Chapter 80

‘Mari’ was quiet for a moment. Enoch laid the child’s body on the bed so she could rest and sat down with his back against the door, keeping as much distance as possible. He could hear the sounds of sleeping breaths.

Jang Hyunji was not stupid. She was cunning—especially gifted at finding people’s weaknesses. Even if she had known in advance by reading the novel, it wouldn’t have been easy to turn the fortune originally meant for ‘Laila Green’ into her own.

The people of House Seymour had quickly been captivated by ‘Florence.’ Even Grace, who had treated her like a small beast, had softened toward her at times, and although it might have been hypocritical, she still cherished her. This was despite the fact that Jang Hyunji was wearing the very shell of Florence they had all despised so much. She had pretended to be the “Florence Love Seymour who had lost her memories,” delivering sweet, pleasant words and smiling adorably. Even if Florence herself had read the novel first, she wouldn’t have been able to pull off the same act.

And even setting the Seymours aside, was Linus—the man she had captivated—an ordinary person? Linus adored even Jang Hyunji’s shallow desires. He found even her materialistic and selfish traits charming; Jang Hyunji was that skilled at presenting herself.

That was why this incident proved Jang Hyunji was not in a position of comfort. She had abandoned her specialty and resorted to a reckless move.

Even though time on her side was said to flow incomparably faster, she was so cornered she couldn’t wait even for that brief moment. She couldn’t wait for Florence to reach Linus.

Mari losing her body was Enoch’s fault.

He had weakened when he saw Florence, burning with fever, calling out Mari’s name.

He knew at least a little of what Florence’s grandmother meant to her. The girl would often cry out for her deceased grandmother, claiming with confidence that at least that woman had loved her.

So hearing Florence say, in self-mockery, that her grandmother had only cared for her for the sake of her son and not out of love had been unbearable.

He couldn’t give Florence any comfort. Even Keith hadn’t been able to do that.

That was why. He had wanted her to have at least a little time that could comfort her.

Mari was the only person Florence had opened her heart to, like her grandmother. That tiny girl was the only one who had made Florence truly happy.

And Jang Hyunji knew it perfectly. She had seen it from inside Florence.

“Repulsive and hideous.”

Enoch could still vividly recall the day he had first seen ‘Florence.’

The shape of her face as she looked back, the color of her eyes, even each strand of her hair was unmistakably Florence, but her gaze and expression were completely different.

That was not Florence—it was something else.

The identical shell had only made it more repulsive. Her beautiful, flower-like smiling face had looked like the grin of a monster baring its teeth. The disgust he had felt then…

She had kindly asked for his name, then swiftly changed her attitude once she decided he didn’t meet some standard of hers.

That woman was here now.

Wearing Mari’s shell.

Enoch bit his lip. Why was it that for Florence, for you, even the smallest things could never be easily allowed? Enoch was sick of Florence’s misfortune. Whenever she began to open her heart, to smile, it was crushed and destroyed. Rejected and rotted away. All of it could no longer be summed up by the simple word “unfortunate.”

To Enoch, it felt like all of Florence’s misfortune stemmed from this repulsive thing.

Perhaps it was simply that misfortune had piled up. That she had been born into that family by chance, met those people by chance, grown up like that by chance, and had her body stolen by an evil spirit by chance. A series of cursed coincidences, rather than something meant to crush Florence to death.

But whatever the truth, the result was the same. Jang Hyunji was the cause. Florence had been sacrificed for that woman’s petty desires and filthy romance.

After confirming that his spirit prison was sealed without a single gap, Enoch slowly walked over to the bed. He reached his hand toward the small child’s neck as she lay there with her eyes tightly shut. Even though she had gained some weight, her slender neck still looked incredibly thin and fragile.

So it wouldn’t take much strength at all.

If he killed this girl here…

He could destroy that vile thing.

Enoch’s blue eyes darkened.

He could tell Florence that Jang Hyunji had eaten away at Mari from the inside, and there had been no choice. Killing Linus was still the only way to bring Florence true peace, but at least he could remove this unpredictable variable. If he erased this cursed “thing,” the trigger that drove Linus into madness…

Maybe, just maybe, he could lessen Florence’s misfortune a little.

“Laila!”

“Why did you come?”

Laila immediately scowled as she asked the question. Florence didn’t even answer; she urgently grabbed Laila’s shoulders.

“We need to hurry.”

“Keith. Do you have enough magic left?”

Even for a seventh-class user like Keith, teleporting with companions was not easy. Moving other living beings along with oneself was a different challenge altogether. If he was alone, he could travel from one end of the continent to the other by teleporting, but add even a small animal like a dog or cat, and the possible distance would be cut in half. Living beings were inherently that difficult to handle. Unlike other magic that simply used mana as a power source to create fire, lightning, or water, teleportation was in a completely different category.

“I’m fine.”

Instead of answering directly, Keith signaled to Florence with his eyes, telling her he knew she had teleported here on her own.

Seeing Florence’s face, Laila spoke in a voice filled with certainty.

“It’s her, isn’t it?”

That certainty resembled exhilaration.

“How did you know again?”

“You can tell just by the face. It’s the same.”

It was the same face Florence had worn when she had offered to give her corpse in exchange for help. Laila grinned and reached out her hand to Keith.

“Then we’d better hurry.”

But the one who grabbed Laila’s wrist was Florence. Even though she must have used a considerable amount of magic just teleporting here, she was determined to attempt teleportation with companions as well.

Laila suppressed the urge to whistle.

Florence had lived a long time being called useless. She had hated and loathed herself more than anyone for being unable to do anything. Self-loathing was a trap that was hard to escape.

And the fact that Jang Hyunji, with the same body, could do what she could not must have only deepened the divide between them, making Florence cling to proving herself. One instinctively protected one’s identity.

It had originally been impossible.

If not for Jang Hyunji, Florence would have lived her life as an incomplete puzzle, always missing a single piece. Even when all the other pieces were in place, that missing one would have left her a defective product. Like giving wings to someone who had never had them before and telling them they could now fly—capability and perception were two different things.

If she had done things Laila’s way, she would have abandoned Florence alone on the plains long ago. Live or die—it would have been up to fate. Break past your limits and survive, or fail and die. That was how the world worked.

But Florence had taken Laila’s grudge as her own, and so Laila had pricked and prodded the sharp little lamb, caring for her bit by bit.

The Florence standing before her now was different. Once like a doll with dulled edges, Florence’s gaze now burned brightly. There was no trace of fragility or indulgence in her hardened face, the dark shadows under her eyes, or her steadfast gaze.

Had Florence been like this before, even Laila would have placed different hopes in her. Ironically, it was Florence facing Jang Hyunji who moved Laila’s heart. That quiet madness was just like hers.

Had she faced a crisis as desperate as the threat of death somewhere Laila didn’t know?

Florence had made Jang Hyunji’s “gift” completely her own.

Enoch’s hand only reached up to tidy Mari’s damp hair.

Then a small hand, glowing with greenish-brown eyes, gripped his falling hand tightly.

“Why won’t you kill me?” the girl shouted.