IMRELM 02

Chapter 2

Everything began when I regained the memories of my previous life.

“You worthless brat!”

A rough shove sent my tiny body stumbling backward.

Cold soup and bread spilled across the floor.

A pair of fierce eyes glared down at me.

“W-Why won’t you cry?! If you don’t cry, I can’t pay off my debts! Damn it… you stubborn little monster! How can you starve for days without shedding a single tear?!”

“…”

“Hurry up and spit out those jewels, you ungrateful child!”

And then came the cruel words.

“Clean up every drop you spilled before I come back! There’d better not be a single stain left!”

Bang!

The man slammed the door behind him as he left.

Just like he always used to.

I suddenly snapped back to my senses.

I hurried over to the corner of the room and frantically searched through the pile of odds and ends I’d been collecting.

When I finally found a small mirror and looked into it—

Messy pink hair.

Blue eyes.

Round, chubby cheeks that looked ready to burst.

No matter how anyone looked at me…

I was undeniably a little kid.

But…

I died.

I was burned alive at the stake.

“How… is this possible?”

In the Brosia Empire, where the gods were worshipped, I had been the illegitimate daughter of the prestigious Count Amelot family.

And I possessed a very special ability.

I could create jewels.

Ordinary people cried tears.

My tears became gemstones.

The kind of gemstone depended on the emotion I was feeling.

• When I cried from anger, my tears became rubies.
• When I cried from sadness, they became sapphires.
• When I cried from pain, they became emeralds.
• And finally…

When I cried from happiness…

They became diamonds.

There had only been one time in my life when I ever produced a diamond.

It was on my birthday.

Count Amelot—my father—had given me a present.

Well…

Not intentionally.

It had actually been a teddy bear my older half-sister had thrown away because she thought it was ugly.

By sheer coincidence, that happened to be my birthday.

Still…

It was the first gift my father had ever given me.

I was so happy that I burst into tears.

Unfortunately…

The Count happened to witness them transforming into diamonds.

The moment he saw them…

He completely lost his mind.

“Cry.”

“Cry some more.”

“Our family can only survive if you keep crying.”

“His Majesty the Emperor absolutely loves your diamonds.”

“We need more. Much more.”

“Emily needs a new dress.”

“I’m starting a new business, but I’m a little short on funds.”

That was when my life as their tool began.

“So hurry up and give us more jewels.”

They forced sacrifices upon me under the name of family.

They used me without mercy.

Even when I wanted to refuse…

I couldn’t.

Because whenever I produced jewels…

They praised me.

I treasured those tiny scraps of affection.

For a little while…

It made me feel like I truly belonged to a family.

Just hearing someone tell me I’d done well…

…was sweeter than anything.

Looking back now…

It was all meaningless.

Everything changed when I stopped crying.

It happened on my tenth birthday.

As if by magic…

My tears simply disappeared.

I never learned why.

No matter what happened…

No matter how much pain I endured…

I couldn’t cry.

My tear ducts dried up.

My emotions slowly died.

Naturally…

No more jewels appeared.

Perhaps that was why.

My family gradually lost their sanity.

They screamed that they had no gemstones left to offer the Emperor.

They tortured me over and over again.

Eventually…

I couldn’t take it anymore.

So I ran away.

“A demon!”

“That girl has made a pact with the Devil!”

They framed me.

And to hide everything they had done…

They killed me.

“I’ll never forgive them.”

Even now, remembering those days made my teeth grind together.

“Sweetie, what are you doing?”

While I was lost in thought, Veronica hugged me from behind.

I pointed at the sheet of paper covered in colored pencil marks.

“I’m counting the days.”

It had already been a month since I’d entered this prison.

Time had passed surprisingly quickly.

“My goodness.”

“Our little genius.”

“When did you say you’re getting out?”

“In three months.”

“So soon.”

“Must be because you’re still a child.”

She poked my squishy cheeks.

“What are you going to do after you’re released?”

“I still have another six months.”

“Bloody revenge.”

I tightened my grip on the colored pencil.

“I’m going to repay everything they did to me.”

“I’m going to destroy them completely.”

And then…

“I’m going to crush every last one of them.”

If revenge required it…

I’d gladly join hands with anyone.

Even if that person happened to be…

A dragon.

I absolutely have to recruit him.

I was still small.

Still weak.

The Amelot family was one of the capital’s most influential noble houses.

If they discovered I’d escaped…

They would either drag me back…

Or kill me.

I needed someone powerful enough to protect me.

Someone no one dared challenge.

“So…”

“I’m going to live properly from now on.”

“…”

“I’ll never live like that again.”

If they caught me now…

I’d only end up suffering all over again.

Hmph.

As if I’d let that happen.

I gripped my colored pencil tighter.

If I wanted to survive…

The Amelot family had to be completely destroyed.

“Gah!”

“Karin.”

Veronica suddenly wrapped me in a crushing hug.

“Should we leave prison together?”

“Want to live with your big sister?”

There she goes again…

“But you’re not getting out for another six months.”

“I’ll just escape.”

She smiled as though saying something perfectly ordinary.

“Don’t you trust me?”

“I do…”

“But I trust the prison guards too.”

“I’m far more capable than a bunch of guards.”

“And much cooler.”

She rubbed her cheek against mine.

It had already been a month since we’d started living together.

I’d long since given up resisting.

I never thought we’d become this close.

At first…

I’d been wary of everyone.

But when I first arrived, she was the one who stood between me and the prisoners who tried to attack me.

When I pushed everyone away.

When I got sick.

When I cried myself to sleep.

She stayed beside me.

No one had ever taken care of me like this before.

I still didn’t know why she treated me so kindly.

But among all the adults I’d ever met…

She was the gentlest.

“…Hm?”

As I absentmindedly looked into her eyes…

I paused.

Just now…

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“N-Nothing.”

Did I imagine it?

For just a split second…

Her eyes hadn’t been blue.

They’d looked…

Gold.

But the thought vanished almost immediately.

I shook my head.

That’s not what’s important.

Right now…

I needed to focus on one thing.

How to get my revenge.

* * *

“Hmm…”

That sunny afternoon, after finishing lunch, I reviewed the plan I’d carefully put together.

Karin’s Master Plan

1. Recruit Duke Rodrigo and make him my guardian.
2. As soon as I’m released from prison, go find my aunt.
3. Dig up every secret the Amelot family has and use it against them.
4. Take revenge on the Imperial Family for greedily collecting my jewel tears.

The first step was obviously the most important.

Rodrigo Vankadium.

He had been imprisoned in Izetail for nearly three years.

His crime:

The murder of the Crown Prince.

For assassinating the heir to the throne, he had been sentenced to life imprisonment.

If he’d been anyone else…

He would’ve been executed long ago.

But Rodrigo had the House of Vankadium behind him.

A family so powerful that it appeared repeatedly throughout history books.

One of the three greatest noble houses in the empire.

According to legend, they were descendants of dragons who appeared in the founding myth of the empire.

Unlike other noble houses, which formed alliances and fought wars, Vankadium had stood alone for over a thousand years.

It was the only domain where human laws held little authority.

Even the Imperial Family could not easily interfere with them.

And Rodrigo…

…was the current head of that house.

Although he couldn’t avoid imprisonment…

Escaping execution itself was an extraordinary privilege.

But as for whether he had really killed the Crown Prince…