EWGEW 06

Chapter 06

‘Camilla Elcasist, Camilla Elcasist….’

Camilla slightly furrowed her brow. Now even her head was beginning to throb a little.

She had sat at the table and tried to write down everything she knew on a piece of paper, but the problem was that she really knew absolutely nothing about ‘Camilla Elcasist.’

‘It’s irritating… Really.’

She had died after being worked to the bone with overtime. That alone was frustrating enough, but the situation of the new body she had possessed was not good either. She was in a dangerous situation where her life had been hanging by a thread, and she had no idea what the future held.

“Haa-.”

She let out a long sigh, feeling somewhat frustrated by the situation. But what could she do? No matter how much she racked her brain right now, there was absolutely no information about ‘Camilla Elcasist’ in the original story.

Back when she had lived in Seoul, Camilla had liked this novel quite a lot. She had liked it enough to even search through the author’s website and read the setting guide.

But there was one small problem.

The novel was unfinished.

Even the information in the setting guide had been limited to prevent spoilers about future developments.

Tap-. Tap-tap-. Tap tap.

Camilla rhythmically tapped the table several times.

Doing so seemed to gradually organize the thoughts that had been tangled together in her head.

‘Right. Let’s give up on trying to remember anything about Camilla Elcasist.’

If something couldn’t be done, then it couldn’t be done. Camilla hated wasting time on things that had no efficiency.

Instead, she decided to briefly write down what she currently knew about the situation.

Unlike before, her hand began moving smoothly across the paper. Of course, she wrote in Korean so that the woman she had seen immediately after waking up—her personal maid, ‘Maya’—would not be able to read it.

Swish, swish.

The quill in Camilla’s hand moved smoothly across the paper.

[The protagonist of the original story and Camilla have no connection.]

First, Camilla wrote down the fact she was most certain about.

The point at which the original story began was already after Yuslia Elcasist had become the heir to the Elcasist Count’s family.

Which meant—

‘Camilla Elcasist is dead.’

That was the fate awaiting her if she did not change the future.

Camilla lightly bit her lip as she continued moving the quill.

Yuslia had probably come of age and immediately succeeded to the title. Then, not long after becoming the heir to the count’s family, she would go on to help the protagonist of the original story.

‘Hmm. Then the important thing is figuring out when Yuslia will come of age—.’

[Yuslia’s succession to the title. Camilla’s murder before that.]

Camilla tapped the paper several times with the quill.

The elegant white feather swayed gently in the breeze coming through the open window.

“Maya, how old is Yuslia?”

It was important to know how many years remained before Yuslia reached the age at which she could officially inherit the title.

Camilla and Yuslia’s father, Herain, was currently acting as the head of the count’s family in the position of the previous Elcasist Count’s husband, after Camilla’s mother had died.

Of course, as someone who had come from a commoner background, he had faced considerable opposition from the retainers. But he had skillfully expanded his influence.

After his position had stabilized, he brought Yuslia into the family.

Of course, claiming that he had received Camilla’s mother’s permission, he had formally registered Yuslia as a member of the Elcasist Count’s family.

Camilla wrote that fact down beside the others and looked at Maya.

Maya was staring at her anxiously from beside her mistress.

“…Miss Yuslia turned nineteen this year.”

‘Then I have about four years left.’

Camilla began moving the quill across the paper again.

The age of majority in this empire was twenty, just like in Korea.

However, there was one unusual thing. A person had to be twenty-three to meet the requirements to inherit a noble title.

“Nineteen. Got it. I’m just organizing some things. Thank you, Maya.”

“Miss….”

Maya clasped her hands together and called out to Camilla in a slightly pleading voice, but Camilla abruptly turned her head away.

Camilla and Yuslia’s father, Herain, was able to continue leading the current count’s family because of Camilla.

She was the biological child who carried the Count’s blood.

There was another reason the Elcasist family was one of the highest-ranking noble families in the Empire.

Was it because they controlled most of the Empire’s commercial trade? Because they were a family of meritorious founders?

Those things could certainly be included, but they were not the most important reason.

[The Elcasist family possesses a ‘supernatural ability.’]

Camilla smoothly lifted her quill and wrote down an important fact.

The highest-ranking central noble families possessed supernatural abilities.

Each family had a different attribute, and the way the ability manifested and how it could be used also differed from one family member to another.

But the important thing was that one had to inherit the blood of the noble family in order to use its supernatural ability.

[Yuslia Elcasist cannot use the Elcasist supernatural ability because she does not carry Elcasist blood.]

Yuslia Elcasist had not inherited the previous Count’s blood.

She had merely been fortunate enough to be formally registered with the Elcasist Count’s family because she had a commoner father who happened to be well connected.

‘Which means….’

Having reached that conclusion, Camilla smiled faintly.

Without Camilla’s death, it would have been impossible for Yuslia Elcasist to inherit the title.

As long as Camilla was alive, the person who carried the family blood would have a far greater advantage in inheriting the count’s title.

It was virtually impossible for Yuslia, who only carried the family name, to inherit the title.

[The biggest beneficiary: Yuslia Elcasist.]

‘Then the person who benefits the most from my death is Yuslia Elcasist.’

Writing that down as her final conclusion, Camilla put down the quill.

At that moment, Maya, who had been hesitating, spoke.

“Miss, perhaps… we should call a priest after all—.”

“No, Maya. I’m really fine.”

Camilla hurriedly cut Maya off.

Her voice was gentle, but her answer was firm enough to prevent Maya from saying anything more.

The old man who had entered Camilla’s room when she first awakened was named Shulkan.

Shulkan and Maya knew that Camilla had lost her memories, and ever since then, whenever they had the time, they had been insisting that they should call a priest.

But Camilla refused every time.

‘If we call a priest, Herain and Yuslia will obviously find out that I’ve awakened.’

Then who knew whether they would send another assassin?

Besides, the poison used in the assassination did not seem to have been intended to kill her immediately.

After all, Camilla had remained unconscious all this time.

‘They probably just wanted to keep me barely alive.’

They needed to endure for four years, until Yuslia reached the age at which she could inherit the title.

Herain had to hold onto his position as the previous Elcasist Count’s husband until then.

‘So that father and daughter probably can’t touch me right now.’

Especially because this was related to the prestige of the count’s family.

Those two were unusually obsessed with such matters, despite not even being related by blood to the count’s family. Camilla had thought they were rather strange even in the original story.

‘Aside from Shulkan and Maya, are there no allies of mine among the people in this mansion? Are they either neutral or on their side—?’

There were probably more people on their side than those who were neutral.

But there was no reason to tell them anything.

She had to avoid leaking information to her enemies as much as possible.

Besides, Shulkan had said that her body was only slightly exhausted and otherwise perfectly normal.

Having reached that conclusion, Camilla felt a little better and nodded her head repeatedly.

The fact that something had become at least somewhat clear in this uncertain situation felt like a small ray of hope.

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, she had forgotten to write down the most important thing first.

Camilla quickly moved her hand and wrote down what had just occurred to her.

[Camilla Elcasist cannot use the supernatural ability.]

Camilla had supposedly been poisoned.

Not everyone with a supernatural ability was immune to poison, but those who inherited the Elcasist family’s supernatural ability could not be poisoned.

That was because the Elcasist family’s supernatural ability was—.

Camilla stopped at that thought and lowered her head to look at her hands.

Both hands were completely fine.

They were so healthy that it was difficult to believe she had been poisoned.

Camilla carried Elcasist blood, and because of that, even if she could not use the supernatural ability, she should have had a much stronger resistance to poison than ordinary people.

Moreover, having been born and raised in the count’s family, there was no way Camilla would not have had at least basic immunity to poison.

If they had used poison strong enough to account for that, Camilla’s body should not have been this perfectly fine.

And yet, even to Camilla herself, her body clearly felt perfectly normal.

‘Then—how did I suddenly wake up?’

Camilla tapped the table with her finger and smiled.

An interesting possibility had occurred to her.

What if Camilla could use the supernatural ability?

What if, for some reason, the supernatural ability inside Camilla had simply been dormant?

Then what would happen?

The corners of Camilla’s lips lifted.

It felt as though she was gradually beginning to see a way forward.

“Th-then, Miss. How about at least contacting Madam Desti?”

At that moment, Maya hesitantly blurted out.

“Madam Desti?”

At the strangely familiar name, Camilla immediately raised her head.

Maya hurriedly shook her head.

“She was close to the Count, and she also took care of you since you were young, so perhaps it would be all right to contact her.”

Those words reminded Camilla of the original story.

Camilla quickly wrote Madam Desti’s name down on the parchment.

Someone who was not close to Yuslia Elcasist.

[Madam Desti]

She was an extremely practical person and not the type to be swayed by personal feelings.

In the original story, Yuslia had discovered one of her weaknesses and had no choice but to use her, but Madam Desti had disliked Yuslia until the very end.

“Oh. That sounds like a good idea.”

Moreover, if Camilla had inherited the supernatural ability, this fact might be a valuable bargaining chip when dealing with Madam Desti.

‘For now, though, there’s something I need—.’

Camilla’s expression became slightly troubled.

“Then, I’ll go!”

Maya’s face brightened as she immediately turned around to leave the room.

“But, Maya, don’t contact her yet. Thank you for the useful information. It helped. Then, could you bring me some more tea? And give me more of these cookies, too. They’re delicious.”

“Miss….”

Maya stamped her feet with a gloomy expression.

But Camilla paid her no mind and simply continued happily eating the cookies Maya had brought.

Late at night.

After confirming that there was no one around, Camilla narrowed her eyes and smiled.

She got up from the bed that Maya had carefully prepared for her and went to the wardrobe.

She changed into the plainest clothes in Camilla’s wardrobe—the kind that would not attract attention.

Then she rummaged through the cabinet beside the wardrobe.

“It should definitely be—here….”

This room had traditionally been used by the heir to the count’s family.

In the original story, there had been a brief scene where Yuslia recalled searching for something in this room after officially becoming the heir to the count’s family.

And it was in the very cabinet Camilla was searching now.

After feeling around the cabinet for quite some time, she felt something touch her hand.

Click-.

At that moment, a sound like something locking into place rang out, and a strange vibration came from the cabinet.

‘Ah, right. And this.’

Camilla opened the drawer beneath the cabinet and took something out.

Then she hurriedly stepped several paces away from the cabinet.

The very bottom of the cabinet slid sideways with a slight vibration.

From the space beneath it, an ominous-looking black hole appeared.

It was one of the secret passages of the Elcasist Count’s family.

Camilla crooked the corner of her lips.

Without hesitation, she slowly stepped into the hole.

‘All right. Then, shall I go find Madam Desti?’