“Lady Claire, it’s morning.”
In the Easton branch of the Harold Trading Company, the sound of the butler’s knock stirred Claire from her bed, causing her to groggily sit up.
A simple breakfast of salad and a few pieces of meat was soon prepared at the table.
As she rose from her seat, Claire questioned the butler.
“Did you taste it?”
“Yes, the maid in charge of meals has already done so…”
“But the sauce color is different from yesterday.”
“Is that so? I will check with the kitchen immediately.”
“No. Try it yourself.”
“…Pardon?”
“I said, try it.”
The butler’s brow furrowed instantly as he brought the food.
Claire didn’t miss this slight change in expression.
“You only have two choices. Either eat it or kneel right where you stand.”
Claire’s finger pointed directly at the butler, who moved toward her, appearing aggrieved.
“My lady, I have served you for over ten years. If you cannot trust me…”
“Do not move. You know better than anyone about my magic abilities.”
“You know, my entire family has served the Harold family for generations. I have no reason to betray you…”
“Stop!”
Claire shouted as if in a fit.
Thud.
The butler’s steps halted.
Claire swallowed hard and spoke with a trembling voice.
“It’s one or the other. Either put that food in your mouth or kneel down right now.”
The butler looked at Claire with a hollow expression, his gaze filled with pity, as if he were looking at someone ill.
“Lady Claire, you seem very tired. You are not yourself.”
That look, as if he thought she was mad—perhaps the butler was right.
He had worked for her for many years and had been trusted enough to accompany her to Easton.
It was true she was exhausted.
The constant fear that something could happen at any moment had pushed her mind to a dark place.
Perhaps she was losing her sanity.
As the doctor said, it might be that damnable mana sensitivity or whatever it was, gnawing away at her mind.
Yet still.
“Don’t come closer. Just eat it. Everything will be resolved if you do. So just eat it!”
Claire trusted her own reasoning.
Even if her mind was breaking, her logic still functioned.
Even if her emotions were shattered, as long as her brain worked, she could still think.
That was who she was.
“Then, as you command.”
The butler knelt on the spot.
In ten years of service, he had never shown such behavior.
He picked up the sandwich from the tray.
Even as he brought it to his mouth, there was no hesitation in his actions.
—Flinch.
‘Am I really mad?’
Claire’s eyes wavered.
At that moment.
—Flash!
The butler’s form suddenly shot forward.
A white light illuminated the symbol of the Blood Cult on his arm.
Claire unleashed the pre-cast spell at him.
It was a fire spell, uncontrolled in its output due to the shock.
—Whoosh.
The smell of burning flesh lingered for a moment.
Only a pile of blackened ash remained on the floor.
“Aah…”
Thud.
Claire collapsed helplessly to the floor.
◆
Rumors began to spread.
The rumors about the true owner of the trading company were so shocking that they quickly circulated throughout the company.
“They say Lady Claire has gone mad.”
“Just recently, she supposedly spent millions of Krone on some fake doctor in Easton.”
“Isn’t it strange that she’s staying in Easton? Why would she leave the capital of the Empire for this remote countryside…?”
The terrifying thing about rumors is how they distort the truth.
Claire’s actions were being twisted, adding fuel to the fire, and thus, the unsettling rumors about her spread quickly.
—Whoosh!
A scorching heat engulfed the building.
The flow of mana was so intense that it seemed as if the place was on fire.
Startled, people hurried to Claire’s quarters.
“Lady Claire! What in the world is this?”
They looked back and forth between the charred ashes and Claire, who was trembling.
They recoiled from her as if she were some kind of monster.
“…No.”
Claire muttered.
Her mind was too shocked to function properly.
The fact that the butler who had served her for so long was actually a traitor, and the fact that the other servants, who should have been loyal to her, were now looking at her as if she were an insect—it was all too much to process.
Even the mana hypersensitivity she was suffering from pushed her further into panic.
“No, no, this… this man tried to kill me—!”
“This… man? Could it be that those ashes are Butler Cain…?”
“Th-that’s…!”
Claire’s eyes trembled violently.
She bolted from the spot.
‘Damn it, damn it.’
Where should she go?
It had been a long time since she experienced such a level of panic.
The last time was when all the porters and workers who had supported her in the Hero’s Party were killed.
Lee Han had helped her back then too.
He had comforted her when she was heartbroken and set her straight.
But Lee Han was gone now.
She had to find him.
Lee Han.
Driven to the brink, Claire wandered aimlessly.
Before she knew it, she had arrived at the headquarters of the Seventh Death Squad.
“One! I need to see One!”
Despite her frantic voice, the man at the reception desk responded calmly.
“One is currently busy and doesn’t have time to meet with you, my lady.”
“W-what do you mean? Do you know how much money I’ve spent on you people? How can you treat me like this? I’ll pay more, I’ll give you more money, just let me see her right now!”
“However, One did leave a note for you.”
“A note?”
“Yes. It contains information about Lee Han… I mean, that person’s whereabouts. Would you like to hear it? It will cost a bit, though.”
Claire clung to the staff member as if she were a drug addict.
“P-please. I’ll pay whatever it takes. Just give it to me right now.”
“It will be double the original fee. Is that acceptable?”
“I’ll give you anything. Just, please…!”
A faint smile tugged at the staff member’s lips as Claire begged.
Twice the fee—an amount that even the vice-president of the Harold Trading Company would find hard to manage.
Everything was going according to plan.
But in her current, half-crazed state, Claire was unaware of this.
The staff member handed over a small note with a grin.
“If you go there, you should be able to meet him.”
It was a piece of paper with the address of the Royal Social Sciences Research Institute.
◆
[Royal Social Sciences Research Institute]
At a needlessly large reception desk, three figures sat at a table.
“Lloyd, how much longer are we going to wait?”
The village chief tapped the table impatiently.
It was understandable.
—We’re going to attack the Seventh Death Squad, the ones who attacked your village. Please come.
After hearing those words, they had been waiting at the institute for three days. Y
et, even now, Lloyd was still saying.
“Please wait a little longer. Someone will let us know when it’s time to move.”
As if that was a satisfactory explanation.
What in the world was he thinking?
Still, Lloyd was Lloyd. The village chief and Yulia trusted him, so they waited.
Four days later.
Yulia, who had been tapping her fingers on the table, finally spoke, her teeth clenched tightly.
She clenched her teeth.
“Lloyd, how much longer do we have to wait?”
“Just a little more.”
— Baang!
Yulia slammed the table forcefully.
“When you said it was urgent, you were all fired up! I can’t stand this any longer.”
“I agree.”
The village chief chimed in from the side.
“Lloyd, if you don’t want to go, I’ll go alone. Follow me if you want!”
As she stood up, the village chief also rose from his seat.
“A warrior doesn’t wait. I’ll go with you.”
Just as the two, frustrated, were about to storm out of the room—
—Knock, knock.
There was a knock on the door of the institute.
“I’m going.”
Lloyd calmly stood up from his seat, passing between the bewildered village chief and Yulia, and approached the door.
“Who is it?”
“… I’d like to entrust you with a request.”
A feeble voice came through.
It was a voice he knew well.
Lloyd bit his lower lip.
It was the first time he had heard this voice in this lifet.
—Revenge. It’s time for revenge. Will you just stand by and watch? I can lend you power. You could destroy that girl’s entire trading company if you wish. Just take my hand.
Ortega’s voice echoed in his mind after a long silence.
Lloyd took a sedative from his pocket and chewed it.
‘I need to buy more of these soon.’
There were only a few sedatives left.
It was probably time to be cautious about overusing them, but for now, it was better to focus on the task at hand.
As the bitter taste of the sedative settled in, Lloyd opened the door.
—Creak.
The door opened slowly.
The first thing that caught his eye was bright red hair.
A hair color so intense yet so familiar.
Thump.
Lloyd’s heart felt as if it had been punched, but this was why he took the sedative. Soon, his trembling heart began to calm down.
“Is… is this the Royal Social Sciences Research Institute?”
In contrast, the voice of the person standing before him was trembling.
Green eyes that had lost their former brightness, and a body swaying as if it could collapse at any moment.
A familiar, all-too-familiar appearance.
Lee Han’s childhood friend, a fellow Hero’s Party member, and one of the those who had driven him to death.
Claire Harold.
She was standing in front of the door.
