TNLY 9

Chapter 9

[The way I grow my power is simple. Human desire, misfortune, and death.

This place is still just inside a book, but the more I succeed in my revenge, the more my power grows. And if I see the ending of this book…….]

Though no words were spoken, I thought I could hear a giggling sound.

[If I see the end, this world will all become reality. The flow of fate will become a great wave that even the gods cannot stop. In the meantime, many demons will awaken. Yes, I have waited for this moment.]

If I fail, I give my soul to Duclas, and if I succeed… I will bring about the destruction of the world.

[If you fail, your body will be annihilated and you will repeat the same hell here forever. A human’s revenge of high purity—just thinking about it is thrilling.]

With those words, Duclas disappeared. Only white paper remained, as if nothing had ever existed there from the beginning.

And yet, the one sentence that did not disappear.

– Never love.

That was the only condition Duclas presented.

A soul of high purity. A contract with a demon I accepted in a moment of impulse.

The past I had returned to. But this place, too, was a reality.

As long as I do not love, I can take revenge on them all. But I was not given much time to think.

“Are you still asleep?”

A sharp voice, as if urging me on, came from beyond the door.

Without even being granted permission to enter, she opened the door and came in.

‘Just when have I returned to?’

With no clear information, I felt nothing but unease.

“Stop sleeping and get up. How long… do you expect me to keep waking you?”

But the moment I saw that child pushing her way in, anger bloomed instead of unease.

‘Sylvia.’

The one who had subtly wounded me and spread rumors that I said strange things and wandered about every night.

‘Seeing Sylvia running wild like this… it must still be just before the debutante.’

If I had returned to after handing over the Feing Salon, things would have been unfavorable.

“Miss, do you hear me? But why are you just sitting there like that? Huh?”

Unlike the past, Sylvia stammered, seemingly flustered by me silently staring at her.

A sense of absurdity washed over me. Pity for my past self, who had been toyed with by such a young child.

I quickly turned my thoughts over.

‘I need time to think.’

“Today is the day I meet the Count for the first time at this place…”

“What did you just say?”

“…The day you meet the Count for the first time… Why, why are you like that?”

The day I first meet the Count.

‘Of all days, it had to be today.’

If I went out now, I would lose the Feing Salon.

“I’m not feeling well, so I should rest today.”

Ignoring Sylvia’s words, I lay down on the bed.

“What? Miss, don’t you hear me? If you don’t come down, I…!”

Then Sylvia hurried over and gripped my arm tightly.

“Ah!”

At the pain I hadn’t felt in a long time, I let out a scream. Instinctively I looked down at my arm. Just being grabbed brought a rush of pain.

“Don’t be a baby. You endure it just fine usually…”

Smack—.

“Since when has a maid of the estate been allowed to touch her master’s body?”

Sylvia’s cheek turned with the blow. Her face looked more shocked that I had hit her than from the pain.

“Don’t be a baby over something like this.”

“W-what in the world is this!”

“You still haven’t come to your senses, I see.”

I looked up at her face, full of resentment. Yes, it’s probably my fault for letting it come to this.

‘My fault for not holding power.’

But the useless Reina who only ever took it is no longer here.

“A… Miss has finally… g-gone…”

“It seems you want to say I’ve gone mad…”

I was used to being called mad. Words like that don’t wound me in the slightest.

“Go ahead and tell people. Of course, I can’t guarantee what will happen the moment you do.”

The one flustered by my confident behavior was actually Sylvia.

“I’ll tell the Count everything about this. H-how dare you hit me!”

“Dare… dare, is it.”

I raised my arm. As expected, it was covered in wounds Sylvia had made.

“Who should be asked about the crime of daring to do this to a noble?”

“…It was all permitted…”

“Yes. The one who ordered it all must be the Count. Close the door on your way out. It bothers me to keep seeing trash before my eyes.”

She wasn’t foolish enough not to know that “trash” referred to her.

‘What could she possibly do anyway?’

Even mentioning Idorein and going as far as the Count, I looked unbothered. When even her last resort didn’t work, Sylvia bit her lip.

With a bang— the door closed. I thought I heard her say something like “You’ll regret this.”

“There’s no time.”

I had bought time for now, so I had to think about the next thing, and the next. I hurriedly opened the third drawer.

“…It’s still here.”

I saw the deed of rights to the Feing Salon.

“Salon… salon, is it.”

I hurriedly took a pen and wrote down everything I knew.

The biggest reason they had targeted the Feing Salon was something else entirely.

Enormous wealth and connections. The owner of that place becomes the master of high society.

Like Idorein and Jennifer.

* * *

I intended not to go out until they came looking for me.

‘Run wilder.’

The more they did, the greater Sylvia’s sins would become.

My revenge had already begun.

“The Count is calling for you, Miss.”

Ironically, the person who entered the moment I resolved on revenge was Sylvia.

“To the Count… I-I told him everything.”

About half a day had passed since I slapped Sylvia’s cheek.

Sylvia’s face, smiling gleefully, was covered in bruises on her face and neck.

‘Is this self-harm to make my wrongdoing seem greater?’

If not that, then.

“It seems the one who revealed their true colors isn’t me.”

“Huh?”

“Wounds from being hit by someone leave scars. Well… that’s only possible if you’re still alive, though.”

It was obvious. Idorein must have done it to blow things up further.

It was hard to tell who was more insane—Sylvia, who threw herself into it to frame me, or Idorein, who laid hands on her without a second thought.

I sneered at Sylvia and walked past her.

Seeing her feel humiliation at my contempt was quite enjoyable. As I opened the door, the gazes of people who had gathered as if they hadn’t been pretending to be busy all turned to me.

“I guess it’s true she hit Sylvia like that.”

“That’s right. Sylvia must have endured as much as she could.”

“Everything the east wing maids said was true. Shh, she’s coming.”

The structure of the Count’s residence was divided in two. The east wing where the direct family lived, and the west wing where I lived.

– No matter the situation, you must never lose your dignity. Keep your shoulders straight.

The voice I had heard endlessly throughout lessons echoed in my ears. There is no hesitation in my steps.

‘First, I need to win over the hearts of the west wing.’

Was it because I hadn’t eaten properly? Even in that short time, I grew tired easily.

“But the Miss’s condition is a bit…”

“Shh. She’ll hear!!!”

“But isn’t it a bit strange?”

It wasn’t just me who felt that—a group of whispers reached my ears. They were children with still-young faces.

They seemed to have not been here long. They probably hadn’t yet experienced the Count’s fearsomeness or Idorein’s wrath.

I approached the children.

“What is strange?”

It wasn’t meant as a rebuke. Distinguishing hostility from goodwill is easy.

“I-I’ve committed a crime worthy of death, Miss!! I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that…”

The child kneeling before me was clearly closer to goodwill.

“It’s all right, so tell me.”

“I… well… Sylvia brings good food every day, but the Miss is too th-thin… I-I’m sorry.”

In the kneeling child’s figure, someone flashed through my mind. The child who had handed me medicine, prepared to be punished.

“I like sharp assessments. As long as there’s no malice. If I looked that way to you… that wasn’t by my own will.”

I left the trembling child behind and leisurely turned on my heel.

“I’ll take that as an apology, so there’s no need to be afraid.”

There were two reasons I didn’t rebuke the child.

The hope that there was still hope in this place.

‘There’s no reason I can’t do what Jennifer and Iliana did.’

And the joy of having quickly found the target for it.

* * *

“He is waiting inside.”

Outside, the butler was watching me with an expressionless face.

– The only thing the Miss can do to help the Count’s household is to win over Duke Carlyle. If you succeed, the Count will surely welcome you as well.

His cold words came to mind.

No, perhaps he is closer to a loyal dog of the Count’s household.

“Open the door.”

“I hope you have not offended the Count.”

The door slowly opens.

Jennifer and Jess, smiling as if enjoying themselves, my father Nicholas Wales, and Idorein.

‘Should I say it’s been a long time.’

I had rarely had occasion to meet them during the years with Carlyle. When I unavoidably had to meet them, Carlyle was always with me.

Because Carlyle knew about the unreasonable demands they had made of me after the marriage.

They were certainly faces I hadn’t wanted to see in the past.

‘But now it’s different.’

Rather, I felt glad. As I smiled faintly, the Count’s chilly gaze fixed on me.

“You look like you don’t know why you’re here.”

Wrong—this was the look of revenge.

The moment I saw them, I resolved once more.

‘Money, power. The one who will have it all will be me.’

I intended to stand above them and watch. That future where, no matter how they begged and pleaded, the end would be death all the same.