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Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Tell Me What You Want
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Sunlight filtered warmly through the gap in the window.
A pleasant spring breeze carried the neat songs of sparrows, tickling her ears.
It was a clear and sunny morning.
Red eyes beneath long lashes stared blankly at the ceiling.
Her hazy gaze blinked, slowly coming into focus.
"…Ha."
The woman sat up slowly with sunken eyes. Her disheveled platinum hair fell indifferently over her shoulders.
She swept her hair back with a grand motion and gazed out the window.
She had fallen asleep.
Deeply enough that she hadn't even realized it.
The constant, nagging headache that always clung to her was gone.
Even the screams of the dead that always echoed in her mind were absent.
A refreshing sensation she hadn't felt in ages.
Her gaze unconsciously drifted to the bedside table.
There lay a worn incense stick. Scorched by flame, only a faint wisp of smoke lingered.
Without hesitation, the woman left her room. As her footsteps passed through the hallway, the maids bowed their heads in unison to show respect.
Entering the office, a man waiting inside quickly lowered his body in greeting.
The woman tossed the incense stick at his feet. Fine ash scattered in the air and settled on his hands.
"Bring the person who made this to me. Now."
"…The seller is anonymous. It was traded via auction, so we don't know their identity."
"So?"
Her eyes, stained an eerily vivid red, fixed on him.
"I'll bring them."
The man bowed deeply and vanished quietly into the shadows.
Every person in the woman's service was exceptionally capable. Tracking down some merchant hiding behind anonymity was child's play if she willed it.
Time passed, and less than half a day after her order was issued.
The merchant who had sold the herbs anonymously now knelt before her, head bowed low.
"Name's Bart. Acts like an ordinary merchant, but his fraud record is too long to count."
The subordinate recited the merchant's past without pause. The woman's red eyes looked down at Bart impassively.
"Wh-what have I done wrong to you, Countess…?"
His voice trembled, his face slick with cold sweat. Anxious tension seeped into his body, as if he might faint at any moment.
"Just tell me…! If I've done wrong, I'll compensate for anything…!"
From his appearance to every gesture, he screamed con artist.
This was convenient.
An honest merchant would have been a needless hassle.
With a fraud as the opponent, conversation would be much easier.
"You couldn't have made this yourself…"
One deep sleep after a decade or more.
That single night was enough to plant an obsessive fixation on the incense—desperate, abnormal obsession.
"Who made this?"
With this level of effect, nobles like her would line up to claim it.
Hesitate for a moment, and someone else would snatch it first. Even if it came to war, she intended to secure the incense.
"Th-that's… a promise with my client… I can't possibly say…"
The woman's fingertip brushed the man's chin. Her sharply filed nail split the skin, and a thin line of warm blood beaded on her hand.
She licked the blood briefly and smiled strangely.
"Didn't expect a con artist to care about that."
She flicked her finger lightly. At the same moment, Bart's face contorted in agony.
Something writhed beneath his flesh, twisting his features.
"Guh, guaaak!"
Bart screamed from the indescribable pain.
Amid the ear-splitting shrieks, the woman calmly spoke again.
"I'll ask once more. Who made this?"
"Sp-spare me…"
"…Hmmm."
"Guh, guaaaak!!"
The torture-like pain repeated.
At death's doorstep, Bart confessed everything.
Hearing his words, the woman blinked vacantly.
It was an absurdly unbelievable story.
For a mere child of about ten to resolve her curse—one even renowned physicians couldn't cure.
That disconnect only deepened her obsession.
Well, it didn't matter anyway.
Child, old man, whoever made the incense.
She would never let them go until the day she died.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
My mind went blank.
"You?"
A mysterious woman popped up and stared at me as she asked.
Her blood-red eyes flickered so menacingly that I swallowed hard without thinking.
For some reason, it felt familiar.
A feeling that wasn't unfamiliar. I was sure I'd seen those eyes somewhere before.
"Deaf, maybe? I clearly asked you."
Her brows furrowed slightly.
At the same time, a killing intent tightened around my throat like a noose. Under the suffocating pressure, I opened my mouth almost reflexively.
"Um, I don't really know what you're saying…"
"This—you made it, right?"
She held out the bundle in her hand.
A fully burned bundle of herbs. Amid it, the faint leaf of the Silver Flower Herb caught my eye.
"Probably… yeah, I think I did…"
"Good."
A faint smile bloomed on the woman's lips.
It was so beautiful that I lost myself staring at it.
"Wh-who are you!"
The Director's scream mixed with terror echoed through the room.
The blonde woman still gripped my nape but turned to look at the Director.
Meeting her eyes, the Director's face filled with dismay as she took a step back.
"Th-those red eyes… Could you be… Lady Rahel Tani of the Count family?"
"You know me? I know you too."
The woman's footsteps turned toward the Director.
One step, another. Even those small steps exuded an indescribable grace.
"Eldest daughter of the Erenbia Viscount family."
The Director's eyes trembled faintly.
"Once a rising star in high society gatherings. But exiled after insulting a duke's daughter one day?"
"...."
"Didn't expect you'd be abusing children in a dump like this. Quite the embezzler too, from what I hear."
"N-not something for you to concern yourself with, Countess…"
The woman called Countess ignored the Director's words and looked at me.
"What should I do?"
"Huh…?"
She extended one finger and pressed hard into my side.
"Ugh…!"
It was exactly where the Director had stomped. A fishy pain seeped up from the bruised skin.
"Say it yourself."
"Wh-what do you mean…"
"Tell me what you want."
Her flickering red eyes stared quietly at me. I gazed blankly back and asked myself.
What I wanted.
Of course, it was admission to the academy. Further, to one day join the Hero Party.
I'd saved up tuition by gathering herbs all this time for that dream.
But why?
If asked right now what I wanted, it wasn't either of those.
What I wanted now…
"I want to leave this orphanage."
Not the glamour of the Hero Party or the shining youth of the academy.
Right now, I just wanted to escape the Director's clutches.
"Hehe, alright."
The woman said no more.
Still lightly lifting me by the nape, she stepped out of the Director's office.
"Wait…!"
But the Director wouldn't let me go that easily.
Her face twisted viciously as she charged and yanked my arm hard.
"This child's custody belongs to the orphanage! You can't just take them like this!"
The Director gritted her teeth and pulled me roughly toward her.
My frail body couldn't withstand an adult woman's strength. Pain like my arm was being torn shot through me, twisting my face.
"...."
Surprisingly, the blonde woman released me to the Director without resistance.
The Director wrapped her arms around me tightly, as if she'd never let go.
The unpleasant obsession from her grip seeped into my skin.
"L-let go."
My body reacted immediately to her touch. A searing pain flipped my insides.
"Shut up, Bella."
But the Director didn't care about my pain. Holding me close, she glared defiantly at the woman.
"Even for a Countess, this is against decency."
Faced with the Director's sharp gaze, the woman smiled instead.
"You're bleeding."
It was more mumble than reply.
The Countess's eyes weren't on the Director.
They lingered on the small, vivid drop of blood on the back of her hand.
Casually, she brought the red dot to her lips.
The droplet touched her tongue tip and slowly vanished.
The Director frowned at the bizarre action.
"What are you──"
"Lucky you. I just had a good, deep sleep for the first time in ages, so I'm in a great mood."
The Countess tilted her head slightly with a smile in her eyes.
A smile alluring enough to stop breath, yet chilling.
"I'll spare your life."
The moment her words ended.
Something burst with a sharp sound in my ears.
What followed was a blur.
An arm rolling loose without support.
Red blood spraying like a fountain over my face.
The Director's horrific scream filled the room amid it all.
"KyaAAAAAHHH!!!"
The ear-shattering scream shook the space.
Each convulsion of the Director's body sent blood gushing stronger, covering my face.
Without support, my body naturally fell. But just before hitting the ground, the blonde woman's hand caught my nape again.
She lifted me casually.
"Hah, haa…"
I couldn't breathe right.
Hot, sticky something flowed down my forehead, cheeks, nape.
A horrific scene too gruesome for sanity.
"Ugh, urk…"
With my stomach churning.
I lost consciousness right there.
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