Chapter 8- Sibling Swap

Knock~

Knock~

"Young Miss, it's time to wake up."

Inside a courtyard within the Inner Circle of the Demonic Cult's hideout, three maids were standing outside the door of the courtyard's main bedroom.

As the voice of the leading maid drifted into the bedroom, a figure covered by the bed's messy sheets groaned softly before replying in a somewhat deep and groggy tone.

"Don't disturb me."

Upon hearing this, the three maids were slightly taken aback. The lead maid's expression flickered with panic, but she quickly covered up the slip-up by saying.

"Young Miss, is there something wrong? Your voice sounds slightly hoarse. Are you getting enough sleep?"

The figure underneath the blanket immediately became rigid, and only spoke again after an awkward silence, this time in a soft voice akin to the sound of crisp bell chimes.

"I-I'm fine, there's really no need to help me get ready this morning."

However, despite the figure's timely correction, their slight stutter and words themselves made the other two maids look at each other with worry evident in their eyes.

The lead maid glanced at the setting evening sun, before wiping the weird expression from her face and saying softly.

"Young Miss… are you truly fine? It's currently nightfall, and the banquet welcoming the Third Young Master of the Han Family is about to begin. We've come to get you ready."

"Shit… *thump*"

An intense rustling of clothes echoed before an audible thump followed as if something had fallen to the ground. As for the sudden curse let out from inside the room, it was faint and was further covered up by the lead maid coughing.

After glancing at the two maids and seeing that they hadn't heard the curse, the lead maid turned back to the door to ask.

"Young Miss, are you alright?"

She was about to open the door, but she was stopped by her 'Young Miss.'

"N-No, don't come in. I'm fine, I'll get ready on my own."

The lead maid hurriedly closed the door she had partly opened, but she still had a worried look on her face. However, since her Young Miss insisted that she didn't need any help she could only announce her departure before leaving with her two companions.

"The Young Miss seems to be really troubled by the arranged marriage."

"It seems so. Ever since it was announced two weeks ago she has hardly left her room."

"You two, it is not your place to gossip about the Young Miss."

The girl in the lead turned to the two behind her and reprimanded. Even though she looked the same age as them, around eighteen or nineteen, she held a more important status than them, being the Young Miss's personal maid and childhood friend of eight years.

"We're sorry Ha-yoon."

"Sorry Ha-yoon."

As the two maids lowered their heads and apologized, they were not able to see Ha-yoon's glance at the door to the bedroom. She had a deep look of worry in her eyes.

With tightened fists, she quickly looked ahead and continued walking.

'Young Miss, is this truly a good decision?'

As Ha-yoon was thinking this to herself, she soon thought back to what happened just now and could only release a helpless sigh internally.

Back inside the room, the figure that was once lying comfortably under the sheets was now folded up on the ground next to the bed, while his butt sticking up in the air was covered up by the pink bed sheets.

After hearing what time of the day it was and panicking, he hastily tried to get out of bed only to have one of his feet get caught in the sheets, which resulted in the current scene.

With his keen senses, Bai Luo easily overheard the gossip of the maids. He released a sigh of relief when he realized his cover hadn't been blown.

After a bit of wiggling, he managed to entangle his legs from the sheets. He then wrapped them around himself and dragged his sleep-deprived body over to the makeup table that was to the side of the room, before plopping down on the small chair in front of it.

What reflected in the mirror was the face of a fair-skinned youth with the exception being his rosy cheeks. His eyes squinted into crested moons as he stared at himself in the mirror, and strands of his messy light blue hair peeked out of the tightly bound sheets covering his head, which made him look extremely adorable.

However, one thing should be emphasized about his appearance, and it's that if you were only to take a passing glance at his face, you might mistake it for a girl's. Only upon a second glance would his boyish features stand out, turning one's first impression of him as being beautiful to being extraordinarily handsome.

As Bai Luo examined his appearance in the mirror through his squinted eyes, he couldn't help but notice the faint black circles that were about to form under his eyes.

A loud and dramatic sigh escaped his lips before he said.

"Sis, how can you spring this on your pitiful Little Brother at the very last minute? I was so stressed by the situation that I barely got any wink of sleep."

Only after grumbling a few more of his complaints did Bai Luo feel like his discontent had lessened.

However, he soon caught sight of the women's products on the table, causing his expression to go blank for a moment.

"How did she say I should do this again? Uhh... Was it the foundation and then the concealer? Or was it the concealer first? Wait, aren't those the same thing? Ugh, Sis, why didn't you label your things? I can't remember so many stuff at once!"

After trying and failing to remember what his sister had told him last night, Bai Luo gave up entirely and decided to just do things by estimating it by eye.

The sun had fully set by the time he had gotten his makeup disguise correct and hid his boyish features.

Looking in the mirror, Bai Luo smiled in satisfaction.

"Great, even I can't distinguish my appearance from Sis. After I change my voice, I should be able to fool everyone. But I should probably wear one of Sis's veils for another layer of defense."

However, Bai Luo's moment of satisfaction burst when he caught sight of the moon through the window. With a curse, the bed sheets around him were flung aside as he hurriedly jumped up from his seat and dashed to the closet across the room with a swooshing sound.

The door to the walk-in closet was thrown open by an unseen force before his figure rushed in.

Soon, one piece of garment after another was seen flying about inside.

After a moment, Bai Luo came out of the closet wearing a simple but exquisitely crafted floral blue robe.

With a wave of his hand behind him, it seemed as if time reversed as the clothes that were thrown about by him neatly returned to where they were, followed by the doors to the closet closing with a thud.

Walking back to the makeup table to sit down, Bai Luo made sure his disguise hadn't been ruined before he opened a drawer at the front of the table and took out a pure white veil.

Even though he wasn't someone who indulged in beautiful things like his sister, Bai Luo couldn't help but admire this veil. The edges were embroidered with tiny white gemstones that when shone upon by moonlight, created a scene where it seemed as if stars were dancing around it and forming a faint luminesce halo.

Only after flipping around the veil and examining it for a long while did Bai Luo finally put it on. Giving himself one finally looked in the mirror, he then got up and prepared to leave the room.

"Wait…"

However, at the door, he remembered the most important thing his sister had told him last night. The thing that had made him sleepless throughout the night by trying and failing to come up with a solution.

With a pensive expression behind the white veil, Bai Luo muttered.

"Sis said that as long as I'm able to get this marriage arrangement annulled, then even if it's discovered that she eloped with her lover, everything will be fine. But how am I supposed to annul this betrothment?"

Bai Luo's small brows furrowed in deep thought behind the veil.