Chapter 2

“Oh my! I just cleaned the floor and it’s already dirty like this. Who the hell made it like this!”

“I just saw Lady Vanora running around while being wounded.”

“Ah, that eerie haired girl! I really don’t like anything she does.”

I headed to the mansion’s library, leaving a trail from the red blood flowing from my injured arm. The library, which occupied one side of the spacious mansion, was full of information I wanted.

I looked through the most recent newspaper that was placed on the tray. Again, the release date was 6 years ago. Then I tried to check the contents of the book I’d read when I was already an adult and certainly hadn’t at this age. As expected, all of them were familiar stories.

Similarly, I repeated the process of comparing my memory with the preset time several times. Only then did I realize that I really had returned to the past.

“…”

A long time later.

There was still cold pain and an itching sensation, but the wound on the arm soon stopped bleeding and became like a withered rose in autumn. I returned to my room and leaned against the window, looking brightly at the clear sky.

A small hoarse laugh escaped my lips in the empty room.

“Huh.”

It was clear that I’d lost consciousness and when I woke up, I’d already returned to the past like this. It sounded crazy, but eventually, I needed to accept my new reality. So, I decided to interpret this more neatly.

‘This is a second chance.’

Traveling back in time with all my memories of the painful future… Someone else might see this as a chance for a new life and plan for a bright future, but there was only one goal for me.

‘Maybe around that time.’

I realized that by killing Haures.

I thought that living in this world was an act of going through pain. My heart was torn to shreds and there was nothing left to bring happiness to me. The death of the perpetrator who drove my life into a pit of despair. It was truly a perfect revenge.

It’s difficult to realize that it’s difficult to inflict enough pain on someone to want to die as I’ve experienced. But, if my revenge was limited to taking one’s life, I needed to plan it concisely. In particular, the sense of accomplishment of achieving it with my own hands was incomparable to anything else.

“Ha…”

All human lives are over when they die. What they have built up in the past will all crumble in vain. I thought there would be no better revenge than to punish people who have tormented me.

‘The old me is no better than having fallen off the cliff at that time.’

It didn’t matter even if my life would be the cost for revenge. Perhaps the painful memories that I have now were actually an illusion from a dream. But I couldn’t stand it no matter what assumptions and reasons were given. No matter what I need to sacrifice to do so, there are still few people in this world that I want to kill.

‘In the past, I didn’t have the ability to cover up the murder so I could only hurt the one person that I hated the most.’

Even now, I could recall the nightmarish memories that filled my mind.

The man who tried to kill me when I was actually the victim, the man who only laughed when I complained about the unfairness, the woman who said she would hold the responsibility even after taking my fiancée, and the man who changed his mind too lightly about the subject of enticing someone who already said no…

All… all of them, I can’t forgive them.

‘This time, unlike in the past, what if I make a thorough plan so that I won’t be detained from the beginning? What if I had the power to take revenge…?’

My expression gradually brightened. It seemed like it was the first time since I’d become an adult that I’d laughed in such a lively manner.

“Hahaha.”

That’s right, this is an opportunity!

‘Those who drove me to death will be the ones who die!’

I felt a tingling and tightening in my heart as I recalled the wounds they had inflicted on me. It was the unfairness of it all that really caused my heart to ache.

‘It doesn’t matter why I came back now.’

Who was the one who gave me this special opportunity?

Was it the God that I prayed to? It couldn’t be.

It was written in the bible that in order to be held in the arms of God, one must repent and be good, so there was no way God gave this chance to a murderer. Maybe it was the devil who gave me a second chance.

‘If it was the devil who gave me this opportunity, thank you so much! Aaah, thank you so much!’

If all of this was the devil’s little prank, wouldn’t it make sense to fulfill its expectations as an evil being?

“Haha!”

I began to giggle while reciting the names of people to be killed in my head. I  spun around on the spot like a madman and danced around the quarters without hiding my joy.

“Finally!”

* * *

9 AM.

Vanora Celcius morning usually began early. However, she recently had come down with a seasonal illness that made it impossible for her to get up early. She had to sleep for her body to naturally recover. Her high fever was currently being blocked by the medicinal herbs she’d taken, but the shivering body aches still made her suffer. However, no matter how sick she was, there was a reason for her to open her eyes early that day. That’s because it was the day for a guest to visit her.

Vanora Celcius was young but felt dazed because it was the first time she had suffered from such a terrible illness.

‘I might die at this rate.’

So she sent a letter to her only friend at the time to inform her that she was dying. The reason was simple. When she reached the verge of death, she remembered the actions of a boy who had been kind to her these days and she wanted to see him. Vanora Celcius thus began to take a liking to Naverius, who was to become her fiancé.

‘He is the only person in this world who treats me kindly. Wouldn’t he be worried about me when I’m sick?’

And with Naverius’s visit, Vanora in the past decided to get engaged to him after a few words of worry for her. She decided to accept his persistent courtship.

‘If I marry Naverius and become a member of his family, I can get out of this hellish house.’

However, Naverius, who was kind to her, began to have an affair shortly after the engagement ceremony. Vanora initially thought he had a reason for all of this.

‘Naverius, it was the engagement that I begged for. But how can you do this to me? I’ve always treated you with courtesy.’

She spent her time silently enduring her fiancée’s actions. But, he always came back to her in the end, so everything will be fine. However, her fiancée had now become a man who was desperate to break up with her and Vanora had to maintain the engagement relationship for personal reasons and was subjected to all sorts of humiliation.

“Courtesy? You have no manners to make that point. You should thank me for treating you like a human being.” 

Naverius spoke lightly, hoping to break the engagement with his stinging remark. He acted wildly when it didn’t work and threatened her more often. Nevertheless, Vanora stubbornly held out, eventually…

“You framed me and it gave me a justification to break this engagement.”

* * *

10:30 AM.

I began to eat my first meal two and a half hours after waking up. What usually was served was some nice-looking soup, some meat, and bread.

“Yesterday, you were walking down the hallway with blood dripping from your arm. It made the maid cleaning the hallway very sad.”

“…”

“If you think about it a little bit, you should know that your actions could cause harm to others, so why did you do that?”

Meanwhile, I struggled with this seemingly perfect meal. The reason was simple. The neat and beautiful soup was mixed with a fistful of salt, making it very salty for the tongue to taste. In addition, the meat wasn’t rotten, but it had a sour taste. Fortunately, there was no problem with the well-baked bread, but it was rather hard.

They served two meals a day. About 730 meals were always served with an edible form but the same taste in a year. Even ordinary people would be in pain eating a meal like that every day.

“Do you not have any appetite today? Shall I clean it up then?”

Who would believe the child of a noble family, not a commoner, was being bullied? But most actions have a cause. There was also a reason why my exclusive maid could commit such deeds.

“Because you have a high status, you also have a picky taste. People like me can’t eat it because we don’t have money.”

It was already publicly known that Vanora Celcius was being neglected by her family. Mana, who held the real power of the mansion, regarded Vanora as a thorn in her eyes. She would have broken her spirit if Vanora touched her in the slightest.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Oh my! Are you going to run to the Count again and make a fuss about the food?”

Therefore, the servants gradually acted more and more boldly when they were angry with the timid Vanora. They’d even dressed her up with a thin pin still attached to the dress, causing Vanora great pain.

“Ah, it stings!”

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. What should I do? It seems the person who made this dress didn’t remove the pin even after the dress was finished! I apologize for it!’

Seir brazenly pretended not to bother her at first and pretended to be clumsy to make mistakes, but that facade didn’t last long. The joy of having a noble lady in her hands encouraged her sadism. Taking care of a young lady took a lot of work for Seir, so her anger had accumulated over the years, but when she bothered Vanora, her annoyance went away.

“As I always say, this meal costs more than a penny or two. Even though Lady Vanora comes from a noble family, if you bother your father just to complain about meals, Lady Vanora may be punished.”

However, no matter how timid a person is, they will explode someday. One day, Vanora Celsius complained to her father, Bael Celcius, who was the top power of this estate. She managed to meet with the count who was difficult to meet and took a portion of her meal as evidence. She complained to him that the food was inedible and couldn’t be served as a meal..

But what was the result of her complaint?

“Ah, it breaks my heart! We didn’t bully Lady Vanora. There’s nothing like that.”

“…”

“Lady knows how much I care for you…”

The fact that as a servant, Seir still had a face to lie about it.

“Master! How dare I do that to the young lady’s meal! I definitely did my best to cook! Seir, say something…!”

“The chef is right. As the maid of Lady Vanora, I guarantee that we never poured salt into it!’

“It’s not like that. Se-Seir…”

“Are you saying that with all due respect? Lady Vanora has long made groundless claims, such as that the Countess abused her. It seems to me what happened this time is like that too. She may have some misunderstanding.”

“She’s still young. It could be because of that.”

Even when the young Vanora pinpointed the culprit, no proper investigation was conducted. The present Countess had turned to Vanora’s exclusive maid and all the people in the mansion united in claiming the maid’s innocence, so the Count came to the conclusion irresponsibly.

“It’s not that Vanora’s body got hurt and I can’t whip you guys for giving her  food that simply didn’t suit her taste. So, from now on, someone other than you will be in charge of Vanora’s meal.”

The feelings of being trampled on while requesting for help, which she had endured, finally reached the limit.

‘That person won’t even lift an eyebrow unless I die from poison.’

The Count simply changed the chef who made Vanora’s meal. He didn’t take any other actions or punish her maid, who was bullying her.

‘Will my father regret it only after I die?’

Her father seemed to have no interest in his daughter. Even though he always tried not to look hateful, the results were always cold.

That’s how Vanora Celcius’s daily life passed. Whether it’s eating salty food like it’s going to tear her mouth apart or spending time chewing only the bread with the same taste every day. Seir’s bully gradually became more vicious as Vanora grew older. But Vanora just endured everything silently. Nothing changed no matter how much she struggled. There wasn;t a single person in this mansion that was like family to her.