CH 29

In conversations, there is always that short moment of silence right after a good laugh, where everyone instantly shuts their mouths and no longer found amusement in whatever they were laughing at. It was at this particular moment when the ladies, who had enjoyed talking behind Ophelia’s back, felt a cooling sensation pierce the back of their necks.

“Ah, why is it so cold?” One of the ladies said, trying to lighten up the mood.

“R-right. It’s getting cold all of a sudden.” 

“Should I get a staff to turn up the heater?”

“That would be good—” The lady froze, her mouth agape, looking as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t. ‘What’s the matter?’ The ladies tilted their heads and turned to the direction she was looking at. 

Crazily enough, the woman they had been so excitedly talking about stood before them—Ophelia Ryzen.

‘Did she hear them? 

Did she really hear them? 

It’s not true, right? 

Is it?’

The ladies covered their faces with their handbags as an effort to protect themselves from a potential assault.

As she approached the ladies, Ophelia tilted her head slightly and looked down at them. She hated the current situation, which is the situation in which someone gets caught talking behind someone else’s back by the person they were talking about.

Ophelia had an older sister in her previous life, whom she had become close to in the hospital. Since she was an older sister she had known for nearly 6 years, she believed they trusted and relied on each other well because they knew how painful it was to be in each other’s shoes, but it turned out that she was swearing at her behind her back!

She realized that she was framed for something she had never done, and that she exaggerated Ophelia’s small actions. There was a great sense of betrayal, and comes with it great sadness. After struggling for days and days, she finally had the courage to confront her sister. She only wanted an apology. If she apologized, she was willing to stay the same with her sister. 

Except she never apologized. 

“I’ve never done that. Do you have proof?” She was busy trying to deny her mistakes, so Ophelia realized how shameless these people were and that she should have confronted her as soon as she got caught. After that, she told herself that whenever something similar happens, she would turn on the lights on her eyes, chase after it, and get the apology she deserves. 

That was why she knew very well how to solve this. Ophelia smiled mischievously at the trembling ladies. “You were telling an interesting story.” 

The atmosphere froze in an instant. The ladies shook in silence until a lady started hiccuping. Ophelia looked at the lady with the hiccups; her face was that scary! Look at those fierce eyes! What about those lips full of stubbornness and arrogance? Plus her long hands—!

They heard that her hands stung, so if she hit them with those hands, it would hurt a lot, right? The ladies closed their eyes tightly. 

“Let me add something, too.”

However, instead of the sound of a loud smack, they heard a gentle voice. The ladies slowly opened their eyes, and saw Ophelia scanning the report on the table.

“This is a report letter. The contents… they’re about me. Yeah. If it’s about me, I should be here.” She had a staff bring her a chair and settled down right in the middle of the ladies. “Keep writing,” She said, pushing the paper towards the women, “I’ll correct you if there’s anything wrong.”

‘What was going on here—?’

The ladies couldn’t figure the whole situation out and instead chose to looked down. Cold sweat ran down their foreheads; the biggest reason why Ophelia Ryzen was scary was because she loved resorting to physical violence. However, surprisingly, Ophelia did not hit them.

Instead of using her hands, she spoke calmly. Why? 

“Are you ignoring me right now?” Ophelia squinted her eyes at the ladies, who held their breaths and were busy keeping an eye on each other. However, no one tried to write first despite the constant glances they exchanged. Ophelia spat out laughing at them. “Why isn’t anyone writing? Ah, is it because you’re afraid that if you do something wrong, you’ll be punished for false information?”

The ladies jumped in their seats. It’s true that they were scared; they really didn’t know what would happen if they wrote the report in front of Ophelia, but they couldn’t say that what they were about to write was false. It was well known that Ophelia is a dark mage! One of the ladies held her dress tightly and breathed in.

“I- Is that really false information?”She looked at Ophelia, her jaw trembling. “I- It’s not wrong, isn’t it? I- It’s ridiculous that the Duke would suddenly love his wife, so saying that he was controlled by black magic isn’t unreasonable—”

“Can you say that in front of my husband?” Ophelia replied gently, “I’m innocent, so I don’t care if I have to go to the temple, but my husband, who was caught up in this nonsense, won’t let it slide.”

The ladies couldn’t grasp the true meaning of Ophelia’s words immediately.

Fools. 

Ophelia continued, clicking her tongue, “What would my husband do when he finds out that he is being treated as the poor victim who controlled by a dark mage?”

The Duke, Sylvester Ryzen, was half human. In other words, the amount of mana he possesses is much higher than the general public’s. Therefore, according to Ophelia’s words, if he is suspected of being deceived by a dark mage—

“Off with your heads.”

“Hiiik!” The ladies each held their necks and leaned back. It really felt as if their necks were about to fall off at that moment!

“Yes, my husband was afraid to even say it out of his own mouth, so he just spat out my name. What would he say if he heard that you called me ‘that woman’?” 

The ladies couldn’t say anything. How would you even refute her? They just got caught talking behind her back! Ophelia looked at them and sighed out of boredom. It was always like this; if she confronted people who talked behind her back and asked them to say it to her face, they wouldn’t do it—they were cowards.

Ophelia no longer wants to waste time on these cowards. She slowly stood up and said, “I despise those who spit words of contempt as they hide behind fake smiles and courtsey.” She looked at the ladies disapprovingly.”I’m sure you understand that if this ever happens again, next time—.”

Ophelia, who was speaking, kept her mouth shut for a moment; a bug had entered her sight. Oh, it would hurt a lot if she gets bitten. She had to catch it.  She grabbed the first thing she could get her hands on and struck it right at the bug. 

“Kyaa!”

“Oh my!”

She caught the bug. Ophelia raised her head, a proud look on her face. However, the atmosphere was strange?

“M- My bag—”

Oh, right. What Ophelia took to catch bugs was the handbag of the lady who first talked back to her. It just so happened to also be the most expensive handbag the ladies had—Madame Jonah’s limited edition!

They couldn’t believe she used na handbag that cost nearly 100 gold to catch bugs. It was obvious that she did this on purpose! Now, Ophelia was someone who didn’t hit people, but destroys personal property!

Did she change her bullying method to this? Yeah, most likely. They were wondering why she didn’t hit them from the beginning, but she was looking at the opportunity to smash things. 

‘S- Scary bit—’

The ladies gulped down at Ophelia, whose demeanor was akin to that of a lion from the fiery depths of hell. 

“What should I do with this?” Ophelia glanced down and looked at the bag owner. “I’m sorry, I’ll buy you a new bag.” Then she twisted the corners of her lips. “Would you like to come over to the mansion?” Ophelia spoke purely out of concern and with the intention to pay her back. However, the lady heard differently. It sounded like she was going to take her to the mansion and give her a harsh punishment. They heard the Duke’s prison was terrifying!  The Lady, whose face was pale, threw her head down and everything, and bowed in front of Ophelia. 

“I- I’m sorry!”

Then she burst into tears, and the ladies, who were crying similarly, met eyes with Ophelia. 

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I won’t let this happen again! I’m sorry!”

Ophelia looked down at them and thought, ‘I guess I’m a little too good at this.’

She felt herself going insane.