WDTD 03

Chapter 3

Demon knew exactly how to manipulate Clarissa.

Whenever he whispered to her with that sticky, seductive gaze, Clarissa would surely convince herself that maybe—just maybe—he liked her a little, and obediently submit to him.

Perhaps tonight, Clarissa would touch the places his hands had brushed against and drown herself in the fantasy that if she just tried a little harder, he might finally love her.

Even I, who had already given up on my feelings for him, felt my heart pounding wildly right now.

No, “excitement” wasn’t the right word.

I was being enchanted.

Even while delivering chilling threats with his beautiful face and sweet voice, he had overwhelmed me so completely that I couldn’t even move a finger.

But I wasn’t Clarissa.

And I didn’t want to live like her.

With trembling hands, I barely managed to regain my senses and push against Demon’s shoulder.

No matter how hard I shoved, he probably wouldn’t have budged anyway, but perhaps he simply disliked my touch, because Demon abruptly stepped back and crumpled up the divorce papers before tossing them into the air.

Whoosh!

The papers instantly burst into flames and scattered into ashes.

My eyes widened at the magic unfolding right before me.

Demon looked deeply satisfied by the frightened expression on my face.

I wondered why he looked so pleased—

Then suddenly, the ends of my bangs crumbled away.

Some strands of my hair must have burned together with the divorce papers.

“If you bother me again, it might not end with just this much. Go. Go live as if you don’t exist. And until I summon you, don’t appear before me again. You irritate me. Understood?”

After waving his hand dismissively as though shooing away a fly, Demon turned and strode off.

Having just been treated like some insignificant insect, I couldn’t simply back down like this.

The moment I tried to chase after him, Millon blocked my path.

“Madam. This area is restricted.”

I looked down at the boundary line drawn across the floor.

The western wing of the Middletown estate—a place untouched by sunlight or even candlelight—was strictly off-limits.

Without Demon’s permission, not even his wife could enter.

Inside were Demon’s laboratory for researching dark magic, a study where all sorts of secret schemes were plotted, and a labyrinthine underground prison where no one even knew who might be imprisoned.

Honestly, even if Demon had granted me permission, it wasn’t somewhere I particularly wanted to enter.

Unable to gather the courage to cross the line, I merely stomped my feet in frustration.

I had only managed to see Demon today because of sheer luck. Who knew when I’d get another chance?

And the longer this divorce was delayed, the farther away my safety became.

While I stood there anxiously clutching my dress, the study door briefly opened and light spilled out before quickly vanishing again as Millon followed Demon inside.

The western corridor fell back into darkness.

At that moment, my heart throbbed painfully.

Left alone, I pressed a hand against my chest.

The bitter emptiness Clarissa must have felt every single time she stood here being rejected—I was feeling it too.

“Just wait, Demon. I’ll make you beg me for a divorce first!”

Definitely.

The next day.

Bang!

I flung open the trading company office doors and marched inside.

“M-Madam, what brings you here?”

The accountant, who somehow recognized me immediately, bowed his head.

“Where’s my husband?”

“He is not here.”

“He’s not here either?”

I clenched my teeth in irritation.

If I wanted the word “divorce” to come out of Demon’s mouth first, then I had to create a situation where he absolutely couldn’t stand living with me anymore.

So I had been running around everywhere trying to interfere with his work and sabotage his business dealings.

But after visiting every trading office in the territory, Demon was nowhere to be found.

‘I need to see his face first before I can either divorce him or scheme against him.’

I couldn’t exactly tie a leash around his leg, nor could I hand him a cellphone. It was driving me insane.

The reason Demon refused to divorce me was probably because he needed to reassure Duke Racton.

The duke’s daughter, Eileen, was hopelessly obsessed with Demon.

Even though she was about to become engaged to the Crown Prince, she still couldn’t give up her feelings for him.

If Demon divorced me under those circumstances, Eileen would undoubtedly cling to him, and Duke Racton would never tolerate that.

If that happened, Demon would have to rebuild his entire revenge plan from scratch.

Everything he had done so far while acting as Duke Racton’s loyal hound would become meaningless.

That was why Demon needed to maintain a stable marriage with Clarissa, the daughter of Viscount Mercium, whose family served Duke Racton.

At the same time, it allowed him to inflict deep pain on Eileen, the duke’s beloved only daughter.

When I first read the original novel, I had thought it would be easier for Demon to seduce Eileen as part of his revenge.

But after actually coming to this world? Not at all.

Demon despised Eileen more than a disgusting insect. Since he couldn’t even pretend to romance a woman he loathed that much, he apparently chose instead to torment her by using Clarissa.

The daughter of a mere servant who folded his underwear and handled trivial errands had become Demon’s wife, after all.

Eileen was practically on the verge of losing her mind.

‘What exactly does Eileen even see in Demon?!’

Sure, I had fallen for him once too, but living with him made it painfully obvious—

Demon was an absolutely terrible man.

“Where in the world has my husband gone now? At this rate, maybe I’ll see him again in two weeks.”

I had spent the entire day carrying around lunchboxes while searching for Demon, and now I was exhausted.

Riding around in a carriage through the heat all day had left me thirsty, sore, and miserable.

I collapsed into a chair with a deep sigh.

The accountant from the trading company stared blankly at me before awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

“Um… Madam. I believe the master may have gone to the Cyan Trading Company.”

“I already checked there.”

The Cyan Trading Company, which dealt in salt, pepper, tea, and various spices, had been the very first place I visited.

Duke Racton supplied salt throughout the empire through his massive salt mines.

Demon, meanwhile, was secretly trying to import cheaper foreign salt in order to weaken the duke’s source of income.

Of course, if he handled it openly himself, Duke Racton would become suspicious, so Demon operated from the shadows while using the Crown Prince as a front.

“Did you visit the Cyan Company’s secret office?”

“Secret?”

At the word “secret,” my ears perked up.

It sounded perfectly suited to someone as shady as Demon.

“Yes. Until now, the Cyan Company’s salt trade has only been enough to support Middletown itself, but large-scale trade will begin soon. If Duke Racton discovers that, he won’t stay quiet, so a hidden office was established.”

To casually reveal such high-level information…

I pulled several gold coins from my silk pouch and held them out toward the accountant.

“I can’t leave unrewarded someone who told me where my husband is. What’s your name?”

“Johan Beren, Madam.”

“Johan.”

I placed three gold coins onto my palm and continued.

“This is a reward for understanding the anxious heart of a wife worried whether her husband is even eating properly while working.”

Just as Johan reached for the coins, I suddenly closed my hand around them tightly.

“But since you so easily revealed my husband’s whereabouts and secret office to someone else, I suppose you deserve punishment too.”

“Y-Yes?! I’m sorry, Madam!”

Johan immediately threw himself flat onto the floor, trembling.

Since I was the wife of a villain—and a villainous supporting character willing to do anything for Demon—it made sense that he feared me.

Maybe that was why he obediently told me where Demon was.

“But good deeds should still be rewarded…”

I pressed all the gold coins into Johan’s hands and narrowed my eyes.

“From now on, you will continue reporting my husband’s movements to me. And if you refuse to provide information next time, your punishment will be severe. Understood?”

“Yes, Madam.”

“Good. Then where exactly is this secret office?”

Johan brought out a map and showed me the hidden trading office’s location.

It was tucked beside a gorge deep within the mountains—remote enough to be called the middle of nowhere.

Suspicious, as expected.

Most trading companies were located near rivers or ports because transportation was easier that way.

Then why conduct foreign salt trade in the mountains of all places?

Even if they wanted to hide the operation from Duke Racton, there was no need to go that deep into the mountains.

‘Are they seriously conducting transactions without even seeing the actual salt?’

Still, simply learning the location of the hidden office was a major gain.

After warning Johan once more to keep quiet, I climbed back into the carriage.

Even riding on proper roads had already made my backside ache, but once we entered the mountains, it became pure torture.

“Ow… my butt…”

The mountain roads were far too rough for carriages and twisted endlessly through the terrain.

As we neared the gorge, powerful winds battered the carriage hard enough to shake it violently.

Watching the setting sun dip lower and lower, I prayed this trip wouldn’t end up being pointless.

But before long, the carriage suddenly sped forward like it had gone mad.

“Aaaah! What’s happening?!”

“It’s a wolf pack, Madam!”

Wolves as large as leopards surrounded the carriage, racing alongside it from every direction.

We had no escort knights—only the carriage driver and my maid Miranda.

There was no way we could fend off a wolf attack.

‘Maybe we’ll survive if I can communicate with them?’

I could talk to animals.

I didn’t know why, but it seemed to be an ability I gained during the possession process.

When it first happened, I’d been absolutely shocked. Anyone would be surprised to find themselves suddenly talking to birds outside the window.

And it wasn’t just birds.

I could talk to squirrels, cats, even rats.

Of course, rats only cared about things like bread crumbs and leftover cheese, so deep conversations were impossible.

Still, since it was an ability that didn’t exist in the original novel, I practiced using it every day.

“Aaaah!”

The carriage swayed violently—one of the wheels must have cracked.

“Ben! Stop the carriage immediately!”

“I can’t, Madam! If we stop, we’ll all die!”

“And if we fall into the gorge, we’ll die anyway!”

After I shouted at him, the coachman reluctantly halted the carriage.

‘Ugh… I’m going to throw up.’

Suppressing both my nausea and my aching backside, I climbed out of the carriage.

“Grrrrrr…”

Countless glowing yellow eyes shone from behind the trees and bushes.

Every time the wolves moved, the forest rustled as though the entire woods themselves were shifting.

This tension was completely different from when I called birds.

If my ability didn’t work on wolves, I was dead.

‘First, let’s try talking to them.’

I slowly spread both hands wide to show that I meant no harm.

[We’re only passing through. We won’t hurt you.]

As my voice drifted through the air almost like a spell, the leader wolf growled in response.

[We are hungry. We are starving.]

The wolf licked its lips while staring at me, as though ready to devour me immediately to satisfy its hunger.