough and I soon realized why—it was for someone dear in their hearts.

Unlike her loud brothers, Estelle bit her lips and stayed silent. With small, hesitant steps, she approached me and clung to my arm.

Estelle was born with a weak const.i.tution and was extremely sensitive towards her surroundings. Even the smallest of disturbances was enough to trouble her. Fortunately, my mother and I could calm her down. But after my mother pa.s.sed away… I was the only one who could take care of her.

“Sasha, do you really not know anything?”

I couldn't give her an answer. I had no idea what was going on. Would it have been better if I did?

And so, in an abandoned corner of the majestic manor, three n.o.ble children and their nanny's daughter were locked up, not by some bored demon king or evil dragon, but by the very relatives of the siblings.

The only problem was that we knew nothing about what was going on. I racked my brains for any explanation about our situation, but every answer evaded me. I knew nothing.