IVPCB 04

Chapter 04

I stopped the system’s voice.

“I’d like to use the ‘Item Shop.'”

The Item Shop was a feature I’d discovered in my previous life when I lived as the villainess. It was exactly what it sounded like—a shop where you could purchase skill books and various items that might be needed for game progression. The shop had different tiers—Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond—determined by how much gold you’d spent on the system over time.

‘In my previous life, I think I reached Gold tier.’

Back then, I mainly bought items needed for doing bad things.

[Item Shop feature opening. You have spent 2.5 million gold, so you are automatically Bronze tier.]

‘Every time I use this, I can’t shake the feeling that it’s a rip-off.’

Here, 10,000 gold was roughly equivalent to 100,000 won in modern Earth currency. Which meant I’d just spent about 25 million won.

If I walked into a decent dress salon in the capital right now and blew 2.5 million gold in a single day, the owner and all the staff would probably come out to greet me and see me off with VIP treatment.

And yet, only Bronze. Seriously.

I pushed aside my stray thoughts and scanned the available items. Fortunately, I managed to find a few things that might be useful.

‘First, I need to infiltrate, and I’ll eventually have to get caught…’

Having lived as the villainess in my past life and committed all sorts of minor and major crimes—infiltration, theft, stalking, etc.—choosing items and making plans wasn’t difficult. Now, all that remained was execution.

The next morning, early.

I was at the Posha Duchy’s logistics delivery depot.

The Posha Duchy, Anaïs’s family house, had built its wealth through commerce and had established its own distribution network—the “Posha Logistics Delivery Depot.” The Posha ducal residence was located on the outskirts of the capital, Florant, near the Denvera Port, making transportation convenient. Leveraging this advantage, they had traditionally engaged in commerce based on logistics and distribution.

And the current Duke of Posha had expanded the distribution network—which had been limited to land and sea routes—to the skies.

Using griffins, rare intelligent flying creatures.

Of course, building a network with griffins and riders wasn’t easy.

But the Duke of Posha had succeeded, using the most powerful force in the romance fantasy genre:

‘The power of love.’

The Duchess of Posha had been frail since childhood and had spent most of her time confined indoors. Perhaps that was why she envied the birds that could freely soar through the open sky. Her dying wish was said to be: “Please scatter my ashes along the sky road.”

The Duke had succeeded in opening the sky road to fulfill that wish.

What a romantic story.

My current situation, however, was far from romantic.

I took a quick glance around me. It was completely dark, and the air smelled of dry wood and bitter hay.

Late last night, after the employees had all gone home, I’d snuck into the delivery depot and combed through the list of items to be shipped via “Griffin Express.” Fortunately, among the list, there was exactly one cargo destined for Heliwyca Castle in Sidoni.

‘Belfran grass. Medicinal herb. Scheduled for delivery starting at 7 AM tomorrow.’

So, before dawn, I’d hidden inside the wooden crate bound for Sidoni.

The crate was about two meters in each direction and had a sliding lid that fit into grooves. Since Anaïs was a noble lady who paid great attention to her appearance, she had a slender build. And after starving myself for a week, getting inside wasn’t difficult—though my hands did get a bit scratched from forcing the rough wood open and shut.

After enduring a long, tedious wait inside the crate, I finally heard voices nearby.

“Cargo No. 371, delivery to Sidoni. 7 AM departure, 12 PM arrival, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Got it. By the way, it’s been a while since we shipped to Sidoni. What’s in it?”

The employees seemed to be chatting for a moment. Then came the powerful flapping of wings, and I vaguely sensed that a griffin had entered.

Soon after, I heard the female employee from earlier let out a grunt of effort, and the crate I was in was lifted into the air.

‘Huh? Are they lifting it directly onto the griffin?’

“Oof, this crate seems a bit heavy. I heard it was… medicinal herbs, though.”

I felt a little guilty at her muttering.

‘I hope my weight doesn’t give you muscle aches tomorrow.’

Clank.

Soon, I heard something latching onto the side of the crate, and then it was lifted into the air. If my memory served me correctly, they’d hook belts onto rings on both sides of the crate and hang it from the griffin’s neck for transport.

“Alright then, shall we go?”

Rrrruuuaaahhh—

At her words, the griffin let out a long cry.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Then came a thunderous sound that seemed to shake the earth. The vibrations were so strong that my tailbone ached and my teeth chattered.

I squeezed my eyes shut and endured it for a moment. Soon, a feeling of weightlessness washed over me, and cool gusts of wind seeped through the small gaps in the crate.

And so, for the first time since possessing Anaïs, I took to the skies.

—

A few hours later.

The griffin flight had been far from romantic, and I was completely exhausted. Even though I’d worn a thick spring coat, the air up high was quite chilly. The constant jostling inside the crate had left my entire body bruised, and I felt nauseous.

But I didn’t forget the purpose of my visit. As the griffin began its descent, I executed the ‘operation’ I’d prepared in advance inside the crate.

Soon after, unlike the noisy takeoff, the griffin landed softly with a rustling sound.

‘I need to time this just right.’

I felt my palms grow sweaty with tension.

“Oh, I see by the griffin that you’re from the Posha Trading Company.”

A voice followed.

“Yes. Would you like to see my identification?”

“That won’t be necessary. This griffin and the Posha Duchy’s honeysuckle crest are enough.”

‘So the Duke of Posha is more capable than I thought.’

“Alright then, I’ll unload the cargo.”

The rings clanked again. The woman lifted my crate, and I prepared myself to escape.

Thump.

The moment the woman set the crate down—

CRASH!

I kicked the left wall of the crate—which I’d meticulously scored with a small saw beforehand—with all my might, and the wall flew open.

The woman who’d just set the crate down screamed in surprise.

“Oh my goodness! What in the world—!”

“No way, the crate wall broke! What shall we do? Those precious Belfran herbs are…!”

While a small commotion broke out, I quietly stepped out of the crate.

This was a daring move I could only make because they couldn’t see me at the moment. Because I’d used the Invisibility Scroll I’d purchased from the Item Shop.

The scroll’s effect lasted 10 minutes. Within that time, I had to infiltrate the glass greenhouse, snap off a branch of Nebula, and be caught in the act of theft.

According to the map I’d bought in advance from the Item Shop, fortunately, the distance from the northwestern back gate of Heliwyca Castle, where I’d landed, to the Heliwyca Garden was only five minutes.

I lifted my eyes from the map and looked ahead. Right in front of me was a small, red-dirt path, and in the distance, I could vaguely see a lush green garden.

Confirming that no one was around, I walked briskly, and the beautiful garden scenery passed me by. Fully bloomed spring roses, daffodils, and flowers of all colors. A white iron pergola decorated with rose vines, wooden benches…

It was a garden so well-maintained that I wished I could take a leisurely stroll and look around, but I had no time. My footsteps came to a halt in front of the domed glass greenhouse.

The greenhouse was, in a word, magnificent.

It was about five stories high and as wide as a decent-sized university athletic field. But what drew my attention most was the massive door—about twice my height.

A black door with a golden relief of a sea monster. A head resembling a dragon, with a single, blade-like horn jutting from its forehead and a mouth full of dozens of sharp teeth. Its long, snake-like body was covered in scales, and fin-like sails ran along its back. Its hands and feet were clawed, and its nails and talons gleamed like sharp blades.

‘I didn’t realize it when I only saw the in-game illustrations, but seeing it in person, its presence is no joke.’

Maybe it was because I knew that the sea monster engraved on the door actually existed in the game. And not just any monster—one of the male lead candidates.

But now wasn’t the time to be overwhelmed by a door. I forced myself to look away and walked a bit to the left of the door.

‘It should be around here somewhere.’

Frowning and looking around intently, I finally found what I was looking for.

Beneath a thick hedge of blooming forsythia, there was a small pet door. Just as expected.

Yesterday, after hearing the system’s words and deciding to infiltrate the greenhouse at Heliwyca Castle, I’d racked my brain, recalling memories of playing the original game, searching for any useful clues.

Then, a thought suddenly struck me.

—

“I couldn’t go when I was young because the greenhouse key was held by the head gardener, Aegir. But if you walk about ten paces left from the door, there’s a small opening under the forsythia hedge. I used to sneak in through there.”

—

That was a story Juran had told Luna in the original game, reminiscing about his childhood.

“Huff.”

I crouched down and roughly measured my body against the opening.

‘I can fit!’

Because of my small frame, I managed to squeeze through the opening with a little wriggling, and soon the interior of the greenhouse unfolded before my eyes.

‘Wow…’

As soon as I entered the greenhouse, my mouth fell open in silent admiration.

In the game, Juran often told Luna, “When it comes to the garden, I won’t lose to any other noble family.” I could see now that it was a pride well-founded.