Volume 8 - CH 17

“Ugh!”

It was more terrifying than I expected to be strangled by Valhail’s hand. It was as strong as a robot, unyielding, and overwhelming.

I suffocated as his grip on my neck tightened.

However, it was not as frightening as I had anticipated. The feeling of trusting my life to him…… It wasn’t too bad.

I didn’t know if it was because I had no doubt that this man would never kill me.

“You are all mine, Selina.”

Camilla smiled contentedly at the breathless me.

Her innocent smile was tinged with a pleasure I was unsure of.

‘You still don’t know what you have or what you’ve lost, don’t you? At the same time, I’ll be taking yours away one by one.’

In the end, you’ll be standing in an empty wasteland with nothing to your name, facing the blade that will fall on your neck.

That is the verdict that I made with you, Camilla, the Villain.

“Even if you get married and leave this house, you will forever be my doll. Do you get it?”

That’s when my vision starts to blur.

Valhail’s hands were released just in time.

I rolled to the floor, taking a shallow breath like a hunted herbivore.

Camilla appeared in front of me in my hazy vision.

“I’m sure you’re lonely without Penny. If you hang yourself, it’s a big deal.”

She stroked my forehead and the nape of my neck, which were drenched in a cold sweat as if she felt empathy for me.

“I will assign you a new maid. So just wait a little longer.”

And after hearing her saying that, I lost my consciousness.

⇺⇺⇺⇼⇻⇻⇻

I awoke at the crack of dawn.

‘…Huh? It’s the bed.’

Why did I wake up on the bed when I clearly remembered falling on the floor?

‘There is no one who can move me.’

Without Penny, I was alone in this spacious bedroom.

“Cough.”

Recognizing the throbbing nape of my neck, I went in front of the mirror.

“Wow, seriously?”

There was a red handprint on my neck, as I had expected. It was obviously a strangling mark.

The reason why Camilla could do such a blatant villainous thing to Selina was such as if I was eating a hundred sweet potatoes.

(T/N: 고구마 is increasingly used as an adjective or a noun to express the speaker’s frustrated or impatient feeling about a situation or a person, the feeling similar to what you may feel when you eat sweet potato without any beverage.)

‘That’s so Selina can’t scream or talk when she’s being beaten.’

If something like this happened, she should have told Cedric and asked for help, but Selina couldn’t.

It was the most frustrating part of the book to read.

Of course, in the original story, Cedric didn’t stick to the count’s castle very well, and he wasn’t particularly interested in Selina, so he wasn’t such a reliable guardian.

But hasn’t it changed since Selina married the Archduke?

Camilla visited the Archduke’s residence in the middle to late part of the original story.

“Tell your husband to get Isaac Baker’s painting as soon as possible.”

“M-m-mother, I n-n-never…… have a c-c-conversation with t-t-the… Archduke.”

“Why do you refer to your husband as that? Call him by his given name. If they heard it, they’d curse me for not being able to properly teach you.”

“B-b-but……”

“Every lady in the capital is said to have at least one portrait from Isaac Baker. But does it make sense that I didn’t have one?”

“B-b-but I am not r-r-really close with h-him.”

“…… Selina. Are you disobeying me because you’ve gotten married now? You are my daughter, so even if you marry, you will always be my person! You have to listen to me!”

Slap!!

Camilla’s hand flew, as was her routine.

“Tell your husband that when he comes. I’ll take you right away if you don’t do me a favor.”

“……!”

The Archduke’s drab palace was terrifying, but Selina never wanted to return to Camilla’s side.

The Archduke considered his wife to be a very valuable possession that only he could touch. So he was furious even with a spotty wound.

‘He’ll get angry if he finds out that I am injured.’

I might be expelled from the grand duchy. Then, as Camilla implied, I’d be sold to another man and returned to the hellish county. Just like she did to Shannon.

Selina trembled and eventually nodded as she wrapped her hot cheek.

I’m not sure if the scene itself makes sense, but after reading this, I started to dislike the main character, Selina.

It was unfortunate that she fell into the pit alone, but she was a stuffy character.

In the review below mine, I thought I understood another reader’s frustration with the heroine’s resemblance to an idiot.

‘Let’s put on a long-sleeved dress.’

A peaceful morning-dawn had already arrived.

There was no trace of Valhail entering my bedroom.

I wondered if he was the one who put me to bed and then left, but he’s not coming back tonight.

No matter how compelling I was, he would never have dared to do that to me and still be okay.

It would be a more distressing night for Valhail than for me.

He was suffering from anxiety because of his too strong attachment to me.

‘All right, let’s go see him tonight instead.’

For the first time, I went straight for him.

It was to save the man who was drowning in self-torture.