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Chapter 03
“Huh?”
What is this bastard scheming now?
Yurita felt anger rising inside her.
“I said I’d pay you every day to prove I wouldn’t run away, not because I wanted to see you every single day, Duke.”
“Still, do as I say. Think about your little brother.”
For some reason, it sounded like a boss ordering overtime, and Yurita wanted to grab Zachary by the collar.
Looking warm, Zachary took off his jacket. Beneath the white shirt, his muscular upper body showed faintly.
“And what kind of fortune was that? I can’t understand a word of it.”
“…Then let me give you one easy piece of advice. Be careful with that white shirt you’re wearing today. Make sure nothing gets on it.”
At her words, Zachary looked at Yurita suspiciously, but she only gave him a mysterious smile and stood up.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Duke.”
Left alone, Zachary mulled over her words.
“Be careful not to get anything on my shirt…?”
“Oh my!”
At that moment, a young noblewoman passing beside Zachary tripped over something and spilled the coffee she was holding all over his shirt.
“Oh no, what should I do? I’m terribly sorry… H-Huh? Duke Killerster?!”
The girl who spilled the coffee—the heroine of the original story—turned pale with fear when she recognized Zachary.
But Zachary paid no attention to her.
“Let me give you one piece of advice.”
His eyes were fixed entirely on the coffee stain on his shirt. Watching him closely, the heroine’s cheeks flushed faintly red.
Meanwhile, Yurita was knocking on the door of her uncle Viscount Cynette’s estate.
If they won’t answer my letters, I’ll come in person.
There was a chance they wouldn’t open the door, but perhaps they’d pity their pleading niece.
I’ll pay off my debt and never get entangled with that bastard Zachary again.
“Viscount! Uncle! Please open the door!”
The moment Yurita knocked, the door opened.
“Huh?”
Surprised at how easily it opened, she followed a servant into the drawing room. Viscount Cynette was seated there.
“Come in. I have news to tell you as well.”
One should always be suspicious of kindness without a price.
But Yurita was in a hurry. So, without knowing what kind of news awaited her, she stepped inside the estate.
Yurita had been firmly against marriage in her modern life.
After losing her parents in an accident as a child, family had never been a source of strength for her.
However, not every era allowed people to avoid marriage, and the era inside this novel was no exception.
“Marriage?”
Yurita was bewildered by the word that came from the viscount’s mouth.
“Marriage all of a sudden… why?”
“His Majesty the Emperor is personally hosting a political marriage arrangement. Gloriously enough, Yurita, you were chosen.”
“Glorious? I’m not getting married!”
At those words, the viscount and viscountess both widened their eyes.
“What do you mean you won’t marry? What kind of thing is that for a lady to say?”
“His Majesty is even covering the entire dowry. A whole thousand gold coins!”
A thousand… gold coins?!
Even Yurita, who rarely got surprised, screamed internally.
A thousand coins… that’s exactly the amount of my debt. Damn it.
“You wrote in your letter asking to borrow five hundred gold coins. If you marry, there’ll be no need for that anymore.”
“…Who is the groom?”
At Yurita’s question, the viscount, who had been speaking proudly, suddenly hesitated.
“Well, you see…”
“It’s Duke Zachary Killerster, Yurita.”
The viscountess cut in instead.
“Zachary… Killerster? The Killerster I know?”
“What other Killerster family could there be?”
“The family infamous for its terrible reputation and rumors about controlling the underworld… that family?”
And my creditor too?!
“There are even rumors Duke Zachary killed his own father and brother!”
It was part of the original novel’s background setting. Whether it was true or not, no one knew.
“Oh, child, but it’s still a ducal house!”
“Yurita, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you. Without this marriage, there’s no chance you’ll ever repay your debt!”
No, there is! There is!
Yurita had a refined weapon for making money: tarot readings and selling charms.
She only needed a little time. Just as she had told Zachary, six months would barely be enough.
“…What happens if I refuse the marriage?”
“His Majesty personally ordered it, so this marriage cannot be refused. If you do, you’ll end up imprisoned in the imperial palace dungeon.”
This damned era.
She couldn’t even decide for herself whether to marry. It was the worst.
If only she knew some weakness of Viscount Cynette that could help her reject the arranged marriage, but he was such a minor supporting character in the original story that there was hardly any information about him.
Yurita sipped her tea with an unreadable expression.
That night. Yurita’s house.
“Noona, what are you doing?”
Hearing rustling sounds for a while, her younger brother Theo entered her room.
“Theo, go put on your coat.”
“Why…?”
Yurita barely shut the stuffed trunk and set it down heavily outside the room.
“Because we’re running away in the middle of the night.”
A political marriage? What a joke. She refused.
Would the Emperor really care that much about one poor noble girl? Yurita planned to sneak out at night and disappear into some distant countryside.
She had already told the house’s only maid to hide at Viscount Cynette’s estate tomorrow so debt collectors wouldn’t bother her.
When Theo returned in tears, struggling into his jacket, Yurita wiped his eyes and buttoned it up for him.
“We’ll head into town quietly and take a carriage. Let’s walk just a little.”
“Okay, Noona.”
Holding only a single trunk, Yurita left the house with young Theo.
Traveling with a child was a huge disadvantage while fleeing.
But I can’t leave him behind.
Late at night, the capital of the Naroa Empire was dark and frightening.
Guided by the lantern in her hand, Yurita made her way toward the plaza.
As she waited there for the carriage she had called in advance—
“Well now, missy, where are you off to with all that luggage?”
Damn it. Even from afar, the three men shambling toward her looked dangerous.
Yurita was now experiencing firsthand the kind of world romance fantasy novels never properly described—a world without streetlights or police.
“Heh heh, pretty brave wandering around at this hour.”
“Please move along quietly.”
Yurita spoke firmly while shielding Theo, but the drifters ignored her and slowly surrounded her from all sides.
One of them suddenly snatched the luggage from Yurita’s hands.
When he roughly opened the suitcase, clothes and daily necessities spilled out.
“Huh? What’s this? I thought you were some noble lady, but this luggage is worse than my cousin’s maid belongings.”
Laughter erupted, and the men moved even closer toward Yurita.
I need to find a way out.
Frowning, Yurita observed the drifters one by one.
“Haha, are you so scared you lost your voice, missy?”
Ignoring the question, Yurita stared directly at the drifter standing in the middle.
“What exactly did you do in the past?”
“Huh? What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”
“There’s a black shadow behind you. Its hand is resting on your shoulder.”
The man scoffed at her words but still glanced nervously at his shoulder. Seeing nothing, he shouted louder.
“Hey! Stop talking nonsense and hand over your money!”
“You killed him, didn’t you? For money.”
At Yurita’s words, the man suddenly flinched. Goosebumps rose on his arm.
The other drifters laughed.
“Hey, what’s this woman talking about?”
“You didn’t really kill someone, did you? Hahaha, no way.”
But the man Yurita pointed at said nothing. Suddenly enraged, he grabbed her by the collar.
“You crazy bitch! Stop spouting nonsense!”
“Once midnight passes!”
Yurita shouted even louder.
“In this plaza, ghosts appear. When the clock tolls twelve. The souls of those unjustly murdered awaken and search for their killers. So they can drag them to hell together.”
With a shadowed expression, Yurita placed a hand on the shoulder of the man clutching her collar.
“The soul of the man you killed is waking up right now.”
DONG—!
At that moment, the clock tower in the center of the plaza began to ring.
With every chime, the man descended further into panic.
“No, that can’t be… Patrick! I didn’t do it!”
“Hey, calm down! There’s no way a real ghost would appear…!”
But he couldn’t hear his companions anymore. Staring at the clock tower, he clutched his head in agony.
DONG! Then the twelfth bell rang. Suddenly, crows burst out from behind the clock tower.
“Aaaagh! It wasn’t my fault!”
In a complete panic, the man turned and sprinted across the plaza.
“That bastard really did kill someone…?”
Taking advantage of the others’ confusion, Yurita grabbed Theo’s hand and started running.
“Hey, wait!”
The drifters chased after her, reaching out to grab her arm—
“Aagh!”
Someone seized the drifter’s wrist and twisted it.
“The streets have really gone to hell lately. Even thugs like these are running wild.”
That familiar rough, low voice.
Startled, Yurita turned around.
