CH 33

“Aargh!” Magorit’s screams filled the mansion.

“L-little Madam!” The doctor, who came running for breath, hurriedly examined her condition. Then, when he saw Magorit’s neck, his wrinkled eyes widened.

“T-this…!” Shocked, he couldn’t speak properly.

Magorit held her throat and exhaled heavily. “It hurts, it hurts…!”

Because of the soil, her mouth had cuts everywhere, and her neck, which the crazy maid had choked, felt cold and painful.

“If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have dumped that bitch!”

A certain maid with beautiful blonde hair appeared in front of her and Endimion. Due to her suspicious behavior, Magorit confided in Kriella and ordered her to be dismissed immediately. Although it was a person, not an object, she had no sympathy for commoners like her.

“If only it wasn’t for bitch!”

If that bitch hadn’t flirted with Endimion, she wouldn’t have had a maid named Mel.

She exclaimed, grabbing the doctor’s neck. “Treat me quickly!”

“I-I can’t treat this…!”

“You can’t treat this, what the hell is that—!”

“It’s a curse…!”

“What…?”

The wound on Magorit’s neck was reflected through the doctor’s glasses. Deep, dark blue wound. There was a lot of mana flowing around the wound that he dared not touch it.

“How is this…” The old doctor frowned as if this situation was ridiculous.

After the Shinsu clan left this empire, it was a wound that could only be seen in books.  It was the first time he had actually seen it, so he couldn’t even keep his mouth shut.

“Curse, that, what, do you mean…!” Because of the pain, Magorit continued to speak sparsely. “How can that bitch curse me…”

“It’s the curse of the Shinsu…”

“What?”

“I’ve only seen it from pictures in books… but that’s for sure. When I look at this dark blue color…”

His firm tone gradually faded. This was because he knew better than anyone else that the Shinsu clan had all left the empire.

Since Emperor Tiazen announced they had left the empire 20 years ago, no one had ever seen the Shinsu. Not even on other continents. They have completely disappeared as if they never existed in this world from the beginning. Since then, the emperor even put the literature related to them in a library that only he could enter and locked the door.

“It’s definitely the Shinsu’s curse….”

The guardians of the Empire, the Shinsu clan. They made great achievements in the development of the empire with their powerful holy power and magical power. Still, darkness existed even for such a Shinsu clan.

The Shinsu’s curse. It was part of the darkness that came out when their anger reached its peak. It was a huge and terrifying power that could never be solved without the power of the same Shinsu clan and could cause fatal harm. So people used to say that because of that curse, no more wizards were born in this empire.

“What are you talking about…!”

The Shinsu’s curse was nonsense.

She exclaimed sharply. “The Shinsu clan is all dead,”

“Yes…?”

Magorit closed her mouth with a frown.

“What little Madam is saying now…?”

“Enough, get out of here!”

After showing a moment of bewilderment, she clenched her teeth tightly and shouted nervously. The doctor was eventually kicked out without doing anything.

Left alone in her room, Magorit clutched the covers of the bed. Those eyes. Through her tears, she remembered the woman who had strangled her. Her entire body trembled when she thought of those eyes that had been so bloody that they gave her goosebumps.

Where did I  see it? She had a very unremarkable appearance. However, the black and deep eyes like the abyss, no, those eyes looking at her, to be exact, made her think of someone.

“Where did I see it?”

It was a very unnoticed appearance.

However, the eyes that were as dark and deep as the abyss, or, to be exact, the eyes that looked at me, reminded me of someone.

“W-wait a minute. I’m not the one you should kill…!”

It was the woman from the past. 

Magorit’s trembling body slowly hardened.

The woman who drowned in the river, was pushed by her. At her last moment, her eyes were just like that. Emerald eyes resembling poison gleamed darkly.

“Is she a ghost…? Did she come to see me because I was harassing her baby?”

Magorit smiled as if she had lost her mind.

“Where do you come and see?”

Then she murmured scoffing lowly. “On the subject of being dead.”

Back then, she didn’t know. Something more terrifying than a ghost was approaching her.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Frinel hugged me tightly and gently patted me on my back. Being held in his arms, I cried like a child for a long time.

The only person I could rely on was Endrew. After being betrayed by him, my heart was even more barren than the desert. I didn’t cry. It was because I had work to do. I thought I was trying my best, but it was all a lie.

I need to change the plan.

My cries gradually subsided.

I’d rather make them in pain enough for them to wish for death.

My breathing was gradually calmed down by the large, warm touch and the beating of his heart as if he was completely worried about me.

To the extent that they begged me to kill them.

A calm that had regained peace settled gently on my shoulders.

After a while, Frinel slowly opened his mouth. “Have you calmed down a bit?”

“…Yes. Thank you.” I walked away from him with a slight blush on my cheeks. Then I lowered my head, deep in thought.

“…Did Marchioness Hamilton abuse Merilly?”

“…Yes. I heard that Endimion and Kriella are leaving for the capital because it’s the social season soon. But I was strangely anxious…”

“It seems she only subtly abused her when they weren’t there. Can’t you bring your daughter?”

“Merilly… thinks Magorit is her biological mother.”

I let out a bitter smile.

“When I lost my temper and ran amok, that child hit me on the back with her small fist.”

“…Ha.”

How badly did Lobelia get hurt? Concerned, Frinel wrinkled his brow. “Then, what are you going to do? But if you let go of it, Merilly—”

“There’s only one way.”

I spoke firmly.

“I will enter the mansion.”

“What do you mean by entering the mansion?”

“I will be Endimion’s concubine.”

“…What?”

My words made him widen his eyes.

“No way,”

“Yes. Pretending to lose my memory, I will seduce Endimion again.”

“You’re going to seduce that crazy man again…?”

“No, there’s nothing to seduce. Because he loved me. He will still love me.”

That trashy human must have been like that. He was a shameless man who said he loved both of us in front of the woman who he had married for one day and me, who had lived with him for three years after our marriage.

“…The person who took away your daughter and killed you is there,” Frinel replied in a low voice. Even though he knew fully that he wasn’t in a position to be jealous in a situation like that, he couldn’t help the feelings boiling in his heart.

“I’m not what I used to be.”

My mouth drew a slanted line.

“The helplessness I felt. A sense of defeat. Pain, sorrow, anger.” I clenched my lips and uttered each word with force. “They should feel it too.” My emerald eyes flashed fiercely as I looked into the air.

Kriella, who hated commoners. Magorit, who killed me. Seeing their reaction just by me appearing in front of Endimion would be refreshing. And for Endimion,

“Your Royal Highness.”

“Hmm?”

“Can you help me?”

He had to taste the same absurdity and betrayal I experienced.

“I need a helper.”

My trembling eyes turned to Frinel. I’m sorry. I have to make them unhappy somehow.

He certainly wouldn’t refuse anything I asked for. Even by using his heart. Because he loved me.

Taking advantage of someone who loves you was the same as what they did. Knowing that well, I tried to smile. A wave of guilt surged in, enough to make my heart ache.

Frinel slowly opened his mouth, whether he knew what I was thinking.  “Then, there are conditions.”

“Conditions?” I tilted my head as I wondered.

“Use me to your heart’s content.”

“…What?”

“You can do whatever you want. I’ll do everything you ask me to do.”

“…What,”

“I’ll be taken advantage of. To your heart’s content.”

If his words sound like a plea to be used to the fullest so I wouldn’t feel any guilt, isn’t he being too selfish? I couldn’t say anything because I felt sorry.

She couldn’t answer anything because she was sorry.

Frinel continued, smiling as he looked at me. “I know very well that your heart is closed. It means you don’t have to pretend to be interested in me in order to use me. Because that is sadder.”

“…Your Royal Highness.”

“Instead of you, I…” He deliberately lengthened the end of his speech and soon finished slowly. “Will seduce you.”

At the same time, Frinel’s eyes were folded gently.